Is cramming an effective study technique? (1 Viewer)

[Omnipotence]

I think one of the issues which needs to be considered is the definition of cramming. To me, cramming occurs when a person leaves ALL their study until a few days or less before an exam.

I don't necessarily cram then according to that definition. lol
I do work throughout semester but re-read all my notes 1 or 2 days before exam.

 

[Shadowdude]

last time i crammed, i got barely above 50%

never again.


Guess maths is getting to a level now where I can't just cram and do no work... dammit

 

[ThandraCityRail]

i cram and not because it's better but because i'm lazy as hell and would much rather play games than do consistent study over the year

that being said, cramming still gets the job done

it depends on what result you want. cramming will obv fail if you want 99+ but if you have some intellect + can cram effectively there's no reason why 95 isn't achievable

that being said, most of my subjects are content oriented so...

 

[4025808]

last time i crammed, i got barely above 50%

never again.


Guess maths is getting to a level now where I can't just cram and do no work... dammit

Guess it's the same with uni in general now. No more cramming for me. Bad attempt cramming past papers for accounting up at 1am, 12 hours before the final exam :/

 

[jnney]

If you are studying content for 2 days straight for a trial exam - is that counted as cramming? (e.g. for subjects like biology - where its just memorising stuff)

Im not sure how 'studying content' over two days in biology works - do you understand what's going on, or is the memorising mindless?


I cannot cram. I can't let myself do it. I've tried, and the pressure just overcame me to the point where I could do nothing at all. Most people 'cram' at my school, and it is ineffective in so many ways because in my experience and witnessing others, 1) you forget shortly afterwards, and have to relearn 2) you don't perform very well in tests because - well, there are just so many reasons; one being that your mind just hasn't had the time to process all that information, and your ability to manipulate that knowledge to questions is rather restricted.

 

[Beaconite]

get the concept and cram it (that's what I do)

 

[RishBonjour]

get the concept and cram it (that's what I do)

This. @jnney

But - I wouldn't consider it cramming.. after reading some posts. More revising I guess. But yeah - (did MAB and blueprint today)
Mindless memorising in bio will get 85 max (usually because of those 'critical thinking' questions) - so no, I don't do that.

 

[brent012]

If you are studying content for 2 days straight for a trial exam - is that counted as cramming? (e.g. for subjects like biology - where its just memorising stuff)

It's not like there is an accepted definition lol. It technically still would be cramming, but my personal definition of cramming is where you do the majority of your studying the day/night before. Most HSC subjects (NOT MATHS!) are heavily based around rote learning, after initially learning the content some people choose to revise and study regularly but others choose to try and commit all the content to memory in a short amount of time right before the exam. Both methods are pretty bad tbh since either way promotes just regurgitating information, but if you revise/study regularly you would have a deeper understanding of the content as well as time to practise questions and hone your exam technique.

 

[enoilgam]

EDIT: Misread your post brent.

 

[brent012]

I think that depends on your definition of route learning. From what I take route learning to be, it isnt very effective in subjects like modern history, where you actually need to analyse the content itself, as opposed to regurgitating it on the day.

Fair enough, i'm a bit biased because the only humanities subject i did was economics and i just "got" most of that. From what i have heard you are right about modern being a subject that would be no good to rote learn.

 

[alyssa21]

I think cramming works for some subjects, depending on the nature of the course.
Subjects like Maths, or Modern History, which are really about applying knowledge and being able to use the 'facts' of the course in a sophisticated way- there is no way you'll be able to leave studying till 2 days before and do well.

But I feel that 'easier', more 'rote-learn' type subjects are able to be crammed effectively. Like Legal Studies- the course isn't conceptually difficult, and just requires memorising many facts, examples, etc. I didn't write notes for 50% of the course, and essentially learned everything about 3-5 days before the Trial, and achieved the equal highest mark. So it really doesn't work for everyone or for every course, but has potential in certain cases.

 

[Memento-mori]

If my cramming you mean re-reading over again, no. I agree, listening in class and consistent work over the school period will get you way furthur than cramming. Inflicting stress on yourself is just dumb.

 

[alstah]

For law, hell no.

The way I study for law is to start early in the semester, make revised notes closer to the exams, revise them again and condense the main arguments under specific issues depending on the topic, into an outline. If it's open book, take the outline into the exam (with the issues, followed by cases supporting an argument) if its closed book, then memorise the outline. I would have already learnt which precedents can be relied upon to build arguments and which ones can be distinguished, etc.


For the HSC...yes lol.

 

[Miz Friz]

I don't cram everything in one night but I find going over important things on the morning of the exam is helpful. It usually makes me feel better.

 

[atar90plus]

Cramming rulez

 

[atar90plus]

For every other subject except for maths

 

[kaz1]

For law, hell no.

The way I study for law is to start early in the semester, make revised notes closer to the exams, revise them again and condense the main arguments under specific issues depending on the topic, into an outline. If it's open book, take the outline into the exam (with the issues, followed by cases supporting an argument) if its closed book, then memorise the outline. I would have already learnt which precedents can be relied upon to build arguments and which ones can be distinguished, etc.


For the HSC...yes lol.

Law is just words so it's definetly crammable you dolt. Frank Abagnale knew nothing about law and managed to pass the Lousiana bar by cramming for two weeks.


Calculation based subjects are more harder to cram for because you need practice for answering the question but it definetly is still possible

 

[Kurosaki]

What works, works

 

[enak101]

Yeah, some people seem to be confusing studying with cramming lol. Isn't cramming when you don't study and then study heaps 1 or 2 nights before? If so, that's all I have done so far except for the 'heaps' part of that. Better change that soon with prelim exams coming up and year 12 heh.

 

[someth1ng]

Define cram, I do some study throughout the year such that my skills progress at a sustainable rate without the need to peak.