Successful
student
Part 9
9. .don’t
cram from exams. Successful students know that divided periods of study are
more effective than cram sessions, and they practice it.
If there is one
thing that study skills specialist agree on, it is that distributed study is
better than massed, late night, last- ditch efforts known as craning. You’ll
learn more, remember more, and earn a higher grade by studying in four, one
hour-a-night sessions for Friday’s exam than studying for four hours straight
on Thursday night. Short, concentrated preparatory efforts are more efficient
and rewarding than wasteful, intensive, last moment marathons. Yet, so many
students fail to learn this lesson and end up repeating it over and over again
until it becomes a wasteful habit. Not too clever, huh?
When you cram, you are taking the shortcut, and shortcuts
never produce any real worthwhile results. Also, when you take shortcuts, you
feel rather rotten knowing that you could have done better but didn’t.
Shortcuts cut you short. You can’t plant watermelon seeds and harvest fresh
watermelons the next day. It takes time. Cramming for a test or project and
expecting to make a high score the next day is like planting watermelon seeds
and expecting to harvest and eat fresh watermelon the next day. Plus cramming
for a test or project doesn’t help you academically, so why even do it. Plan
ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself plenty of days and weeks to prepare for
upcoming accountability opportunities.
Choose the
right!!!!