Why Cramming Is Bad

“Why Cramming Is Bad” Many students think they know how to prepare for tests, but most of these students are studying in ways that make it hard for the information to stick. The most common way to study effectively is to make a study plan. This spaces out the studying over a longer period of time instead of cramming it all in the night before. But as many as 99% of students admit to cramming.

Some people attribute this to disorganization. But even though researchers have found that spacing out studying is more effective than cramming, most students think that cramming still works better for them. Most studies suggest that the reason for this is because students rely on their own familiarity with the subjects to guide their study time. And this can be misleading, because familiarity does not mean that a student can recall the information.

After a full night cramming, student’s brains do tag the memories of the study materials with familiarity, but being able to recognize something as seen before is not the same thing as being able to recall the exact information when the time comes.

The difference comes with the different pathways the information travels with simple familiarity versus actual recall. Recall is strongly affected by how easily the information passes through a student’s sesary area of the brain, such as the visual cortex when looking at notes. Recall is much more complex and involves different areas of the brain, such as the frontal and temporal lobe. These link the memory with cues that a student gives their brain so that they are able to remember it later. Just because the visual cortexes recognizes it does not mean the other parts of the brain will be able to recall the information when a student needs it.

A student’s ability to make judgements on what their brain knows is called metacognition. Many people also misunderstand this concept as well. Many students think that just thinking about the information that they are trying to learn will help them actually learn it. This is not the case. In fact, having the student lay out the information in a structure that makes since to the individual student increases their chances of remembering it during test time.

By having each student be aware of their errors in judgement about their own learning, they can change their study habits to include study plans so that they have time to build up actual memory rather than simple familiarity.

Click to read original article “Why Cramming is Bad” Original Article. For more Peak Academic Coaching articles visit the Blog Page. If you would like information about PAC’s success habit building and executive functioning skills training program visit the Academic Coaching Page. If you would like to see an overview of services offered by PAC, check out the Home Page. Read many amazing PAC success stories on the Testimonials Page. For a full overview of the services offered by Peak Academic Coaching go to the Home Page. Access PAC’s indepth phylosophy on our Core Principles Page. To see who PAC serves visit the About PAC Page. Does your child need Tutoring? To see the many areas of subject tutoring in which we offer support, visit the PAC Tutoring Page.