Yuhaen - Week 16: Cramming Season
As exam season is in full swing, I think we can all relate to the late-night cram sessions where we try to absorb two semesters’ worth of material in one night. In this blog, I will try to explore the psychology and science behind effective cramming and memory retention.
I’ve certainly experienced the feeling where I’m taking an exam and can’t exactly remember a fact or procedure that is required for certain types of questions. This feeling of blanking out is usually caused by last-minute studying and test anxiety. More specifically, our hippocampus is overloaded with details and facts from the previous night’s study session, so it is unable to process new material. This results in us confusing different concepts together or making what we like to call “silly mistakes.” Our short-term memory’s unreliability is a major reason why last-minute studying is usually ineffective.
Subjects that require you to apply your knowledge of the content to different scenarios (like our AP course) need to be studied over longer periods of time. Spaced repetition is a great technique to solidify your learning of certain concepts, as it ensures that you have consistent practice leading up to a major test. Another popular method is to take practice tests to identify gaps in your knowledge and correct them. A final subtle, but effective method is to take a walk or stroll and recite everything you know about the subject from memory. I’ve utilized this technique myself to study for my history final last year, where I reviewed all the notes and took a walk in the park as I recited the entire curriculum as one interconnected story.
If you are looking to cram for an upcoming exam, consider these techniques. First off, review all the major concepts by skimming through notes or lecture slides. An alternative is to focus on the concepts you have forgotten and need a refresher on. Then, time yourself and tackle some past tests or FRQs since there is a large chance that the final exam will be similar in some regard. The most important step during this process is to consult the answer key afterwards and understand why the correct answer is correct and why the wrong answer is wrong. This step will help eliminate choices for the MCQ sections and will give you a better understanding of how to format your response for FRQs.
These methods are some of the few techniques that you can employ while studying for AP tests or final exams, so I hope you found value in them!
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Hey Yuhaen! It was nice hearing about your own study methods! I always think it's important to combine your sessions with mixed types of studying to make it more engaging and compelling than just mindlessly rereading material and repeating the same methods.
ReplyDeleteYour advice is extremely helpful, but I definitely think I would have appreciated it more at the beginning of the semester! That said, I agree that many of those methods are helpful as I have already been using them myself. Sometimes I get surprised to find out people rely on stressful cramming all of high school! I, however, don't think I have ever used the method of recalling facts while walking, but it sounds interesting! I will definitely try it out while studying for my finals.
Your blog this week was very interesting! Your analytical perspective on studying methods was nice to provide a fresh perspective! Thank you for such a helpful final blog!
Hi Yuhaen! Wow, I should have read this earlier, because it would have definitely been helpful for studying for APs last week 😭. I can definitely relate to your first description in your blog, because I realized that this year, I’ve often tried to cram for my tests the night before, or even the flex before, which makes it hard for my brain to retain all this information. I really enjoyed how scientific your blog was this week, and I think it really helps knowing the reason behind why we blank out or make silly mistakes when cramming a lot of material in one session. I also found the tips you provided extremely helpful because I think that I definitely need to improve my studying habits. Your story of how you studied for your history final really stood out to me because I’ve never thought about trying to just recite all the information I know before a test. I used to go on walks with my family but stopped doing so this year because I was busy studying for my exams, but now I know that I can just study for them while going on walks!! Also the techniques you described for preparing for AP exams are really helpful as well, and I like how you provided a step-by-step process for how to study. I think that it’s really important that we have a clear plan when we study for big exams like this, so I really appreciate you sharing your methods with our cohort. Overall, your blog was very informative and helpful, so thank you for sharing Yuhaen!
ReplyDeleteHi Yuhaen, I thought your blog was really interesting, and I really liked the topic that you chose, especially because cramming is something almost every AP student (and almost every AP English student) can relate to. I appreciate how clearly you explained why the memory blanks we experience during testing occur. What was most intriguing to me from your blog was that we’re basically not able to sort through new information from the tests if we crammed a whole bunch of information the day before, and I found that this concept applied a lot to my performance during one of my AP Exams when I made the unbelievable mistake of counting the total amount of energy in a given bar graph off by one unit. I like how you included a lot of different examples of how we could approach studying (or cramming, depending on the situation we’re in) with different strategies; it helped me put things more into perspective. Your blog was really informative; thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Yuhaen, I really liked your blog choice. I do have a complaint, I wish you had posted this like a couple of months before, but better late than never! I will definitely utilize these steps to cram in the future. I find your memorization technique really interesting. Reading over everything, then going on a walk, sounds like lots of fun. I do not think I am not really surprised that last-minute studying is usually ineffective, it makes sense. Trying to cram everything in one night usually works only during history tests; however, trying to cram for the APENG test did not prove very effective (except for maybe the MCQ portion). I will be taking your step-by-step routine to cram for tests and use it for my upcoming history final. Thank you for sharing!
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ReplyDeleteHi Yuhaen! I really enjoyed reading your blog post and liked how you integrated psychology and scientific knowledge through your writing. Your advice and study methods definitely seem effective and I will remember to try them out next year. Spaced repetition seems like a logical and helpful study method, yet I feel like I always end up cramming at the last minute like so many other students. I think a lot of people may be under the false impression that learning things last minute helps that information stay at the front of your mind, instead of deep in your head, which seems like it makes sense at first thought, however, as you stated, it can cause blanking out or anxiety. I remember learning some of the effective study methods you mentioned in my AP Psychology class, but sometimes it feels almost impossible to space out my studying before a huge test without allocating way too much time for studying. This blog was really insightful and useful. Thank you for sharing, and great job!
Hello Yuhaen! I really wish I read this Blog during AP Testing, as it would have probably allowed me to remember more concepts and stress less during the actual exam. Your Blog is really cool, as the fact that you were able to combine the concept of memory and cramming for tests with the fact that we have AP Testing right now is quite creative. Cramming for exams is really the worst way of studying for any test or assignment, as acknowledging so many pieces of information in a short period of time will cause the brain to not function properly and actually result in less information actually being retained. I really liked how you incorporated various studying techniques in your Blog, and I will for sure try them out in the future!
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