I can’t tell you how many students I have had who think that the cramming study method is a good study method. Cramming is when you leave most or all of your study to the night before the exam, and I’m sorry to say that cramming not only doesn’t improve your results, it can actually make them worse.
Why cramming doesn’t improve results
The cramming study method does not improve results because your brain is not designed to function this way. Spending 10 hours studying the night before, is essentially a waste of time, especially if all you do is read through text books or summaries.
Your brain, in fact your whole body, is designed to learn best through regular short term exposure. This means that 20-30 min study sessions spread out across the month before the exam is much better than cramming. The cramming study method will tire your brain, and it will not allow your brain to develop the pathways needed to understand and recall information.
This is the same for learning anything. If you are learning to kick a ball, regular small practice works better than long hours of training. This applies to learning a new language, an instrument, AND HSC PDHPE. The cramming study method does not help!
Why cramming can be detrimental
The cramming study method can actually make your results worse than if you didn’t study at all. Saying up late to study means you don’t get adequate sleep for your brain to function properly the next day. A tired brain does not remember well, and you may forget stuff you could remember before you tried to cram for the exam.
You have also probably spent your time reading a textbook or your summaries. This reading does not help either, in fact, it can be detrimental as well, as you may remember insignificant information, rather than the key ideas. It can also limit your ability to piece things together and understand them.
If you are still going to use the cramming study method, the one thing that does help you for the night before is to ONLY test yourself. This is done by doing past papers or going through flashcards, like the ones in our shop.
My please to the students out there is this: get organised and STOP using the cramming study method, it DOES NOT work!!
