Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll save you the intro of what every Psych professor will ever tell you. “Cramming doesn’t work,” “Studying the day before the exam doesn’t benefit you in the long term!” and etc. We all get it. We know cramming is frowned upon. But sometimes it is necessary. I’m here to give you the low-down on how to cram for an exam.
1. Stay up as late as you can function, but don’t skip sleep entirely.
It may seem counterintuitive to waste time laying in bed with your eyes shut when you have some last-minute studying to do, but your brain basically becomes useless once you start to get less than 5 hours of sleep, going downhill with each hour less after that. There’s an actual statistic out there that proves that; but hey, I’m lazy. Google it, it’s real. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter and felt totally foggy, confused, and disoriented the next day? This is without a doubt not the kind of mental state you want to be in before taking an exam. As you get less sleep, your memory retention decreases dramatically, and your mind isn’t as sharp as it should be. I ideally try to get at least 4½ -5 hours of sleep the night before I have an exam, even if I’m not finished studying when I lay down. I do a lot better if I can wake up early the next morning to finish up, slightly refreshed and mentally enhanced, rather than forcing myself to stay awake past my brain’s breaking point of what it can learn in one sitting. If your exam is in the early morning anyway, you can probably get away with 2 or 3 hours of sleep right before your exam; just be sure to rest afterwards!
2. CAFFEINE
A great way to load up on a safer (and legal!) study drug is to consume a bunch of caffeine. “Just don’t be stupid about it” is my motto for this, and also my personal motto for my daily life choices. Don’t drink ten 5-hour energy shots. But if you drink 2 or even 3 heavily-caffeinated drinks, you won’t die or have a heart attack, contrary to what the media hype will tell you. Just make sure you have some food in your stomach first. I love to prepare for a long study sesh with about 4 cups of coffee, with more throughout the day/night to keep me going. Also, caffeine dehydrates the body, so make sure to bring a water bottle too!
3. Snacks are always a good choice
Similar to the last tip, you’ll need energy and fuel while you’re cramming, so try to pack snacks beforehand so you don’t have to interrupt your study session too much. You will inevitably get hungry after sitting in the library for 8 hours. It helps to have a granola bar, yogurt, a handful of nuts/seeds or other high-protein snacks.
4. Look at everything
If you’re going to cram, you’ve got to do it right. Go back over the notes. Re-copy all the notes from the beginning of whatever chapter you started with, if you have time. This places you back into the “world” of your notes so you can absorb the information a lot better than if you just quickly skim over your notes. Also, read the assigned textbook chapters. All of them. Or as much as you can. If you start to run out of time near the end, just skim the remaining chapters and try to pick up some key points and definitions. A lot of textbooks have a chapter summary at the end of each chapter that can be really helpful.
5. Put away distractions
This is the reason why I always study at a library and never at my own desk. I associate my bedroom with relaxation and sleep, and whenever I try to do real work and get stuff done in my bedroom, I end up just watching Netflix within ten seconds. Once I get myself to a quiet study area, I also put away my phone or anything else tempting me to stray from my studies. A “quick” Instagram session could easily turn into half an hour of wasted time. It’s not worth it!