Is cramming for tests or assignments an irresponsible act? Is it a needed skill in society and should it be practiced in school so it can be used more efficiently in the real world? In Taiwan, a 96 year old man put cramming to use to get a graduate degree. He claims that he would wake up at midnight the day before a test and study all night to prepare. He blamed his bad memory for this method. He wanted to make sure that all the information was fresh in his mind so he would not give himself the opportunity to forget. So obviously it worked for him but how about others? It is my opinion that cramming is a necessary skill for nearly all people to have. No matter how much we all try to avoid it, it eventually happens. We get behind the eight ball or we are given a task with a short deadline and cramming kicks in.
I would agree that a majority of time, cramming can and should be avoided. Cramming is actually a descent tool to learn things on a short term basis but learning information so it can be used on a long term basis should be attained through more traditional studying methods. Professor Thomas H. Mentos explains that “What we learn and store is quickly forgotten and that at the end of thirty days a little more than 20 percent of the information is retained.” This means that for things that we want to retain in the long run should be practiced repeatedly over several study sessions. But what about in a job such a repairing cars or doing taxes? Is it necessary to break these tasks up over several days or is it necessary to remember everything you do? In many of these situations I would say no.
Dealing with the pressure of a short deadline is a life skill and I think that cramming could be a very useful tool when dealing with these situations. I am practicing a version of cramming right now. Since I have several other obligations throughout the week I have a difficult time breaking up my work for this class over several nights. Instead I set aside time every Wednesday and Sunday to get my work done. It kind of feels like planned procrastination. I realize that this puts the pressure on me to get things done on one night but I am left with few alternatives. It seems to me that cramming has gotten a bad rap in the education community but I would be in tough shape if I wasn’t somewhat good at it.
I would agree that a majority of time, cramming can and should be avoided. Cramming is actually a descent tool to learn things on a short term basis but learning information so it can be used on a long term basis should be attained through more traditional studying methods. Professor Thomas H. Mentos explains that “What we learn and store is quickly forgotten and that at the end of thirty days a little more than 20 percent of the information is retained.” This means that for things that we want to retain in the long run should be practiced repeatedly over several study sessions. But what about in a job such a repairing cars or doing taxes? Is it necessary to break these tasks up over several days or is it necessary to remember everything you do? In many of these situations I would say no.
Dealing with the pressure of a short deadline is a life skill and I think that cramming could be a very useful tool when dealing with these situations. I am practicing a version of cramming right now. Since I have several other obligations throughout the week I have a difficult time breaking up my work for this class over several nights. Instead I set aside time every Wednesday and Sunday to get my work done. It kind of feels like planned procrastination. I realize that this puts the pressure on me to get things done on one night but I am left with few alternatives. It seems to me that cramming has gotten a bad rap in the education community but I would be in tough shape if I wasn’t somewhat good at it.
96 with a masters? And here I thought I was old getting mine in my 40's. Amazing. I just love people like that because it shows you can always learn and should never lose that drive to learn.
ReplyDeleteCramming is a funny thing because almost all of us agree it is a terrible way to really learn anything. You just don't retain anything when you study for 8 straight hours and stay up all night. It possibly is even unhealthy. And yet what have almost all of us done at one point or another? Even though we have no tests in these masters classes, we some times do the equivelant of cramming by putting these assignments off til the last minute, don't we?
I also see a lot of it in our schools. My 4th graders do it all of the time. It makes you think one of the ways we could really improve test scores is by making listening, note taking, and studying skills part of the actual curriculum. i think it would do a lot of good.
We offer a study skills course for our students in 7th grade. I think it would be a great idea to teach these skills a little earlier. 3rd and 4th grades-start to take notes- though many don't know how to use them effectively. I like it when I see parents using students notes to make study guide for their children a few days ahead of time. I imagine teaching these skills sooner would not eliminate cramming or procrastinators. I think teaching students to prioritize is very important. We are all guilty of putting off the hard things and doing the easy first- once this is habit it's hard to break!
ReplyDeleteCramming for an exam is actually not good; however, if you can cramm your work and then practice it repeatedly it will be engraved in your memory. During my time all the Math, physics and chemistry formula will not be given to you like they do now. What you do is that you have to memorize the formula and then practice using it repeatedly for it to sink and make meaning. If you cram and do not practice what you have memorized, that is when it is bad. All of us cram, however every individual do it differently. For you to cram and retain, practice using it constantly for some time for it to sink
ReplyDeleteCramming is an issue. I feel that I can’t hardly even talk about cramming because I am in that boat often. It is not as though I procrastinated in high school or college, but I always wanted to do more. It was the night before my final…and I would stay up all night studying even if I had studied every day for the exam because I felt I had to do more. I always wanted to put even more into the studying for tests hoping it would set me up to do better. So even when I didn’t need to, I still did. Even after I learned it wasn’t the most effective way to study, I still did it – habit or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI am incredibly impressed that this man received his masters degree at 96. Unreal! And to use this method the entire time is fascinating! But I do agree that because it worked for him doesn’t mean it will work for other people and something we definitely do not want to teach our students to do. What a conundrum! To teach our students to do something that we haven’t figured out yet.
I am definitely NOT a crammer! I guess this works for some people, but I have a lot of "test anxiety" and if I crammed the information in the night before, I would more than likely forget everything the minute the test was handed out. Yes - I do sometimes do assignments at the last minute, but I have usually internalized the information for that assignment prior to writing it. When I teach, I really try to get students to internalize as much as they can so retention will be high. I'll use the example of the lesson plan/activities for this class. We could cram the information for hours,that would not help us on the "test/lesson plan". For that, we need to have internalized the information and put it to practical use. I believe this type of assignment is BETTER that a test.
ReplyDeleteCramming for tests is a terrible thing to depend on. Am I faulting this man for doing it to get a degree, no. It is the job of the instructor to set up curriculum that helps students use their short-term, and long-term memories. Students who just use their short-term memories are usually good at regurgitation, but when faced with an accumulative test, they are often disgruntled.
ReplyDeleteIf this guy can cram and get a degree more power to him, he is not at fault. He is doing what everyone else is doing, taking information that he will probably never use and forgetting it. This is what is wrong with students; they do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. They think that teachers are getting them to memorize useless information. This is why I am such a fan of the “big ideas” curriculum. It shows students why they need to perform certain tasks. Students then see the importance of the whole lesson.
I, Stacey Hauff, am a crammer. I admit it, I did it in college. But for some reason, it works for me. However, I do not encourage it of my students. I advocate reading through notes occasionally during the chapter and when you know the test is coming up to start reading through your information nightly 3 or 4 nights leading up to the test. Some of my students have done this and done well with it. Some of my students have crammed and seem to have the same gift as I, getting away with it. And then some students crammed and did not do well at all. These are the students that I take aside after the test to discuss their study skills. I mention how cramming is not a guaranteed method of learning information and that while it may have worked for a friend of theirs, it didn't work for them. Everybody handles the absorption of knowledge in a different way and everyone needs to find the way that works well for them.
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