Bonus Study Tip
A lot of people liked the “7 Dumbest Things Students Do When Cramming For Exams” piece, and since some of them came here: a bonus entry!
8. Cramming The Night Before
Preparing for an exam by studying all night is like preparing for driving by reading the map all night — there will be a painful disaster. I’ve seen students walk into the exam hall like they’re trying to carry the textbooks on their head, which is basically what they’d tried to do, and then fall asleep on the paper. And unless they start snoring it’s up to the examiner whether to bother waking them. Sure, you should, but at this stage will it really make a difference?
Lack of sleep removes two letters from your IQ. The biggest hard drive in the world won’t help a computer without electricity, and if you’re smart enough to understand the magic wall-lightning which makes the indoor suns shine this shouldn’t have to be explained to you. You don’t get a bit of sleep, or ‘enough’ sleep (moderation has as much place in college as book burning), you get all of the sleep. The nights between exams are when you kick back and chill with your condensed review notes before hitting the hay as early as you can. Then it’s a big bacon breakfast with coffee because stress doesn’t teleport extra ATP into your bloodstream, and I can personally recommend “sauntering” into the hall as a potent psychological first strike against the test.
Good luck!
—
It’s painful to admit that the funniest part of the article wasn’t mine, but I can’t match the commenters smugly informing me I’m wrong because they always cram the night before and they’re just fine. I’d love to see them jump out of an airplane and yell “Terminal velocity is awesome and will stay like this forever!” In both cases the real world is approaching at speed and will be a painfully sudden learning experience.
If you can get through your exam with one night’s cramming then you’re not doing a real course, you’re doing a minor memory test given a fancy title to collect tuition fees. A lot of people now complain that they were promised a good job if they went to college, but that’s because the promisers assumed they’d get a real degree while there. If your true passion is three years of Marxist re-interpretation of Greek philosophy, I am non-sarcastically delighted you got the chance to really push your mind in that direction. But you still have to pay rent and it was still your job to work out how.
Some people who are wrong about thinking they’re smart claim there’s no point in working hard, because you’ll never use the material later in life. First, if that’s true what the hell are you doing there. Second, even if you won’t have to recall thrust bearing reactions from memory because google exists, that’s not the point of learning. You aren’t at university to memorize the exact details of your course. You’re there to learn how to do things. And that means doing them, to the best of your ability every single time. Even if your job is utterly unrelated to your course, the ability to start, research, plan and finish something is the *.* of human abilities. If all you ever practice is getting away with the bare minimum to survive then that’s what you’ll bring to the rest of your life. And the bare minimum to survive does not include fun or happiness.
This doesn’t mean you have to bury yourself in study 24/7. That’s the second-worst waste of college after not studying at all. Just start studying your courses from the start of term for a few hours every week. Join a martial art and train for a few hours every week. Go to at least one new society/club party you’ve never been to once a week. Talk to a new person every day. Do stupid and fun things with them as often as possible, and don’t let them take pictures without permission.
There has never been such an amazing collection of easily-accessible experiences as the modern campus. The more of this incredible input you pour into your head and shake vigorously, the better a person you’ll get out.
8. Cramming The Night Before
Preparing for an exam by studying all night is like preparing for driving by reading the map all night — there will be a painful disaster. I’ve seen students walk into the exam hall like they’re trying to carry the textbooks on their head, which is basically what they’d tried to do, and then fall asleep on the paper. And unless they start snoring it’s up to the examiner whether to bother waking them. Sure, you should, but at this stage will it really make a difference?
Lack of sleep removes two letters from your IQ. The biggest hard drive in the world won’t help a computer without electricity, and if you’re smart enough to understand the magic wall-lightning which makes the indoor suns shine this shouldn’t have to be explained to you. You don’t get a bit of sleep, or ‘enough’ sleep (moderation has as much place in college as book burning), you get all of the sleep. The nights between exams are when you kick back and chill with your condensed review notes before hitting the hay as early as you can. Then it’s a big bacon breakfast with coffee because stress doesn’t teleport extra ATP into your bloodstream, and I can personally recommend “sauntering” into the hall as a potent psychological first strike against the test.
Good luck!
—
It’s painful to admit that the funniest part of the article wasn’t mine, but I can’t match the commenters smugly informing me I’m wrong because they always cram the night before and they’re just fine. I’d love to see them jump out of an airplane and yell “Terminal velocity is awesome and will stay like this forever!” In both cases the real world is approaching at speed and will be a painfully sudden learning experience.
If you can get through your exam with one night’s cramming then you’re not doing a real course, you’re doing a minor memory test given a fancy title to collect tuition fees. A lot of people now complain that they were promised a good job if they went to college, but that’s because the promisers assumed they’d get a real degree while there. If your true passion is three years of Marxist re-interpretation of Greek philosophy, I am non-sarcastically delighted you got the chance to really push your mind in that direction. But you still have to pay rent and it was still your job to work out how.
Some people who are wrong about thinking they’re smart claim there’s no point in working hard, because you’ll never use the material later in life. First, if that’s true what the hell are you doing there. Second, even if you won’t have to recall thrust bearing reactions from memory because google exists, that’s not the point of learning. You aren’t at university to memorize the exact details of your course. You’re there to learn how to do things. And that means doing them, to the best of your ability every single time. Even if your job is utterly unrelated to your course, the ability to start, research, plan and finish something is the *.* of human abilities. If all you ever practice is getting away with the bare minimum to survive then that’s what you’ll bring to the rest of your life. And the bare minimum to survive does not include fun or happiness.
This doesn’t mean you have to bury yourself in study 24/7. That’s the second-worst waste of college after not studying at all. Just start studying your courses from the start of term for a few hours every week. Join a martial art and train for a few hours every week. Go to at least one new society/club party you’ve never been to once a week. Talk to a new person every day. Do stupid and fun things with them as often as possible, and don’t let them take pictures without permission.
There has never been such an amazing collection of easily-accessible experiences as the modern campus. The more of this incredible input you pour into your head and shake vigorously, the better a person you’ll get out.
