“How to cram” – a question asked by people with serious regrets.
Look, we get it. We’ve all been there. Some time in the past twelve weeks, you’ve made some questionable choices. Perhaps that one skipped lecture turned into six skipped lectures; perhaps you just realised that bars are a thing. Whatever it was that got you into this position, it’s in the past, and we place no judgement. We learned how to cram from similar experiences, after all, and it goes without saying that the type of “experience” we’re talking about isn’t the type of experience your cousin Becky had when she went to Barcelona that one time.
We’ll cut to the chase: your time is precious, after all. Here’s how to cram for uni exams.
The Lecture Sprint
For seasoned veterans, this is basic stuff – but if this is your first time in a “why did I put myself in this situation?” type scenario, it may not have occurred to you just how many of hours of lectures you can watch in a day.
Even if you haven’t attended lectures for twelve weeks straight, there’s probably just twelve to 24 hours of lectures to get through. Play those babies at 2x speed and, wow! Great work! You’re so productive you just completed 50% of your work in ten seconds flat! Only six to twelve hours of lectures to go!
Set your alarm early, and hop to it. Take a ten minute break every hour, eat frequently to keep your energy up, and access that type of rigorous discipline that’s only possible when you’re facing impending doom.
So, if you’ve missed way more lectures than you should have… unmiss them.
It’s possible, it’s been done, and you can do it.
The Rote Learning Rumba
Will you learn the content quickly?
Yes.
Will you learn your lesson?
Probably not.
If you’re studying content dense subjects that are heavy on definitions and facts to learn, the Rote Learning Rumba might be for you. There are two ways to perform this dance, and one of them you’ll be familiar with.
It’s the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Cheque. (Cheque, for all that money you’ll be rolling in when you pass this unit and get your degree).
There’s a reason that everyone is familiar with this method of memorising things, and that’s because it works. Find the content you need to memorise, say it, write it out, then check if you got it right or not. If you didn’t, do it again until you don’t make a mistake, then move on to the next piece of content.
If you’re a true sadist (of course you are, or you wouldn’t be here), for every ten definitions you memorise, do a ‘mega’ version of look, say, cover, write, check, by writing out the entire list from start to finish instead of just one at a time.
Our second tip is the Voice Recorder and Chill. Record yourself reading aloud the material you need to learn – but read it slowly, deliberately, and with appropriate variation in your tone, volume, pitch, and rhythm. Then, listen to it on repeat the way your mate’s younger brother still listens to Despacito.
Perfect for public transport or other situations that remove you from your regular study space.
The Test Yo’self Before You Wreck Yo’self
Similar in nature to look, say, cover, write, check, but this time it’s “answer questions until you stop getting them wrong”.
Past papers or sample exams are without a doubt the best way to do this. If you have access to any, jump on the opportunity to test yourself. When you get a question wrong, or can’t even begin to answer it – boom. You just identified the area you need to focus your cramming on, so you can use your study time most efficiently.
You can also get someone else to test you – a parent, sibling, or a friend you’ve bribed. Don’t waste time making flash-cards if you don’t have them already, but hand someone the material and get them to ask you relevant questions. Same deal as practice papers – identify the things you can’t answer, patch that hole, then repeat the process until you identify the next issue.
The Mnemonic Tonic
Folks that have studied Psychology may already know the benefits, but if you’re ignorant as to what mnemonics are, it’s well worth your time, even at this late stage of the game, to do some research and start applying them. Stick to the basic ones, like rhyming, chunking, and initialisms.
ROY G BIV is a common initialism to remember colours in the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Hopefully that shows you how beneficial mnemonics can be – they reduce the amount of things you need to remember (or, give you ways to easily remember large amounts of content). Essentially, that’s exactly what you need right now.
Whatever it takes, just get it done. It can be strange to use mnemonics for the first time, but push through it, because one things is certain: they work. Make vulgar rhymes, put your content into a story, put it into initials… Whatever. They’ll make a huge difference, so get on it.
The Fake Your Own Death
Get. Off. Social. Media.
Better yet, get off the Internet for non-educational purposes.
Self-Control is a Mac app that allows you to ‘block’ certain websites from yourself for a certain period of time. Cold Turkey is an option for those of you using Microsoft.
Current You wants to study with rigorous discipline, but Future You wants to procrastinate. Be the boss of Future You and make sure they can’t jeopardise your cram session.
Legit, it’s time to spend eight hours a day studying. And that’s not following the usual hourly cycle of “half an hour study, half an hour watching Insta stories”. That’s pure, unadulterated study, baby.
Some Miscellaneous Notes
Teaching someone else is the most effective way to learn.
YouTube is a thing, use it.
Hydrating is worth marks.
Being well fed is worth marks.
Rest should be part of your strategy, do it.
Lecture slides have already summarised content for you.
If you don’t have notes at this point, ask a friend before making your own.
Bonus Point: Sleep
You’re a fool if you think staying up all night is how to cram well.
It’s well documented that you need a minimum of six hours of sleep to effectively consolidate what you’ve learned. Don’t lose sleep over your cramming. Wake up early, study as hard as you can for as long as you can, then go to bed at a reasonable hour. It might sound cool to talk about how late you stayed up, but if you care about marks (or your health!) more than you care about vanity, you’ll make sure you get enough sleep through this period. The more you sleep, the better you cram!
Final Thoughts on How to Cram
Keep your composure. “Cramming” in these type of situations is not necessarily about learning content extraordinarily fast. More often than not, you’re learning content at the same rate that it would usually take you, but you’re being deadly efficient, so as to not waste any time, and you’re using up as much hours in the day as your schedule permits – because you’re on a deadline.
Really, cramming is just spending a high proportion of your daily hours doing disciplined effective study. That is how to cram properly.
Keep that in mind, take care of yourself, and, of course… good luck!
