Cramming vs Other

[TheVillain]

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I was wondering how much people actually cram for most of their test, as opposed to assimilating the material over time. Legitimate cramming would consist of studying for a test the night before, and staying up till 4:00 a.m at the very least.

 

[Ashley1989]

I cram but I wish I would manage my time better and be the other.

Cramming sucks, I'm doing it right now 🙁

 

[Thego2guy]

I cram but I wish I would manage my time better and be the other.

Cramming sucks, I'm doing it right now 🙁

Lol, all we have to do is find the procrastination receptor, and make an antagonist to that...and BAM. Allow OTC antiprocrastination meds at your local pharmacy, and we're allllll goood. Maybe society will become so efficient so fast that we'll have flying cars in 20 years 🙂

 

[Ashley1989]

Lol, all we have to do is find the procrastination receptor, and make an antagonist to that...and BAM. Allow OTC antiprocrastination meds at your local pharmacy, and we're allllll goood. Maybe society will become so efficient so fast that we'll have flying cars in 20 years 🙂

Hahaha I think you should do this!!!! I would buy it in a heartbeat. 🙂 really though it's a terrible habit, isn't it? I drink lots of coffee when I cram and then when I try and get in my two hours of sleep I can't do it because the coffee has me so wound up! Terrible times, terrible times. Haha

 

[Thego2guy]

Hahaha I think you should do this!!!! I would buy it in a heartbeat. 🙂 really though it's a terrible habit, isn't it? I drink lots of coffee when I cram and then when I try and get in my two hours of sleep I can't do it because the coffee has me so wound up! Terrible times, terrible times. Haha

My last two finals were on Monday, so I sympathize! I might as well share with you what I do:

I don't drink coffee on a regular basis, so I am definitely not addicted to it. (I know this because it is a mild diuretic, and whenever I have a bit of caffeine, I am still VERY sensitive to its diuretic properties, so I know that I am at least not neurochemically addicted to it lol). I limit my intake throughout the semester, and when the finals come around, I start drinking it - that is when it has reallllly noticeable results. One cup can keep me alert and going forever! After finals week, try tapering off your dosage, and save it for when you really need it. Hope this helps!

 

[Ashley1989]

Haha it definitely does!! I think I'm at an advantage as well with the coffee because I don't drink it (I'm very particular about teeth and staining and whatnot.. I know that sounds silly it's ok to laugh lol) but yes, same here! One coffee and im set! Do you ever pull all nighters or do you try and get in "X" amount of hours when you cram?

 

[Thego2guy]

Haha it definitely does!! I think I'm at an advantage as well with the coffee because I don't drink it (I'm very particular about teeth and staining and whatnot.. I know that sounds silly it's ok to laugh lol) but yes, same here! One coffee and im set! Do you ever pull all nighters or do you try and get in "X" amount of hours when you cram?

I don't pull all nighters anymore, I just do the latter. I loose functionality if I don't sleep, so I just go to bed at 1 or 2, and wake up at 4:50 or whenever, and do what I have to do.

To be honest, my courses are pretty easy right now, so I am sure my routine will change when I take physics and orgo. I know a hefty amount of upper level bio, (anatomy, phys, pharm, biochem, pathology, etc..) so I've been kind of coasting this past year. My situation is a little bit different because I ALWAYS read. I think I average about 10-12 hours of just reading stuff on wiki, or in my textbooks, or journal articles..so at some point I definitely put in the "study hours", its just that I never do it during the school year because I already learned it. So its an unfair question to ask.

I always tell this to people: I know I am right for medicine because whatever it is that I do, I always procrastinate by reading something medically/scientifically related...so in med school, when I procrastinate on my assignments, I'll procrastinate by DOING those assignments lol 🙄

Nonetheless, cramming sucks. TheVillian knows that better than I do 😉

 

[Ashley1989]

I don't pull all nighters anymore, I just do the latter. I loose functionality if I don't sleep, so I just go to bed at 1 or 2, and wake up at 4:50 or whenever, and do what I have to do.

To be honest, my courses are pretty easy right now, so I am sure my routine will change when I take physics and orgo. I know a hefty amount of upper level bio, (anatomy, phys, pharm, biochem, pathology, etc..) so I've been kind of coasting this past year. My situation is a little bit different because I ALWAYS read. I think I average about 10-12 hours of just reading stuff on wiki, or in my textbooks, or journal articles..so at some point I definitely put in the "study hours", its just that I never do it during the school year because I already learned it. So its an unfair question to ask.

I always tell this to people: I know I am right for medicine because whatever it is that I do, I always procrastinate by reading something medically/scientifically related...so in med school, when I procrastinate on my assignments, I'll procrastinate by DOING those assignments lol 🙄

Nonetheless, cramming sucks. TheVillian knows that better than I do 😉

I think TheVillian posted on one of my posts about how he/she was pulling an all nighter for biochemistry(?) haha

And your procrastination sounds awesome and dead useful, I'm not going to lie I'm wishing I had the procrastination-drive (oxymoron?) to read medical/scientific things.

 

[Narmerguy]

Used to cram as a Freshman. Then I learned that cramming sucks even if I can pull it off. It's much more fun to be the dude that's fully prepared and relaxed as the tests approach.

 

[Thego2guy]

I think TheVillian posted on one of my posts about how he/she was pulling an all nighter for biochemistry(?) haha

And your procrastination sounds awesome and dead useful, I'm not going to lie I'm wishing I had the procrastination-drive (oxymoron?) to read medical/scientific things.

It stems from my childhood. I used to be a depressive little critter, and whenever I did school chemistry I would zone out all of my problems and focus on the chem. It sort of became like an anesthetic, or a drug. It continued on for the past years, except that chem doesn't captivate my interest as much as medicine does (duh! 😛). So I turn to science when I want to escape problems. Weird, huh?

 

[Ashley1989]

Used to cram as a Freshman. Then I learned that cramming sucks even if I can pull it off. It's much more fun to be the dude that's fully prepared and relaxed as the tests approach.

Every time it's like 430 am and I'm thinking of my smart peers who studied all along who can go to bed at 9pm, sleep like a baby and wake up nice and relaxed. Then I kick myself, swear to never do it again, and of course do it again and again and again. Ughhhhhh. And then I show up to class looking like the walking dead and my smart peer strolls in with a nice, rested glow and I kick myself again.

 

[Ashley1989]

It stems from my childhood. I used to be a depressive little critter, and whenever I did school chemistry I would zone out all of my problems and focus on the chem. It sort of became like an anesthetic, or a drug. It continued on for the past years, except that chem doesn't captivate my interest as much as medicine does (duh! 😛). So I turn to science when I want to escape problems. Weird, huh?

Weird but very, very awesome haha

 

[Rolling_with_the_punches]

I actually do both now... Especially with finals coming up. I study 2-4 hours a day then I cram the day before the test until 2 or 3 am. Hey it gets the job done. 😳

 

[bad virus]

Every time it's like 430 am and I'm thinking of my smart peers who studies all along who can go to bed at 9pm, sleep like a baby and wake up nice and relaxed. Then I kick myself, swear to never do it again, and of course do it again and again and again. Ughhhhhh. And then I show up to class looking like the walking dead and my smart peer strolls in with a nice, rested glow and I kick myself again.

You might just be a high functional ADHDer, that doesn't require meds. Basically with these students, they can't focus on the task at hand until the critical point hits. That's when there adrnal medulla starts releasing those oh so lovely catecholamines into the blood stream and they begin to flood all of the right adrenergic/dopaminergic receptors. This also happens on the opposite side of the blood brain barrier in other forms and your frontal lobe neurons start to activate their Glut-3 Na/glucose cotransporters and you start to focus like a beast at the last minute. You probably do just as well as the friends who did the tortoise method rather than your hare approach.

 

[joonage]

Honestly ... I prefer cramming. Not like night before cramming, but I usually get all my studying done two or three days before. Hell, I even crammed for a midterm the morning of ... I just get more focused when I get that realization that I need to study. Eh ... I'll probably need to change my ways once I get into med school.... hahaha

 

[yellowperil]

Every time it's like 430 am and I'm thinking of my smart peers who studied all along who can go to bed at 9pm, sleep like a baby and wake up nice and relaxed. Then I kick myself, swear to never do it again, and of course do it again and again and again. Ughhhhhh. And then I show up to class looking like the walking dead and my smart peer strolls in with a nice, rested glow and I kick myself again.

I did this my Sophomore year, screwed up my GPA, but got the habit of studying early now,

 

[Thego2guy]

You might just be a high functional ADHDer, that doesn't require meds. Basically with these students, they can't focus on the task at hand until the critical point hits. That's when there adrnal medulla starts releasing those oh so lovely catecholamines into the blood stream and they begin to flood all of the right adrenergic/dopaminergic receptors. This also happens on the opposite side of the blood brain barrier in other forms and your frontal lobe neurons start to activate their Glut-3 Na/glucose cotransporters and you start to focus like a beast at the last minute. You probably do just as well as the friends who did the tortoise method rather than your hare approach.

Hey, buddy, you got some more of that science stuff I can read? I need my fix for the night 😉

(seriously, you have a reference? I never heard of this)

 

[bad virus]

I did this my Sophomore year, screwed up my GPA, but got the habit of studying early now,

I hope you don't mean 3.5 when you say screwed.

 

[Ashley1989]

You might just be a high functional ADHDer, that doesn't require meds. Basically with these students, they can't focus on the task at hand until the critical point hits. That's when there adrnal medulla starts releasing those oh so lovely catecholamines into the blood stream and they begin to flood all of the right adrenergic/dopaminergic receptors. This also happens on the opposite side of the blood brain barrier in other forms and your frontal lobe neurons start to activate their Glut-3 Na/glucose cotransporters and you start to focus like a beast at the last minute. You probably do just as well as the friends who did the tortoise method rather than your hare approach.

I'm actually really shocked right now. I was diagnosed with ADD when I was little but I very recently went to an adult neurologist who assessed me and firmly believes I have internalized ADHD (didnt know it existed) based on my need for high stress and high critical situations to get going, and it works beautifully (i still have some issues with testing that im working on though). I thought the new guy was wrong but maybe not...

Wow. :-0

 

[yellowperil]

I hope you don't mean 3.5 when you say screwed.

It was below 3.0, 😡😡😡

 

[Thego2guy]

It was below 3.0, 😡😡😡

Become a podiatrist 🙁

EDIT: That was a joke. Lol. -_-

 

[At0mic]

I don't cram now that I'm in college, never pulled an all-nighter either. I believe in getting good sleep before a big exam.
Crammed in high school though. 🙂

 

[bad virus]

Hey, buddy, you got some more of that science stuff I can read? I need my fix for the night 😉

(seriously, you have a reference? I never heard of this)

Lol,

If you really like this stuff. See if your school library has access to some of the online textbook sites like MDconsult or access medicine. My favorite brain drain read is kandel's principles of neural science. That is the tome on neuroscience and has way tastier pieces of info than what I threw out. I totally feel you on your addiction to reading.

 

[V5RED]

For most topics I don't cram in the sense you spoke of. I usually do many practice problems as we go through the topics, then in the few days before an exam I go back and work problems for everything that will be covered to refresh my memory. For heavily math based classes I even make a special notebook of all my mental tricks and thought processes regarding every topic we cover in addition to all my class notes.

For some topics though, I will cram the night before and the morning of an exam. This is just for very easy courses though(ie maybe one class a semester). I am referring to intro level classes where you just need to know a handful of terms and a few easy processes to make it through an exam.

I never deliberately pull all nighters though. If I physically cannot sleep I will study through the night, but it is not something I try to do.

 

[bad virus]

By the way, if its a regular state school you should have access to both of those sites through your online library catalog. Just search for the book (make sure its spelled right - i always mess it up) and it should have an ebook link.

Goodman and Gillman's pharmacological basis of therapeutics is also le awesome for straight up hardcore pharm everything and an awesome read.

 

[Thego2guy]

Lol,

If you really like this stuff. See if your school library has access to some of the online textbook sites like MDconsult or access medicine. My favorite brain drain read is kandel's principles of neural science. That is the tome on neuroscience and has way tastier pieces of info than what I threw out. I totally feel you on your addiction to reading.

Thanks man, I looked it up. I briefly 'met' Eric Kandel (editor of the book) when I saw him pass by in a hallway at Columbia some years back. I pride myself in getting to witness pure genius in person 😛

 

[bad virus]

I'm actually really shocked right now. I was diagnosed with ADD when I was little but I very recently went to an adult neurologist who assessed me and firmly believes I have internalized ADHD (didnt know it existed) based on my need for high stress and high critical situations to get going, and it works beautifully (i still have some issues with testing that im working on though). I thought the new guy was wrong but maybe not...

Wow. :-0

What were you shocked about? Not all ADHD needs to be treated. It is only ADHD if it actually adversely affects your life (Like impulse money spending or wrecking your gpa, etc...).

What's your testing issue? Do you over think things and make them harder than they are?

I was lucky to be blessed with good multiple guess exam skills. It got me through 1st, 2nd and 3rd year with all honors thus far and helped me destroy the CAT and Step 1. Essay questions on the other hand kill me. Thankfully, there is so little of that in med school.

 

[bad virus]

Thanks man, I looked it up. I briefly 'met' Eric Kandel (editor of the book) when I saw him pass by in a hallway at Columbia some years back. I pride myself in getting to witness pure genius in person 😛

Did you actually meet the guy? Even just seeing him would be a sheer pleasure. He is like my idol . . .

I will just bask in knowing that I talked to someone that at least saw him.

 

[Thego2guy]

Did you actually meet the guy? Even just seeing him would be a sheer pleasure. He is like my idol . . .

I will just bask in knowing that I talked to someone that at least saw him.

Yes! I was 16, and I came in to observe the OR (interested in neurosurgery), when I was getting a tour of P&S and saw him (he was pointed out to me by a resident).

Columbia has so many great people. My Bio professor was doing a fellowship in Virology some years ago (30? lol) and he told me a story of how he was working late at night in a lab, and he didn't have something basic (alcohol?) so he went wondering around the place, knocked on someones door, and asked for the thing. Some really old man gave him the substance, and my Professor was like, "Oh, btw, my name is Dr. ---, I am a fellow here." The old man replied "Oh, well that's nice, my name is Dr. Erwin Chargaff" I was like 😱

Meeting people you read about in text books is just a crazy feeling.

 

[Ashley1989]

What were you shocked about? Not all ADHD needs to be treated. It is only ADHD if it actually adversely affects your life (Like impulse money spending or wrecking your gpa, etc...).

What's your testing issue? Do you over think things and make them harder than they are?

I was lucky to be blessed with good multiple guess exam skills. It got me through 1st, 2nd and 3rd year with all honors thus far and helped me destroy the CAT and Step 1. Essay questions on the other hand kill me. Thankfully, there is so little of that in med school.

Well I have several issues, for instance any squeak, breath, open window etc etc completley messes me up if im taking a test. I wear ear plugs now but sometimes a shaking foot or visual thing out of place distracts me. Its a hard work in progress. I over think EVERYTHING and am extremely meticulous when I can harness my concentration. I'm very, very good with trick questions as well as essay questions but get absolutley killed with fill in the blank or short answer.

I'm also extremely perceptive to body language and non verbal cues, and can visually read people so when for instance my friend is upset or angry and struggling for words I can say what I'm pretty sure they're feeling and they will burst out "exactly!!!!! Thank you!!!!" the dr said that could be a possible indication of ADHD instead of ADD but I'm very skeptical. Im struggling to make the connection with being hypersensitive to other peoples emotions and ADHD/ADD.

::sigh:: I don't know

 

[bad virus]

Well I have several issues, for instance any squeak, breath, open window etc etc completley messes me up if im taking a test. I wear ear plugs now but sometimes a shaking foot or visual thing out of place distracts me. Its a hard work in progress. I over think EVERYTHING and am extremely meticulous when I can harness my concentration. I'm very, very good with trick questions as well as essay questions but get absolutley killed with fill in the blank or short answer.

I'm also extremely perceptive to body language and non verbal cues, and can visually read people so when for instance my friend is upset or angry and struggling for words I can say what I'm pretty sure they're feeling and they will burst out "exactly!!!!! Thank you!!!!" the dr said that could be a possible indication of ADHD instead of ADD but I'm very skeptical. Im struggling to make the connection with being hypersensitive to other peoples emotions and ADHD/ADD.

::sigh:: I don't know

You might just be an ENFP or ESFP personality type on the MBTI scale. But it does sound like you might have some ADHD that needs to be medicated if even a shaking foot distracts you. Good luck on it and see another doctor, cuz that does sound a bit debilitating.

 

[bad virus]

Yes! I was 16, and I came in to observe the OR (interested in neurosurgery), when I was getting a tour of P&S and saw him (he was pointed out to me by a resident).

Columbia has so many great people. My Bio professor was doing a fellowship in Virology some years ago (30? lol) and he told me a story of how he was working late at night in a lab, and he didn't have something basic (alcohol?) so he went wondering around the place, knocked on someones door, and asked for the thing. Some really old man gave him the substance, and my Professor was like, "Oh, btw, my name is Dr. ---, I am a fellow here." The old man replied "Oh, well that's nice, my name is Dr. Erwin Chargaff" I was like 😱

Meeting people you read about in text books is just a crazy feeling.

Epic story btw. That is just awesome. I did meet Dr. Rosen who started Rosen's Emergency Medicine text. He is like the father of the field and it was one of the coolest experiences ever, so I totally feel you.

 

[Ashley1989]

You might just be an ENFP or ESFP personality type on the MBTI scale. But it does sound like you might have some ADHD that needs to be medicated if even a shaking foot distracts you. Good luck on it and see another doctor, cuz that does sound a bit debilitating.

Thank you 🙂 I've been working on it for quite a while now and will continue to. It is just very confusing when two Doctors give two such polarizing diagnoses, but in the end it doesnt matter which one it is i just need to focus on becoming a better test taker. what will be will be in the end. Thanks for the insight 🙂

 

[TheVillain]

Sounds like we have a fair amount of "crammers" and "procrastinators" here. I'm actually cramming for another one of my finals this very moment, and it's my last one! Because of cramming, I have never cherished sleep so much in my life, and, unlike Thego2guy, I am utterly addicted to caffeine and have been drinking a steady 3-10 cups of coffee per day/nights. Nonetheless, I don't take pride in cramming or do it deliberately, but due to time pressure this is my only option. This fall with the start of a new semester I will definitely make it my goal to be asleep by at least 11:00 pm (which I consider early).

 

[Thego2guy]

Sounds like we have a fair amount of "crammers" and "procrastinators" here. I'm actually cramming for another one of my finals this very moment, and it's my last one! Because of cramming, I have never cherished sleep so much in my life, and, unlike Thego2guy, I am utterly addicted to caffeine and have been drinking a steady 3-10 cups of coffee per day/nights. Nonetheless, I don't take pride in cramming or do it deliberately, but due to time pressure this is my only option. This fall with the start of a new semester I will definitely make it my goal to be asleep by at least 11:00 pm (which I consider early).

🙄

That last part never works out..

Good luck on your final!!!

 

[TheVillain]

Thanks man! 🙂

Cramming in the long run isn't the most efficient way of studying do to storing the information in our short-term memory, rather than long-term.

Thats why when I will take a class based of a previous class, my level of knowledge will be null.😕

 

[Ashley1989]

Thanks man! 🙂

Cramming in the long run isn't the most efficient way of studying do to storing the information in our short-term memory, rather than long-term.

Thats why when I will take a class based of a previous class, my level of knowledge will be null.😕

Hey Villain good luck! I send you happy, energetic thoughts. I'm going through the same tonight. If you don't mind me asking, what time is your exam tomorrow?

 

[TheVillain]

Hey Villain good luck! I send you happy, energetic thoughts. I'm going through the same tonight. If you don't mind me asking, what time is your exam tomorrow?

Thank you very much. I wish the best of luck to you too
My exam tomorrow should be at 10:00 a.m if I remember correctly.

 

[Ashley1989]

Thank you very much. I wish the best of luck to you too
My exam tomorrow should be at 10:00 a.m if I remember correctly.

Mine is at 9. Eeeek! Best wishes! 🙂

 

[TheVillain]

Mine is at 9. Eeeek! Best wishes! 🙂

You too!
Thanks for your input.🙂

 

[ligand]

I cram by pulling an all-nighter before every midterm. I also pull an all-nighter before every final. (Last week, I slept Tuesday night and again on Saturday night.) This past semester I probably did about 20 all-nighters. It works well, but I don't think it'll keep working for upper-division classes. Also, it makes for a very poor quality of life.

 

[Ashley1989]

I cram by pulling an all-nighter before every midterm. I also pull an all-nighter before every final. (Last week, I slept Tuesday night and again on Saturday night.) This past semester I probably did about 20 all-nighters. It works well, but I don't think it'll keep working for upper-division classes. Also, it makes for a very poor quality of life.

This x 10000000000 all nighters are terrible for you.

As of today I am done with them for good!!! I just took my test and found myself so exhausted when it came time for the test that I could barely take it. Its just so hard to keep everything organized and keep on the ball 🙁

 

[Rumalum]

sometimes when you have a suicidal schedule (e.g. pchem/lab, biochem/lab, intermediate inorgnaic/lab, nutrition, medical anthropology) you have no choice but to cram. I feel like being able to effectively cram is a skill people should strive to have

 

[QuizzicalApe]

For me, the study plan in college would vary based on the kind of class and the kind of test-giver the professor was.

If it was a very fact-based, multiple-choicey sort of class that I didn't need for the MCAT and didn't find interesting: welcome to cramtown, population you (this is also a pick-up line I give my permission for you all to use. it is v sexy and works all the time)

Some classes I would study because I found the material actually interesting or liked the professor and didn't want to disappoint them by studying by the path of least resistance.

Some classes I would definitely assimilate over time: the ones reliant on math/reasoning or lit/philosophy classes where my essays couldn't be based on one or two vaguely remembered points held together by a thick, BS-based glue, mainly. And the MCAT-relevant stuff.

 

[yellowperil]

Become a podiatrist 🙁

EDIT: That was a joke. Lol. -_-

It is okay, it was a bad year for me. I learned from it and doing really well right now.