A student learns that he has to take an exam scheduled for tomorrow. He has not yet reviewed anything for it because he was not aware of it until now that he had learned about it. What will he do? There is only one solution to that predicament and that is cramming. Cramming as a study technique is a technique commonly used by students especially in the secondary and tertiary levels of education. Cramming is studying only at the time before the exam, a one-night intensive study session for an exam the next day. The logic is that the students will be able to remember the materials for the test better if it is still fresh in their heads. It has spared a lot of students from the horrific F mark. What these poor souls do not know is that cramming is like making a deal with the devil. Its intrinsic style is almost undetectable and its insidious effects are undeniable. Cramming has different effects; some are desirable and even favorable like having more time for different activities; others are undesirable and possibly harmful like brain damage, anxiety, and stress, and some could be a mixture of both desirable and undesirable like rushed work.
Cramming is memorizing massive amount of information in a short amount of time; the ones who often need to make use of it are those who do no manage their time wisely. For them, cramming is the only choice they have left because they were too busy doing other stuff; in the end, they need to study the lesson in a short span of time because their test is on the day after (“Cramming”, n.d.). By cramming, people will have extra time for other activities which is a good thing, especially for those who are active in non-academic activities. The extra time they get comes from the time they cut from cramming.
Rushing is the most obvious thing people do when they cram, because they need to compensate for the time they used in other activities. Rushing will not only get the job done on time, it also spikes up people’s adrenaline so they would work, act, and think faster. When people cram because the test is very near, the brain sends signals to different parts of the Autonomic Nervous System in order to secrete the hormones Adrenaline and Cortisol. These hormones enable the body to perform magnificently when under stress (Jang, 2009). This is how people could still perform well in a test even if they cram; however, the information memorized under cramming is only transient. The bad side of rushing is that it may be necessary to sacrifice the quality of the output. The student may be able to memorize but their understanding of the matter is superficial. Most of the students that use cramming are those in highschool and college, especially the students who have extra-curricular activities and non-school related duties. Those students who use cramming in studying only result in below average scores (“Cramming”, n.d.). When people rush, they may feel anxious afterwards. A student who crams knows that he did not study the proper way and that he could have done so better. Therefore, he will get nervous on how his work will be judged.
Students who cram can suffer anxiety, nervousness, and, worse of all, mental block. The stress hormones like Adrenaline and Cortisol help protect the human body from stress but too much or too less of those hormones have negative effects in the body. High secretion of adrenaline changes the personality, making the person aggressive, vulnerable to diseases and has abnormal conditions. High secretion of Cortisol makes the person nervous; a sleeping disorder follows as well which makes the student have difficulty in falling asleep. The person also suffers lower level of concentration, a more sensitive mind, and severe sadness due to prolonged exposure to stress (Jang, 2009). There is another hormone that hinders the restoration of new memories and it called Melatonin; it is secreted at night. This contributes into forgetting what the student had just memorized last night (Jang).
“Cramming exerts a kind of stress on the brain” (Jang, 2009, paragraph 17). It has been evident throughout the essay. Whether it is pre-cramming, post-cramming, and inter-cramming, stress is present in cramming. Without stress, the Adrenaline and Cortisol hormones would not be secreted to the body; its mere presence and secretion in the body when cramming is proof that stress is present when cramming; they [Adrenaline and Cortisol] are not called stress hormones for nothing. Stress can help the brain and body cope and develop in dire situations. Although, often and recurrent exposure to stress can cause complications to the brain and human body. (Jang)
The last effect of cramming is brain damage. In order for information to be stored in the long term memory, the information needs to go through complex mental processes by repetitive memorization and exposure of the information that is accompanied by rest between each session. In cramming, there is no rest and the repetitive memorization and exposure is not effectively done; without those, the complex mental process is not done correctly and completely. It has also been proved that Cortisol, the stress hormones excreted when in stress, makes it more difficult for information to be formed in the long-term memory. Even though some stress helps the short-term memory, it could make things worse for the long-term memory. (Jang, 2009)
It is clear that the negative or undesirable effects if cramming far outweigh its positive if desirable effects. It is extra time for other stuff, adrenaline pump, and uncertain chance to pass the test over stress, nervousness, anxiety, aggressiveness, mental block, lower level of attention, bad memory, damaged long-term memory, and more. Cramming has different effects. It is best to avoid it as much as possible and “use” it only when the need arises; for example, when there is a lot of work to be done and there is a hectic and compressed schedule.
References:
Jang, H. J. (2009). Invasion of Cramming- Source of Superhuman Abilities . Retrieved March 25, 2010, http://theargus.org/detail.asp?p_ho=423&p_key=ar423THEORY.CRITIQUE2&p_section=THEORY.CRITIQUE&p_idx=1522
(Jang, 2009)
Jang, H. J. (2009). Invasion of Cramming - Abnormal Secretion of hormone . Retrieved March 25, 2010, http://theargus.org/detail.asp?p_ho=423&p_key=ar423THEORY.CRITIQUE2&p_section=THEORY.CRITIQUE&p_idx=1522
(Jang, 2009)
Jang, H. J. (2009). Invasion of Cramming- Impairment of Long-term Memory . Retrieved March 25, 2010, http://theargus.org/detail.asp?p_ho=423&p_key=ar423THEORY.CRITIQUE2&p_section=THEORY.CRITIQUE&p_idx=1522
(Jang)
Jang, H. J. (2009). Invasion of Cramming- Source of Ssuperhuman Abilities . Retrieved March 25, 2010, http://theargus.org/detail.asp?p_ho=423&p_key=ar423THEORY.CRITIQUE2&p_section=THEORY.CRITIQUE&p_idx=1522
(Jang, 2009, paragraph 17)
Jang, H. J. (2009). Invasion of Cramming- Source of Superhuman Abilities . Retrieved March 25, 2010, http://theargus.org/detail.asp?p_ho=423&p_key=ar423THEORY.CRITIQUE2&p_section=THEORY.CRITIQUE&p_idx=1522
(Jang)
Jang, H. J. (2009). Invasion of Cramming- Impairment of Long-term Memory . Retrieved March 25, 2010, http://theargus.org/detail.asp?p_ho=423&p_key=ar423THEORY.CRITIQUE2&p_section=THEORY.CRITIQUE&p_idx=1522
(Jang, 2009)
Wikipedia.org (n.d.) Cramming (Education) –Cramming as a study technique. Retrieved March 15, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cramming_(memorization)
(“Cramming”, n.d.)
Wikipedia.org (n.d.) Cramming (Education) –Cramming as a study technique. Retrieved March 15, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cramming_(memorization)
(“Cramming”, n.d.)
No comments:
Post a Comment