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Cramming

For all of my exams thus far, I have done no revision at all. However I feel fairly (and probably over)confident about my exams because the technique of a last minute cram seemed to work. I did this for GCSE (due to being a horrible procrastinator) but I was worrying quite a lot when I was wasting the time for my A Levels.

For this batch of exams in the summer, I have been doing about two hours the night before (until 12) and then waking up at 3/4 in the morning and just doing solid revision right up until 9am.

I really hope that I do rubbish int he exams as, perhaps, it will urge me to stop procrastinating and being a lazy cun...but, as with my January exams, I feel I'm going to do pretty well.

Anyway, any other crammers out there?

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I'm a bit of a crammer too...but I'm doing my GCSEs right now haha!
Say, what did YOU get in your GCSEs then?
Reply 2
Greetings

I also happen to be a sombre crammer, it works great for me. But for people who it doesn’t work for, reading this, don’t think its easy!

It can be quite dangerous if done to the extremes, for example, i did my AS AQA psychology exam a week ago, i didn’t do the january modules and i had 4 units to learn. Didnt know any of the studies done and very little of the subject, my kowledge was U standard. So the day before, i was up at 6am and revised pretty-much non-stop the entire day and night until 1pm the next day.

Didn’t even sleep, stayed up the whole night, got thru about 20 cups of coffee and did the exams. I pretty much did learn everything and i also did all the past papers, even scared a few people about how much i new compared to them whilst we were queuing to enter the exam hall.

So i did it and everything went great, i think i got my A.

However, by the time i got home after 3 hours of exams and being awake for like 36 hours and so much caffeine in me, i was pretty much self destructing, having irregular heartbeats and some weird physiological stuff was going on. had to take some blood pressure tablets :eek:

That’s why my friends, cramming is nothing to be proud of. :frown:

----

I would love to be able to revise like teh average joe but i just cant, i get totally neurotic tendencies and i just do odd things to the extreme.
have had some problems in the past with my blood pressure and drinking too much tea(on normal day i was consuming 10 cups with 18+ on weekends), yes at times it stressful etc but your health means soo much more than these exams...just split it up into separate modules and do 1 module each day from 9am till 6...get some motivation...good luck,.
Ive always been a crammer and usually get reasonable results in the end :p:But i advise you not to as revising for long periods in the night is not very healthy and as davidjones90 said, split the revison up so you can have breaks in between which won't be as stressful. Also try not to drink anything with caffeine in as all it does is makes you hyper which is not a good thing as it's hard to concentrate when revising. Drink plenty of water and try green tea, works for me:smile:
Reply 5
yeh , big time procrastinatorrr right hurrrr
just started revising for exams over the last few days, first Alevel psycho exam on 12th im gonnaaa dieee.
revision is going over stuff you've alredi learnt in class, but in my case, its learnin stuff fo the FIRST time, i've skieved sooooo much class its not funni , and now im pretty much screweddddd. ahhhh.....
Reply 6
LFDDAP
For all of my exams thus far, I have done no revision at all. However I feel fairly (and probably over)confident about my exams because the technique of a last minute cram seemed to work. I did this for GCSE (due to being a horrible procrastinator) but I was worrying quite a lot when I was wasting the time for my A Levels.

For this batch of exams in the summer, I have been doing about two hours the night before (until 12) and then waking up at 3/4 in the morning and just doing solid revision right up until 9am.

I really hope that I do rubbish int he exams as, perhaps, it will urge me to stop procrastinating and being a lazy cun...but, as with my January exams, I feel I'm going to do pretty well.

Anyway, any other crammers out there?


I'm terrible.

I haven't started revising for my 5 AS exams yet... they start in a week. :s


Whoops
Reply 7
kastro9
Greetings

I also happen to be a sombre crammer, it works great for me. But for people who it doesn’t work for, reading this, don’t think its easy!

It can be quite dangerous if done to the extremes, for example, i did my AS AQA psychology exam a week ago, i didn’t do the january modules and i had 4 units to learn. Didnt know any of the studies done and very little of the subject, my kowledge was U standard. So the day before, i was up at 6am and revised pretty-much non-stop the entire day and night until 1pm the next day.

Didn’t even sleep, stayed up the whole night, got thru about 20 cups of coffee and did the exams. I pretty much did learn everything and i also did all the past papers, even scared a few people about how much i new compared to them whilst we were queuing to enter the exam hall.

So i did it and everything went great, i think i got my A.

However, by the time i got home after 3 hours of exams and being awake for like 36 hours and so much caffeine in me, i was pretty much self destructing, having irregular heartbeats and some weird physiological stuff was going on. had to take some blood pressure tablets :eek:

That’s why my friends, cramming is nothing to be proud of. :frown:

----

I would love to be able to revise like teh average joe but i just cant, i get totally neurotic tendencies and i just do odd things to the extreme.


Wow okay, now I know how you people do it :smile: I used to cram for History and Physics for GCSEs (and thankfully got away with it) but never to the extent of staying up for more than 24 hours straight. But how do you sustain the momentum for so long? I get bored after two hours..which is why I must start revising early, or I'll never finish :p: Even with the threat of an exam looming over me, I can't imagine studying for so long..
i find cramming doesnt work for AS exams
at least- not for english

i found out a bit late it takes constant developement of skills and accumilation of knowledge to do really well. esp since you can never make sure you know everything
aw yeah im a major major crammer.with my gcses i just took it one subject at a time and like maybe would do like one chapter of a text book two days before an exam and the day before would do i suppose on average it was probably 14 other chapters.on days that i had two exams the day before would be designated to one subject and then i would do the other subject all through the night.

my mates are forever giving off to me about staying up all night before the exam but im one of those people who has to have covered everything going into exams and while my friends mightnt be able to understand how i can stay up all night before an exam, i cant understand how they can go to sleep not fully prepared just for the sake of a *good nights sleep*??

anyway cramming worked for gcses a treat, as levels went well too,but my A2 modules at xmas?well the cramming did work i got b's but im gonna need a's next year and im an a student so i think that was a sign that for the amount of work u need to learn for a2's, cramming just ain't gonna cut it, so thus i have already started revising fo rme exams although they dont start until the 11th june, im procrastinating like nothing ordinary but hte little that i am getting done i know ill be thankful for when it comes to my actual exams.

so the moral of the story,if cramming works do it but be a little realistic as well, if u have tonnes upon tonnes to learn, and if u havent been listening THAT intentively in class then just start reading over your notes, you dont have to revise per say but even reading over them will familiarise u with it so when the time comes to cram, the information you already know is at the forefront of your mind.

oh and another thing, i drank coffee by the bucket load before my gcses however this came to a bad end the day of one of my history gcses, i stayed up until 2 or 3 revising and woke up at 8 vomiting my guts up, thank god my exam wasnt until 1 that day and lets just say i havent been able to drink coffee since as it is a diuretic after all, and ever since that fateful history exam my stomach just cant handle it.....gross lol

to keep you refreshed try hot water and lemon and i suppose a teaspoon of sugar might be nice if thats you're thing but i dont like sweet stuff so i wouldnt know. my lemon water keeps me nice and refreshed!
Reply 10
hmmmm the need to cram is proportional to how packed your timetable is which for me is pretty hectic this year proplus, black coffee and redbull.... and the occasional pack of smarties just incase they actually do what they say. i wish that i had more time but i just don't!
I crammed for my psychology exam, spent the last two days cramming well...kinda I teneded to start at like 6pm and only got 8hrs sleep in 48 hrs: RED BULL is a life saver...seriously :biggrin: I think I will do a weeks worth of crammin this week for my 7 exams on mond. and tuesd. after half term. I don't know anything :s-smilie:
I'm generally not a 'crammer,' I revise well in advance. However I cram in last-minute info and go hurriedly over the most important things the day before lol.
Reply 13
For my PYA1 retake last week I did development in the evening before, then whole of cognitive the morning before, went into exam and questions were easy as piss :wink::wink:
Reply 14
Works for me, that's what I've always done and I managed to get 4 A's last year (although one was in Graphic Design, so not an exam...but I still did all my work at the last minute :P)

My exams start 5th June...haven't even looked at a book yet.
Reply 15
LFDDAP
For all of my exams thus far, I have done no revision at all. However I feel fairly (and probably over)confident about my exams because the technique of a last minute cram seemed to work. I did this for GCSE (due to being a horrible procrastinator) but I was worrying quite a lot when I was wasting the time for my A Levels.

For this batch of exams in the summer, I have been doing about two hours the night before (until 12) and then waking up at 3/4 in the morning and just doing solid revision right up until 9am.

I really hope that I do rubbish int he exams as, perhaps, it will urge me to stop procrastinating and being a lazy cun...but, as with my January exams, I feel I'm going to do pretty well.

Anyway, any other crammers out there?


yep...thats me too :biggrin: I did it for GCSE and it seemed to work well...this year was no different - im hoping the results will be as good if not better than last year !!
Reply 16
I've not started revising for my A2's yet. I am now panicking and will be resorting to cramming in a last ditch attempt to get decent grades.
Reply 17
my AS biology exam is in one week, and i have hardly covered all the stuff i NEED to know. i proper need a jolly good grade because...i just do.
i plan on cramming like there is no tomorrow, although there is a slight hitch as i get tired REALLY early on and i'm like "i'll stay up and revise tomorrow" but i never do...SO; what do i drink that will keep me awake? bearing in mind i detest coffee and i am diabetic so cannot have too much sugar..
impossible situation or is there hopee?
im a firm believer in the cram method but drinking bucket loads of coffee n not getin any slp for the exam the next day... i dno seems risky i mean wont it affect your performance in some way?? especially in my case i got 3hrs of biology followed by 3hrs of business studies!! is it advisable in my case??
sssjay
my AS biology exam is in one week, and i have hardly covered all the stuff i NEED to know. i proper need a jolly good grade because...i just do.
i plan on cramming like there is no tomorrow, although there is a slight hitch as i get tired REALLY early on and i'm like "i'll stay up and revise tomorrow" but i never do...SO; what do i drink that will keep me awake? bearing in mind i detest coffee and i am diabetic so cannot have too much sugar..
impossible situation or is there hopee?


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