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Crammers of the world unite!

So, we all know we shouldn't do it, but most of us end up doing it anyway.

All the revision tips on this site are basically anti-cramming, telling us to spread our revision throughout the year, little and often, blah, blah, but some of us have these things called lives and can't really do this, or don't want to.

So what are your cramming tips?
How did you get good results from doing as little work/revision as possible?
How can you best utilise your preparation time?

For me, I basically look through past papers and arrange all the questions into different types and how many marks each type usually is worth. I then use this to work pout what questions come out all the time, what questions come up some of the time and what questions never come up. I then split up my study time according to how many marks these questions are worth and make sure I can nail the perpetual questions and can have a good pop at the rest.

What is your cramming strategy?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Sokka

cramming ftw!! :biggrin:

i always end up doing it and feeling guilty later but who cares, it works :]
I recommend you revise atleast 8 hours a day if cramming, and then have the rest of the day for fun (wake up early to finish the 8 hours quicker). When it's like 10pm, you can start revising more up until about 2 am but stock up on the redbulls because caffeine helps ALOT. That's what I did in year 10 - a*'s in all exams except for ctizenship - see, that's how much i hate the subject, I can't even spell the godamm word right -.-

Reply 2

wanderlust.xx

I'm at uni but... I've essentially just completed an entire module in two days. Best advice? Understand it when your teacher/lecturer's talking about it, even if you can't be arsed to do homeworks. Failing that, POSSSTEEEERRRSSS.

Reply 3

blahhh

.....15 hours revision a day :o:

oh, and ****loads of coffee

Reply 4

hunagdi

Crammers of the world unite! Sieze the means of caffeine production!

Reply 5

apassingfeeling

My tips: Get up early early early (last time I had exams I was getting up at 6am every day - it makes me feel so alert and ready to tackle work than when I get up later), don't be afraid of the Red Bull :p:

Even if I'm not tired i've found that it makes me focus like crazy.

Use flash cards, and if you have an iPhone (not sure if it's on Android, etc) get this app called Cram - you write questions and answers into it and it tests you and gives you a % score at the end of the test...I always use this over and over until I can get 100%, seems to work. Make posters and stick them up everywhere so that you see them all the time... talk to your friends about the subject, even if you're boring them to death it always helps me to explain something to someone else, because then I can see exactly where the gaps in my knowledge are :p:

And if you get to the night before and you feel like you don't know as much as you should - don't stay up late trying to cram everything in! Get a good night's sleep so you're refreshed in the morning and go over everything then. :biggrin:

...and remember there are always resits :ninja:

Reply 6

ju1c

Do I still cram if my exam is in two-weeks?

Reply 7

-Invidious-

Original post by blahhh

.....15 hours revision a day :o:

oh, and ****loads of coffee

Bull****, I manage 8 full hours of work (excluding breaks) and that seems to be the limit. I don't how anyone can concentrate on revision for 15 hours a day.

Reply 8

dreamyeyed

I'm cramming* right now. Coffee is my best friend.

*should be cramming

Reply 9

whyumadtho

Rewrite the notes/textbook topics/slides/etc. by hand so it sticks in your mind. It's tedious, but it's good for short-term knowledge retention. :tongue:

Use different colours to highlight key points and read all your notes up to the door of the exam room. The multicoloured notes in some cases evokes a quasi-photographic memory, as you remember the points written in red in a sea of black handwriting, for example.

Reply 10

blahhh

Original post by -Invidious-

Bull****, I manage 8 full hours of work (excluding breaks) and that seems to be the limit. I don't how anyone can concentrate on revision for 15 hours a day.

Well I'm obviously an exception

Reply 11

Blueflare

Beat the system.
-Don't revise all the topics, work out how many you need to do to be sure of being able to answer enough questions and just do those.
-Know what gets you marks and make sure you tick enough boxes and jump through enough hoops that the examiner has to give you a good grade.
-When trying to remember names of theorists/writers associate just one word with them, and then use that one word as a "trigger" to remember the other stuff you need to know. One word is easier to remember than a page of notes. :p:

(I dunno whether that one would work for everyone but it works really well for me.)

Reply 12

hdin1

I just did 10 chapters in 3 days! :yawn:

.....so tired

Every year I tell my self I wont leave to the last minute and every year thats what I do. :facepalm:

Reply 13

Stratos

Stress apparently makes you memorize better, newscientist said it!

Reply 14

ju1c

Original post by arabcnesbit

When is your first exam that you are cramming now?

Do I still cram if i have two-weeks till my first exam?

Reply 15

ju1c

Original post by dreamyeyed

I'm cramming* right now. Coffee is my best friend.

*should be cramming

When is your first exam?

Reply 16

ju1c

Original post by blahhh

.....15 hours revision a day :o:

oh, and ****loads of coffee

When is your first exam?

Reply 17

RamsFanNo1

Original post by blahhh

.....15 hours revision a day :o:

oh, and ****loads of coffee

Not a good idea. I had been doing 18 hours a day even after being told by just about everybody that it will take its toll on me. It did and I ended up wasting a fair few days as I could no longer concentrate properly on the task in hand and nothing was going in.
My advice to anybody is when revising, DO take regular breaks. I never thought this actually worked, but I can assure you it does.
Well good luck to anybody who has exams, I hope all goes well :smile: