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Where do people stand on Cram-Revision?

People tell you not to do it. Parents/teachers moan at you when you do... But Cram-revision can work, can't it?

I mean, from personal experience, I barely pay a lot of attention in class, just enough to know the jist of what we're supposed to be doing. I do all my assignments at the last minute, and don't start to revise until about a week before the exam. Okay, I'm generally in a state of neurotic panic, with a sickening knot in the pit of my stomach for the whole week, but I'm convinced I work better under the pressure of it all. The results tend to speak for themselves. I got all As at GCSE (barring one B), and straight As at AS-level.

So, where do other people stand on this? Do any of you work in the same way and find it successful?

Would be good to know what you think, because I get moaned at so much by everyone for doing it. And also told I don't deserve my grades because I hardly do any work !

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Reply 1

steve2006

i am mixed on this topic.

I crammed for every single one of my GCSEs and came out with 6A*s 4As and a B. That was pretty good so i thought it would work for AS but it didnt and i ended up with BBCC. You may be a good crammer but one day the negative effects will hit home. Luckily it opened my eyes to how crap cramming is. A2s are much harder and need more work. Thats why im starting weeks in advance for it. U can get 10A*s, 4As at AS through cramming but not getting the A2 grades you need for uni can mess up everything.

Reply 2

The West Wing

I love it. I promise it works, and I recommend it to everyone.

I haven't touched revision for my 3 January exams because it's more fun to cram. IT WORKS.

It works for me xD

Worked for me at GCSE...kind of for A level...

I wouldn't recommend it. I just used to be lazy.

Reply 5

thisisyesterday

Nice

.. Well I'll let you know where I stand on it not working for A2s, because January exams are imminent :smile:

. I have Government and Politics on the 10th and I've hardly looked at it. I'll start tomorrow. Manana, Manana. =)

avoid it if you can.

The West Wing

I love it. I promise it works, and I recommend it to everyone.

I haven't touched revision for my 3 January exams because it's more fun to cram. IT WORKS.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I recommend it to everyone. I think it works for some people, and not for others. My mother is a psychiatric nurse with a top degree, and she didn't revise for a single exam in her life. Yet some people need to start their revision weeks/months before the exam to be comfortable. I think it's different for everybody.

Reply 8

Inside

It does work in terms of passing exams, but unfortunately the facts only go into your short-term memory so unfortunately I can't remember much of my two years of work in sixth form.

It is not advisable if you want to gain long-term knowledge, improve your learning capacity, or be ahead academically of your better-organised peers at uni.

Reply 9

M.A.H

worked for me in one exam, but DONT DO IT

Reply 10

Forté

Why is white surrounded by words like righteous and complete, whilst black is surrounded by words like corrupt and iniquity?

Reply 11

adrenaline1989

I tend do understand everything in class that the teachers are banging on about, so that helps. That's not to say I don't revise in advance, because I do. Infact since the start of the A2 year, i've been revising, if not for the resits, trying to get ahead of everyone ina bid to understand what we might learn in the next lesson.

It's all about confidence and experience. If you feel you can cram everything in the last minute, but are still relatively confident on the content of the work, then you will be fine. The problem arises when one doesn't have a clue about the work, then begins to cram.

Revising weeks prior to the exam always puts one in more confidence and saves last minute panick.

Reply 12

M.A.H

Forté

Why is white surrounded by words like righteous and complete, whilst black is surrounded by words like corrupt and iniquity?

Well the usual connotation of evil with black and good with white, nothing to do with race or anything

Reply 13

caw123

If you consider revising a week before the exam as cramming, then I have never done anything but. I wouldn't recommend it.

Reply 14

somewiseguy

well it certainly gets the grades (i should know!) but you forget everything the week after, so if you're intending on understanding it then...no. however it does work and it is how i survive-tis a bit dangerous though, if you really don't get something the night before the exam then you're screwed. it helps if you kinda 'get it' during the year, and last minute cram just to recap...

Reply 15

thisisyesterday

Yeah I'm with you on the whole 'getting it' thing. The thing is, I find a lot of the work very easy, and so far I'm yet to be challenged. Which is annoying, and why I can't wait to get into uni so I'm expected to think for myself a bit more. Also, I never connected the fact that I never remember any of the stuff with the fact that I cram. I put it down to having a bad memory lol.

Reply 16

ShaolinTemple

How can you cram A2 psychology?

Reply 17

adrenaline1989

Now THAT is impossible.

Anyone that claims they can needs to give their secret away, prefferably now with only 2 weeks left.

Psychology is literally impossible to cram in due to the numerous theories/research studies/evaluative points.

Reply 18

AntiLearner

I do this all the time, it works for me, as I'm practically learning everything when I cram, I don't really focus in class. :p:

For example, we had this exam a while ago, and I was getting D's in the practice papers. Then, the night before the exam, from around 8pm I started reading the textbook from start to finish, making notes on key areas. Finished at around 4am, got up for the exam, and I got an A for it. :biggrin:

It works best for me because I store all the knowledge I need for the exam right before I take it, but the bad news is I usually forget all the info afterwards.

Reply 19

Prudy

Cram revision works only for A level type exams (GCSE's etc) because you aren't expected to have knowledge or intelligence. Merely good memory capabilities. (Certain subjects excluded of course). However when it comes to learning something cramming is (obviously) the worst thing to do. Ask anyone who crammed for an exam the subject matter a year later and they're bound to not remember the finer points. (In A Level speak the "A" grade answer)

I think however the worst thing about cramming is that with people who can get away wiht is it breeds a false sense of security, because they start to feel as if they can get away with it forever. An then, they only snap out once they have a mighty fall. (Spoken from experience)

So, Cramming is very bad, and the mark of a lazy person.
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BUT! I'm sure everyone has done it. I certainly have