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Page 3 • Tuesday, December 7, 1999
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tudents learn benefits of last minute studying
’Y Dr. B{
BY JEFF WOLFSHOHL
The Battalion
arrie Jacobs, a junior journalism major, real
ized one day that she had become past due
on 15 weeks’ worth of put-off projects and
lied studies.
This week, she will pay her penance with the time-
iOnored retreat of responsibility — cramming.
Jacobs said last semester she had several papers to
ite instead of final exams that she knowingly put off
iigtil the last minute.
“1 had a 16-page paper for my political science class
11 wrote it all in one day,” Jacobs said. “I did the
?arch on the Internet the night before it was due,
In woke up the next morning to write it.”
JJacobs said she finished the paper 20 minutes be-
foi it was due.
I "I think I would have done the same quality of work
had worked on it for an extended period of time,”
:obs said.
She said that although she was sweating at the
w, she has no regrets about cramming.
T would do it again because I was successful, and
[th my schedule, it’s kind of necessary,” Jacobs said,
might be a little over confident at times, but so far
iOgood.”
Cynthia Samples, a chemistry graduate student, said
the amount of cramming needed is directly related to
bw far behind the student is.
“Cramming is better if you have enough time to cov
er the material because you are getting a big overview,
learning all the information at once,” Samples said.
“But if you run out of time, you will get screwed be
cause you probably won’t study all the material.”
Samples said she learned how to best utilize her
time when she was studying late for a test.
“For one of my chemistry exams, I went through
homework and found all of the equations used; then
went through the notes and matched them,” she said.
Samples said studying homework is a good solution
in searching for the best reference material.
“With the homework, the teacher emphasizes
what you need to know,” Samples said. “Most teach
ers give homework problems on the exams, but they
are just reworded.”
Snack food and coffee provide the fuel students
need to get them through an all-night study binge.
Natalie Brumley, a junior marketing major, said she
would eat and drink large amounts of sugar and caf
feine just to stay awake.
“I was in my sorority house with one of my friends,
and we drank a lot of caffeine and ate a lot of sugar
[foods],” Brumley said. “This kept me awake but
probably didn’t help me study.”
Brumley said the main reason she studied late
was because she was overloaded with other acade
mic duties.
“I was stressed out about my other accounting class
because I was borderline in it with my grade,” Brum
ley said.
Brumley said she did well on her accounting exam
but did not do well on other exams she crammed for.
Kenneth Grizzelle, a sophomore business adminis
tration major, said he stayed up all night studying for
an exam last year.
“Me and a friend got together and went to ‘4.0 and
Go’ to take the practice test,” Grizzelle said. “We then
went home and studied it until 4 a.m. I got an A in the
class because of it.”
Grizzelle said going to class is part of the cram
ming process.
“If you don’t go to class, there’s no use in cramming
because you probably have no clue what is going on,”
Grizzelle said. “If you do go to class, then cramming
gets everything fresh in your mind.”
Cramming comes with consequences. Joel V.
McGee, program coordinator for the Center of Acade
mic Enhancement, said class lectures are the best com
plete preparation for finals.
“There are some classes you can’t learn overnight,
like calculus and physics,” McGee said.
McGee said a person’s body reacts poorly to
cramming.
“You can’t push your body further than it wants
to go,” McGee said. “At some point, it’s better to
sleep because if you cram past a point, you will have
problems.”
Some of the indicators of these problems, he said,
are better fixed with a good night’s sleep than a gallon
of ground coffee.
“If you are starting to nod off or you are physi
cally not feeling well or it starts becoming harder to
memorize something, then you have reached that
point,” McGee said.
Michael Vincent, a freshman political science ma
jor, said he wants to avoid the state of cramming mad
ness by being prepared.
“I’m trying to get an early start,” Vincent said. “I’ve
been studying all weekend.”
Vincent said one of the ingredients he uses to be
successful is working in a study group.
“I like group studying because of the fact that if you
don’t know the answer, one of the other members
could maybe explain it,” Vincent said.
“It is also easier to understand the explanation from
a group member rather than the professor. ”
Cramming, as an academic crutch, can become ad
dicting. Grizzelle said he will probably put off study
ing again because cramming is a hard habit to break.
“I’m a procrastinator, and I will not study for an
exam more than a few days before,” Grizzelle said.
Samples said she sees cramming as an inevitable oc
currence in the finals experience.
“It’s just not feasible that someone will go home af
ter class and study for three hours every day,” Sam
ples said. “No one is completely prepared for their fi
nal exam. ”
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