Intro and Method

Introduction

What is the best way to study for the best grade and how? That’s a question that can have so many answers to it. There are different ways to study for school exams and tests. The two biggest known ways to prepare for exams or tests are cramming and studying. Both have been done quite a lot by many students over time, but which one works best and why? Cramming often happens when students procrastinate and put off studying until the last possible minute they can. For people who have a set time and schedule to study, they have much less stress before the test, they can retain information long term much easier, and they can study for less time for an overall long period. This may be simple for some, but for others it is hard since there needs to be a lot of time set aside for organization of planning what times and when to study. For cramming, there are also some benefits of this method. For example, the less time spent studying, people can spend it doing what they want to do with their time. Also, no planning is required for this! Since there is not much time spent studying, it will be harder to retain long term information. Instead, the brain will only retain 20% of what is learned, also called short term retention.

            According to Gradepower, “A big reason why cramming does not work is that it dramatically increases a student’s stress levels. This stress has a negative effect on their ability to concentrate, making preparing for a test even more difficult.” (www.gradepowerlearning.com). Students already have enough stress on their minds, adding onto it before a test is not the best way to study if they actually want to learn the material. It is better to plan out a schedule to study for shorter periods of time but for an overall longer period.

Methods

Participants: The people who participated in this study were college students from freshman to super seniors at the University of Iowa in the Fall of 2018. Twenty-three students took this survey anonymously.

Procedure: The students who did participated in this were asked to take part in an anonymous survey. These questions were in relation of the students preferred method of studying. There were four questions in the survey to complete. The first question was, “What grade do you get on an exam when you cram?” The second question asked, “What grade do you get on an exam when you schedule your study time?” The third question asked, “If you space out your studying, how many days before the exam do you start studying?” The fourth question asked, “If you cram, how many hours of studying do you do before an exam?”. There were four to five choices of answers for each question so that people can answer as accurately as the possible can.