Essay About Cramming

When a student pulls an “all-nighter” studying, working, or simply stressing over tomorrow’s exam, they lose precious time that should be used to relax and rejuvenate. It has been recommended by experts that the average teenager get 9.25 hours of sleep each night in order to be fully functional the next day (National Sleep Foundation). However, only about 15% of American high school students are meeting this benchmark, creating concern among many doctors and sleep specialists. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health, losing too much sleep significantly increases the levels of cortisol in the human brain. Often referred to as the “stress hormone,” high levels of cortisol are very unhealthy for developing adolescents, slowing down communications between the brain’s frontal lobes and ultimately leading to the impairment of auditory, spacial, and visual senses. In addition, too much cortisol can cause students to become “emotionally irrational,” causing more dramatic responses to everyday situations. As a result, losing too much sleep makes it nearly impossible for students to concentrate and learn, which ultimately defeats the original purpose of homework, to improve learning and prepare students for the future.

College students like myself often put off sleep for other activities like studying, doing homework or even just staying up all night with a friend. Our body follows the twenty-four hour cycle of each day and night through a biological clock called the Circadian rhythm. On the weekdays, staying up all night and skipping meals makes it difficult to focus in class. After lunchtime, I become sleepy and have difficulty focusing on my other classes. In the afternoon, this affects my body because it does not give me energy, but instead it makes me crash earlier in the day.

They cram their brains then forget it all after the test. School systems have become accustomed to the “Drill n’ Kill” method. A University of Maryland study from 2007 found many teacher felt they needed to “teach to the test”. NCLB instilled this practice due to the decreased amount of time available for teaching and the increased amount of higher-order thinking involved in each test. As Benjamin Franklin wisely stated, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” If teachers are being told to repeat information students may remember some of it, but will most defiantly have more success being taught in an environment conducive to long term memory. This may be possible for some counties, but the tests have constantly increased the material and rigor each year leaving no time but for repetition from student to teacher. Some students have even found they don’t even get the correct answers from the test and never “fully” learn the

In the present study we sought to characterize abnormalities in sleep architecture and quality, in a cohort of patients with medically refractory versus and controlled epilepsy, versus normal healthy controls and to study the effect of sleep parameters on cognitive function in these groups. The main observations made were of significantly longer self-reported and polysomnographic TST in patients with refractory epilepsy in comparison to controlled epilepsy and healthy controls. Sleep architecture was also found to be markedly disturbed among epilepsy patients in both groups, with prolonged REM latencies, and frequent arousals and awakenings although these abnormalities were statistically similar between the groups. Our main observation is that higher total sleep time has a negative correlation with memory and executive function performance.

As a college student, the information David Randall presents is very intriguing due to the fact that most of us are sleep deprived due to late night studying, among other things. It is very evident that Randall relies on statistics to build and progress his argument. He tells us how over time certain statistics have increases and by how much. This opens our eyes and makes us realize that there really is an issue. By providing these sources Randall becomes trustworthy and our doubt of whether this is true or not are put to rest. The author comes into contact with our feels once he brings in true stories to the picture. He informs us of the incidents that have occurred due to sleep deprivation. At this point the issue becomes more than a statistical

During the review process new material, new insight and relationships are still connecting with old memories (Schenck, 2011, p.279). Rehearsal is the stage before the assessment, in which connections and memories are being strengthened and the ability to retrieve from the memory is almost instinctive. Effective and Ineffective study skills and strategies play an important role in getting students from processing new material to the ability to retrieve from the memory instantly. However, some strategies that we thought were effective are in in fact not effective at all. For instance, cramming is a popular form of studying. Students usually lock themselves away a few days leading up to a big test and try to fill their memory with information. This is something I use to do and my thinking was it would be fresh and easier to remember closer I got to the test. Yet, cramming simply does not work because our brains do not have the ability to store enough of the information that would be on a typical exam, in our short term memories. In fact when we cram we usually aren’t providing our bodies with the proper sleep or brain food that would help us succeed.

Cramming before a test allows you to retain the information on a short-term basis but the days after the test it is like never studying for the test. Nate Kornell, a professor of psychology at Williams College, researches effective learning strategies. He suggests different ways to study for tests. One way to retain information is a distributed practice, which involves spacing out the material. Students can learn the material over a period of time and be able to sort thought the information during the

Students in high school struggle with sleep so seriously that medical professionals call it an epidemic, with 87% of students getting less than the recommended amount of sleep (Richter). It’s difficult to balance sports and extracurriculars with school and homework, and, come junior and senior year, college applications and jobs as well. All these activities in students’ lives leave them little time for a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately for them, sleep is actually crucial, as it has not only been shown to improve GPA, but also help students with memorizing information (Hershner). Not to mention that most high schools start classes early in the morning, with 29.9% of schools starting before 7:30 am, according to a 2012 survey (CDC). According

Being sleep deprived can also affect driving, can affect performance in school, and can lead to illness (Iarovici, 2014, p. 32). Social activities in college contribute to sleep problems, for example, drug use and heavy alcohol drinking (Iarovici, 2014, p. 32). However, sleep problems are not only caused by unhealthy lifestyles. Sleep problems during college years, a major time of development, can be a sign of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder (Iarovici, 2014, p. 40). However, there are students who try have tried everything to fall asleep (e.g., not drink alcohol or caffeinated drinks) and they still experience sleeping problems. Some people have genes that cause them to be more alert during the night than in the morning, and others have delayed sleep syndrome, in which circadian rhythms are abnormal (Iarovici, 2014, p. 42). Delayed sleep syndrome is more common in young adults and interestingly, people obtain enough sleep, but they tend to fall asleep during the early morning than during the night (Iarovici, 2014, p. 42). Even though the individual may be getting eight hours of sleep, such a shift in sleeping time can lead to individuals feeling depressed because they cannot enjoy the activities others enjoy during the day, and can lead to individuals having

“Students who described themselves as struggling or failing school (C's, D's/F's) reported that on school nights they obtain about 25 min less sleep and go to bed an average of 40 min later than A and B students, ps < .001. In addition, students with worse grades reported greater weekend delays of sleep schedule than did those with better grades.” (Wolfson, Carskadon, pg.1). Because some students go to bed later, it results in them having worse grades. Whereas students who go to bed earlier tend to have A’s or

Later classes lead to better grades. Students who said they got poor grades reported getting twenty-five minutes less sleep a night and going to bed an average forty minutes later than kids with good grades did. Cognitive function and psychomotor skills are closely related to sleep, and numerous studies have correlated sleep loss with significant decreases in children and adolescents’ performance (Wolfson 1). Studies of middle school and high school students reported that more sleep, earlier bedtimes, later weekday rise times, and less daytime sleepiness were associated with better grades in school and greater motivation to do one’s best in school (Wolfson 2).

The majority of students develop study habits that may not be effective in the long run or suitable for their learning style. According to a research done by psychologists Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel, re-reading information over and over again is one common mistake students make. They may often wonder why they fail exams even though they are studying for a long period of time. Studying a short amount of the material every day after class for at least twenty minutes will help you retain the information a lot better than to cram everything the

With class starting at 8:30 AM, extracurricular activities extending well past 8 PM, students working in after school jobs, trying to keep up on the constant demand of homework: high school students put getting a solid eight hours of sleep or even a quick power nap, at the bottom of their to-do lists. "Over-packed schedules and 12-hour days are draining already sleep-deprived teenagers. In high schools where most students go onto college, the pressure to excel inside and outside of the classroom leaves students with little time to relax." ("Power Napping," 1996). Lack of sleep is accepted as a part of high school. We've all seen our classmates fall asleep during a history lecture or video. The problem is that students are forced to stay up most of the night finishing projects and papers or studying for their tests the next day. Some argue that if teenagers would manage their time better, they could sleep enough at night, but with the competitiveness of students and the many activities they are involved in, they don't have a lot of time left.Sleep loss can take a devastating toll on the mind and body at any stage of life, from early childhood to older adulthood. But for teenagers, who are at a critical stage of development, skipping out on sleep can be particularly dangerous.In the teen years, when development continues the sleep deprivation effects of brain and body development are significant. Naps in school are usually frowned upon, but it

Keeping your body on a schedule will make it much easier to fall asleep, and it even predicts a better GPA and mood. The article moves on, and talks about how it affects your schoolwork. According to the passage, “A physician study published in The Lancet proved that sleep-deprived individuals took 14 percent longer to complete a task, and made 20 percent more errors than individuals who were well-rested.” This is saying that even if a student is performing well, they could be doing significantly better, if they had gotten the proper amount of sleep. After this, the article introduces an interesting point: “You actually figure stuff out in your sleep.” A test done by the University of Tubingen had people see if they could find a solution to a hard math problem that had a shortcut. Then, they had some people sleep a healthy eight hours and had some stay awake. The experiment found that “the insight rate more than doubled among the subjects who had spent the eight hours sleeping: sixty per cent of them could now see the shortcut.” Finally, it

Using your text book as a pillow rather than a reference can help your chances of getting a better grade. Then why do students believe that pulling an 'all-nighter ' before an exam will increase their chances of getting an 'A '? It seems that in our society, sleep has come second to our daily routine, disregarding its importance for productivity. Many people are bogged down with errands, career issues and studying that sleep becomes overlooked. However, most of what we accomplish can be streamlined into more efficient productivity by one minor adjustment; a full-nights rest.