Cramming is studying a large amount of material intensively in a short period just before an exam, usually instead of spreading study across the preceding weeks.
How it works
Cramming relies on massed practice: many repetitions in a short window. That can produce strong short-term performance, because the material is fresh. But memories formed this way fade quickly, following a steep forgetting curve, because they have not been retrieved and strengthened after gaps. Cramming also usually involves rereading rather than self-testing, and it often costs sleep.
The alternative is distributed practice: the same total study time spread over many days. Each session involves some forgetting and effortful retrieval, a desirable difficulty that makes memories more durable.
How to avoid cramming (steps)
- Start with a calendar. Count back from the exam and assign topics to weeks.
- Study in short, regular sessions. Many students find the Pomodoro technique helps.
- Review soon after each lecture. Make flashcards the same day.
- Use spaced repetition. Let a spaced repetition system schedule reviews so old topics keep coming back.
- Practise retrieval. Replace rereading with practice tests and self-quizzing.
- Protect sleep. Plan your final week so the night before the exam is for light review and rest.
When cramming is most harmful
Cramming does the most damage in courses where knowledge builds on itself, such as maths, sciences, languages and medicine, and before cumulative exams such as finals, A-levels or licensing exams. In those cases, material crammed for an early test has to be relearned later, often from scratch. If you notice you are relearning the same topics before every exam, that is a sign to switch to spaced study.
Evidence
Research comparing spaced and massed study goes back to Ebbinghaus (1885). Cepeda and colleagues’ 2006 meta-analysis found that distributed practice reliably beat massed practice for long-term retention across many studies. Kornell (2009) found that students learned more vocabulary when they studied flashcards in a single large stack spaced across a session than in small massed stacks, even though most participants believed massing had been more effective. Research on sleep and memory has found that sleep after learning supports consolidation, and that sleep deprivation impairs attention and learning. Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated distributed practice as high utility.
Avoiding cramming with Duetoday
Duetoday makes it easier to study a little every day instead of a lot at the end. Each lecture recording, PDF or YouTube video becomes flashcards on a spaced repetition schedule as soon as you upload it, so reviews start on day one. Use practice tests weekly to check whole topics, and ask Galileo about anything you keep missing.
