3 Tips to Kick Your Cramming Habit

June 23, 2021

The start of a new term provides a nice, clean slate to start afresh, another chance to become your very best! Hundreds of possibilities flash before your eyes—in these few months, you can unleash your potential and make the most out of every opportunity. 

But didn’t you say the same thing last term? And the term before that? Eventually, your fiery motivation fizzles down, and no matter how much you meant it, you will likely fall back to your old cramming ways.

The Cramming Crisis

Thousands of Australian students suffer from this bad habit, practically making it become a natural part of academic life. However, just because everybody does it doesn’t make it right! When you constantly cram, it places too much stress on your brain. When your mind is too overworked, you won’t retain difficult subject matter such as that covered during Chemistry classes. 

Not only will you have a difficult time understanding your lessons, but you will also feel anxious, frustrated, tired and confused. All of this combined makes for a very unwell student that won’t be able to perform well in class. 

Cramming is a problem! Trading sleep for finishing projects won’t kill you, but if you do it every single time throughout your student life, it will come to haunt you when you’re older, manifesting in long-term health conditions and mental illnesses.

Battling The Cram Monster

We know what you’re thinking—but if you want to see results, don’t leave this to the future you. The present is the perfect time to do something about this serious problem.

It’s time to stop creating empty promises and to start making a change! If you want to make this your best academic year, you have to do away with your cramming tendencies. Follow these tips to avoid cramming for your next test:

Increase Your Motivation

Lack of motivation if one of the main reasons most students leave studying for tests at the last minute. Motivation is key to fighting cramming, but it can be challenging to find it.

You can try to motivate yourself by setting clear, specific goals that you want to achieve or rewarding yourself with a simple prize at the end of the day. This way, whenever you’re feeling a little discouraged, you will have something to look forward to, and you’ll be all fired up in no time! As long as you’re in the right mindset, math tutoring can be more enjoyable than you think.

Procrastination is Your Enemy

Forget about words that refer to the future. ”Next time,” “tomorrow,” “later” no longer exist in your vocabulary. From now on, “today” and “right now” are your new best friends!

Students like to leave everything for later until later comes, so they postpone their tasks to tomorrow until eventually, they forget and panic during the eleventh hour.

If you want to stop cramming, you have to start. The beginning is always the most challenging part, but the rest of the process becomes much more manageable. Try studying in a conducive environment and find ways to keep yourself accountable, whether that be with a parent, friend or tutor.

Revise Every Day

Stop jamming information in your brain in one night. It's a dangerous gamble; either you get some answers right, or you completely space out and end up remembering nothing.

If you want to skip the pre-exam stress, just study a bit each day. Reviewing your revision materials little by little every day ensures that the information stays fresh in your head and prevents you from having to take an all-nighter before exam day. 

Conclusion

Cramming is harmful to both your body and mind. Your brain needs time to breathe—and it won’t be able to take in information very well if it’s overworked. If you want to excel in academics without sacrificing sleep or sanity, follow the tips above to fight against your cramming tendencies. The future you will thank you for it!

We at Young Growth Academy can help you with your study habits and become your very best in school! Our tutors not only provide English, Math, and Chemistry tutoring but also teach you how to think so that you can adapt your solution to different problems. Book now to get a risk-free trial!