Strategic cramming (learning experience)

I think a majority of us can attest to the fact that in high school earning an A was easy. Acing tests involved minimal studying and really only required that you do your homework and complete assignments. In college, that is not the case. An A requires great effort. No one just stumbles into an A.
My first test I ever took, which happened to be in psychology, was a wake up call for me. I studied maybe an hour the night before and put little effort in memorizing vocabulary. When I finally took the test, I was in shock. A majority of what I was reading seemed like it was in a different language! I had no idea what Wernicke's area was and couldn't tell you what Sigmund Freud did. I left the classroom with my tail stuck between my legs.

Over the semester, I discovered that it was important to study for longer periods of time than just one hour. I experimented with my study schedule, some tests I would just cram a lot the night before and others I would divide into two parts. I used quiz let and note cards and wrote out reviews. Eventually I had developed a good method in making sure that I find success in my tests.

Fall semester finals was another challenge for me. I would need to learn how to equally distribute time into studying each course and properly remembering the material. I soon figured out exactly how to do it. I call this the stagger method. For my upcoming test I devote 6 hours in the day, for the next test I devoted 3 hours that day, and for the third next (is that a word) test I devote about two hours. What this means is that, by the day I take the exam, I will have studied around 11 hours for the test and probably be pretty familiar with the course material. While there is a lot of time devoted to studying on those days, I am never too stressed. I view the 3 and 2 hour increments as breaks for the longer 6 hour increment.

I'm really glad that I discovered this method my first semester. School is in no way easy, but I find that my studying strategy aids me in preparing for my exams. Some prefer the all-nighter, some prefer studying throughout the semester, I prefer learning it all over a 3 day period.