Cramming for finals, I dont understand

**Burninator** · 12-07-2009, 10:09 PM

I dont understand the idea of cramming for finals. I mean, i understand review, but i dont get why people stay up all night the night before trying to read and memorize as much as possible.

Ive yet to go through a class where i took the final and the questions were a complete surprise and i had no idea what was going on. Seems like if you attend and pay attention you wouldnt really need to hardcore study, just kinda refresh the material.

So for those of you that cram the night before, whats the logic? Just out of curiosity.

jackassguy147 · 12-07-2009, 10:11 PM

Desperation.

I'm inebriated · 12-07-2009, 10:39 PM

I cram for finals. I'll study an hour or two the night before each midterm.

Not to be an *******, but you go to a community college. I've taken summer classes at CC's and gotten A's without ever showing up to class or studying.

bnctaj · 12-07-2009, 10:49 PM

Burn does make a point, however. If one pays attention and studies consistently throughout the course, one's overall grade will likely be higher and one's retention of course material will actually mean something later on in life. Or, at least as much as anything one learns in a class room that one can be tested on can mean anything.

OA paintball · 12-07-2009, 11:08 PM

I never study before tests, i never studied or prepped for the SAT, and i dont really plan on it now. I get psyched out whenever i try and study

I just pay mad attention in class and read my textbooks when im bored outside of class and that seems to work best for me.

texaspaintballplpaye · 12-08-2009, 12:00 AM

Lots to know in 50 questions from the entire semester. I don't kill myself, but I do study.

DayoftheGreek · 12-08-2009, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burninator

I dont understand the idea of cramming for finals. I mean, i understand review, but i dont get why people stay up all night the night before trying to read and memorize as much as possible.

Ive yet to go through a class where i took the final and the questions were a complete surprise and i had no idea what was going on. Seems like if you attend and pay attention you wouldnt really need to hardcore study, just kinda refresh the material.

So for those of you that cram the night before, whats the logic? Just out of curiosity.

Because I need to memorize how to solve a problem with 10 different exceptions, through 3 different methods. There are 10 of these problems on my test. The gives me like 300 possible questions. Each one with its own order of equations on math tricks. When I cram, I can memorize a good chunk of the material that I did not already learn from class and homework because I NEVER get a problem from the homework or examples. Usually a similar one, but there is always one step that stops me.

This is coming from a senior electrical engineer, so I'm talking about all of my crazy classes where its pretty much calculus applied to theory. I remember the theory, I don't remember the calculus. Teachers love to throw trick into my exams. I'm talking like pre-calc trig identities that I haven't used since 9th grade.

From my experience in engineering, the questions are quite often a complete surprise. Tricky ones at that. There no shortage of them either, and never enough time.

Crede777 · 12-08-2009, 12:36 AM

I agree with DayoftheGreek. Most of my chemistry exam questions have been "tricky" throughout the years, often going one or more steps beyond what the homework problems covered. It's a toss up for my biology because it's often more theory based questions on the exam.

Basically, people cram the night before because they're too lazy to do work during the year.

benji25 · 12-08-2009, 12:57 AM

Pro-cras-tin-ation

TTB · 12-08-2009, 12:57 AM

All majors except law, some sciences and engineering are complete LOL. Everything at CC is complete LOL.

Go to a decent school before you talk about college life please.

juice18 · 12-08-2009, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTB

All majors except law, some sciences and engineering are complete LOL. Everything at CC is complete LOL.

Go to a decent school before you talk about college life please.

You're a dick.

People just dont study or pay attention, so they cram it all in. Especially if you dont take notes, because your attention span is lost after about 20 minutes of listening to a lecture.

Bad Arse Pirate · 12-08-2009, 02:59 AM

I pay attention in class, go to class (for the most part), but I still cram til the last minute. Adderol made me do it.

juice18 · 12-08-2009, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad Arse Pirate

I pay attention in class, go to class (for the most part), but I still cram til the last minute. Adderol made me do it.

Adderol truly does like, make you work. Its crazy.

shark6428 · 12-08-2009, 04:10 AM

When your school has Calc 2 professors known as the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you really have to know everything for the final. In just 3 semesters here, I've seen questions on mid term exams that hadn't yet been covered in class, and questions on finals that weren't covered at all. Go read onlyattech.net, most of that stuff is completely true.

Matt 23 · 12-08-2009, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I'm inebriated

I cram for finals. I'll study an hour or two the night before each midterm.

Not to be an *******, but you go to a community college. I've taken summer classes at CC's and gotten A's without ever showing up to class or studying.

I was at SUNY until I transfered to a CC in FL. Its not that different, it depends on the courses you're taking.

I highly doubt you barely went to class, CC requires that you go to class or you get dropped.

Matt 23 · 12-08-2009, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTB

All majors except law, some sciences and engineering are complete LOL. Everything at CC is complete LOL.

Go to a decent school before you talk about college life please.

Why is it a joke for someone to become educated on something they enjoy? If someone enjoys history, and they want to learn about history, why not let them.

Sure they will have trouble finding a job based on it but it doesn't mean its a joke. Some people, although rare, go to school purely based on character. They want to learn more for themselves.

You I can see have absolutely no character, you're just an arrogant prick. That will probably never change.

**Burninator** · 12-08-2009, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I'm inebriated

Not to be an <del>*******</del>, but you go to a community college. I've taken summer classes at CC's and gotten A's without ever showing up to class or studying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTB

All majors except law, some sciences and engineering are complete LOL. Everything at CC is complete LOL.

Go to a decent school before you talk about college life please.

im assuming your both talking to me.

If thats the case, this is not my first year in college. I attended University of houston and university of arkansas before this. Im taking basic courses i never took while attending these schools and am transferring to UT. That being said i probably know alot more about college life and real life than both of you.

Think before you speak

corporationpaintball · 12-08-2009, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTB

All majors except law, some sciences and engineering are complete LOL. Everything at CC is complete LOL.

Go to a decent school before you talk about college life please.

I beg to differ, and I am a law major. Just because someone goes to a CC doesn't mean they are stupid, lots of people have started doing their freshman year at a CC to save money and transfer to a college/university before their sophomore year. It's not uncommon.

I'm inebriated · 12-08-2009, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt 23

I highly doubt you barely went to class, CC requires that you go to class or you get dropped.

It really depends where you take it. I've taken classes at two CC's. One was English 2 which I had to show up to a couple times, but our only grade in the class was writing a 5 page research paper, and she said as long as we showed up a few times to show her how our paper was coming along, we didn't have to come any other times. (I guess writing a 5 page paper is difficult for people in CC's).

The other one was managerial accounting. I literally never showed up, failed every test, and still got an A. We had so many grades that had nothing to do with the class, and the grading scale was 1-900, so once you got like 600 or 700 points, you got an A. For example:

Writing a half page summary over the syllabus
Taking an online quiz over the syllabus
Writing 4 half page current event essays over anything we wanted
Writing a half page paper about ourselves

This equaled around 450 points, so all I had to get was 150 points between a bunch of quizzes and 3 midterms.

(All of these we turned in online, we also had online quizzes, which were also a joke because you could sit there and flip through the book as you were taking them)

tl'dr - CC's are easier than high school

**MVPaintballer** · 12-08-2009, 10:24 AM

The idea is to learn the material throughout the semester, then cram everything the days before. You can only remember so much for so long.

Not_Werty7373 · 12-08-2009, 10:25 AM

i also dont cram for finals I review but i dont try to learn everything the night before. I also dont memorize how to do problems. I learn about the concepts and how they are to be applied to problems, that way I can complete any problem that is presented.