Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Ever cram for a test knowing your going to fail, but try to study regardless?

Gustoferson · 10-08-2004, 07:46 AM

I definately know the feeling of thinking the crash studying will be useless, but try anyway. At least for me, crash studying has pretty much always worked, at least when I've seriously done it. If your dedicated to the cramming, you can pull off some suprising stuff.

I did fail a class a few semesters ago (calculus functions of one variable ii) but that was one where I gave up shortly after the drop date and didn't even make an effort to catch up. I would've had to ace the final to pass the class, and the likelihood of me learning an entire semester of calculus before the final wasn't too good. With some effort, I could've learned enough to pass the final, but it would've been useless as I still would've failed the class because of not studying for earlier ones. All in all, it was a shitstorm, though it is very freeing to fail a class.

But back to what I was saying, thats what all nighters are for. Just chip away at the mound of material, try to figure out what parts can be skimmed and what parts you need to keep coming back to every hour or so. Pace yourself since you know how many hours are before the test and have goals of 'this chapter for the next 40 minutes, then general review for 20, then the next chapter for 40, then more general review...' etc. You may not do as well as someone who studied plenty beforehand, but you can still get a pretty good grade on it usually. Works for me at least.

Oh yeah, and I highly suggest shutting down AIM and avoiding any general non-study-related websites for the duration, unless in small measured periods as a kind of reward for getting through an amount of studying. And don't clean your room, its fine till after the test, that one always gets me.

10-08-2004, 07:46 AM	#13 (permalink)
Gustoferson Crazy Location: Chapel Hill, NC	I definately know the feeling of thinking the crash studying will be useless, but try anyway. At least for me, crash studying has pretty much always worked, at least when I've seriously done it. If your dedicated to the cramming, you can pull off some suprising stuff. I did fail a class a few semesters ago (calculus functions of one variable ii) but that was one where I gave up shortly after the drop date and didn't even make an effort to catch up. I would've had to ace the final to pass the class, and the likelihood of me learning an entire semester of calculus before the final wasn't too good. With some effort, I could've learned enough to pass the final, but it would've been useless as I still would've failed the class because of not studying for earlier ones. All in all, it was a shitstorm, though it is very freeing to fail a class. But back to what I was saying, thats what all nighters are for. Just chip away at the mound of material, try to figure out what parts can be skimmed and what parts you need to keep coming back to every hour or so. Pace yourself since you know how many hours are before the test and have goals of 'this chapter for the next 40 minutes, then general review for 20, then the next chapter for 40, then more general review...' etc. You may not do as well as someone who studied plenty beforehand, but you can still get a pretty good grade on it usually. Works for me at least. Oh yeah, and I highly suggest shutting down AIM and avoiding any general non-study-related websites for the duration, unless in small measured periods as a kind of reward for getting through an amount of studying. And don't clean your room, its fine till after the test, that one always gets me. __________________ ...And then I found $5!