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7.25 Cool Reasons to C.R.A.M. as a Student

Professional athletes recognize the importance of playing at their best. They realize that their individual performance has a direct impact on their team and organization. If they play at their finest or play their game ‘A’ Game, everyone will notice. It is at these times that they seem unstoppable.  Besides athletics, this peak-performing zone can too be experienced in other areas of life – in business, in relationships, in leadership, and es-pecially in the field of academics.

Most high school and college students desire to be at the top; however, their work hab-its and level of discipline do not always support their scholastic desires. Most desire to have the best grades, the best GPA, the best of friends and to be a part of the best ac-tivities.  But what causes one student to perform poorly and another to play his or her ‘A’ Game? Well today I’m going to show you how to C.R.A.M. your way into playing your ‘A’ Game.

Now you are probably thinking, “Cramming isn’t that successful. I can’t cram my way to a 4.0.”  Your thoughts are valid but I want to propel your life as a student and as an indi-vidual person by bringing you to a higher level of thinking.  You’re probably very familiar with cramming.  Most students do it, stay up late the night before a big test and cram as much information into your brain at the last minute. A few things to consider about this type of cramming is one, it hardly ever works and two it doesn’t work at the last minute.  BUT, if used at the proper time, C.R.A.M.ming can bring forth great results.

Take this example from my college years.  As a Freshman Chemistry major at Norfolk State University, I made some bad academic decisions. I was a P.P. – a Professional Procrastinator. I would wait until the last minute to do everything.  I waited until the last minute to study notes, prepare for tests, work on homework and finish reports. I procrastinated so much, I waited until the last minute to go to the cafeteria to eat. This last minute lifestyle forced me to have many “cram sessions,” pull “all-nighters” and sometimes I missed meals.
Since I was on an academic scholarship, I realized in order to maintain my scholarship and graduate with honors, my poor study habits and lack of time management was go-ing to have to change. This became further apparent when I had to repeat exams with headaches and aching body pains.  During the exam, I would feel sluggish and crappy; like I had a serious hangover.  I actually did – a hangover from the previous night of cramming, drinking bottles of root beer, eating candy bars and greasy pizza all for the sake of trying to stay awake to focus.

Reports have shown that cramming or “last-minute studying” causes unhealthy symp-toms. If you are a consistent crammer, you can testify to the following:

• Your anxiety level increases tremendously.
• You lose sleep and eat poorly.
• You are accessible to get sick more easily.
• You are tardy or even miss the exam time.
• You take the more difficult essay make-up exam, because you missed original exam.
• You simply fail the exam.
• You perform worse on the exam than you would have otherwise. Guaranteed.

Last minute cramming does not work because of a few biological reasons. When cram-ming occurs, information is stored in the short-term memory side of the brain. This is where everyday information that is not really worth remembering is stored. In order to learn we have to transfer information into the long-term memory side of the brain. Here information can be retrieved far easier and is stored over a longer period of time. Let’s further examine the difference between short-term and long-term memory.

All information is processed in the brain and stored in short term memory. When the short-term memory overloads the braid with information, you can start to forget it. Can you remember what you had for breakfast two days ago, or the outfit you wore this past weekend? What about the price of your lunch on Monday? No? Long – term memory is the type of memory used when we want to store information in a more permanent way. This is either done by making information especially memorable or by consistent repeti-tion. Have you ever tried to remember the lyrics to your favorite song? How many times did you listen to that song or read the lyrics before you finally remembered it? The same should be true for your class work. Once something is transferred from short term to long term memory we successfully say it has been learned, or at least remembered. So with understanding long-term and short-term memory, you understand why cramming is pointless, it will always leave you coming up short.

C.R.A.M. as I have termed it can be translated into a simple four-word phrase – Consis-tent Reiteration for Advantageous Memorization. It is imperative that you study your class work (C.R.A.M) every single day, even if it is for a few minutes.  Your current occupation is a “student” and you will have this job title until you graduate; so see school as your 9 to 5 job.  When it’s time to study a class subject, work just as if it were your full-time job, making sure you check-in and out at a certain time each day. You should have daily C.R.A.M. sessions throughout the school term so the information can transfer to long-term memory.

My main reason for addressing this issue of cramming versus C.R.A.M.ming, is to im-press upon you to develop DAILY DISCIPLINES. The thing you give your attention to the most, will be the thing that controls your mindset and memory bank. You have what it takes to play your “A” Game every school term. Just don’t wait until the last minute to cram, C.R.A.M. every single day with a planned regimen.
Many students fail because they fail to plan. To better your grades, you must have a de-tailed plan of attack and mastery over your daily schedule. Here are 7.25 cool reasons to C.R.A.M. as a student:

1. You will be better prepared for quizzes, tests and exams.
2. You will retain more information to use later rather than learning it for a test, then for-getting it.
3. You will rest and sleep better.
4. You will be more confident and less anxious about exams, tests or quizzes.
5. You will be healthier, focused and more alert during the exam.
6. You will not have to repeat the exam, or take that silly essay makeup exam.
7. You will become the student others want to study with because you know the class material.
7.25 You will have better grades and a great GPA.
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Kantis Simmons is a college speaker, youth role model and author of Playing Your “A” Game.   and 7.25 Secrets to Academic Suc-cess.  As America’s #1 Academic Success expert, he impacts high school and college students worldwide with his speaking pro-grams, information products, academic success blog and coaching programs. Kantis is acclaimed for receiving three college degrees where he didn’t pay a single penny to receive them (a recipient of about $400,000 in scholarship money). Trained as a re-search scientist, he has worked 10 years  developing new products and solving corporations’ research problems, today he solves student academic problems. His energy and “Keep It Real” style when on stage is contagious.  He’s funny, energetic and his real life solutions will elevate every students’ thinking and academic status. He not only speaks academic success but has actually done it. See www.PlayingYourAgame.com to get access to his “A-Tips” and free newsletter. Then visit him at www.KantisSimmons.com to see how he went from very low SAT scores to 3 college degrees.

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