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Craming for exams

Black Rose

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I have a problem where my short term memory is really low. I was never able to cram for exams so instead, I would learn all the materials beforehand because my long term memory is rather high. I never understood why they say school is all about rote memorization. This must mean everything falls out of short-term memory and is lost. Everything went into my long term memory automatically. I never forgot anything. I did not need algorithms to solve anything. I simply did not need to cram because of low short term memory and high long term memory.
 

peoplesuck

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when it comes to math I cannot cram but everything else, well that how I did everything else. I remember very little of what I learned, only some things I found interesting lasted. I memorized tons of classifications in biology and cannot name one, but being useless information I already knew it would disappear, I just cannot remember things that i dont find interesting. which is normal, right?
 

EndogenousRebel

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I think cramming is an issue when the curriculum has lots of concepts that have relationships with other concepts. For instance calculus requires understanding of algebra, geometry, and limits. If you're cramming you really would need to exert a lot of effort to keep these things straight in your head, and would really need to make sure you understand the base concepts and how they interact with the other concepts. This can happen outside of math too, but it's just the easiest example.

I remember a lot from what I've learned in college, but not anywhere else. I guess it's because I had the control to pick classes.
 

Rebis

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Working memory is within short term memory, exams are taxing on your working memory to solve solutions, therefore if you can cram a lot of material into your working memory just before an exam you'll be able to use this memory without consolidating it first.

While our working memory isn't great compared to ancestral species it brings brilliant utility in the moment. Imagine if your working memory was 1 second, you wouldn't be able to form many ideas that precept construction of a solution. Long-term memory is composite of crystallised intelligence, while short-term memory operates is composite of fluid intelligence.

There's different consolidation cycles too, strengthening/weakening of neurons over time so it's hard to forcibly apply something to long-term memory, short-term is generally easier.
 

Hadoblado

think again losers
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Cramming is shit anyway. Time management is king.
 

Drvladivostok

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Back in high-school I'd have a bad habit of cramming for an entire week of mid semester exam. I'd sleep at 3 AM while studying for the entire day, with harder subject like math I didn't sleep at all. The only main problem was sleep though, I can get by 4 days of it but will ended up basically sleeping on the class after I did the last exam on the last day. Got straight As.
I think cramming have less to do with short vs long term memory in people's ability and more to do with procrastinating.
 

Morrow

Dragonmaster
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Cramming before exams is normally a last ditch effort on my part. I normally study for a while leading up to it, allowing for me to store more in my long-term memory. I still however do like a quick heavy cram 1 or 2 days before the actual exam just to ensure that everything is fresh and ready to go in my short term memory.
 
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