Effects Of Cramming For Examinations Education Essay

Effects Of Cramming For Examinations Education tryCramming is an ineffective training strategy adopted by a mass of students in higher educational institutes beca usance it causes interdict psychological and physical effects. R.Sommer (1968) define cramming as a period of neglect of study followed by a concentrated burst of studying immediately before an exam (p. 104). In this definition, concentrated burst of studying refers to a study strategy which come to studying for consecutive hours with or without short rest on the eve of examinations. Cramming or massed practice is, therefore, an intensive and quick study of pendent table of contents for the sole conclusion of breathing out examinations. Students who procrastinate by habits atomic number 18 more likely to delay tests preparation and indulge in valueless cramming. The pop the question of this paper is to address the widespread practice of cramming and its ineffectiveness with regards to its negative effects on s tudents.Researchers in the field of psychology and education cook argued for decades on the goals of education and students breeding experiences. In todays complex and challenging environments, change is imperative. P. Ramsden (1998) argued that development is interpreting and redeing of reality in a different mode to facilitate a student to comprehend the world by reinterpreting knowledge. accomplishment by students should be viewed as a constructive, self-regulated and goal-oriented individual process so that they can construct significances from knowledge (de Corte, 2000, p. 254). Towards this end, graduate students are expected to charter developed a fair expertise in critical sentiment skills to help them adapt to incisionicipate in economic, political and scientific issues of the world. educational pedagogy must enable students to analyze, theorize and happyly engage with distributively other and with the world around them. Despite informers repeated intervention to teach students appropriate learning strategies, more or less students still widely adopt line up learning getes to learning in contrast to deep learning approach. P.Ramsden in his book, Learning to Lead in Higher Education (1998), has described ascend approaches lead at best to the ability to retain unrelated details, much for a short period. They are related to lower levels of academic cognitive operation and more limited development of generic skills (p. 48). Such kind of approach entails the use of rote-memorization, chunking of factual knowledge, an inability to understand context from a deeper perspective, learning to earn a minimal pass in the examinations and roughly importantly, students are driven by external motivation to achieve passing grades and obtain qualifications. The question arises why do educational psychologists and teachers encourage students to start up a deep learning approach for examination purpose? The next part of this paper contains a discus sion of the question and highlights the negative effects of cramming for examinations.Todays observation of societies around the world reflects a dearth of intellectual persons with true and acquired individuality. The societies around us reflect individuals who are not secretive or devoted to their administrative tasks whether as public servants or politicians of a country. Harold E.Gorst in his book, The Curse of Education (1901), implicitly stated that progress heart development of ideas and mediocre individuals do not engage in much(prenominal) ideas which are progressive to a country. He notwithstanding states that as wide as education is synonymous with cramming on an organized plan, it will take place to form mediocrity (p. 6). Gorsts statement resonates the fact that cramming or the vast accumulation of factual and superficial knowledge, which has been forced upon the students, are partly the results of improper teaching, learning and assessment methods (examination s) of educational systems and partly the results of students learning strategies. Consequently, the achievement outcome of such educational systems which crams students to follow rigid pedagogical approach is at a higher level but it produces the biggest ill effect of this type of cramming system of education the failure of adequate personality and intellectual development of students who are capable of thinking for themselves as well graduates who regard the goal of learning as a process in itself and an end product. Such students beam in the knowledge domain only, but their cognitive domains (intellectual reasoning) along with his affective domains (concepts of self esteem, emotional development) are rapidly halted.In order to understand what is learning, it is very important to view learning in its specific contexts. For example, in the early systems of Japan and Hong Kong, learning was viewed as a process to strive knowledge and then an assessment of the knowledge. With an e nd to the learning process, the whole ensured meaning of learning was lost. In these countries, educational systems were dictated by higher politics as a means to deliver fast paced teaching and to direct students for higher education entrance examinations. The result was that competitive examinations were seen by petty(prenominal) and high school students as a measure to show their knowledge, remembrance and bother-solving skills rather than their intellectual reasoning and capacity building skills. However, still today, most parents and students in Taiwan still believe cram schooling permit positive effects on students learning achievement (Chen, S.Y. Lu, L. 2009). But the selfsame(prenominal) study concludes that the time spent in cram schools negatively impact the psychological well being of students and made them prone to depressive symptoms. The next part of the paper concentrates on the negative impacts of cramming on those students who cram by survival of the fitte st rather than necessity.Students who cram out of choice and habits are usually asterisk at the art of cramming and often pass their examinations. They have come to opine the purpose of education to attain knowledge through learning of subject content. The aim is targeted towards attaining only extrinsic rewards achieving good grades and qualifications. Driven by extrinsic motivation, with a resurrect approach to memorizing factual knowledge in the fountain of hours before examinations, these students are putting themselves into states of sleep deprivation and strive disorders. Students statute title that they recall materials better when learnt hours prior to examinations and feel less stressed. But, according to a research published in the newsletter, Monitor on Psychology (2001) of American Psychological Association, lack of sufficient sleep is a widespread problem among teens and adolescents are at high risk for cognitive and emotional difficulties, measly school performa nce, accidents and psychopathology. Several scientific researches has also concluded that young large number need adequate amount of sleep and resting periods to allow regeneration of the intelligence cells called neurons. Continued exertion of the head leads to lesser regeneration of new memories and fall brain activities in the cerebral cortex, the part of brain responsible for cognitive functioning. Limited cognitive abilities lead to poor memory retention, concentration and charge to details (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2007). From these evidences, lack of sleep and intense brain activities without rest causes fatigue and stress in these students.Stress can produce a long term effect which causes many students to develop further psychological and behavioural disorders ranging from anxiety, guilt and attention deficit disorders to patterns of irritability and aggression. adverse to these research findings, students who cram often become adept at it, and use these strategies over again with few changes in their habits. Therefore, it is very crucial to bring up awareness of the negative effects of massed practice on sleep patterns, stress and physiological derangement in the forms of chronic diabetes, obesity and hormones disturbance. Moreover, psychologists are in agreement, that spaced or distributed practice over consecutive days to achieve learning is more beneficial in terms of the physical and psychological well being of students.ConclusionThe preceding parts of the paper have provided evidences of the negative effects of cramming on students. The goal of education and learning is in complete contrast to the outcomes produced by cramming practice. It is fair to assume that students, who adopt surface learning strategies with a cynical view of education, cannot get far in terms of longevity since his intellectual and psychological development is incomplete. Being fit with an extrinsic motivation to performance, the nee d of todays times is for graduates to learn continuously with as such driven motives. In view of the ill-effects of cramming, it can be fairly say that cramming is an ineffective learning strategy, and produces mediocre individuals.