“And the highest among you guys is….Raymond. He got a perfect score in our final exam. Great Work!”(Spoken in Filipino)
I was overwhelmed. Astonished. Surprised by the fact that…well I did study, however, I studied hours before the exam. I was very proud of myself that time…Thanks to my MEMORY. It helped a lot.
My Filipino class when I was in first year college was regarded as one of the most dreaded subjects by my Gen Ed classmates. Literally. I am a Filipino and I do speak my mother tongue but there are complexities with the terms that are just hard to remember. Plus, my professor was so strict and unpredictable. I exactly do not know why she needs to teach it so rigorous wherein I’m not majoring Filipino or languages. But I need to study hard enough coz I need to maintain my grades to continue my scholarship. And yes, that was my motivation to learn.
It was finals week and I focused studying more on my majors, Biology and Algebra. I left my review for Filipino class behind. A day before my exam for that subject, like most of the students do, I crammed.
When I opened my notes and books, all I can see are bunches of words to study and nothing is instilled in my memory. I was depressed and felt hopeless for a while. After that, I researched how to effectively cram before examinations. And I got tons of suggestions from different sites. I remember from one article I read, it suggested to sleep early and wake up early in the morning and start reading. This increases chances of remembering what has been studied. Furthermore, it mentioned to speak out rather than simply reading.
And so I did. I slept early around 8pm and woke up very early in the morning at around 2 am. Then I started reading. I memorized every single details in the book and my notebook. I did not waste any single seconds reading and memorizing out loud, not minding if people from the other room might be awaken because of my loud voice.
EXAMINATION. And it was time to take the exam. I was really anxious and queasy as I believed I am not that prepared and I only reviewed for few hours. When I got the paper, I felt more troubled coz all the questions asked to enumerate certain concepts and procedures pertaining to the topic. So I did what I learned from the strategies of effective cramming, I did deep breathing and tried to calm myself. Then I started reading the questions. As I was answering, I was astonished how I was able to pull out so much information when I am recalling what I studied hours before. Much to my surprise, I was able to finish the exam on time and perfected it.
Truly our MEMORY works with a great deal of inscrutability. In order for an external stimulus, information, to be instilled in our memory intact attention should be exhibited. The person should be well engaged to what is being studied for the information to pass through from a mere sensory memory to a short-term memory. However, we do not want this memory to just be left in our short-term memory and be forgotten. Rehearsal and repetition could increase chances of transforming this short-term memory into a longer memory. Upon retrieval of information, success is not a guarantee. Certain factors might affect failure of retrieval like lack of triggering factors. Cramming might not work for others but with effective strategies and confidence it might pull off a successful end.
Photo from: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/cramming-works-for-me
MITCHEL AFRICA 