It’s midnight, my laptop screen is the only thing illuminating my room, and I’m speed-typing an essay that’s due in an hour.
My brain, running purely on adrenaline and way too much caffeine, is somehow at peak performance. I submit the assignment just before the deadline, collapse into bed, and wake up the next day to find that I actually did well on the assignment.
If this scenario sounds familiar, chances are you’re a crammer like me. And despite what every teacher, study guide, and academic expert says, cramming can work.
Cramming, a practice of intense studying of large amounts of material in a small amount of time, conflicts with the “traditional” way of studying. For years, we’ve been told that the “right” way to study is through spaced repetition—small, consistent chunks of learning over time. Throughout high school, I’ve heard plenty of teachers preach about the ineffectiveness of cramming.
However, a lot of us know from experience that cramming gets the job done, and science actually backs this up; a study from the University of California Los Angeles shows that 80–95 percent of students procrastinate regularly, with many relying on cramming to get through school. That same study found that students who pulled last-minute study sessions performed just as well on tests as those who studied in advance, as long as they got enough sleep afterward.
Another study from the University of California, San Diego, found that cramming can significantly boost short-term recall, which explains why students often do well on tests despite studying at the last minute. When we cram, our brains release a surge of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that enhances alertness and memory consolidation under pressure.
So, if cramming can work, why do teachers hate it? While cramming might help you ace a test, it does almost nothing for long-term retention.
The problem isn’t the immediate results—it’s what happens after. A study from the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that students who crammed retained only 20 percent of the material a week later, while those who used spaced repetition remembered nearly 70 percent. If you cram your way through Algebra, you’re going to struggle when Calculus rolls around. Plus, there’s the whole stress factor. While some of us thrive under pressure, others might collapse under it, leading to sleep deprivation, anxiety, and chaos.
Ultimately, cramming isn’t all good or all bad—it’s just a tool.
If your goal is to recall information for a short-term deadline, it can be effective. But if you want to build a foundation of knowledge that lasts, spacing out your studying is the way to go. The key is knowing when to use each method. So, the next time you’re facing a test, ask yourself: Do I need to remember this next week? If the answer is yes, you might want to rethink that all-nighter.