WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Is Cramming the Worst Way to Study?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbaumb here with a classic episode from the podcast's archives.

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<v Speaker 1>In this one, we dive into the weird science of learning.

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<v Speaker 1>We all know somewhere in our heart of hearts that

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<v Speaker 1>pulling all nighters to cram isn't really effective, especially in

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<v Speaker 1>the long term. But let's talk about what actually is.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbomb here with a familiar scenario.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the day before a big calculus exam and you

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<v Speaker 2>haven't studied for whatever reason.

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<v Speaker 1>You're short on time.

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<v Speaker 2>You have too many other exams packed into the same day,

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<v Speaker 2>too many cat videos. You know. Around ten pm you

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<v Speaker 2>finally sit down to review the material. Six hours later,

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<v Speaker 2>you catch a short nap before rushing to school. You

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<v Speaker 2>take the exam and it seems to go fine, although

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<v Speaker 2>it wasn't your best effort. You pass and promise not

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<v Speaker 2>to repeat the cycle when it's time for your next one.

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<v Speaker 2>This is what's known as cramming, and while students, parents

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<v Speaker 2>and educators have long known it's not ideal in desperate circumstances,

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<v Speaker 2>it does work to some degree, and by some degree

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<v Speaker 2>we mean it might save your GPA, but cramming doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>provide long term learning. According to researchers who study how

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<v Speaker 2>we learn versus how we think we learn a spoiler alert,

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<v Speaker 2>we're usually really wrong. In the case of cramming, you

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<v Speaker 2>may pass the test and feel like you've got the

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<v Speaker 2>material down, but research shows that a dramatic rate of

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<v Speaker 2>forgetting occurs afterwards. This is especially problematic when one lesson

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<v Speaker 2>provides foundational information for the next like in math or

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<v Speaker 2>a language class. Forgetting most of what you learned is

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<v Speaker 2>not the only downside to cramming. Researchers have found that

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<v Speaker 2>losing sleep while pulling an all nighter also leads to

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<v Speaker 2>residual academic problems for days after the cramming session. You

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<v Speaker 2>can imagine the negative effects of an ongoing cycle of

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<v Speaker 2>procrastination and cramming. More than a century of research shows

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<v Speaker 2>that if you study something twice, retention goes up. Studying

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<v Speaker 2>and then waiting before you study more produces even better

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<v Speaker 2>long term memory.

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<v Speaker 1>This is called the spacing effect.

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<v Speaker 2>Rather than reviewing material right away, students benefit from spacing

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<v Speaker 2>out their study sessions. There are many arguments about why

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<v Speaker 2>spacing works better for long time retention. One relates to encoding.

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<v Speaker 2>When a student studies something from a book and reviews

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<v Speaker 2>it immediately, the student will encode the information in the

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<v Speaker 2>same way both times. It's not very helpful long term.

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<v Speaker 2>The more different times and ways you can encode information,

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<v Speaker 2>the better you'll understand it and the longer you'll know it.

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<v Speaker 2>This means that even studying the same material in two

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<v Speaker 2>different locations can help you encode it in different ways,

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<v Speaker 2>Therefore you'll learn it more successfully. Another factor at work

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<v Speaker 2>is that research shows that the harder it is for

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<v Speaker 2>a brain to recall something, the more powerful the effects

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<v Speaker 2>of that recall will be in the long term. For example,

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<v Speaker 2>if you're at a conference and meet someone new, you

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<v Speaker 2>might recall their name immediately, which probably won't help you.

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<v Speaker 1>Remember it the next day.

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<v Speaker 2>However, if you need to recall the person's name an

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<v Speaker 2>hour into the conference and do so, you'll have a

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<v Speaker 2>better chance of remembering it a day or a week

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<v Speaker 2>later because you had to put in the effort to

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<v Speaker 2>recall it. A third reason why spacing works is that

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<v Speaker 2>people pay less attention to the second presentation of material

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<v Speaker 2>that they've just seen because the information is already familiar.

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<v Speaker 2>When the material is spaced out, it's no longer as familiar,

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<v Speaker 2>so people pay more attention if the spacing effect sounds

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<v Speaker 2>like a lot of waiting around to review material, and

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<v Speaker 2>it may indeed slow the learning process because you'll be

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<v Speaker 2>studying for more than one evening. Recent studies have shown

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<v Speaker 2>the positive effects of another study method, mixing up different

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<v Speaker 2>material while studying. This concept, called interleaving, consists of working

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<v Speaker 2>on or studying one skill for a short period of time,

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<v Speaker 2>then switching to another one, then maybe a third, then

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<v Speaker 2>back to the first. A twenty fifteen study tested interleaving

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<v Speaker 2>in nine middle school classrooms teaching algebra and geometry. A

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<v Speaker 2>day after the lesson for the unit was complete, the

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<v Speaker 2>students trained with interleaving school were twenty five percent better

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<v Speaker 2>than the students who received standard training. A month later,

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<v Speaker 2>the interleaving group was up seventy six percent. This is

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<v Speaker 2>great news. Studying for an exam or completing a big

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<v Speaker 2>project doesn't need to feel so daunting, and interleaving has

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<v Speaker 2>benefits for writing, too. Rather than trying to block out

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<v Speaker 2>two hours to study for a math test, study math

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<v Speaker 2>for thirty minutes before you move on to French, and

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<v Speaker 2>then work on an essay go back to the math later.

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<v Speaker 2>There's a message here for teachers as well as students.

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<v Speaker 2>Instead of teaching a topic and a block and going

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<v Speaker 2>to the next steps, teachers can spend a short time

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<v Speaker 2>on a topic, go on to others, then return to

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<v Speaker 2>the earlier topics. But it seems that we have a

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<v Speaker 2>lot to learn about how we learn. A two thousand

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<v Speaker 2>and nine study from UCLA found that spacing was more

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<v Speaker 2>effective than cramming for ninety percent of the participants. Just

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<v Speaker 2>six percent of those who crammed learned more than those

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<v Speaker 2>who studied using the spacing effect. In three experiments, researchers

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<v Speaker 2>tested spacing against cramming, Yet despite the findings in favor

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<v Speaker 2>of spacing, participants believed the cramming style was more effective,

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<v Speaker 2>and a twenty twelve UCLA study found that staying up

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<v Speaker 2>and foregoing sleep to study is actually counterproductive. No matter

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<v Speaker 2>how much a student studies daily, if they sacrifice sleep

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<v Speaker 2>in order to study more, they're likely to have more

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<v Speaker 2>academic problems, not less the next day. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 2>based on the article why cramming is the worst way

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<v Speaker 2>to study on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Kerry Whitney.

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<v Speaker 2>Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with houstuffworks

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<v Speaker 2>dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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<v Speaker 2>podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the Airheartradio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 2>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.