Is Studying At The Last Minute Worth It?

I have often heard teachers and other educators warning students against last-minute studying. This time is ideally considered to be the day before a big test or examination, naturally being a very important and anxiety filled time. I understand that at this time, any student is clamming onto their books and notes, trying to do some last minute cramming. Often, many of you would have heard teachers going against this practice, highlighting it's uselessness as the main cause. 

At this point, there are some things I disagree with and some I agree with.

While generally speaking studying the day before your tests, especially a big test, is not going to do you a big favor. Nevertheless, that precious time should definitely be utilized productively in some manner. Here are some tips on what you are supposed to be doing during the calm before the storm.

• I would personally go against practicing questions, especially long answers, on the day before the test. It's not going to do you much good, especially if you end up writing the wrong answer due to anxiety. Remember, our brain does not think properly when we are in a stressful situation or have anxiety. Our flight or fight response is activated, stopping our brain from doing any high level thinking. This may accidentally make you think that you are not prepared and may increase your anxiety and sadness when you end up getting answers wrong before test day.

• Don’t spend the day lazing around. This is precious time and it wont come again. Don’t waste this time, instead, study your notes. Go broadly over all the chapters coming in the test. Make sure all the formulas and definitions are correctly memorised. 

• Often, the day before the test, I personally watch videos or read through solved questions just to see how other people solved a specific question, especially for math. This is very helpful because I don’t have to solve the questions and tire myself out, and I can still gain valuable insight on how to solve a question.

• Have dinner early and do not eat foods that are oily or high in loaded on sugar. Your blood sugar will rise, causing you to be wide awake and have diccult falling asleep. This may add to your anxiety, leading you to have a bad sleep, and damage your overall performance on test day.

This is some general advice that I can give to students. Naturally, it is best to study long beforehand for important tests so that we can have a relaxed testing session and the day before the test is also spent relatively relaxed. Saving ourselves from this anxiety of failing a test is always worth it and it only requires students to start practicing and studying beforehand. Procrastination is the enemy of academic success and needs to be beaten. Thus students should prepare for tests earlier. However, if that is not possible, students shouldn’t worry and instead try to salvage their grade in whatever little time is left, without going crazy with anxiety and nervousness.