How to Cram the Right Way for Exams

Every week, I distil what really works for improving results, memory, depth of understanding, and knowledge application from over a decade of coaching into bite-sized emails.

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(Designed for busy students and professionals aiming to achieve top results without endless studying. 77% of our students cover the same amount of study material in 30% less time within 1 month.)

=== Timestamps ===
0:00 Welcome back
0:21 Cramming is underrated
4:11 The strategic way to cram
8:09 90% of the details aren't tested
8:47 Why cramming actually makes you learn better
10:00 Reasoning your way to "educated guesses"

=== About Dr Justin Sung ===
Dr. Justin Sung is a world-renowned expert in self-regulated learning, certified teacher, research author, and former medical doctor. He has guest lectured on learning skills at Monash University for Master’s and PhD students in Education and Medicine. Over the past decade, he has empowered tens of thousands of learners worldwide to dramatically improve their academic performance, learning efficiency, and motivation.

[shivaramkumar]

Justin Sung, right on time as always to save my scalding butt from my Engineering End-Semester Exams!

[nguyenthithuly]

1) Identify and study the most assessible points
2) Establish the most important concepts to understand

[Dank_Lulu]

Because of an accounting error during my engineering degree, I had a whole subject missing in my curriculum and I found out the day before end-terms that I missed all lectures and tests. Luckily, the professor agreed to give me all the lectures, exercises and a mock-exam on a flash-drive and have me attend a private test the next day in his office. I read the material just like you described, trying to link it to my knowledge of other subjects because I had no time to memorise anything. The next day, after a good 5 hours of sleep, I sat-down and guessed most of what I saw on the test and whatever questions the professor asked me. Because I had a deep understanding of the related subjects and I just glossed over how this one was linked to them, my engineering intuition did the rest and I passed a test on a subject I crammed overnight. It was one of the first times I truly felt competent at anything. Thanks for explaining the process, because I honestly just got lucky and did it correctly without knowing what I was doing.

[OlaSax-gzqo]

This strategic way to cram is similar to how I write or paraphrase.

1) I first write down one or two key words from a sentence (words that can make you guess the conversation)

2) The. I paraphrase with just those key words in mind (I end up capturing the key points being discussed when I do this).

[Valentino]

I crammed and score 70 overall for my exams. I just tried to memorize everything and understand it more. For maths I just memorized the steps and techniques. I just memorized hard. I still remember the content I memorized. That was the first time cramming ever worked for me. Sometimes you need to cram because there's just no time left. Cramming is pretty good.

[ReflectionOcean]

The transcript discusses the topic of cramming and its effectiveness in studying. The speaker believes that cramming, when done correctly, can be underrated. They explain that cramming forces students to study a large amount of content in a short period of time, which can be beneficial. However, they caution against memorization-focused cramming and emphasize the importance of understanding and connecting concepts. The speaker recommends focusing on the most important ideas and learning how they relate to each other. By organizing and arranging information in a meaningful way, students can improve their ability to recall and apply knowledge. The speaker also highlights the relevance of this approach in real-life situations, such as clinical reasoning in medicine. They conclude by stating that the process of organizing and understanding information can lead to more effective learning and reduce anxiety associated with forgetting.

[ClearBlueSky]

I was about to cram in so many lecture videos and literally calculating how much time It would take to watch them and what speed I should watch them in. My exam is in 7 days, i can for sure see now that, that approach even though its what so many of my peers are currently doing is meaningless.
Im going to try this layering approach because I can already tell that there are concepts I suck at. Im actually excited to cram now, wish me luck guys 🤞🤞🤞

[dondiegodelalunayzarazul]

Thanks for this video!
I've just discovered your channel and was looking forward your takes on "cramming", since lately I've been having free time to dedicate myself 100% to studying, and I've been exploring the boundaries on what can be learned at once.

[Goose____]

10-ish days until my finals, this video is giving ideas that i should *not* be applying

[viracocha]

Cramming at the beginning of the semester is something I've never heard of! Nice video, thanks

[youtubereview]

I just want to share my personal experience in case it is helpful for anyone. I just came out of a final exam, I had a few more topics to review, some things covered in the last few days before the exam that I didn't remember. I didn' have a chance to watch these videos, but I feel that if I went through the textbook, more carefully and said ok the test is in an hour, which concepts do I not know the least. Then, I'd watch some YouTube videos about those concepts, since I already looked in the books and didn't understand the concepts. So, after the exam, I watched those videos and I would have probably been able to answer the questions that I wasn't able to solve if I had done those questions. I'm sure this isn't ideal learning, I should have done this a few days ago, but I just need to pass. My old "system" of learning is pretend test is in one hour, what topics should you review, make list, watch YT videos, try to solve all the problems in the textbook. Sometimes it's hard to guess what types of questions are going to be on the exam. @Justin Sung What do you think?

[jacky]

Identify most assessable points - allows you to anchor info to make it relevant

[ericdeng]

Very very interesting video, the main thing I learned from Justin is that studying is about learning and not just memorising. Hope I can use the stuff I learned here in school this year!

[vector-mupb]

You always give the best tips ever. I have utmost respect and gratitude for you @Justinsung, thank you.

[AngelsAndButterflies]

Thank you for this video! It’s amazing how it’s so easy to forget these simple things. I got hung up on spending too much time on assignments, but the idea of doing efficient and quality work while trying to do it as quickly as possible (without sacrifices) is really useful. It makes me think, "How could have I have forgotten?" Thank you, Justin, for sharing your thoughts and reminding us!

And btw, I’ve definitely reviewed details immedietely before a test that I needed to know. 😝

[rahatali]

I was searching on your channel about covering syllabus in less time and then a few days later you showed you can also change the heading(covering syllabus in less time) of the video!

[Riiyyuu]

Cramming though seems simple for every one but i always do it wrong and most of the time when I forgot after a week. Thanks for this video I'll surely gonna apply☺️

[jakubkonopa]

7:30 this is accualy great revision method for me that genarates very high cognitive load and i think would be categorized as a retrived execution so i start with general understanding of a topic doing my prestudy and than i do practise papers that test me on details than i try to use my key ideas to guess most logical answer it allows me to go around of book structure that bias me to view knowledge certan way and it test my procedural to apply knowledge in non linear scenarios so not in a way that textbook teaches us also it serves as a great way remember details because if you thought hardly enough how this detail is derived from key concepts if you learn it now from the text book you have great understanding of how it maps to key concepts and the also high difficulty and struggle that is produced by trying to really generate knowledge that you really don't have from key concepts makes that details that much more memorable also it builds on motivation mechanism that we get highly motivated when we struggle a lot and than we finnaly get the answer one of most extatic feeling student can expierience for sure xD
Ofc this method is limited by your previous knowledge on the topic or field and if you don't have already somewhat build intuition it won't work because you won't have things to build on but for revision especially on topics that you already have some understanding perfect👌
Another downside is that it doesn't allow you to cover a lot of detail but this part of technique is just bonus the main goal is to strengthen you higher order conceptual understanding

[sarritta]

I just thought that it comes out at the right time !!! Thanks a lot!!!
But like you said this should always be used whether it's for craming or for the first day of a school semester 👍

[seeds]

You're a blessing to your generation