Malpractices - Ariel - Cramming and Procrastination

STUDENT AS CRAMMER AND PROCRASTINATOR

Matt is 8 minutes late. His Philosophy class’ long quiz has already started when he arrived panting at the classroom door. He quickly sat down and begged for paper from his seatmate who gave Matt what he wanted with a deep frown. The teacher was already reading question number 7. Matt cursed to himself for missing six questions: If only he woke up early that day. He overslept because he went to bed at 3 o’clock in the morning doing his English class project which was due today. He is not ready for this announced quiz. He had tried to review his notes when he was on his way to school. While taking the quiz, Matt could not concentrate. He could already guess what his score will be.

This scene is common among students. Every student has committed, at least once in his college career, the crime of cramming and procrastination.

Cramming is working intensively to absorb large volumes of informational material in short amounts of time while procrastination is a behavior characterized by the deferment of tasks to a later time. Students usually cram to prepare for an exam while procrastinating is used as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety of starting a task or decision.

The effects of procrastination are stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of personal productivity, the creation of crisis and disapproval from others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities.

It is caused by psychological issues of anxiety, low sense of self worth and a self- defeating mentality. Further procrastination leads to cramming which results to poor long- term retention of the material studied.

Cramming however is considered to be advantageous to others. According to W. G. Sommer, students in a university system often adapt to the time- constraints that are placed upon them in college, and use cramming to perform well on tests. “Many students outwardly adapt to this system, however, engage in an intense and private ritual that comprises five aspects: calculated procrastination, preparatory anxiety, climactic cramming, nick- of- time deadline- making, and a secret, if often uncelebrated, victory,” Sommer stated in one if his article.

Consider the situation of Jon (not his real name), a 2nd year masscom student who finds cramming and procrastination advantageous and does them because of 3 reasons. First, he said that he can do everything he wants to do like sleeping, playing computer games or going out with his friends during those times that he has to do his assignments or study his lessons. Second, he said that if he makes his homework during those times, the output will usually be ugly because he does not have the mood and he is not interested in doing them. His mind will be usually empty. Third, his mind functions greatly when the deadline for an assignment or the exam is near. “The times when I am motivated to do a requirement is when the deadline is just hours away because my mind will work already,” Jon stated. Thus, cramming or procrastination becomes an advantage and for him they are already part of his system when it comes to his studies.

Sheila V. Lim, a part time teacher from the School of Liberal Arts and a guidance counselor says that students cram and procrastinate because they have a lot to do, so many distractions, they get easily bored, and try to do a number of things at once and they lack focus. On the issue of whose fault it is why students cram and procrastinate, she said that no one’s to blame because as humans, students always have the freedom to choose and to make options. She believes in taking responsibility of one’s actions and knowing one’s priorities in life or even for the week. According to her, if a student knows this, then most likely he or she would not cram because he or she will work for which of significance in his or her life.

But what can a student do to help himself or herself when procrastinating and cramming do not help his or her school performance?

According to Lim, some say that they think well when the deadline right is in front of their noses just like Jon’s case but she believes otherwise. “If you make the most of the allotted time given to you for a project for instance, like a week, then you can slowly plan for it and work for the accomplishment of the project. In that situation, you not only budget time but you can budget your allowance too and will have fun in the process. The leaser stress you will experience and a quality project would most likely be the end product”, she said. “I’ve seen students do their projects a day before the deadline and the end result is glued pages which cannot be read and ends in the wastebasket. Hence, a day has gone to waste not to forget the effort and money spent,” she further explained.

To sum it all, cramming and procrastination can still be removed as bad habits by just
simply changing one’s ways in dealing with responsibilities as a student before they totally destroy one’s ego. But as long as procrastination and cramming are helpful and they have no negative effects on a student’s performance unlike most of the cases, there is nothing to worry.

Inside the Philosophy classroom once again just as the bell rang, Matt sat on his seat with just a pen and a sheet of paper on his desk waiting for the questions from the teacher. A contented smile played on his lips. He had passed his requirements in his Economic class early this morning and he had been prepared for another long quiz since yesterday. He does not have to worry...