It’s the never-ending debate: should you cram studying beforehand or prioritise sleep? Of course, in a perfect world, you would want both, but if you had to choose between cramming or sleeping, which would be more beneficial?
ITS SLEEP
There are many reasons why sleeping should be prioritised over late night cramming sessions but the most important factor is that it has been proven by multiple factors that it is just not that effective.
Above is Scott H. Young’s theory on this matter: The Spacing Effect. As shown by the graph, your recall rate goes down as time progresses while steady effort keeps a consistent recall rate. While you can see some short-term benefits, you absolutely cannot (in that short amount of time) review your knowledge and see if you have gotten better at your shortcomings.UCLA psychology professor Andrew J. Fuligni perfectly summarises this by saying “Regardless of how much a student generally studies each day, if that student sacrifices sleep time in order to study more than usual, he or she is likely to have more academic problems, not less, on the following day” (Fuligni, Andrew).
Another important aspect on why sacrificing sleep is detrimental to your performance is your mental and physical state on the day of the big test. According to Colgate Professional, one all nighter is the relative equivalent of having your blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%, which is very close to the legal driving limit.
Penn State’s research graph shows that between the students who they tested, higher amounts of sleeping resulted in higher GPAs showing that those with better cognitive performance on the day of the test will perform better.
So, how do you reduce cramming and sleeping effectively? Colgate says that the recommended hours of sleep are 8 (which for typical high school students would look like sleeping at 10 and waking up at 6), but realistically, that is hard to do. However, I personally would recommend sleeping for 7 hours (11-6) and napping during some downtime, like while you are riding in the car. Another way to avoid last-minute cramming is to just study more. Cutting out the distractions or increasing motivation is the most straightforward way to do this, but that is an article for next time :D. So get plenty of sleep, and don’t cram!
Works Cited
40 Best Memes To Let You Know That ‘You Got This’ – SayingImages.com, 10 May 2020, https://jp.pinterest.com/pin/466263367675064221/. Accessed 14 February 2025.
“Cramming for a test? Don’t do it, say UCLA researchers.” UCLA Health, 22 August 2012, https://www.uclahealth.org/news/release/cramming-for-a-test-dont-do-it-say-ucla-researchers. Accessed 14 February 2025.
Mccullough, David. “How Does Sleep Effect Grades? | SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy.” Sites at Penn State, 7 October 2015, https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/07/how-does-sleep-effect-grades/comment-page-1/. Accessed 14 February 2025.
Sinclair, Louise. “Should you cram or sleep? What to do to pass your exams.” Colgate Professional, https://www.colgateprofessional.com/students-faculty/trending-topics/should-you-cram-or-sleep. Accessed 14 February 2025.
Young, Scott H. “Why You Cram for Exams (and How to Stop).” Scott H. Young, https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2018/12/24/why-cram/. Accessed 14 2 2025.
