Is Last Minute Studying Better?

In college, I have been taught a myriad of topics from Cell Biology to English, Thermodynamics to World Religion, and the list goes on. However, what my classes seemed to not teach me is how to learn. Granted, with the amount of information that we need to get through each semester, there simply is not enough time to teach us how to dissect the topics and consume them in a meaningful way that allows us to understand and not just mindlessly memorize facts and steps. The fact that I did not have effective learning strategies going into college, created an added obstacle to the already difficult subjects that I was enveloped in. So, I found that it was up to me to learn how to learn. There was surprisingly one unique thing that I found to help me overcome this obstacle: Waiting till the last minute to learn everything at once. I know you probably were not expecting that, but hear me out.

Falling behind in classes happens to the best of us. Well, at least it happens to me, that’s for sure. However, what I have found to be most important is that I still stay committed to catching up. And for me, given my busy schedule, catching up on school material happens at dire moments (a.k.a 1-3 days before an exam). I would spend about 2 full days going over and learning the class content up until the quiz or test. And I have found this to be a great strategy. While having the content fresh in my mind is part of what makes this technique so effective for me, I don’t think it tells the full story.

You see, when I am going through the content alone, I am going at my own pace, making sure I understand every topic before moving to the next, unlike what typically happens when you are following the professor's pace. Before, I often find myself an hour into a lecture, caught up by one small thing that I was not able to grasp as the professor blasted through the content. And this would way too many times, that stopping the teacher each time doesn’t even seem practical. Therefore, when I am learning on my own, this critical struggle is omitted.

Additionally, when learning on my own, I tend to utilize more studying tools to fill the gap between topics. Whether it is watching a quick Youtube video giving a rundown on the topic I was just learning or going back to the textbook, really helps resolidify the topics I just learned.

However, while this technique works for me, even I have reservations about it. For starters, learning everything at the last moment does not give me the opportunity to reach out and ask for help if there is a question I can figure out on my own. This can become a new roadblock in the learning process and can hinder overall understanding.

With the proper balance, a happy medium can be reached: self-learning concurrently with your professor's outlined curriculum.