ly and with credit to themselves. So we shall
turn our attention to the practical problems of passing examinations.

Our first duty in giving advice is to call attention to the necessity
for faithful work throughout the course of study. Some students seem to
think that they can slight their work throughout a course, and by
vigorous cramming at the end make up for slighted work and pass the
examination. This is an extremely dangerous attitude to take. It might
work with certain kinds of subject-matter, a certain type of
student-mind and a certain kind of examiner, but as a general practice
it is a most treacherous method of passing a course. The greatest
objection from a psychological standpoint is that we have reason to
believe that learning thus concentrated is not so permanently effective
as that extended over a long period of time. For instance, a German
course extending over a year has much to commend it over a course with
the same number of recitation-hours crowded into two months. We already
discussed the reasons for this in Chapter VI, when we showed the
beneficial results coming from the distribution of impressions over a
period of time.

Against cramming it may further be urged that the hasty impression of a
mass of new material is not likely to be lasting; particularly is this
true when the cramming is made specifically for a certain examination.
As we saw in the chapter on memory, the intention to remember affects
the firmness of retention, and if the cramming is done merely with
reference to the examination, the facts learned may be forgotten and
never be available for future use. So we may lay it down as a rule that
feverish exertions at the end of a course cannot replace conscientious
work throughout the course. In spite of these objections, however, we
must admit that cramming has some value, if it does not take the form
of new acquisition of facts, but consists more of a manipulation of
facts already learned. As a method of review, it has an eminently
proper place and may well be regarded as indispensable. Some students,
it is true, assert that they derive little benefit from a
pre-examination review, but one is inclined to question their methods.
We have already found that learning is characteristically aided by
reviews, and that recall is facilitated by recency of impression.
Reviewing just before examination serves the memory by providing
repetition and recency, which, as we learned in the chapter on