Feb. 4, 2015

It’s the night before the first midterm of the semester, and it is nearing midnight as you are cramming over the study material for tomorrow’s exam.

You have had several papers due this week and it seemed as though there was no time to get to studying. As you continue to study before going to bed, you know what the outcome will be.

The problem here is procrastination which can affect many college students during any semester. With work almost every night of the week and papers on top of papers as well as assignments, it can be tempting to put work off.

One thing to know is: 20 percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators, according to www.psychologytoday.com.

We as college students know that procrastination can be detrimental to grades. It can   reach a point where a student is facing academic probation. There is a difference between saying you will get it done and actually getting it done.

Not only does procrastination guarantee poor results, it also causes more stress due to the fact that a student is left with less time to type the eight-page paper. The deadline pressure results in anxiety. Added stress can encourage a student to procrastinate more since it leads to negative thoughts about a tough group project.

Let’s face it, when you’re stressed, thoughts  are unclear, editing a paper at the last minute doesn’t go together with the racing thoughts of stress. The eye cannot catch the errors that are necessary to earn a passing grade.

A student might want to put off the assignment for relief of having to think about completing it on time. Most assignments in college require much thought and editing, in the case of procrastination the end product would be worthy of failure.

But is this the right thing to do? Some would say yes and no. It depends on who is doing the procrastinating.

Two university colleagues surveyed 119 students on procrastination prior to their midterm exams. The research team reported in a 2010 issue of Personality and Individual Differences showed students who forgave themselves for procrastinating before the exam were less likely to put off studying for the next exam. According to www.psychologicalscience.org.

Everyone admits to procrastinating, some do it due to a fear of failure, lack of ideas or of habit.

Some students argue procrastination can help since it forces them to perform under pressure. Many jobs require their employees to work under a certain amount of time pressure in order to produce the product on a short deadline.

Put yourself in the shoes of a journalism major: There are all sorts of time constraints that must be worked toward, even if that means cranking out an entire paper in one weeknight. Most journalists have to work into the wee hours to produce a quality paper. Is that procrastinating? Hardly, it must be done some time, even if it’s the night before. In those cases, the deadline is always reached, no matter how long a student stays up.

When you are attempting to produce a writing assignment in a matter of time, this approach might prove to be not as bad, depending on the length of the given assignment. If the paper turns out to be one to two pages, this might work.

In the case of a test, speed does not help a student due to the amount of material covered in a given chapter. More often than not, a student has to master several chapters for an exam.

This statement alone proves that working under pressure does not work simply because the end product comes out to be less than desirable.

The thing to do is to make a planner and write down all deadlines as well as begin working on large assignments early. That way the temptation to procrastinate is greatly minimized.

Working ahead on assignments allows progress to be made without leaving the assignment to the night before. It can be as simple as taking 20 minutes or more to study for a quiz or read the chapter for next week’s class.

This can allow more time, for unforseen errors. If a technology error were to occur, a student can back up their work. Once you have something started, you are more likely to finish it.

The most important thing to know about procrastination is that it does not have to affect you if you let it. It is partly a choice to be a person who will be deadline oriented or not. The only person who makes the choice is you.