For many undergraduate students, university life is a major transition in their lives since they are accorded the chance to decide what to do without the undue influence of their parents. The students make various decisions regarding all aspects of their lives such as academics, social life, and leisure activities. However, amidst the new found freedom students have to struggle to meet the expectations of their parents which include expectations related to their academic performance. In addition, society believes that graduating from a high-ranking university is a “passport” to a good job, high salaries, and high social status. As a result, the students are indirectly subjected to a variety of stressors mainly linked to academic success.
The academic stress faced by most students is attributed to poor study habits, such as poor time management, studying for exams, and coursework, which may eventually lead to poor academic performance. In order to overcome the pressure from academic stress the students have to employ suitable coping strategies like in any other stressful situation. There are various coping strategies used by students when experiencing academic stress. Some resort to avoidant coping; alcohol/drug abuse, denial and behavioral disengagement; while others cope actively through acceptance, planning, and positive reframing and taking the necessary steps to overcome the academic stress.
Worldwide, universities are responsible for making sure that students have adequate knowledge and skill in their curriculum of lectures, simulations supervised practice, mentoring, and hands-on experience to boost individual skill-set. Unfortunately, some aspects of the training process have unintended negative consequences on students’ physical and emotional health. The high societal expectations on students to perform various undefined, inconsistent, and unachievable roles in the present socio-cultural, economic, and bureaucratic contexts of the society cause heavy stress on students. Findings from various undergraduate projects revealed that students experience a relatively high level of personal distress with adverse consequences on academic performance, competency, professionalism, and health.
Academic performance is mainly a function of students’ study habits referring to the student’s way of study whether systematic, efficient, or inefficient. The study habits that influence the academic performance of a student include: time management, setting realistic academic targets, setting rewards on completion of a task, revision, organization of materials, and notes-taking during lectures. Hence, study habits are coping strategies used by students to overcome academic stress so that they can meet the demands imposed on them by the academic environment. This is reaffirmed by studies which show that study habits positively correlate with academic performance.
Despite all the sources of stress in the academic environment, the future of the students depends most on high academic performance. It is estimated that 10 to 30 percent of the students experience academic related stress that affects their academic performance. Academic stress is documented to have several negative effects not only to the academic performance of the students but also to their well-being. Academic stress is seen to interfere with the students’ way of life, cognitive processes, and adaptive behaviors such as class attendance. Studies have shown that there is a positive association between academic stress, depression, and physical illness, which these associations decrease with the provision of informational support.
However, naturally, everyone needs a certain amount of pressure to perform at their best. But when pressures exceed a person’s ability to cope, the result is stress. Prolonged stress can set up distress and shut down the ability to cope with ordinary situations causing illnesses. Stress is the wear and tear our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects and can create positive or negative influence on us. As a positive influence, stress can help to compel us for action. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distress, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems.
CRAMMING
Cramming is an emergency test-preparation strategy that involves an attempt to absorb copious amounts of information in a short period prior to an exam. Cramming is a memorization technique that only lasts for the short term. It is trying to learn a lot very quickly before an exam
WHY STUDENTS CRAM
A) LIMITED TIME FOR PREPARATION
One of the reasons why students cram is as a result of limited time for preparation whether for test or examination. When students are not prepared especially those who do not have a good study habit or lacks reading time-table, they are always victims to an immediate and emergency study which automatically leads to cramming.
B) FEAR OF FAILURE
Another reason why students cram is fear of failure. The fear of failing a particular course or courses can lead to students resorting to cramming as the only away to give to the lecturer what he/she wants. Some lecturers also make students think the only way they can pass their course s by giving them exactly what they taught in class. Therefore, for the fear of not failing or having a carryover in a course, students tend to cram so as to give it back to the lecturer almost if not verbatim.
C) INABILITY TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES
Even though it is the institution of higher learning, there are still students who cannot express themselves very well even in simple English. Therefore, because such students are unable to express themselves in an examination, they resort to cramming as the only way they can answer examination questions.
CRAMMING AND STRESS LEVEL AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
For many undergraduate students, university life is a major transition in their lives since they are accorded the chance to decide what to do without the undue influence of their parents. Hence, the students make various decisions regarding all aspects of their lives such as academics, social life, and leisure activities. However, amidst the new found freedom students have to struggle to meet the expectations of their parents which include expectations related to their academic performance.
However, University students encounter a great deal of academic, personal, and social stress during their academic activities. Although some degree of stress is essential to stimulate and motivate individuals to achieve their goals, stress can be a barrier for concentrating, problem solving, decision making, and other necessary abilities for students’ learning. Education in the university is generally perceived as being stressful. Due to this, the causes of stress have been studied in several studies
Most undergraduate students, as a result of the stress they pass through in school, they may not keep to their reading time-table or improve on their study habit. As a result of this, they are moistly caught up in the web of unpreparedness towards examination and when they find themselves in this situation, the only remedy they may have is to cram so as to pass their examinations.
CONCLUSION
Stress is inevitable in human life, given the conflict between our needs and the realities of our environment and its relationships. Stress is common problem of every individual particularly for University students. These students are a special group of people that are enduring a critical transitory period in which they are going from adolescence to adulthood and can be one of the most stressful times in a person’s life.

Try dey space ur kini or spread am if possible.



I no read am finish but as I see "cramming", my brother, courses dey wey u gats cram b4 u pass am

Last thing wey I go do na carry expo but cramming dey important especially if no be ur main course. I no be law student but I did law courses in school....brother, I cram fire.


When ASUU finish their own and school resumes, make I hear say students no cram when they hear say next week na exam.

Long story short, everybody get wetin dey work for am.

I agree, uniprojectM1.
I remember drawing up a reading plan but had it underutilised because of stress- not just stress but the motivation to stay focused.


@EbukaHades though. Grinning out loud. True talk be dat, but ASUU dis-stress-pect the life? that's a no-no.