Model of summary 1

The Dangers of Cramming

In The Dangers of Cramming, Keith Ablow (cited in Leki, 1988)
advises students that staying up all night to study will produce negative
consequences, both physically and academically.
Ablow explains that when people alter their sleep patterns, they
interfere with their ability to focus during exams, when staying alert is crucial.
Experts have shown that this inability to concentrate leads to poor test
results despite the cramming effort. Because individuals vary in the number
of hours of sleep they need, knowing what their minimum requirements are is
advisable. To complicate matters, the use of stimulants such as coffee and
amphetamines to provide extra energy while cramming, may have
deleterious effects on a persons cognitive functioning and can ultimately
cause periods of spacing out during exams, and even cause anxiety and
sleeplessness following them. Nevertheless, Ablow confirms that most
students can recover from several nights of cramming after having one good
nights sleep. Because stress at exam time can precipitate sleeplessness, the
author offers various relaxation strategies that might be helpful, including
writing out those concerns that might be causing the insomnia.
To conclude, the author makes clear that if students want to be
successful, they should lead a balanced lifestyle, which includes studying and
sleeping at regular intervals as opposed to studying all night to prepare for a
test.

(219 words)

Reference
Ablow, K. (1998). The dangers of cramming. In I. Leki (Ed.), Academic writing
(2nd ed., pp.187-189). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

he essay The Dangers of Cramming shows that the dangers of staying

up late. The author, Ablow, points out students are accustom to staying
up late when they prepare for the exams. Sometimes students use
stimulants to help them staying awake. But if people
use stimulants overly, it may cause some bad effects. People will loss
concentration. In addition, there are some potential dangers of
substance abuse. Ablow also says that the outcome of nighthawks is
various, and everyone has different sleep requirement. Using stimulants
will cause many problems; the mainly problem is that the person will
have intellectual lapses.
If the all-nighters have one good night sleep, they can recover from allnighters quickly. Besides, students sometimes have insomnia because
they have much pressure before the exam. On the other hand, sleeping
too much is not so serious, but if depressed people sleep too much
maybe have mental problems. Finally, Ablow suggests that we should
have regular sleep cycles. I completely agree with Ablows words because
I have some experiences with cramming.
Staying up late is very harmful especially for students. If students dont
have enough sleep, they cant excel in learning. Take my experience as
an example; I used to go to bed around twelve oclock. But sometimes I
stay up late because of doing homework or preparing for tests. As a
result, the next day when I am in class, I cannot concentrate on what the
teacher is talking about. Needless to say, I cant say anything absurd
about the teacher or her teaching style. After the class I need to spend
more time studying. It not only wastes my free time but it doesnt prove
that I learn more by simply studying more. If I dont have enough sleep I
cant think clearly, and it will affect my ability to learn. So, having good
sleep is good for learning and thus better for you.
Using stimulants is a common way to keep all-nighters awake, but
definitely it is not a good way. When we feel sleepy, we may drink a cup
of coffee or tea. I agree that it is an effective way but I dont like it. The
affect of Caffeine is too strong for me. Once I stayed up late and felt

very sleepy in class, I decided to have a cup of coffee to make me

awake. But the out come was that I became insomnious in that night. I
fell asleep after three oclock. It is really an awful experience. From
then on, I dont dare to drink coffee unless it is necessary. Ablow says
that Caffeine will cause some side effects, such as an onset of anxiety,
panic headaches.