Would you absorb more information if you spent a week studying for final exams, or a week surfing the Internet, watching television, reading newspapers, and interacting with other people?

It always helps to be interested in what you are studying, as far as absorbing information is concerned.

Depends on what the exams were for. My exams at the beginning of college were boring and I don’t remember much about them (they also had little to do with my degree). The exams directly related to my career field that I’m highly interested in, I soaked that stuff right up and still do.

Completely dependent on my level of interest. If it’s something that’s really captured my imagination, I’ll get a lot out of it regardless of format or circumstance. And I’ll retain significantly more as well. Though I’d choose to receive it in different ways and through differing means if possible, rather than just from a single text – I feel it gives me a more complete understanding and a clearer mental picture.

If I couldn’t care less about the material, eh, I’ll study enough to pass with the mark I want and promptly forget it a week or two later.

But of what use is the information that one absorbs from random watching, reading, and surfing?

As @wundayatta stated interest is important. I was crammer for exams because the information was very dry and often very boring. I am a researcher by nature and when I go on tangents, I absorb stuff like crazy.

@marinelife That just depends on what you are watching, reading, and looking at on the internet. I look at a lot of stuff on tv, in books, and on the web that are related to my career field, so I get a lot of useful information that way.

There’s no way you’d absorb more info watching TV unless you were watching CSPAN or PBS. I realize you prefer to absorb your information passively, but to do so, you’d have only watch intelligent channels.

(CNN,Fox, MSNBC, and ABC/NBC/CBS and local news don’t count as “information”).

The TV has a much higher percentage of propagandized and spoonfed information, over the newspapers and internet.

Only the internet has a nonstop stream of truth, amongst everything else it has, which is everything.

What if you just surfed TED lectures on the internet? Then you’d be able to sit passively like you do with the TV, but you will get some information that is salt of the earth compared to the excrement that is television.

As for the background of your question, you make a good point that it is stupid of your school to make someone like you read, read, and read… when for the price of those textbooks, they could have you just learn off of interactive CD-ROMS containing lots of videos.

A well-made documentary about the American Revolution will probably teach you a lot more about that Revolution, than forcing you to memorize names, dates, and facts.

It is stupid to make you do that, when better methods exist. Cheaper methods, too.

To get to the career, you have to get the degree. Passing course is necessary for this. As fascinating as general knowledge is, you’ve got to get the course material into your head to pass the exam.

But I find it easier to remember information when I read for fun because I am not being FORCED to learn it. I have many interests outside of school, such as animals, music, art, literature, and yoga. I would ace any exam on my hobbies.

I already have a Bachelors degree in Psychology.

I have four degrees in engineering and history; working on a fifth. I still study for exams. The ultimate will be an oral viva voce in December. I’m studying now.

I’ve always loved studying and learning. For me, there really is no such thing as cramming.

How about a happy medium; both studying and doing other things. I need variety.

As @YARNLADY says, there is no need to cram if you stay current in your studies.

It definitely helps to be interested, but that is why I take courses that interest me.

I remember stuff by making it memorable. That sounds weird. What I mean is that if I screw up vocab word while studying, I’ll remember that I screwed it up and thus remember what it really was. I like to make an event out of studying.