Strategies to Reduce Procrastination in College Students

Abstract

College students’ procrastination patterns and strategies to decrease procrastination were investigated. Each week, participants alternated between two schedules of delivery of practice quizzes while preparing for weekly quizzes. In Study 1, one practice quiz was available per day in the noncontingent condition. In the contingent condition, participants had to submit one practice quiz per day to access the subsequent practice quiz. In Study 2, two practice quizzes were available every other day in the noncontingent condition. In the contingent condition, participants had to submit two practice quizzes every other day to access subsequent practice quizzes. Six of 25 participants stopped procrastinating at the end of the contingent condition. Both conditions yielded high scores on weekly quizzes even when participants procrastinated. These results indicate that college students’ procrastination patterns can be changed, although it does not necessarily lead to increased quiz scores.