Introduction. One of the typical social problems of the 21st century - procrastination - is defined as the irrational postponing of desired goals indefinitely, even with the awareness of the negative consequences of this delay. The possible causes of procrastination (irrational beliefs, low self-esteem, and fear of failure) are mentioned quite often in scientific research, but the cognitive predictors of procrastination have not been studied holistically. It remains unclear what cognitive mechanisms are involved in different types of procrastination. This study is aimed at partially filling the indicated gap in science. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of the cognitive sphere of students with a tendency to procrastinate, as well as cognitive predictors of a tendency to procrastinate. The purpose of the article - to identify the features of the cognitive sphere of students with a tendency to procrastinate, as well as cognitive predictors of a tendency to procrastinate. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in 2022 on the basis of Chelyabinsk State University (Russia) and Kostanay Engineering and Economic University named after M. Dulatov (Kazakhstan). The following methods were used: The scale of general procrastination by K. Lay adapted by O.S. Vendeker and M.V. Osatina, the test “The desire for cognitive closure developed by A. Kruglyansky” (under the adaptation of M. I. Yasin), A. Ellis’ method for diagnosing irrational attitudes, the Melbourne decision-making questionnaire (MOPR), the questionnaire for self-organization of activity (OSD), developed by E.Yu. Mandrikova, complex coping questionnaire (CCQ) (M. McKay, M. Skin, P. Fanning), descriptive statistics, non-parametric test for comparison of samples Kruskal-Wallace H-test and Mann-Whitney U-test, discriminant analysis. Results: there were revealed some differences in the groups of students with high and low procrastination in most diagnosed cognitive indicators, which indicates the important role of cognitive processes in the formation of procrastination. A comparison of cognitive scores in groups with high and low procrastination showed that procrastinators have higher values of cognitive closeness, low levels of self-organization of activity and low frustration tolerance. Procrastinators have more pronounced decision-making patterns and cognitive coping strategies. Conclusions: the author has obtained unique data on the presence of a complex of specific psychological characteristics in the cognitive sphere of procrastination. The main parameters and indicators have been established that reflect the patterns of determining a high or low level of procrastination. Cognitive predictors of procrastination, according to the results of the study, are: the desire for cognitive closeness, low frustration tolerance, poor orientation to the present, vigilance, avoidance of decision making and lower indicators of self-organization of activity. The data obtained make it possible to regulate the level of procrastination, influencing the cognitive formations of the psyche.