Tests, they are the epitome of stress, students everywhere panic about the big midterms that they have but this stress can be avoided by using a couple tactics. Having a healthy body, writing things out, spacing out your study sessions and experimenting can increase your studying efficiency.

“To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” -Buddha

One way to reduce the panic of a test is to have a healthy body. Having a healthy body doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t eat junk food, but it means that you are eating healthy and you’re exercising at least 30 minutes every day. The increased circulation of blood helps your mind to function better and it helps to reduce the stress that you have on test days.

Writing things out by hand can help you memorize things faster. According to Cambridge University it has been found that students who take notes by hand have better memory recollection of the notes. Although it may be “faster” to type notes up, writing them down gives more of a beneficial advantage in the final run.

If you want to get a good score on a test don’t cram all the information into your head the night before. Cramming may be a useful technique that is used by many for the short term but if it’s something like math or an AP class where you need to remember all the information in these tests then it would be better to space out your studying. After learning a new lesson it is useful to go over the material that was covered and to make sure you have a clear understanding of what was learned. This is a good way to better your long-term memory.

The best solution to finding your studying technique is experimenting with what you can do and what helps you the most. Everybody learns and remembers in different ways and sticking to one way may not be the perfect way for every single situation. Many students have trouble with starting a new technique because they are afraid to try something that won’t work but if you never try to find a better way to study then you will never do good on your tests.