What tricks can you use in order to study more successfully and take successful exams? Natural ways to boost your memorY.
Everyone knows the experience of exams, as we take part in many such competitions throughout our lives – graduation exams, university exams, language exams, trainings, courses, and so on. Of course, one of the biggest mums among these is the university exam period, which for almost everyone involves late-night studying, excessive consumption of coffee, tea, energy drinks and chocolate. At the same time, there are solutions for boosting brain function that are much more effective than these – and not incidentally, they also protect your health. We have collected scientifically based tips that will help you prepare successfully for university or any other exam!
1. Don’t sit over the book for hours – learn in smaller portions!
Many people make the mistake of leaving the preparation to the last minute. so they have very little time to process large amounts of information into their brains. They sit for hours over the material to be learned, reading it over and over to memorize it.
However, according to research, long-term memory is not good at all if we study classes at the same time. It is much better if, after studying for 20-50 minutes, you take a 5-10 minute break to stretch, move , relax, eat a healthy snack or even take a quick shower.
2. Change environment!
According to scientific studies, information is fixed much better in your brain if you study in a different environment every day. Of course, you don’t need to travel to exotic places, in fact, on the contrary: you will improve your brain performance a lot if you sit down from the sofa to your desk, from there you go to the garden, and from there you find a quiet place for yourself in the library.
By changing the environment, you force your brain to create new and new associations related to the same information. In this way, the information is recorded much more strongly and will be easier to recall during the exam.
3. Put what you have learned on paper!
In our modern world full of electronic gadgets, we are slowly no longer writing anything by hand except our signature. However, many studies have proven that information recorded by handwriting is stored in our brain more efficiently and permanently than information typed on the keyboard of a computer or other device. It is therefore worth taking a pen and paper and writing down the printed or digital material for studying.
4. Use the power inherent in your visual memory!
A picture says more than a thousand words, the saying goes. The research results really confirm this: students with visual aids (diagrams, figures, drawings, etc.) understand the curriculum better and achieve better results in exams than those who only receive textual help or take notes completely independently.
Our brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than textual information. Retention of what you have learned can be improved by up to 42% with visual help. During preparation, be sure to review the various diagrams, graphs, and other images, or if there are none in the material, create them yourself.
5. Move while you study!
Many people complain that they just sit over the book, but nothing stays in their head. Sitting and studying in one place for hours (or days) is not nearly the most effective way to learn, and it is not healthy for our body or brain either.
Research proves that studying while standing, moving while studying, and exercising between study sessions have a positive effect on the functioning of the body and brain, memory and academic performance.
You can hide your notes while riding an exercise bike or walking on a treadmill or jogging, but the best solution is to record what you have learned as audio and listen to it while walking, dancing, cooking or exercising. Of course, you don’t have to combine exercise and studying, you’ll get a lot done if you don’t forget about regular exercise even during intensive study periods.
6. Test yourself!
\Practice the exam situation so that things go better in real life. If practice tests are available to you, then you have won, but you can also test yourself with other methods. For example, by covering the parts to be learned in the material and then trying to recall them.
If you have a friend who is also taking the exam, you can cancel or ask each other about the material you have studied – or even your family members can help with this. You can also make cards: put the question on one side and the answer on the other. The “examination” can even take place over the phone or via video chat.
7. Sharpen your mind with essential oils!
Many scientific studies suggest that inhaling certain essential oils can support memory, mental focus, and clear thinking. For example, peppermint has been shown to increase alertness, focus and concentration, and make memory more accurate. In a British study, subjects with lavender essential oil solved math problems faster and more accurately, and rosemary essential oil made the subjects more alert, so they completed the tasks faster.
8. Instead of energy drinks, turn to nature’s pharmacy!
Caffeinated drinks and supplements stimulate the central nervous system and stimulate the production of adrenaline. They give the body a sudden boost, but essentially they trick it, they don’t give real energy, and they put a strain on the heart and circulatory system as well. After 3-4 hours, their effect wears off and they leave behind extreme fatigue, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
However, there are herbs that gently but extremely effectively increase our ability to concentrate and our mental performance. Both ginkgo biloba and ginseng have a positive effect on cerebral blood circulation, so they can improve mental performance, memory and concentration. They are very useful against physical and mental fatigue and mental exhaustion.
9. Try the memory palace method!
The memory palace is one of the oldest memory improvement methods, which was already used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is based on visualization: you have to imagine a well-known place (e.g. your apartment) and connect the concepts to be noted to specific rooms and objects. In order to recall them later, all you have to do is walk through your memory palace in your imagination.
10. Study before sleeping!
A study published in 2012 found that going to sleep soon after learning new information has a beneficial effect on memory. The research subjects had to memorize related word pairs (e.g. circus-clown) and unrelated word pairs (e.g. cactus-brick). One group learned these at 9 in the morning, the other at 9 in the evening, and the latter went to sleep shortly after.
Both groups were able to recall related word pairs without any problems, but in the case of unrelated word pairs, the group that studied at 9 pm – and went to bed right after – performed much better. Sleep therefore plays an important role when our brain has to create new associations, that is, it has to store completely new information.