NASA Astronauts Wilmore and Williams Recover After Boeing Starliner Delay 
NASA Cuts Boeing Starliner Missions as SpaceX Pulls Ahead 
Why have so few atrocities ever been recognised as genocide? 
Neuren Pharmaceuticals Surges on U.S. Patent Win for Rare Disorder Drug 
Office design isn’t keeping up with post-COVID work styles - here’s what workers really want 
Trump Signs Executive Order to Boost AI Research in Childhood Cancer 
Trump and Merck KGaA Partner to Slash IVF Drug Costs and Expand Fertility Coverage 
Debate over H-1B visas shines spotlight on US tech worker shortages 
Every generation thinks they had it the toughest, but for Gen Z, they’re probably right 
The ghost of Robodebt – Federal Court rules billions of dollars in welfare debts must be recalculated 
Britain has almost 1 million young people not in work or education – here’s what evidence shows can change that 
Blue Origin’s New Glenn Achieves Breakthrough Success With First NASA Mission 
FDA Pilot Program Eases Rules for Nicotine Pouch Makers 
Columbia Student Mahmoud Khalil Fights Arrest as Deportation Case Moves to New Jersey 
Exams of any kind are stressful to humans, largely because the brain doesn’t like to exert effort under any circumstance and panics when stressed out. According to a new study, one of the best ways to help students perform well during tests is to do a practice round beforehand. This helps preserve memory, allowing it to remain intact under pressure.
According to a study conducted by researchers at Tufts University, learning practice tests or retrieval practice is a good way to protect the mind from damages caused by stress. This helps students remember their lessons more clearly, and thus answer questions more easily, MedicalXpress reports.
The study involved 120 students, all of whom had perfectly working memories. The study’s senior author Ayanna Thomas and her team then proceeded to put the students through a series of tests designed to see the effects of retrieval practice on memory.
"Typically, people under stress are less effective at retrieving information from memory,” Thomas said. “We now show for the first time that the right learning strategy, in this case, retrieval practice or taking practice tests, results in such strong memory representations that even under high levels of stress, subjects are still able to access their memories."
The results also serve to highlight a particular flaw in a standard practice among students before exams; cramming. This is basically a method of studying where students try to learn as much as they can within a short period of time just before an exam. Based on the results of the study, this simply does not work, the Daily Mail reports.
For a majority of people, the brain goes into panic mode if it is subjected to an unusual amount of stress, which is exactly what exams are. By subjecting the brain to, even more, stress during the learning process, memory starts to fray once the actual exam starts. At that point, it wouldn’t be surprising for the students to remember only a fraction of what they studies.
