23 Science-Backed Study Tips to Ace a Test

’Tis the season to start studying. All over the country, students in high school, college, and grad school are going into panic mode, wondering how they’ll manage to remember an entire semester’s worth of information before the big final. Luckily, we’ve got some advice to make those freak-outs a thing of the past. From talking out loud to taking gym breaks, here are 23 ways to (gasp) get psyched about studying and ace those exams.

Remember Your Stuff

• Study when sleepy. Bedtime stories are for wimps. Instead of reading The Berenstein Bears, try studying for a few minutes right before hitting the hay. During sleep, the brain strengthens new memories, so there’s a good chance we’ll remember whatever we review right before dozing off [1]. (Just try not to bring work into the actual bed, since it can make it harder to get a good night’s sleep.) And though bedtime is primo study time, it might also help to crack open the books after cracking open those eyes in the A.M. — in the morning, the brain still has lots of room to absorb new information.
• Space it out. A relatively new learning technique called “spaced repetition” involves breaking up information into small chunks and reviewing them consistently over a long period of time. So don’t try to memorize the entire periodic table in one sitting — instead, learn a few rows every day and review each lesson before starting anything new.
• Tell a tale. Turning the details you need to remember into a crazy story helps make the information more meaningful. For example, remember the order of mathematic operations PEMDAS this way: Philip (P) wanted to eat (E) his friend Mary (M) but he died (D) from arsenic (AS) poisoning.

Click below for 20 more helpful tips.