Exams can cause tremendous stress.

Not knowing what to expect and how you’ll end up doing can be
nerve-wracking. Have no fear! You will feel like you’re ready to take on anything after learning
these study tips and tricks. Practice them and you’ll be ready to tackle that exam in no time.

1. Use a Scent
Put a little bit of perfume, cologne, essential oil, body spray, body mist, or scented lotion on while
you’re studying, and then put on the same scent when you’re going to take the quiz or exam. The
scent will trigger the memory that you stored in your brain when you were studying. Try a scent that
you don’t have a lot of association with already. Calming scents like lavender may help you relax, as
well as recall information.

2. Flavored Gum
Chewing a flavored gum is another great trigger for your brain. The flavor and texture of the gum
may help you retrieve information from your brain. For best results, try a flavor that you’re
unfamiliar with.

3. Make Studying Fun

If you need a little motivation to read books or lengthy passages, try the candy trail method. Place a
bite-sized piece of candy, such as M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, Skittles, Junior Mints, or gummy bears,
beside every paragraph on the page. Once you finish reading each paragraph, reward yourself by
eating that piece of candy. Positive reinforcement is a great way to motivate you and help you learn.
If you don’t have a sweet tooth or prefer to stay away from sugar, choose something else bite-sized
that you enjoy, like pretzels, dried fruit, nuts, or crackers.

4. Keep Your Notes Clean

It's hard to focus if your notes are messy and covered in scribbled out words. Rewrite your notes to
keep them neat or type them out to make sure you can actually understand what you're reading.

5. Color Code Your Notes

Try taking notes and doing homework assignments with colored pens, markers, and highlighters. The
colorful notes could improve your visual memory and allow you to access information from your
brain during an exam more efficiently. Plus, having organized, color-coded notes makes reading
through them so much easier!

6. Teach A Friend
What happens if you have difficulty finding a way to explain your answers or put your thoughts into
words? This can be difficult, even if you're familiar with the material. Lecture to a friend, as this
allows you to train and prepare your mind to explain complex topics. It's especially useful if your
final consists of a speech or presentation.

7. Listen to Recorded Lectures

Listening to recorded lectures is helpful, especially if you're reviewing the notes you took along with
it. This is a great way to refresh some topics you may have studied months ago and forgotten about.

8. Play Some Music

While music is a great stimulant for our brains, some music can overwhelm and exhaust them. That
said, not all music is bad for studying. If you dislike the silence of a library or your roommate won’t
turn the TV off, try putting in some headphones and listening to some classical or instrumental music
while you’re studying.

9. Study Old Exams

Save your old tests if possible - they're great for studying! You can either retake old tests to review
the material or just focus on the questions you previously got wrong.

10. Keep Things Familiar

If you know where your finals will be held and you're able to study there, do it. Taking a test in a
familiar environment will make it easier and less stressful to take your exam and will help you recall
the information you've studied. If you aren't completely sure where the test will be or can't access it
for studying, find an environment that will be similar to the test day.