At least once in your life, you might have probably faced at least one tough exam, and one good advice you might have heard over a few times was "don't cram". A lot of people make the common mistake of believing that cramming or trying to absorb additional information in the last minute can help you remember things better but it actually does not work like that. In fact, the facts and information you are trying to absorb are most likely going to be lost from your memory.
The best advice from the experts is that you need to learn by practicing and it is the most efficient way of remembering. According to a research conducted among 120 students, those who tried to remember a page while under pressure were only able to retain 7 out of 30 words on an average. But those who was given a timed practice test was able to recall 11 out of 30 on the average from their memory.
Senior study author Dr. Ayanna Thomas, an associate psychology professor from Tufts University in Masachusetts, said: "Typically, people under stress are less effective at retrieving information from memory."
"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."
According to Amy smith, a co-author of the research and a graduate psychology student at Tufts, the ability of student be effective in studying does not depend on the length of time that they spend studying, but it depends on how they study.
The best suggested method of researchers is the so-called retrieval practice or using practice tests because this allows the brain to encode knowledge and increases its ability to store information.
