Exam season: using sleep as a study tool

When exams loom, sleep is usually the first thing to go. Yet sleep is when your brain files away what you revised. Treating it as part of your revision plan, not a reward for finishing it, is one of the smartest exam moves you can make.

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Why sleep belongs in your revision plan

• IBE-UNESCO explains that sleep helps strengthen and consolidate fragile memory traces into long-term memories, and that sleep loss after learning interferes with this.
• The AASM panel linked enough sleep with better attention, learning and memory, all of which you need in an exam hall.
• Sleep also protects mood and patience, which helps when revision gets frustrating.
• Think of each night's sleep as the 'save' button for that day's revision.

The all-nighter trap

• A 2010 UC Berkeley news release, describing the team's earlier research, said an all-nighter decreases the ability to cram in new facts by nearly 40 percent.
• The Sleep Foundation notes that after an all-nighter you may struggle to remember things and form new memories, and these effects can continue for days.
• It also reports that skipping a night of sleep can impair speed and reaction times as much as alcohol intoxication does.
• An all-nighter before an exam therefore costs you exactly what you need most: recall, focus and clear thinking.

Plan revision so you never need to cram

• McGill University's counselling service advises resisting last-minute cramming and avoiding a 'night-before marathon session', and instead splitting study into daily stretches.
• McGill suggests that if you start in advance, an hour or two a day should be fine, and to take breaks so you do not burn out.
• Worked example: four weeks before exams, list every topic, divide them across the weeks, and schedule study blocks that end at least an hour before your target bedtime.
• Use the techniques in the Study Skills module (retrieval practice and spacing) so your daytime study does more of the work.
• Protect your normal bedtime as firmly as you protect your revision timetable.

The night before and the morning of

• McGill recommends taking time for yourself and going to bed early the night before an exam, as sleep helps you process and communicate what you have learned.
• Stop revising at least an hour before bed and follow your usual wind-down routine (see the wind-down lesson in this module).
• If you lie awake with nerves, NHS Every Mind Matters suggests getting up after around 20 minutes, doing something calm, and returning when sleepy. One imperfect night before an exam is common and you can still perform well.
• In the morning, get daylight, eat breakfast and leave extra time. Do not drive yourself if you feel very drowsy (CHOP).

If you have already lost sleep

• The Sleep Foundation treats an all-nighter as a last resort and advises against making it a habit.
• Do not drive or do anything where sleepiness could cause injury (Sleep Foundation).
• A short nap of 10 to 20 minutes the next day can help; the Sleep Foundation notes a 30-minute nap may leave you groggy.
• Eat balanced meals rather than sugary snacks, get some daylight, and return to your normal bedtime that night rather than sleeping very late.
• Do not turn to energy drinks to push through; see the caffeine lesson for safe limits for teens.