Originally from lifehacker
Carlos shares a tip for preparing for a stressful exam:
“I was studying for my medical boards and it occurred to me that being in a quiet room wouldn’t prepare me for the stress of performing under pressure. Knowing that epinephrine mediates the stress response and that heavy aerobic exercise increases epinephrine, I started doing practice tests on a high resistance stationary bike at the gym on my smart phone. When I got to the testing center I was prepared to deal with the heart pounding and sweating my nerves had in store for me. I immediately thought of Lifehacker.”
Even if you don’t want to go quite this far in your preparation, context dependent memory is a real thing and there are milder steps you can take. For example, if you know you’ll be taking your exam in an uncomfortable seat under fluorescent lights, try studying that way, too.
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