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Here’s how to remember lessons and deal with stress during exams

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New York, lessons, learning, examinations, US, researchers, stress, Amy Smith, Tufts University, Massachusetts

exam stress

New York: Do you find it difficult to remember lessons despite reading them over and over again because of the stress that examinations put? If yes, this new study may provide you a solution. Researchers have found that learning by taking practice tests, a strategy known as retrieval practice, can protect memory against the negative effects of stress.

“Our results suggest that it is not necessarily a matter of how much or how long someone studies, but how they study,” said corresponding author on the study Amy Smith from Tufts University in Massachusetts, US. In experiments involving 120 student participants, individuals who learned a series of words and images by retrieval practice showed no impairment in memory after experiencing acute stress.

Participants who used study practice, the conventional method of re-reading material to memorise it, remembered fewer items overall, particularly after stress, showed the study published in the journal Science. “Typically, people under stress are less effective at retrieving information from memory,” said senior study author Ayanna Thomas, Associate Professor at Tufts University.

“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,” Thomas added. The research team asked participants to learn a set of 30 words and 30 images. These were introduced through a computer programme, which displayed one item at a time for a few seconds each.

To simulate note taking, participants were given 10 seconds to type a sentence using the item immediately after seeing it. One group of participants then studied using retrieval practice, and took timed practice tests in which they freely recalled as many items as they could remember.

The other group used study practice. For these participants, items were re-displayed on the computer screen, one at a time, for a few seconds each. Participants were given multiple timed periods to study. The researchers found that participants who learned through study practice remembered fewer words overall, and those who were stressed remembered even less.

“Even though previous research has shown that retrieval practice is one of the best learning strategies available, we were still surprised at how effective it was for individuals under stress. It was as if stress had no effect on their memory,” Smith said.

 

Education

As many as six new nursing colleges to be functional in Haryana soon

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Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal shared that the construction work of six nursing colleges in the state will be completed soon and classes will commence in the month of July. Not only this, the new building of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Panchkula has also completed its construction work.

Adding on to this, he shared that, till now, the classes are being held in another building, the chief secretary said while presiding over the review meeting of development projects worth more than Rs 100 crore here.

CHIEF SECRETARY REVIEWED MAJOR PROJECTS

The Chief Secretary reviewed several major projects, including power, health, medical, and technical education in the state, and directed the concerned officials to complete them within the stipulated time period.

COLLEGES UNDER CONSTRUCTION

He said that the construction of nursing colleges in Dherdu village of Kaithal, Khedi Ram Nagar village of Kurukshetra, Kheranwali village of Panchkula, Aura and Dayalpur village of Faridabad, and Sadatpur village of Rewari is under construction.

The construction work of Medical college in Koriawas in Narnaul, Medical College at Jind, Bhiwani, and Dental College at Nalhar is being completed at a fast pace. The work of the second phase of Kalpana Chawla Medical College is also undergoing.

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