Take a breath. You're more ready than you feel.

In experiments where students studied short passages, those who practiced recalling the material remembered more 2 days to 1 week later than those who reread it, even though the rereaders felt more confident.

“on the delayed tests, prior testing produced substantially greater retention than studying, even though repeated studying increased students' confidence in their ability to remember the material.”

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning. Psychological Science.

In a college course with feedback after weekly quizzes, short-answer quizzes did more to raise later multiple-choice test scores than multiple-choice quizzes did.

“short answer quizzes produced more robust benefits than multiple choice quizzes.”

McDaniel, M. A., Anderson, J. L., Derbish, M. H., & Morrisette, N. (2007). Testing the testing effect in the classroom. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology.

In two experiments, well-made multiple-choice questions with believable wrong options also helped people later recall facts about those wrong options. Fill-in-the-blank practice did not.

“multiple-choice tests also facilitated recall of information pertaining to incorrect alternatives, whereas cued-recall tests did not.”

Little, J. L., Bjork, E. L., Bjork, R. A., & Angello, G. (2012). Multiple-choice tests exonerated, at least of some charges. Psychological Science.

A major review of 10 study techniques rated spreading study out over time, along with practice testing, as highly useful for learners of different ages and abilities.

“Practice testing and distributed practice received high utility assessments because they benefit learners of different ages and abilities”

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

In a study of more than 1,350 people, the best gap between first learning and reviewing grew longer as the time until the final test grew longer.

“The optimal gap increased as test delay increased.”

Cepeda, N. J., Vul, E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J. T., & Pashler, H. (2008). Spacing effects in learning. Psychological Science.

A review of 59 studies found that mixing topics can help people learn to tell categories apart, but how well it works depends on the material.

“We conclude that interleaving can effectively foster inductive learning but that the setting and the type of learning material must be considered.”

Brunmair, M., & Richter, T. (2019). Similarity matters: A meta-analysis of interleaved learning and its moderators. Psychological Bulletin.

A major review rated explaining-why techniques as moderately useful: promising, but a step below practice testing and spreading study out.

“Elaborative interrogation, self-explanation, and interleaved practice received moderate utility assessments.”

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

A psychology textbook explains that deep (slow-wave) sleep after learning a new task can improve later performance on it.

“slow-wave sleep after learning a new task can improve resultant performance on that task”

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e, section 4.2. OpenStax.

A major review found that highlighting and rereading, though most students use them, don't reliably improve performance.

“Most students report rereading and highlighting, yet these techniques do not consistently boost students' performance, so other techniques should be used in their place”

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

In experiments with students, a short writing exercise just before an important test raised scores, especially for students who usually feel test anxiety.

“Simply writing about one's worries before a high-stakes exam can boost test scores.”

Ramirez, G., & Beilock, S. L. (2011). Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom. Science.

Keep in mind: A later large replication (Camerer et al., 2018) did not find a significant effect, so treat this as a low-cost thing to try rather than a sure thing. Source

In a small study of 60 students preparing for the GRE, those told that feeling nervous can help performance scored higher on the math section, both on a practice test and on the real GRE.

“reappraisal participants scored higher than controls on the GRE-math section”

Jamieson, J. P., Mendes, W. B., Blackstock, E., & Schmader, T. (2010). Turning the knots in your stomach into bows. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

A review of 15 studies in healthy adults linked slow breathing (under 10 breaths a minute) to feeling more relaxed and less anxious.

“increased comfort, relaxation, pleasantness, vigor and alertness, and reduced symptoms of arousal, anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion.”

Zaccaro, A., et al. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Research based on Bandura's theory finds that real successes are generally the strongest builder of confidence.

“mastery experiences generally have the strongest effect on self-efficacy development, because they are the most authentic indicators of one's capabilities”

Pfitzner-Eden, F. (2016). Why do I feel more confident? Bandura's sources predict preservice teachers' latent changes in teacher self-efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology.

In a small study of 44 college students, those who stayed awake 24 hours did worse on a thinking test but didn't realize how much the lost sleep had hurt them.

“The findings indicate that college students are not aware of the extent to which sleep deprivation negatively affects their ability to complete cognitive tasks.”

Pilcher, J. J., & Walters, A. S. (1997). How sleep deprivation affects psychological variables related to college students' cognitive performance. Journal of American College Health.

A review of 36 randomized trials found that a single bout of exercise brings a small drop in how anxious people feel in the moment.

“The cumulative evidence from high quality studies indicates that acute bouts of exercise can yield a small reduction in state anxiety.”

Ensari, I., Greenlee, T. A., Motl, R. W., & Petruzzello, S. J. (2015). Meta-analysis of acute exercise effects on state anxiety. Depression and Anxiety.