The word “exams” often brings to mind a picture of a frantic student sitting at a desk, surrounded by books and papers flying everywhere as a lack of sleep shows under their eyelids.  Before you start panicking about all of the tests coming up, remember this doesn’t have to be you.

There are plenty of ways to study thoroughly for a test while keeping the stress to minimum.  According to the Franklin Institute’s website, high stress levels can cause you to forget what you worked so hard to study the night before.

When feeling stressed, the adrenal gland releases cortisol, which can make it difficult to remember long term information.  In other words, too much stress causes a mental block.

Some students, like sophomore Anna Cash, are worried about the time slipping away in the days leading to the testing.

“I’m stressed about having enough time to review properly for all of my subjects,” Cash said, “especially when I have two exams on the same day.”

In order to save time and remember more material,  principal Alan Goodwin suggests a tech-free study block.

“When students study for an exam, they should not have distracting things going on, like their computer or their social media at that particular time,” Goodwin said.  “When you hear the ping that you’ve got a text coming in, you try to ignore it.”

But both Goodwin and psychology teacher Sheryl Freedman agree that studying should be broken up– even when feeling the time crunch.

“Taking breaks is a really important part about keeping stress levels down,” Freedman said. “Recognize when you’re starting to get tired or hit a wall or get stressed and then take even just 20-30 mins to unwind, chat with friends, watch TV,  or eat a snack.”

Another stress factor can be the overwhelming amount of material covered on each test.  To help with this, Goodwin suggests studying with a friend who’s also in the class.

“If you’re working with a friend you can ask each other questions, as well as sort of break up the monotony of studying, because studying can obviously be boring,” Goodwin said.

Freedman included relying on others in times of stress as a way to become more relaxed. According to the March 2011 Harvard Mental Health Letter, getting support from people close to you can help to keep you going in times of crisis.

You can also maximize your study time by using mnemonic devices, such as pairing different facts and topics with different locations around your house, or creating an acrostic to remember the order of a list of terms.

Chances are, even with different calming techniques, stress will still creep into your studying or test taking somehow, but it’s not the end of the world.

“Stress is a part of our human condition,” Goodwin said.  “Students need to learn to deal with it.  It’s a fine balancing act.”