A "Privileged Connection" In The Brain

In motor learning, Dr. Swinnen says, sleep allows the neurons that are involved in learning a new task to form a privileged connection, a kind of express pathway through the circuits of the brain, to allow the brain to use its new motor memories very soon after they are learned.

But unless your final exam is in, say, tennis, you need to be able to use a different kind of memory to make good grades. Here is what the scientific literature tells us about different kinds of memory that may relate to academic success:

• Comprehension, the ability to understand the connections between facts, isn't something that primarily occurs in your brain during sleep. It does, however, occur over time, over a period of days, weeks, months, or years. (Where you are out of college for 20 years you may find you understand facts you could only memorize when you were in school.) To really understand a subject, your brain needs time. You may be able to remember facts you learn during a cram session, but you simply have to start studying well in advance of your exam to comprehend a subject.
• It is possible to get too much sleep before a test. In one study, slow-wave sleep, the deep sleep in which the individual is "out," was linked to poorer recall on the test. Getting adequate deep sleep during the school term helps establish memories, but getting too much sleep the night before a test can interfere with how quickly the brain can recall them.
• Your brain has its own "highlighter." In the United States, college students often use colored highlighters to mark important passages in their textbooks. Highlighting the text makes it easier to through a textbook when reviewing for an exam, but the brain "highlights" information that has an emotional impact. If you got something on an earlier test wrong, for example, and you felt bad about it, your brain will emphasize those memories for your test. If you get something wrong on an earlier test and didn't really care, your brain won't care, either, and those memories will not be more readily accessible when you take the test.
• Sleep reorganizes memories. If you need to be able, for example, to recite a complicated list of facts in an exact order, "sleeping on it" without refreshing your memory before you take the test is not a good idea.

If you have limited time to study, it's best to hit the books between 6 and 8 pm, when your concentration and focus are best, and to avoid trying to study in the early afternoon, when your concentration levels are likely to be at their lowest. 

See Also: Brain Techniques To Help You Learn Better

When you finally quit studying, you need to be able to relax so your brain can consolidate all the information you've given it. And remember, even if  there is no one to tell you it's time to go to bed, getting rest--but not much more than 8 hours--is essential for test success.