What to eat before an exam
Nutrition tips to support your brain during tests
Did you know that what you eat and drink can affect your exam performance? What is the best diet to follow on exam day? Can food and drink affect your test scores? In our increasingly health-conscious world, parents and students are seeking the answers to these important questions. We all hope that healthy pre-exam nutrition will give us an added edge during exam time, and in fact, it can.
A long exam is like a mental marathon in which endurance is critical. Nutritionists emphasize the importance of healthy eating habits at this stressful time. They say the right food and drink can energize your system, improve your alertness and sustain you through the long exam hours. The wrong dietary choices can make you feel sluggish, jittery, or burned out. The following nutrition tips will help you perform at your best on exam day.
1. Make sure to eat Even if you normally skip breakfast or avoid eating when you are nervous, you should still make the time to eat something. Very simply, your brain needs the energy from food to work efficiently. You need to keep your mental focus on your exam and not on your hunger. It would be a shame to study intensively before your exam and then be too fatigued physically to do your best on exam day. If you really cannot stomach food, then try having a protein shake or smoothie.
2. Eat brain-boosting food. This includes protein-rich foods which can lead to greater mental alertness. Healthy food choices on exam day include eggs, nuts, yogurt, and cottage cheese. Good breakfast combinations might be whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk, eggs and toast with jam, porridge, oatmeal, or sugar-free muesli.
Other dietary choices considered to be brain foods are fish, walnuts, blueberries, sunflower seeds, flaxseed, dried fruits, figs, and prunes.
Although unproven, many consider fruit to provide excellent brain fuel, which can help you think faster and remember more easily. You could eat cantaloupes, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, or bananas, which are especially popular.
In terms of vegetables, raw carrots, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli, and asparagus are good choices.
3. Avoid brain blocking foods. On exam day, stay away from foods made of white flour, such as cookies, cakes, and muffins, which require added time and energy to digest. Also avoid foods that are high in refined sugar, such as chocolates, desserts, and candies.
Do not have turkey before an exam as it contains L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid which makes you feel sleepy. Also avoid certain food combinations such as protein and starch together. These substances require added time when they have to be digested together.
When eaten alone, carbohydrates make you feel more relaxed than alert. So carbs are a good option for the day before the exam, but not on the actual exam day. In addition, carbs such as rice or potatoes, eaten in large quantities, can make you feel heavy and sleepy.
Avoid foods that a high in sugar, such as chocolates, desserts, and candies. They will send you off on sugar highs and lows — the opposite of stabilizing you during your long exam.
4. Drink brain boosting beverages. Make sure you drink enough water before and during your exam. Tea also works, though without a lot of sugar. Dehydration can make you lose your concentration, feel faint, and sap your energy. Don’t wait till you’re thirsty to drink a glass of water. If you wait till you’re thirsty, it means your body is already a little dehydrated.
5. Avoid brain blocking beverages. Avoid alcohol completely on exam day. Obviously, you cannot do well on an exam if you are drunk, have a headache, or are feeling nauseous. In general, reduce your drinking around exam time to avoid hangovers, dullness, or excessive fatigue.
Avoid sugary sodas and colas. Avoid caffeine, as it can increase your nervousness. However, if you are accustomed to drinking coffee regularly, then have a small cup or two. Try to eat something healthy along with your coffee. If you cut out the coffee suddenly and completely, you could end up with a caffeine-withdrawal headache.
6. Eat light meals. Eat enough to feel satisfied but not so much as to feel full. If you eat a big breakfast or lunch before an exam, you will feel drowsy and heavy. Your body’s energy will be focused on the digestive process rather than on providing your brain with the energy it needs to function efficiently. Instead, try a light lunch such as a salad with chicken or salmon.
7. Don’t try any new foods, drinks, or supplements just before the exam, even if they come highly recommended by friends or family. You don’t know how your body responds to them and you don’t want any surprises on exam day. Stick with food and drink your body is accustomed to.
8. Consider taking multivitamins. Most students do not eat a healthy balanced diet. When you survive on pizza, junk food, Red Bull, and coffee, your body ends up with a lack of essential vitamins and minerals. A multivitamin can help. The B vitamins especially strengthen brain functioning. Iron, calcium, and zinc can boost your body’s ability to handle stress.
9. Snack intelligently. In some countries, you are given a five- to ten-minute break in the middle of a long exam. Carry healthy snacks, such as protein bars, trail mix, energy bars, granola bars, almonds, walnuts, or fruit for such times, to keep your energy high. Avoid chocolates or sweet treats as the energy high could be followed by an energy crash during your exam!
10. Get enough sleep. Many students get into the habit of studying late into the night, hoping to cram in a little more information into their already exhausted brains. Instead, on the night before the exam, stop studying in the early evening. After that, take it easy, eat your dinner, lay out your clothes for the next day, pack your bag, take a shower, set a couple of alarms and head to bed early. You’ve done all you can. To function at your best on exam day, you need not only the energy that comes from healthy nutrition, but also the energy that comes from adequate, restful sleep.
y we shouldn’t take sugar?
To perform well on an exam, you need to be alert and sharp for hours. Eating foods high in sugar can affect your blood sugar levels, leading to a temporary increase in energy, followed by a crash. This can make you feel tired, moody and unable to focus and concentrate. Instead, eat protein-rich foods that keep you stable longer.
whats a good breakfast on the day of exams
A good moderate-sized pre-exam breakfast varies according to cultural habits, but should include lean protein and high-fiber complex carbohydrates. Possible Western combinations: eggs with whole-grain toast and jam, oatmeal with almonds, whole-grain bread with peanut butter, or hard-boiled eggs with a banana. Don’t eat anything new and don’t eat too much, or you’ll feel heavy and sleepy, instead of alert and focused.
what time of diet shouid i maintain in student life for having a sound brain health????
During the year, students should follow the general guidelines for a healthy balanced diet and make sure they get enough exercise. Many of the suggestions on this page about what to eat before an exam will help you. In addition, many nutritionists believe that brain health can be enhanced by eating more fish, though you should make sure it’s not one of the prohibited varieties.
What about a lunch?? Sometimes exams are at noon and it’s obvious a heavy lunch will not be good.
You are right, Nashra. The trick is balance. Too little food and your brain cannot focus; too much and your brain cannot focus! A light, balanced diet is best, with enough water. Fruit is also an excellent choice, especially if you’re too nervous to stomach anything else. Avoid fried foods, heavy carbs, or foods high in sugar.
What can bring fear into a student during exam
Students experience different kinds of fear- fear of failure, fear of forgetting, fear of disappointing family and so on. Of course, fear can also arise if you know you have not prepared well and that is a fear that you can reduce by implementing some of the many effective study techniques explained here. This fear you can definitely control!
Even if i study,i forget everything… what should i eat so that i remember what i read?
Check my answer to Neelam, Nashra, Vishali and Poo above for dietary suggestions. Then, go to our Learning Styles page, where you can identify your personal style and start implementing some of the useful strategies there. Also, go to the How to Remember page and review the 12 Effective Memory Techniques. Last, start small and check if you remember the info from one paragraph, then one section, then one chapter and so on. Step by step, you’ll be able to remember more.
How many hours should a person study and how my subjectr per day for the brain health?
There’s no one answer here as it depends on individual schedules. What I can tell you is that one hour of concentrated study is worth several hours of distracted study. Help your brain to study more effectively by understanding what strengthens and weakens its ability to remember well. Don’t kid yourself that you studied if the TV was on, music was playing, your cellphone was ringing, etc…when you study, respect your time and do just that. And keep testing yourself along the way to see if you’re still there or away in dreamland!
how many hours should a student of 15 years sleep ?
Good question, since sleep is food for the brain. Insufficient sleep can interfere with your learning ability, cause mood swings, lead to weight gain and compromise your immune system. Many doctors recommend that a teenager should sleep about 8.5 to 9.25 hours per night.
how many hours a day should i sleep
(i am ten)
What is the secret of reading and understanding
What smoothies can i have on the exam day that will help my brain
social science is a boring subject.how to do well in that
Whats the best thing to eat at lunch on the exam day?
I am a third year college student and I really want to get straight A’s but the problem is I get distracted a LOT ! I am a hard worker but this is my issue I get stressed and distracted thinking about everything but my studies.
Should we eat dark chocolate before is it good
will eating oily foods effect our exams
I have a bad memory and I don’t retain much for long periods so what should do I do when I take my final which is over everything we did that year?
You don’t have a bad memory; you just have an untrained memory. If you are determined to do well in your exam and in life, make time to learn even a few of the excellent memory techniques that are easily available and start applying them to the material you have to learn. Practice using these methods and review frequently. Using memory techniques will enable you to remember more material more effectively than you ever thought possible and will also boost your confidence as a result. All the best!
What time should l read that is ideal and how many hours should l spent in a particular subject lets say i want to read 9 subjects at around 09.00pm what should be my finishing time and how should l divide my time table because im kind confused should l say two per day or 3 per day before l go to sleep??
whether we can drink healthy drinks like boost,horlicks ect… during exams
I am not always good at problem solving on a test! especially math, what kind of food should I eat that can boost my level of problem solving?
Does smoking before exam effect oir concentration and if i’m adicted to smoking what shou I do
i have a problem that during maths paper i go blank and star to sweat and shiver and i solve half the question and leave the other half undone but it happens only with maths
when i start to study my mind starts thinking about something else which is not neccesary eg a football match
how positive attitudes can affect my scores?
Hello. Good day? I have a lots of queation regarding this. Perhaps, it isn’t exactly related for foods that we should take. I have just to bring out this question to you. Sometimes, when we are in hurry, I forget the previous lesson. I sometimes deal with exam anxiety, Is it normal? I want my test pefect but because with that test anxiety, I can’t calm myself. And when exam getting started and I now already faced my test paper. i forget some details?
Is junk food really bad during taking exams?
My eyes always pains me while reading is it norma if it is not what can i do?
When i am learning any answer i am taking to much time to learn it and after sometimes i forget it, why?
Is it good to study in the midnight? Is it good for a girl to plait her hair a day before an exam?
What would be a good eastern breakfast on the day of exam? Should I consume bread at 7:00 in the morning? For instance, I have to write an story on tough topics with outmost fluidity of words and accelerated imagination, How can I increase my concentration, imagination, and creativity?
What about study night outs??
generally there is 6 hr exam including a small break at the end of 3 hr. what should i eat so i don’t fell drowsy?
Best night-before foods?
If our exams are after lunch, will playing sports affect us?
Will ginko supplements help me with my memory? I have ADHD and cannot remember what I just read or cant concentrate when I do study.
My questi0n is dat um 18yrs my brain is too weak whtevr i learn i foget all after sumtime what shud i do for it
I have an exam first thing tomorrow what could I Eat tonight to help me concentrate and how much sleep would you recommend I am 15
great pieces of advice however I have been told so many times that eating chocolate might help since it’s a pacifier for the nervousness is this true??
what if you dont have anything to eat or dont have money to buy food?
My son doesnt think that nutrition is important before exam
Is it ok if i take honey before the exam
What can we use to pacify our nerves on exam day? Should be use honey or some dark chocolate? I have heard that dark chocolate is better for you and your brain. Is this true? Also, would consming an omolete be healthy before a test?
What should be my food chart on exam day when the time of exam is 2 pm to 5 pm?
Are organic foods better in this case? I drink soy milk instead of regular milk. However I don’t think it makes much of a difference
I have no question just a comment. All of you stop being negative.. If you constantly tell yourself I can’t remember, I’m going to forget, I have test anxiety… Etc then guess what… You’re talking your brain into that behavior. Turn off your phones. TV, musi…etc. Eat some almonds and put your nose in a book. Get at least 8 hours of sleep, get up exercise and stretch for at least 10 mins eat an egg for protein some toast with jelly and take your test and do GREAT. You can do it!! Stop talking yourself down. There’s no easy way with this you have to learn how to do some stuff the old fashion way… Such as study!! There’s no app or magic pill or food to do it. It’s all YOU!