Whether due to a sense of falling behind, or just extreme urgency surrounding the next day’s exam, nights where studying comes before sleep are all too common for a high school or college experience. 

Even as students grow into parents and educators, thinking about those all-night study benders can still send a chill down the spine even decades after graduating. 

These concerns, according to the evidence, are far from unjustified. Want to remember those mathematical formulas or quotable lines from Macbeth into the next day? A good sleep schedule plays an important role. 

Sleep and Memory: The Science Behind Good Scores 

Though the reasons remain somewhat elusive to science, it is known that sleep plays a crucial role in the development and integration of episodic memory. The ability to recall specific details, experiences, or facts critical to everyday life or specific scenarios happens in two steps: encoding, and consolidation. 

Encoding is the first step in the process and happens while we are awake. It involves: 

• Our brains taking note of a stimulus from something external (e.g. reading off flash cards) 

• This stimulus gets encoded by neurons in the hippocampus, and the details fleshed out 

• The amygdala attaches an emotional stimulus and reaction to what we are seeing 

Consolidation, however, is where reaction turns to retention. The process occurs mostly during slow-wave NREM sleep and involves sending the encoded sequences to the neocortex. It is there that short-term reactions are turned into long-term memories.  

Getting poor sleep in the nights leading to a college test, even with heavy studying, is like driving an hour to hike only to realize you forgot your waterproof boots. It is a mistake that can have devastating consequences, but also easy to prevent with proper planning and routine.  

The Importance of Consistency 

Emphasizing the “routine” aspect of sleep as mentioned above is more than important. Simply getting one night of proper sleep, while a step in the right direction, is not sufficient for noticeable long-term results.  

As mentioned, nighttime slumbers are crucial for not only retaining information gained from studying but also learning in general. A 2019 Harvard University Study found as high as 25% of variation in grade performance came down the quality, frequency, and consistency of student’s sleep schedules.  

The study collected data mostly from college freshmen, enrolled in a morning Chemistry class at a state university. It studied two main components: students’ sleep across a single day (specifically the times they went to bed, woke up, how long they slept, and the quality of their sleep), and the consistency of their routines.  

The results for single-day efforts were mostly expected. Traits associated with higher achievement in the class were: 

• Earlier bedtime 

• Earlier wake-up time 

• Longer sleep 

• Higher-quality, deeper sleep 

However, the findings on sleep routines found sleep routine to be just as important. The best-performing students had consistent routines: 

• Going to bed at the same time each night 

• Waking up at the same time each morning 

• Sleeping the same number of hours each night 

• Consistent quality 

One night of quality sleep preceding crucial moments like exams, after a semester of neglect and drowsiness, did not counter multiple weeks of poor decision-making and routines. The results are clear: 7-9 hours of consistent, quality sleep each night have a significant impact on academic performance.  

Building a Strong Routine 

Time constraints, and the general life priorities of adolescents and young adults, are instrumental in understanding why students may neglect sleep. The average American school day is already six hours and thirty-eight minutes in length. This does not include extracurriculars or supplemental work like: 

• Sports 

• Clubs 

• Homework 

• Test prep 

• Tutoring 

The American school system typically runs 170-185 days per year (depending on the state), for five days a week. Especially as college admissions get more selective and competitive, students may find themselves trading spare time for school-related activities. What time of day are they most likely to get a break? Later at night, when after-school activities and schoolwork have wrapped up. In some cases, studying and academic pressure may go so late into the night, that it pushes bedtimes to later hours.  

The Test Prep Score Difference 

We at Test Prep Score, as a test prep and tutoring company, strive as a business to see our students succeed. If you are losing significant amounts of sleep to studying or academic-related pursuits, emphasize the importance proper sleep has on those efforts. Just like not hitting the “save” button after writing an essay will result in a devastating loss of your progress, poor sleep will result in your brain having a harder time “saving” what was studied.  

Are you looking for an in-person or online tutor in your area? No matter where you are or what subject you are looking to pursue, we offer a plethora of options.