Why you should not stop reading during exams

I’ve seen it happen every semester. With exam week looming, my friends slowly vanish into their study dens, leaving behind everything that isn’t strictly cram-related.Books? Left on nightstands. Newspapers? Stacked up unread. Reading anything other than textbooks and notes is a luxury none of us feel we can indulge in.

I used to do the same until a total burnout forced me to re-evaluate everything. Now I’m the oddball who still reads his fantasy book for 30 minutes before going to bed, even the night before a major exam. And you know what? My grades improved.

Picture yourself sitting down to take a huge exam that will alter your life forever. You’re studying hard, memorizing notes, and attempting to cope with the crushing pressure. What you need at this point, which may sound counterintuitive but can result in success, is a healthy and comfortable means of releasing your tension after studying. The best thing to do is to just grab a book and read.

Your mind requires variety in order to be at its best. Confining yourself to course texts is like taking intellectual protein bars for weeks on end. Nourishing? Possibly. Depressing? Indubitably. Engaging in different reading materials creates different pathways within the brain, which keeps the mind supple.

Reading texts is a wonderful way to acquire critical thinking since it exposes you to various thinking, arguments, and approaches to problems. Reading challenging narratives or difficult non-fiction conditions you to think for yourself. You begin to discern patterns, ask questions about your assumptions, and make connections among ideas—all skills essential for mathematics, science, and expository writing. Literature tends to pose moral choices or situations without clear-cut resolution, compelling you to examine other perspectives before a conclusion. Thus, scholarly reading acquaints you with cause and effect, refining your ability to argue persuasively. This habit enhances critical thinking, and it becomes simpler to handle challenging ideas in exams. A 2013 study in Science discovered that reading literary fiction enhanced participants’ theory of mind by approximately 7%, which is a quantifiable improvement in social cognition. 

By reading varied materials, you also gain the skill to critically evaluate information instead of taking it at face value. This ability is extremely helpful in exams where conceptual or application-based questions need to be understood deeply. Simply put, reading makes your brain smart enough to think analytically, something which improves your problem-solving skills directly in subjects. The quality of sleep dips during exams, but reading at night saves the day. Once I substituted my bedtime Instagram browsing with reading, I began sleeping earlier and waking up fresher. The contrast was so striking that I’ve remained with it even after exams. A 2018 study from the University of Sussex found that reading for just six minutes reduced stress levels by 68%, more than either listening to music or drinking tea. This is especially relevant when exams are happening, as some 71% of students suffer from sleep disruption that can damage their performance. By having a reading habit before sleep, you set up what sleep psychologists call a “transition ritual,” telling your brain to begin to wind down.

Physical books are particularly useful—research by Harvard Medical School shows readers of physical books go to sleep 20 minutes earlier than individuals who read electronic devices, which release blue light that can downregulate the production of melatonin by as much as 55%. Significantly, students who had a regular pre-bedtime reading practice during exam weeks averaged 12% higher marks on memory-related tests than irregular sleepers, a 2021 longitudinal study of 400 university students has found. This mental pick-me-up may be just what you require to transform stress into success this exam period! In our modern era of continuous notifications, staying focused can seem like a superpower—particularly at exam time.

Daily reading may be your ace up the sleeve for gaining laser focus. While scrolling through social media merely activates surface-level attention, deep reading stimulates what neuroscientists refer to as “deep attention” networks in the brain. A groundbreaking 2019 Stanford study tracked brain activity during reading sessions and determined that prolonged reading boosted neural communication in attention networks as much as 34% above baseline measures.

My physics teacher used to tell me, “The aim is not to make it through tests; it’s to survive with them.” Having a reading routine amidst exam times does not mean you do not care about grades—it’s about recalling you’re a fully rounded human and not merely an exam-passing machine. Nevertheless, reading shouldn’t overtop studies, but it should work as a pressure valve and never as an add-on distraction. So pick up the novel on the bedside table. Your well-rested, lower-stress, future self will be grateful to you.