Yet we felt like we had a lucky charm, a way to put our head “in the same place” during test-taking as during studying. Essential it was, too, especially during finals week, with two and sometimes three tests falling on the same day. That kind of pressure drives people deep into their worst habits, whether chocolate and cigarettes, brain vitamins and nail-biting, cases of diet cola, or much stronger stuff. When hunkered down in this psychological survival mode, it can be a profound comfort to believe that a favorite “study aid” also improves exam performance. And so we did. “Brain chemistry,”
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