Exams

[Magicseven]

im in the middle of my uni exams and i was just wondering if anyone had any experiences with herbs that helped them with their study. ie through help in motivation, attention, memory etc.

most nootropics are synthetic, and some are no go areas (eg amphetamines). ive used modafinil before but would rather a more natural study aid. any suggestions will do i just thought this might be an interesting topic, as well as being helpful for other people who may be looking for a natural booster to their study regime.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Magicseven

[ThunderIdeal]

the ones that seem to get the best rap from my reading are gotu kola, brahmi, gingko and ashwaganda. i quite like the first two as a tea and i am sure they have an effect. the first three at least can also be purchased as pills but thats a very expensive option.

[obtuse]

for me, brahmi and gingko i seem to find helpful. expensive but still helpful, but pehaps its just a nice placebo.

also try ginger lemon and honey teas.

but its more important to eat well, get lots of fresh air, and good sleep. caring and nurturing your plants is also very good meditation and relaxation time.

good luck with your exams. its worth it in the end, just stay focussed, not stressed.

Cheers, Obtuse.

[solomon]

yerba mate, LOW dose kanna

[psili sausage]

for me, brahmi and gingko i seem to find helpful. expensive but still helpful, but pehaps its just a nice placebo.

also try ginger lemon and honey teas.

but its more important to eat well, get lots of fresh air, and good sleep. caring and nurturing your plants is also very good meditation and relaxation time.

good luck with your exams. its worth it in the end, just stay focussed, not stressed.

Cheers, Obtuse.

 

I agree ginkgo is great for brain circulation and a good night sleep before an exam is always better than cramming all night .

I like lemon balm tea when studying rather than (or sometimes as well as) stimulants like caffeine. It is anxiolytic, calming, and aids concentration. I wonder how it would go with that ginger lemon & honey tea... Lemon balm is in the mint family, quite a productive plant and grows easily from cuttings. When grabbing leaves for a cup of tea I occasionally pull out a piece with roots attached which I plant to propagate more...

[santiago]

dude dont be afraid to say the A word............if you want to go natural like the generation before you and before that cool, just cos you think dexies are going to get frowned on by us elder forum goers dont let that muffle your free speech, if you go to far u will get lambasted by us peers or get a warn point.

if i could do my exams over again............which i did totally straight without the knowldege drugs even existed except for my parents hippy parties and bamboo bong...........id snort a fuckin half weight of meth or stick 5 dexies melted in hot water up my ass and absolutely fly past any exam marking perameters, with my teachers going.........shit i didnt know santiago was so talented when marking me.

do they drug test students these days............i dont thinks so, advantage in your court, if your going to get marked on something that may potentially turn you into a doctor of the future then i think u should be drug tested like these ben cousins footballers.............for now, advantage you. i know...........i have nephews that about 40% of kids take phets for TEE or whatever u call it now.

why not, instead of becoming a lizard of the night and having 8 hour mastibation sessions followed by rooting transexuals on comedown meth, why not put it to good use and pass school tests with ease and rub your swarmy bookworm classmates in your wake.

god i write fantastic fictional stories.

[faustus]

insisting that you only artificially boost your cognitive ability with something natural -- hope that you realise the irony in that.

regardless, one of the very few nootropics that actually DOES have empirical evidence that it works in healthy volunteers is brahmi.

alternatively, here's a great study regime that a few cunts on the forums keep recommending:

- wake up 8 am

- using a base pipe, smoke low-moderate dose of meth

- pre-pre-breakfast masturbation

- pre-breakfast masturbation

- breakfast masturbation

...

- prodigious amounts of meth smoking, repeated where necessary

- intermittent study

- masturbation, repeated where necessary

- take a moderate dose of GHB at midnight to help you sleep

- re-dose 4 a.m

repeat day in/day out, 3 weeks straight or until desired exam success is assured.

[Yeti101]

Why wasn't my HSC better then? Oh wait, no meth, that must ahve been the problem!

Seriously, I recommend brahmi plus tulsi - Holy Basil tea.

[planthelper]

students in some arabian countries chew qat when they study, hmm no worse, they refuse to study if they have no qat.

[santiago]

in that recent ABC radio podcast that was posted on the forum a few days ago subject khat they did mention that it is frequently used to study the koran into the early hours of the morning, if were going natural (or close to) as possible a khat extract with strong coffee could be a suggestion, obviously taking into consideration ones health and heart condition first.

i say a khat extract which is possible in theory as i just dont see a western kid starting to quid khat at 5 in the morning and chewing it for 3 hours to be ready at say 8am, it was interesting in that podcast the half life or peak effect of khat chewing round about the 2-3 hour mark.

[Rabaelthazar]

why not, instead of becoming a lizard of the night and having 8 hour mastibation sessions followed by rooting transexuals on comedown meth, why not put it to good use and pass school tests with ease and rub your swarmy bookworm classmates in your wake.

 

Ha ha ha ha

[∂an]

good advice obtuse.

when doing my uni exams, I used to drink damiana throughout the day to keep me stimulated and use GABA if I got too stressed. would drink coffee occasionally, but not before exams.

best thing is to maintain a balanced life style and not to alter it too much from your usual routine... unless that involves not studying at all

go for a run or a bike ride when u feel like its all getting too much, let all the information sink into your head.

the worst thing you can do is use stimulants to stay up late at night cramming, then be tired for the exam...

[Aya]

best thing is to maintain a balanced life style and not to alter it too much from your usual routine... unless that involves not studying at all

go for a run or a bike ride when u feel like its all getting too much, let all the information sink into your head.

the worst thing you can do is use stimulants to stay up late at night cramming, then be tired for the exam...

 

Good advice there.

And as for that natural helper, can't recommend Yerba enough. Fantastic plant. Definitely helps to provide some added motivation and a clear and focused mind. Just make sure not to drink it too late into the evening, as you may find it slightly difficult to get a good night's sleep. Not because of any natural chemistry on Yerba's part, but simply because your brain will be processing and developing information like an über-efficient-green-powered-course-material-absorbing machine, that you'll not want to go to sleep.

There's a great Argentinian cafe over on Hoddle street if you're ever on the search for some.

Good luck with the sudies.

[faustus]

in all honesty, the best way of improving exam performance is simply to study smarter. i doubt you'll have time to do this for your upcoming exams, but over the years i've spent a considerable about of time researching into memory enhancement and consolidation, cos i've always wanted an edge over other cunts.

some of the ideas you'll need to join together, but i recommend you read into:

- long term potentiation, and the hebbian theory of neural plasticity

- the forgetting curve

- spaced learning

- spaced repetition and memory consolidation

- mnemonics

i could go into more depth but i ain't gots the time.

but essentially once you understand the above, you'll understand why cramming is so fucking chat. with a bit of organisation and planning, you won't actually need to spend that much more time studying, because you'll be taking advantage of the way the brain encodes information and exploit it.

as of 2010, there's no way that any herb or drug will be able to match the benefits of incorporating the above.

[C_T]

sugar. but make sure you get up and move around too.

[santiago]

in all honesty, the best way of improving exam performance is simply to study smarter.

 

good simple advice....instead of trying to shortcut and basically cheat why not work on your own actual intelligence first.

however i dare say give any average person a test straight then a similar test on a stim such as dex and the results of the dex test will almost always be higher.

i read about this years ago, its certainly not new news.....its a dirty little secret that a lot of the kids today prep for exams on common prescription and illegal stims, by prep i mean in the toilet 10 minutes before the exam.....im all for confidentiality on almost all subjects however if normal joe blow has to get tested on the street, getting a new job and all that random crapola i have no sympathy for some spotty faced kid who thinks he can short cut his way into better results by cheating.

all i said is i had no sympathy for exam drug testing, i didnt say i wouldnt do it myself which i probably would.....however i graduated in the early 90's and that ship has well and trully sailed hahah.

[planthelper]

i think a study buddy, could work for some people.

aswell it helps to know of people who might be able to explain some things to you, which otherwise take ages to work out on your own.

some things i could only keep in my memeory banks for a short time, so to study some things early, did never work for me.

cheating is an other good methode, and this can happen because your teacher is so cool he tells you, your questions even beforhand.

my favorite cheating methode was a piece of cardboard strung to a rubberband up the sleeve. the cardboard contained let's say the periodic table, and in case of danger or when you wanted the device to retreat, all you had to do is, to let go off the rubberband.

one time a teacher thought he was so clever by having the questions pulled out of a hat, but already the first person took two nummbers out of the hat, and so we always knew what we were going to be asked.

Edited November 10, 2010 by planthelper

[planthelper]

thinking of this post, the other day when it was beer time, i remebered something regarding my cheating...

somehow, the manufacturing of the cheating device, was always done with enthusiasm, concentration and care,

and this "state of mind" i was in, produced very good learning results!

in short, making the cheating device was more fun than just studying, and this resulted that i did not even had to cheat!!