Even for the most brilliant students, test time can be overwhelming - a time of enormous stress and anxiousness and a poignant fear of failure, all of which you can't wait to have behind you. Being aware of some effective relaxation methods, however, can not only position you to simply approach your tests in calmer spirits, but to actually boost your test performance as well.

According to research, stress and anxiety have detrimental effects on academics and learning processes. Nervousness, fear, frustration, and anxiety cause neurons in our central nervous systems to go haywire, thus throwing our brains' synchronized activity out of sync and corrupting the ability to think coherently. Such emotions associated with stress actually create a static that stifles access to memories stored in our brains, as well as the capacity to comprehend, absorb, reason, retain, and recall information.

Positive feelings, however, actually lead to increased harmony and synchronization among the neurons in our brains and nervous system - which is much more conducive to thinking clearly and working effectively. In order to increase your experience of positive feelings, and decrease the surfacing of negative feelings, keep in mind the following tips to employ:

• When nervous feelings surface, think of the cliché, albeit effective, "happy place." Focus your mind on anything that gives you warm, positive feelings, and commit to literally holding that feeling within, allowing yourself to experience the feeling for at least thirty seconds to calm your nerves, and re-center your attitude to a positively charged one.

• In the weeks, days, and hours leading up to a test - or any stressful event that you find consuming you - quell recurring negative thoughts by concentrating your focus on the internal area surrounding your heart. With your mind on this area, take long, deep breaths to re-center yourself with a calm spirit. If negative thoughts manage to creep back in during the test or event itself, take a moment to allow yourself to re-center in the same manner before resuming.

• Allow yourself to think only of positive possibilities. If you catch yourself worrying about earning a horrid score, consider instead the possibility of earning an even higher score than you thought you were prepared to earn.

• If on no other day, make it a point to prepare your mind and body with effective brain foods, like proteins and complex carbohydrates, to provide your brain with the energy necessary to focus for long periods of time. And on this day, of all days, you certainly don't want to skip breakfast. If you're not used to eating heavily in the morning, then don't overdo it - but do eat something.

• The night before a big test or event, don't stress, obsess, or cram. Instead engage in something enjoyable to that your mental state remains relaxed up until the event, whether that means reading a book for pleasure, seeing a favorite movie, or playing a game with peers.

• Be your own cheerleader. When you feel yourself slipping into boredom or anxiousness, take a deep breath and tell yourself that you're doing great and just need to keep up the good work. The key, the trend, I hope you're beginning to note, is keeping all thoughts positive leading up to and throughout test time.