Starting on Wednesday 17 June, nearly 700,000 candidates, from 13 to 93 years of age[1], will be taking the baccalauréat state examination.

These exam periods, often synonymous with stress and fatigue, are a tough ordeal for our mind and body. On the eve of the written examinations, your notification to attend, bag and piece of identification are all ready, but what about your memory? How do you boost it, and look after it? Is there still time to revise? Is there a specific diet that should be followed? How many hours’ sleep does the future graduate need to be in full possession of his/her faculties?

Joëlle Adrien, Inserm Research Director at Unit 1127, “Brain and Spinal Cord Institute (ICM)”, and Francis Eustache, Director of Inserm Unit – EPHE – UCBN 1077, “Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroanatomy of the Human Memory,” specialists in sleep and human memory, respectively, answer your questions.

[1] To find out more, visit the French National Ministry of Education website