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Mind & body · 4 min

The night before the gaokao: pack, sleep, don't cram

The work has already been done. The last night's job is to arrive in good shape.

Nothing you learn on the night of June 6 is going to appear on the paper of June 7. Cramming that night costs you sleep and adds almost nothing to what you know.

Have your bag packed by 8 p.m.: admission ticket, ID card, pencils, pens, ruler, compasses, eraser, water bottle. Lay out tomorrow's clothes.

Eat a light dinner of something you eat all the time. No coffee after 6 p.m.

Spend thirty minutes reading for pleasure. Not a textbook, not a mock paper — a novel, a comic, anything that is not the exam.

Be in bed by 10:30 p.m. If sleep does not come, do not panic: lying quietly in the dark gives you most of what sleep would. Leave the phone alone.

Set two alarms. Trust your preparation. Turn off the light.

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