The mint, one of mankind’s most refreshing, delectable, sugary treats. For hundreds of years this candy has been used as a remedy for ailments ranging from coughs, to indigestion. However mints are not only useful for physical health. One of their lesser known and yet beneficial attributes is that they help students earn better test scores.  Numerous studies have indicated that eating and smelling mint, or mint products, renders students more vigilant. In addition mints will likely have a calming effect on students worried because of major tests. Furthermore, mints have been shown to increase concentration while testing.
One of the most necessary skills when taking a test is the ability to perceive exactly what the test question is asking for. Sometimes this becomes difficult as questions can be wordy, have confusing vocabulary, or have multiple answers which may be similar. If students aren’t on the top of their game then they could easily slip up, and if this scenario is repeated on many questions, have significantly decreased testing scores. However, mints will make you more vigilant to the testing trickeries. Mints contain sugar which provides energy for cells, such as brain cells. In addition, because most chewing is performed on nutritious food, when students chew on mints their brains believe they are attaining nutrients, thus giving them energy.
Being mentally composed is an integral part of a student’s testing experience. Mints can calm the student’s mind in preparation for a test. An example of this phenomenon is shown in the following example. A professor at Wheeling Jesuit University did a study, where she gave one group of drivers mints, and another group of drivers no mints. She found that drivers who were given mints to smell, were less stressed, and suffered from less anxiety then those that weren’t given mints to smell. Giving students mints to make them less stressed, would dramatically improve their test scores.
Mints also increase concentration, another way to augment testing ability. Mint increases concentration through its smell. The way it accomplishes this is through increasing the student’s blood pressure, and increasing levels of oxygen in the blood. Thus more blood with more oxygen enters their brains. This oxygen in turn leads to higher concentration, and of course better test scores. Many other scientists agree with the idea that mints increase concentration. For example, a professor at the University of Cincinnati said "Not only do you get an improvement [in focus] with peppermint, you get a change in response that affects alertness in target detection”.
In conclusion, mints aid students on tests. Sugary mints will definitely gain students extra mental awareness, to see through hard questions. This will allow them to answer questions which they would normally have missed. Not only this, but mints have been proven to be soothing. This is important for students, and very important for nervous students, to do well on their tests. Additionally students cannot daydream during a test or they will surely fail. Mints have been proven to stop daydreaming, and improve concentration. All around eating and smelling mints will improve students test scores, and even if they don’t, they sure still taste good!