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Improving Your Memory
Studying has two parts: learning and remembering. Learning is pinpointing
the facts and ideas and understanding them; remembering is putting them
into long-term storage in your head. For high test grades, you need to
do both.
Remembering happens in two ways: by rote and by association. Rote memory
is when you repeat something over and over again; associative memory is
when you tie two things together in your mind. Associative memory is much
more reliable than rote, so it's important to use it as much as possible.
Effective memorization relies on two factors: (1) how well you can integrate
new information into your prior knowledge and (2) how often you rehearse
or practice that information.
Organizing the material not only helps you understand the material, but
it helps you recall facts, ideas, events, and logical arguments. If you
have a really good memory, you will forget at least one-fourth of what
you learn by the end of the day you learn it. Since you will not be able
to remember everything, your first job is selection--deciding what is
important and what is not.
20 MEMORY TECHNIQUES
1. Organize
it. Organized information is easier to find.
2.
Use your body. Learning is an active process; get all your
senses involved.
3. Use
your brain. Work with your memory, not against it.
4. Recall
it. This is easier when you use the other principles to store
information.
Organize
It
1. Learn
from the general to the specific. At the beginning of a course
or before beginning a reading assignment, skim the material first for
the general idea. Sometimes if you step back to look at the big picture,
the details make more sense.
2. Make
it meaningful. Know what you want from your education, then look
for connections between what you want and what you are studying.
3. Create
associations. The data already stored in your memory is arranged
according to a scheme that makes sense to you. When you introduce new
data, you can recall it more effectively if you store it near similar
or related data.
Use Your
Body
4. Learn
it once, actively. Action is a great memory enhancer; boredom
puts memory to sleep. Wake it up by using your arms and legs as well as
your eyes, ears, and voice. When you sit at your desk, sit up; sit on
the edge of your chair; try standing up when you study; pace back and
forth and gesture as you recite material out loud; use your hands.
5. Relax.
When you're relaxed, you absorb new information more quickly and recall
it with greater accuracy. Being relaxed is not the same as being drowsy;
it is a state of alertness, free of tension. You can be active and relaxed.
6. Create
pictures. Visual information is associated with a different part
of the brain than verbal information, so creating a picture of a concept
anchors the information in two parts of your brain, increasing your chances
of recalling that information. Draw diagrams. Make cartoons. Relationships
within and among abstract concepts can be "seen" and recalled
easily when they are visualized.
7. Recite
and repeat. Recitation works best when you recite concepts in
your own words. When you repeat something out loud, you anchor the concept
in two different senses. Reciting silently (in your head) can be useful,
but is not as effective as making noise. Your mind can trick itself into
thinking it knows something when it doesn't; your ears are harder to fool.
Students
who recited aloud retained 80 percent of the material they studied; students
who read the same material for the same amount of time without reciting
it retained only 20 percent. To get sound working for you, talk over your
coursework with a friend. When you read a chapter, summarize its parts,
bit by bit, out loud as you go along. Explain it to yourself.
Repetition
is also important. It is the most common memory device because it works.
Repeat a concept out loud until you know it, then say it five more times.
8. Write
it down. Our muscles have better memories than our heads. Note-taking
is a muscle activity. That is why the act of taking notes--even if you
never look at them again--will get you higher marks on a test than just
listening. Extend this technique by writing a note not just once, but
many times. Writing uses different memory than speaking. Writing is physical,
using your arm, your hand, and your fingers. You remember what you do.
The smartest
students keep compressing their notes into smaller and smaller size. As
they understand relationships between one week's work and the next, they
consolidate and organize. Once a week, consolidate that week's notes.
Once a month, squeeze the four weeks' notes into one or two pages of clue
words and patterns. Before each big exam, do a final organization and
consolidation. Make sure your notes are completely accurate. Check facts
carefully between one set of notes and the next.
Combine
see and say techniques by telling yourself the visual image you have created
to remember a particular fact or idea. Then combine auditory and visual
memory with muscle memory: as you write, say the words aloud.
Use Your
Brain
9. Reduce
interference. Two hours of studying in front of the television
might be worth 10 minutes of studying where it is quiet. If you have two
hours and want to study and watch television, it's probably better to
study for an hour and watch television for an hour. Doing one at a time
increases your ability to remember.
10. Use
daylight. Study your most difficult subjects during daylight hours.
Many people can concentrate more effectively during the day.
11. Overlearn.
Learn more than you intended. Pick a subject apart, examine it, add to
it, and go over it until it becomes second nature. The potential rewards
are speed, accuracy, and greater confidence at exam time.
12. Escape
the short-term memory trap. Short-term memory rarely lasts more
than several hours. A short review within minutes or hours of a study
session can move material from short-term memory into long-term memory.
A quick mini-review can save you hours of study time when exams roll around.
Use your
notes to test yourself on your memory of the material. One way to make
this practice testing more like a real test is to take notes on your notes.
These "mini" notes should consist of key words or phrases that
will later serve as cues to remind you of whole topics. If you can recall
the information with just a key word or two as a reminder, then you have
learned the material well enough to be able to use it on an essay exam,
for short answer questions, and in conversation.
13. Distribute
learning. Marathon study sessions are not effective. You can get
far more done in three 2-hour sessions than in one 6-hour session. You
can get more done if you take regular breaks.
Two kinds
of study situations are exceptions to the keep-it-short rule. One is library
research, where there is enough change of pace to keep you alert for at
least several hours. The other exception is writing a paper. Start writing,
and do not stop until you are at least a few pages into the first draft.
Stop when you run out of steam.
14. Be
aware of attitudes. If you believe a subject is difficult or boring,
it probably will be. We remember what we find interesting. Remember, everything
is related to everything else--look for connections.
15. Choose
what not to store in memory. Decide what is essential to remember
from an assignment or lecture. Extract the core concepts. Ask what you
will be tested on as well as what you want to remember, then apply memory
techniques to those ideas.
16. Combine
memory techniques. Memory techniques work better in combination
with each other. Choose 2 or 3 techniques to use on a particular assignment.
Experiment: combine sight, sound, and touch when you study.
Recall
It
17. Remember
something else. When you are stuck and cannot remember something
you know you know, remember something else that is related to it. If you
cannot recall specific facts, remember the example the instructor used
during the lecture. Brainstorming is a good memory jog. When you are stumped
in a test, start writing down lots of answers to related questions. The
answer you need is likely to appear.
18. Notice
when you do remember. Notice when you recall information easily
and ask yourself what memory techniques you are using naturally. Also
notice when it is difficult to recall information. Adjust your learning
techniques as needed.
19. Use
it before you lose it. To remember something, access it a lot:
read it, write it, speak it, listen to it, apply it. Find ways to make
contact with the material regularly. Study groups are especially effective
because they allow you to teach the material. Explaining it to other students
helps you focus your attention.
20. Remember,
you never forget. Adopt an attitude that says,"I never forget
anything, although I may have difficulty recalling something from my memory.
All I have to do is find where I stored it." Positive thinking works!
STUDY
STRATEGIES
Study
Groups
The difference
between a study group and a tutorial situation is that a tutor is someone
who can be relied on to know what he/she is talking about. The students
in a study group, on the other hand, are all learning the material at
the same time.
Study groups
and study partners can be very effective if certain guidelines are observed.
You should only work with people who take the same serious attitude toward
their studies as you do. Decide how you are going to work together, make
sure everyone shares equally in the responsibilities and the advantages,
and stick to your agreement unless everyone agrees to make changes. For
best results, here's how to use a study group:
1. When:
Join a study group after you've learned the facts and ideas you need
to know to avoid learning incorrect information.
2. Why:
The purpose of the group should be conversation--sit back, listen to
the others, and tell what you know. This exercises your sight and sound
senses and your mouth muscles, so you benefit three ways.
3. How:
An effective technique is for each member to prepare five essay questions
in advance and then for the group to take turns answering them all.
If your group needs to work on memorization of facts, drill one another
with clue words.
4. Where:
Choose a place where there are no distractions so the group can give
its entire attention to the subject.
5. How
long: One hour spent with everyone's mind on the subject is
worth four hours' work with time-outs every few minutes for fun and
games.
6. Who:
Anyone, as long as he or she understands the point of the study group
is not to teach, but to discuss facts and ideas that are already learned;
not to socialize, but to study.
A study
group or partner cannot take the place of effective individual study.
You must do the groundwork (attend lectures, read the textbook, etc.)
and you must take the first steps to recall and review the material yourself.
Study groups or partners can drill each other, help each other practice
new skills, clarify difficult points, present new viewpoints on the material,
or pose questions for each other.
Mnemonic
Devices
Some students
employ mnemonic (ne mon' ik) devices to help them remember crucial information.
Some mnemonics are words whose letters stand for things to be remembered
(ROY G BIV is the mnemonic for the colors of the light spectrum: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. HOMES lists the names of
the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior); some are sentences
in which the first letters of each word is the key. Mnemonics can be useful,
but if you create too many of them, you have the problem of trying to
memorize the mnemonics rather than the information they represent.
External
Memory
External
memory refers to all physical devices that help memory: lists, memos,
diaries, alarm clocks, etc. Many people fail to make the best use of such
help. One handy form of external memory is the deliberately misplaced
object. Put a familiar object in an unfamiliar place where you cannot
miss seeing it. When you see it, it will serve as a reminder to you and
help you recall what you wanted to remember.
Reviewing
One of the
oldest facts known about memory is that the more times you review your
notes by testing yourself, the longer you will remember the information.
Even a single review after you think you know it well can dramatically
increase the length of time over which you can remember something. It
is also important to space out review sessions rather than cramming them
all together--30 minutes per day is better than three times in a row for
90 minutes. There is a point of diminishing return: if you space out your
reviews too much, you begin to forget. For most people, the ideal spacing
is:
1st review--5-10
minutes after learning
2nd review--later
the same day
3rd review--one
week later
4th review--one
month later
5th review--just
before the exam.
To take
further advantage of spaced-out reinforcement, break up your final test
review time into two periods.
Study
Breaks
You will
do your most effective studying if you take a 10-minute break between
subjects. It helps three ways:
1. It
is part of behavior modifaction and rewards you for putting in 50
minutes of study effort.
2. It
acts just like a brief nap and allows for some free subconscious reinforcement
of your learning.
3. It
keeps brain-wave interference at a minimum by separating the two subjects
very clearly in your mind.
DON'T BE
RIGID ABOUT TAKING BREAKS or you will end up watching the clock more than
the books. One good time to take a short break (5 minutes) is right after
reading your textbook assignment.
Rote Memorization
Straight
memorizing is the least dependable way to rememberLast-anything. To keep
straight memorizing to a minimum:
Associate.
Link it to something you do remember.
Visualize.
Make a picture in your mind's eye.
Sound
out. Say it aloud and listen to its sound.
Count.
It helps if you know the number of points you need to
Abbreviate.
The mind's eye recalls short blocks of capital
Some things
have to be memorized primarily by rote (poems, a in a play, etc.). Find
key words in the passage, then 3%a{{iž
CRAMMING
Last-minute
cramming is not a good thing to do. It is definitely not learning and
it is a very ineffective way to prepare for a test. In order to effectively
prepare for a test at the last minute, you must be very selective in what
you study. You must eliminate from consideration most of what you should
learn in order to study and remember what you must know in order to get
a passing grade. Select only a handful of the most general and significant
main ideas from each chapter of the text and from your lecture notes.
Write this information down, along with the absolute minimum of supporting
facts and details. Put aside all your other materials and concentrate
all your efforts on those few study sheets. Obviously, you have taken
a chance by selecting only certain ideas and facts, but trying to remember
too much dooms you to remembering nothing.
Sources:
Ellis,
Dave, Becoming a Master Student, 7th Ed.
Knight, Theodore O., Study Strategies for College.
Kesselman-Turkel, Judi and Franklynn Peterson, Study Smarts: How
to Learn More in Less Time.
Content Owner: - ace_center@stchas.edu
Page Created by:
Last Updated: 7/14/99
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