How to Get a Better Memory
There are some days when cramming works - and there are more days when they don't. Wouldn't it be great if you could just simply retain in your brain all the things you've been taught, so that when test time comes, you don't have to fall all over yourself trying to re-learn and remember them the night before?
Well, believe it or not, there are actually ways in which you can hold information more securely and permanently in your brain. The first thing that you have to do is get cramming out of the equation. Then, try these tips to remember things better:
1. Establish a study habit. The key word is "regular". Learning a little bit at a time, regularly, gives your brain ample time to fully absorb, understand, and retain all the information that you want to memorize. There is actually a study that shows the human brain is only capable of memorizing between five to nine items at a time, so do expect to memorize the ninety-nine facts you will need to ace your test all in one study session.
2. Make mnemonics. What are the colours of the rainbow? ROYGBIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. It's an old school trick, and one reason why it's still around is it works.
Mnemonics don't have to be sophisticated; they don't have to form real words. They're just a way to compress the things you have to remember. For instance, in the case of ROYGBIV, you don't have to remember seven colours anymore; you just have to remember one thing: ROYGBIV. And what does it stand for? Well, it's not too hard to think of colours that start with R, O, Y, G, B, I, and V, right?
3. Sing it out. The more your brain has to hold on to, the better it can hold on. This applies to things you need to learn. When you sing out a list, you are giving your brain something extra to hold on to - tune.
Besides, when you sing something, it becomes a little more fun, and fun is one more thing the brain is able to hold on to. You remember fun days more than boring days, right?
4. Write it down. The more parts of your body are involved in learning something, the better you can learn that thing and retain the knowledge. Now it may be too much to ask you to actually perform a procedure being described in your book (although if you could, that would help you remember it even better!), but it's not too much to ask you to write it down.
When you write things down, even if you just copy the text in the book, you are forced to process the words and the thoughts more carefully and thoroughly than if you just read them. This thorough processing helps you understand and remember things better.
5. If all else fails, repeat, repeat, repeat. Everything becomes easier with repetition. Remember the first time you read Shakespeare? We'll bet that half of the text made no sense to you that first time. And of course, it's pretty hard to remember something you don't understand in the first place.
But if you kept on reading Shakespeare, you would have found (or you did find) that the sentences actually made sense - in fact, they were beautiful. Pretty soon, you'll be "Oh Romeo"-ing like the best of them.
This is a level of learning you achieve simply by repeatedly reading a piece of text. It's pretty effective - but it takes time.
Well, we told you we'd teach you ways to help you remember things better. We never promised any shortcuts. Anyway, in this world, shortcuts are seldom the best way to do things. Remember that.
Northampton Tutors
Article :By Louise Goldstein
There are some days when cramming works - and there are more days when they don't. Wouldn't it be great if you could just simply retain in your brain all the things you've been taught, so that when test time comes, you don't have to fall all over yourself trying to re-learn and remember them the night before?
Well, believe it or not, there are actually ways in which you can hold information more securely and permanently in your brain. The first thing that you have to do is get cramming out of the equation. Then, try these tips to remember things better:
1. Establish a study habit. The key word is "regular". Learning a little bit at a time, regularly, gives your brain ample time to fully absorb, understand, and retain all the information that you want to memorize. There is actually a study that shows the human brain is only capable of memorizing between five to nine items at a time, so do expect to memorize the ninety-nine facts you will need to ace your test all in one study session.
2. Make mnemonics. What are the colours of the rainbow? ROYGBIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. It's an old school trick, and one reason why it's still around is it works.
Mnemonics don't have to be sophisticated; they don't have to form real words. They're just a way to compress the things you have to remember. For instance, in the case of ROYGBIV, you don't have to remember seven colours anymore; you just have to remember one thing: ROYGBIV. And what does it stand for? Well, it's not too hard to think of colours that start with R, O, Y, G, B, I, and V, right?
3. Sing it out. The more your brain has to hold on to, the better it can hold on. This applies to things you need to learn. When you sing out a list, you are giving your brain something extra to hold on to - tune.
Besides, when you sing something, it becomes a little more fun, and fun is one more thing the brain is able to hold on to. You remember fun days more than boring days, right?
4. Write it down. The more parts of your body are involved in learning something, the better you can learn that thing and retain the knowledge. Now it may be too much to ask you to actually perform a procedure being described in your book (although if you could, that would help you remember it even better!), but it's not too much to ask you to write it down.
When you write things down, even if you just copy the text in the book, you are forced to process the words and the thoughts more carefully and thoroughly than if you just read them. This thorough processing helps you understand and remember things better.
5. If all else fails, repeat, repeat, repeat. Everything becomes easier with repetition. Remember the first time you read Shakespeare? We'll bet that half of the text made no sense to you that first time. And of course, it's pretty hard to remember something you don't understand in the first place.
But if you kept on reading Shakespeare, you would have found (or you did find) that the sentences actually made sense - in fact, they were beautiful. Pretty soon, you'll be "Oh Romeo"-ing like the best of them.
This is a level of learning you achieve simply by repeatedly reading a piece of text. It's pretty effective - but it takes time.
Well, we told you we'd teach you ways to help you remember things better. We never promised any shortcuts. Anyway, in this world, shortcuts are seldom the best way to do things. Remember that.
Northampton Tutors
Article :By Louise Goldstein
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