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Step 8Memory Aids
Based on a comment I received, I added some studying techniques or habits that might be useful. I'll divide them into two groups: memory aids, and study aids.
Memory Aids
These are techniques that help one to memorize a long speech, an odd pattern, or your password.
1) Use Mnemonics or Sentence Compression. Utfliewoasaanl26ate. <--This is a complete sentence. Well, it's the first letter of each word in the sentence, and a number. It stands for "Use the first letter in every word of a sentence and add a number like 26 at the end." This is a GREAT way to create a difficult to decrypt password or memorize a paragraph word for word. Really. What you do is write out the compressed sentence on a card and use that to memorize from. You could memorize the Gettysburg Address in no time using this technique. This also works for an odd pattern that you need to memorize; ROY G. BIV is an example of this. You might recognize it as the pattern of colors in a rainbow.
2) Act Like a Crazy Person. When you're memorizing, talk to yourself out loud. Repeat the phrase loudly, not quietly. I don't recommend you do this in the subway, however. This technique uses several of your senses at once. The more senses you involve in the memorization process, the better your "total recall" will be come test time. Isn't the combinative nature of neural networks neat?
3) Cling Tenaciously to Additive Memorizing. All this means is to memorize the first sentence, then memorize the first and second sentences, then the first through the third, etc. Slowly add a little bit to the end of what you are memorizing, and each time you repeat your paragraph, start over from the beginning. This type of memorization helps you keep the whole piece in order and helps each sentence flow to the next. When you finish memorizing, the first few sentences will come out without even thinking about it. You will have trained your mouth to say the words. Come test time, you'll be mouthing the words as you write them rapidly down.
**Additionally, as eimat sugested,
"Try it the opposite way: memorize the last sentence (of, let's say, a soliloquy) then the second-to-last and last sentence, etc. working backward. That way, you're working toward the material you're most comfortable with.
Picked this up in a drama class, but I'm sure that it applies to other subjects, like politics, history, etc."
I think this is a great idea!
4) Make a Little Song. Pick a tune you like and put the paragraph to memorize in place of the original lyrics. Personally, I don't use this technique much, but if are constantly singing along with your radio, you may find this method simply *awesome*.
5) Opposites Do NOT Attract. This technique will help you keep things that are opposite straight, so that come test time, those tricky True False questions don't sting you. If you are memorizing a pair of opposite facts like, "Zebras have stripes, horses are brown," only memorize one half of the pair. This is especially important if you are cramming right before a test. If you memorize "Zebras have stripes" you won't be caught by any "Horses have stripes" trickery.
6) Combine Techniques. These techniques are powerful individually, but by their powers combined, your memorizing rapidly improves. At my job I regularly have to adjust projectors using a lightmeter, and some obtuse opposite commands on the projector adjustment menu. To remember which adjustments to use I repeat to myself the compressed phrase "DDC." This stands for Day, Drive, Contrast. That means when the projector is set for a Daytime scene, I only adjust the Drive and Contrast of the projector. When set for Night, I adjust the opposite settings, which happen to be G2 and Brightness. This combines Sentence Compression and Opposites Do NOT Attract.
7) Strive for Perfection. A really interesting thing about the way our brains make neural connections is this: if you never accept a mistake, you'll only know the right way to do something. If you always follow the same path to the outhouse, you can find it in the dark. So when you're memorizing, when you make a mistake, start over from the beginning. This will prevent that mistake from getting stuck in your mind. It may seem like a slower way to learn things, but over the long haul, this is actually a much faster way to learn. You will be building perfection upon perfection instead of mediocrity upon mediocrity. In the end your skills will be at a much higher level than someone who settles for less from themselves. Now don't take this to mean you gotta be a perfect person or something. But if you use this method for learning a skill, you will become skillful.
8) Take Notes. Another modality to get you involved in memorization is your sense of touch and muscle memory. So write down the important parts. I constantly take notes and then throw them away. Just the act of taking notes helps me remember.
Memory Aids
These are techniques that help one to memorize a long speech, an odd pattern, or your password.
1) Use Mnemonics or Sentence Compression. Utfliewoasaanl26ate. <--This is a complete sentence. Well, it's the first letter of each word in the sentence, and a number. It stands for "Use the first letter in every word of a sentence and add a number like 26 at the end." This is a GREAT way to create a difficult to decrypt password or memorize a paragraph word for word. Really. What you do is write out the compressed sentence on a card and use that to memorize from. You could memorize the Gettysburg Address in no time using this technique. This also works for an odd pattern that you need to memorize; ROY G. BIV is an example of this. You might recognize it as the pattern of colors in a rainbow.
2) Act Like a Crazy Person. When you're memorizing, talk to yourself out loud. Repeat the phrase loudly, not quietly. I don't recommend you do this in the subway, however. This technique uses several of your senses at once. The more senses you involve in the memorization process, the better your "total recall" will be come test time. Isn't the combinative nature of neural networks neat?
3) Cling Tenaciously to Additive Memorizing. All this means is to memorize the first sentence, then memorize the first and second sentences, then the first through the third, etc. Slowly add a little bit to the end of what you are memorizing, and each time you repeat your paragraph, start over from the beginning. This type of memorization helps you keep the whole piece in order and helps each sentence flow to the next. When you finish memorizing, the first few sentences will come out without even thinking about it. You will have trained your mouth to say the words. Come test time, you'll be mouthing the words as you write them rapidly down.
**Additionally, as eimat sugested,
"Try it the opposite way: memorize the last sentence (of, let's say, a soliloquy) then the second-to-last and last sentence, etc. working backward. That way, you're working toward the material you're most comfortable with.
Picked this up in a drama class, but I'm sure that it applies to other subjects, like politics, history, etc."
I think this is a great idea!
4) Make a Little Song. Pick a tune you like and put the paragraph to memorize in place of the original lyrics. Personally, I don't use this technique much, but if are constantly singing along with your radio, you may find this method simply *awesome*.
5) Opposites Do NOT Attract. This technique will help you keep things that are opposite straight, so that come test time, those tricky True False questions don't sting you. If you are memorizing a pair of opposite facts like, "Zebras have stripes, horses are brown," only memorize one half of the pair. This is especially important if you are cramming right before a test. If you memorize "Zebras have stripes" you won't be caught by any "Horses have stripes" trickery.
6) Combine Techniques. These techniques are powerful individually, but by their powers combined, your memorizing rapidly improves. At my job I regularly have to adjust projectors using a lightmeter, and some obtuse opposite commands on the projector adjustment menu. To remember which adjustments to use I repeat to myself the compressed phrase "DDC." This stands for Day, Drive, Contrast. That means when the projector is set for a Daytime scene, I only adjust the Drive and Contrast of the projector. When set for Night, I adjust the opposite settings, which happen to be G2 and Brightness. This combines Sentence Compression and Opposites Do NOT Attract.
7) Strive for Perfection. A really interesting thing about the way our brains make neural connections is this: if you never accept a mistake, you'll only know the right way to do something. If you always follow the same path to the outhouse, you can find it in the dark. So when you're memorizing, when you make a mistake, start over from the beginning. This will prevent that mistake from getting stuck in your mind. It may seem like a slower way to learn things, but over the long haul, this is actually a much faster way to learn. You will be building perfection upon perfection instead of mediocrity upon mediocrity. In the end your skills will be at a much higher level than someone who settles for less from themselves. Now don't take this to mean you gotta be a perfect person or something. But if you use this method for learning a skill, you will become skillful.
8) Take Notes. Another modality to get you involved in memorization is your sense of touch and muscle memory. So write down the important parts. I constantly take notes and then throw them away. Just the act of taking notes helps me remember.
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