How to memorize the resistor color code

How to memorize the Resistor Color Code

The reason I came up with this is because in High School and in College they taught us the same offensive phrase, bad boys, etc, but Violet gives willingly.

It doesn't really link the color to the word. I noticed that half way thru our Associates program, there were many students that still didn't have the resistor color code memorized.
Seriously.
So, I decided to come up with links to the colors that would include the number or value of each.

These are what work for me based on objects that first popped into my head. You should choose objects that are easiest to remember based on your mind and what you first think of.

The trick to making them stick is to make them as ridiculous as you can think of. Or link them to things you like.

Enjoy.

Step 1 0. A black olive in the shape of a "0"

0. Think of a black olive. Think of a really big black olive that is about to run you over and squish you. The shape is a 0 and the color is black.

Comments

[arionisa]

Let's see, being a bit older I learned .....

Bad Boys Ravish Our Young Girls Behind Victory Garden Wall
Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly

then a bit more "PC"

Black Bears Raid Our Yellow Grain, Blue Violets Grow Wild

Of course PETA got involved .... and I DON'T mean People for the Eating of Tasty Animals .... so we were stuck with ........

Black is the absence of all color, thus Black = 0
White is the combination of all colors thus White = 9 (the highest single digit number)

and the rest are in order as they appear in the spectrum when light is shown through a prism, which of course EVERYONE knows ..... don't laugh ... I used to teach electronics and one of the training manuals we were given actually stated that.

Sadly, it's NOT a laughing matter, when that text was written (in the 1950's), everyone WAS taught that before they finished grade school. I learned it in my electronics class .. long after high school ........ and 20 years after I finished high school, and decided to get a degree, I'm taking college courses .... that are "teaching" me stuff I had to learn to get out of Junior High ...... what has our education system come to ?

[pennsteve]

Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly.........ahhh it all comes back to me now!  I am 99% sure that this is the phrase we were taught in Vo-Tech school in the mid 1980's!

[naughtysriram]

i learnd it this way BB ROY from Great Britain had a Very Good Wife guess this wud be easy..

[kanamin]

They didn't teach me any of the offensive phrases in my introductory electronics course D: I learned from constantly searching for the right values, so repetition I guess. Anyway, the brown bear taking a poop makes me think of no. 2 lol so I guess that would interfere.

[bensmith8302]

Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Willingly Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Grey White 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[inventivefiend]

I was taught the 'offensive' version also. But it stuck. I heard it once, and it was mine forever. IMO, you can't argue with results. If your way works as effectively for your boys, kudos.

[zuixro]

Yeah, the offensive one works well for me: Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Grey White This one is good too, less offensive.

[RaisedByRobots]

Bad Boys Ravish... was the one I got

[JakeTobak]

I always remembered it this way: Black <--- remember this one cause it comes first Brown <--- and remember this one cause it comes 2nd Roy G. B(i)v <--- visible color spectrum minus indigo Grey <--- this one is between violet and white White <--- this one is after grey Not necessarily the easiest way to remember it :P

[Spookiefish]

"bad booze rots our young gut but vodka goes well" is the pg rated version that I learned

[erio]

The phrase (in French, in my case : "Ne Mangez Rien Ou Jeunez Voilà Bien Votre Grande Bêtise") works for me, but it forces me to say the entire sentence while counting on my fingers. Each time. Linking directly numbers to colors seems efficient. I like the cherries, and also the three oranges (because I recall Serge Prokofiev's opera "The Love for Three Oranges", but maybe it's way too much). I will try to find other connections on my own (more international than great=greight, for instance)