Studying for exams involves memorising large amounts of academic material. Retaining so much information, sometimes even on widely different subjects can become difficult. Often, students feel overwhelmed and feel that their memory is not enough to sustain the information. The truth is that only a small group of people are blessed with superior memory from the beginning. The rest of the people can train and develop their memorising abilities. There are several memory techniques and tricks which can be used to expand your memory. Some of these are;
- Using Mnemonics
Mnemonics are systems that make information easier to memorise. The instructional strategy is designed to help students improve memory. It helps to connect new learning to prior knowledge through certain visual or auditory cues. Basic strategies involve using keywords, rhyming words or acronyms. A very common method is using the first letter of items in a list that needs to be memorised to construct a sentence.
For Example: If the list to be memorised is: Monkey, Fox, Whale, Cats, Owl
Using the first letter of each word and making a meaningful sentence such as;
My Friend Will Come Over
2. Visual Metaphors or Analogies
This memory strategy is not only to help remember the content but also to understand them better. A metaphor is linking two concepts together and associating them to understand better. Visual metaphors, specifically, tend to imprint on our long-term memory and make connections to neural structures that are already in our minds.
For Example :
The country of Italy is shaped like a boot, thus when this connection is made. Seeing the map and spotting a boot-shaped country would instantly remind one of Italy.
3. Using Distributive Practices
Shifting concepts from our short-term memory to our long-term memory needs constant repetition. This method would firmly lodge the information into the memory. There are several repetition techniques that would assist in that. These include self-testing or any of the methods listed here. Studying and testing what is being learnt over a period of time multiple times would ingrain the information deeply. One very popular technique would be using flashcards. These are very popular and efficient to use before an exam for quick recall. You can make flashcards of different topics and use them to test your memory.
To read about flashcards and how to use them, you can refer to; What are Flashcards and how to use them?
4. Using Songs and Jingles
Association is a powerful tool when memorising. Using songs, rhymes and jingles to remember tricky information like equations and lists. Memorising while using a beat can help in involving the auditory stimuli as well. This strategy targets the brain’s right hemisphere which is responsible for the cognitive functioning of the brain and spatial localization of both visual and auditory stimuli.
For Example:
There are songs available to make learning the periodic table easier.
5. Using Colours
Colours tend to capture attention immediately. They give context to the material that is being studied and makes processing information much easier. When you colour-code the academic material, this means that your brain has processed the information even before you have grasped it. Here are some tips to use colour-coding more efficiently:
*Use multi-coloured highlighters, pens and sticky notes.
*Maintaining a colour-code consistency throughout your notes would make things more efficient in the longer run
*Colour-coding after taking notes is more advised than while taking notes
6. Making Notes, Writing Down Information
Most of the information that we consume doesn’t get imprinted on our long-term memory. However, writing down the information in the form of notes has proven to increase our recall quite significantly. Making notes is a subjective practice and tends to differ from individual to individual. Personalised notes on topics help in focusing and grasping the content as well.
Writing down notes causes us to evaluate and categorise the new information. This way new information is processed better in our memory.
Making notes doesn’t mean that all the information contained in the textbooks are to be duplicated, only key information like equations or definitions can be noted down neatly.
To read about why mind mapping is beneficial in the learning process, you can read more about it; Mind mapping.
7. Drawing Tables and Diagrams
Memorising large chunks of text is hard. The presentation of new data matters in the processing of information. Hence, creating tables, diagrams and mind maps for the academic material is a much better form of presenting the information. This enables you to store it more efficiently.
For Example:
*A simple flowchart to understand the steps of Photosynthesis.
*A Venn diagram to compare characteristics of two items.
Different memory techniques suit different people. These methods make learning and retaining information much easier and fun as well.
Try out these techniques and see if they work for you!
Anushka Das,Content Writer
