Improving Your Memory

Improving Your Memory:

Anyone can improve their memory by following a 3 step process:Paying attention

Applying constructivist methods Making information easy to remember Paying attention

Take an active role in learning. Memorization is sometimes needed but is not enough.

Review information and quiz yourself for true understanding.Stop being passive in class and when studying.

Many students equate going to class and hearing the prof.with real learning.

LWI can be dangerous. (Listening While Ignoring)It gives the impression that are trying but you can't

remember anything later.

Thus you feel you did your job but couldn't explain anything when asked.Constructivism

Constructivism deals with correlating new information with old information.

Thus, one constructs new understanding by fitting new information with prior understanding or experiences.

Rather than memorizing random facts, try to relate them to prior knowledge.Think about new information and draw comparisons to other things you know.

Think about similar information learned earlier.

Draw analogies between old information and new information.

This allows you to see the big picture and not get swamped withnew information.Identify main points.

Think about how these fit in with what you know from other experiences or classes.

Make information memorable Repetion.

Read it, Write it, Say it, Explain it, Draw it, Ask questions about it..

Break down words by prefix or suffix. (Hydro relates to water)Use memory tricks:

Make silly rhymes or sayings to remember lists.Use silly analogies to remember examples.

Humor is a powerful memory trigger; the dumber the better.Repetition,

1 Study in Short, Frequent Sessions. It has been proven that short bursts of concentration repeated frequently are much more effective than one long session. So, even if you only have 10 minutes, DO IT. Take a break. Then study another 10 minutes. This “distributed learning” approach is highly efficient because it honors the way the brain likes to work. The brain needs recovery and recharging time for “protein synthesis.” The rest periods are

when your brain assimilates your effort. They are a powerful tool which many teachers do not acknowledge. To sit and study for hours and hours is not only boring, it creates fatigue, stress, and distraction. You cannot learn if you are fatigued, stressed, and distracted!

2 Take Guilt-Free Days of Rest.This follows the same principle as above, but on a longer,daily time cycle. The reason for resting is to refresh oneself.However, if you feel guilty (“I really should be studying”) then your precious rest period has been used to create more stress. The brain will not absorb new data if it is stressed. On days off from studying, really enjoy yourself and do not feelbad about not studying.

3 Honor Your Emotional State.Do not study if you are tired, angry, distracted, or in a hurry.

When the brain is relaxed, it is like a sponge and it naturally absorbs data without effort. If you are emotionally stressed,your brain literally repels data. Forcing yourself to sit and study when your mind is on other things is a complete waste of time!

4 Review the Same Day.When you learn something new, try to go over the points the same day. If you wait a few days and then make efforts to review the material, it will seem much less familiar. However,

a quick review later in the day will tend to cement the information into your brain so that the next “official” studysession, you will recognize it and it will seem easy.

5 Observe the Natural Learning Sequence.Think of the activities you did when you were in nurseryschool. Using your whole arm, you probably performed the song that goes: “Put your right hand in, Put your right hand out.” Then, in kindergarten, using your hand, you might have been asked to draw lines or circles with crayons. Later, in first grade, now holding the pencil with your fingers, you drew smaller lines and circles to create letters. Believe it or not, this natural learning sequence, moving from large to small, coarse to fine, still remains effective even though we are now older. When you study, if you try first to grasp the big picture and then fill in the details, you often have a more likely chance of success.

6 Use Exaggeration.Why does Tandulkar or any other Batsman warm up by swinging two or three bats? Why do runners sometimes strap lead weights to their legs? In both cases, exaggeration during practice makes the final result seem easy. This concept can be applied to studying anything. For example, if you are studying spelling, exaggerate the sound of the letters to help to remember them. So for studying purposes,“naive” would be pronounced “NAY-IVY.” By getting used to this exaggerated pronunciation, the correct spelling seems obvious.

7 Prepare Your Study Environment.If you require certain elements in your environment to help

you study, try to always make these a priority. For example,do you need special lighting, silence, music, privacy,available snacks, etc.? Pay attention to what works for you and repeat it each time you study for best success.

8 Respect “Brain Fade.”It is normal for the brain to have an attrition rate and to forget things. This does not mean that you are stupid! Instead of getting mad about this fact, you should expect it and deal with it accordingly. See your brain as depositing layers of knowledge. As you place more information on top, the lower levels become older and less available to your immediate recall. The trick here is simply to review. Since we can anticipate the eventual fading of our memory, creating a review aspect to our study session will solve the problem.Once every two or three study sessions, simply review older material that you will be still needing to remember. Often, a quick overview is sufficient. Sometimes, a complete detailed study session of the older material is required. “Brain fade” is completely photographic memory,normal .(Unless you are gifted with a  which is extremely rare.)

9 Create a Study Routine.Generally, if you schedule certain times of the day to study,you will get into a routine and accomplish more. If you just“fit it in” during your day, chances are that there will never be

any time. An effective way to do this is to literally mark it down in your datebook calendar as if you have an appointment, like going to the doctor. For example: “Tuesday 3-4:30 P.M. — Study.

10 Set Reasonable Goals.One of the main reasons people do not reach their goals is because they set them too high. If you set goals that are manageable, even if they seem too simple, you get in the

habit of accomplishing them and gradually you can set higher goals. Also, recognize the difference between long-term and short-term goals. Set your vision on the long-term dream, but your day-to-day activity should be focused exclusively on the short-term, enabling steps.

11 Avoid the Frustration Enemy.Ironically, the quicker the person’s nervous system, the faster they learn. Yet, this fast nervous system also works overtime in being self-critical. So they are the ones who always think they aren’t going fast enough! In contrast, the “Type B,” less intense person who learns slower yet is more self-accepting, ends up ultimately learning the material in a shorter period of time. This is because he/she doesn’t waste energy blocking, getting upset, and thinking that they’re not good enough — they simply keep moving forward at a slower (but un-blocked) pace.

Improving Your Objective Test-Taking Skills Students who have not learned good test-taking skills are working with an unseen handicap. In almost every objective test, they give up points needlessly due to undisciplined testing behavior, irrational responses to test items, or a variety of other bad habits. This tutorial focuses on overcoming this costly

Effective test-taking is not about gimmickry. It is not about outwitting your teachers in a guessing game or applying some magical formula to test-taking.Instead, the successful student must apply critical reading and thinking skills to the test and avoid making careless mistakes.Cut Out Careless Errors

Let's begin by dealing with the careless kinds of mistakes that make studentsmoan and groan when they get their tests back. First, let's state the obvious: read the directions carefully. Many students are in such a hurry to start the test that they do not read the instructions and make careless errors as a result.

Secondly, monitor your time so you do not get in a last-minute rush to finish the test. If there are 50 items and your teacher limits the testing time to 50 minutes,then you obviously have only about a minute to answer each question. The point here is not that you should time each item with a stopwatch. Simply monitor your progress periodically to make sure that you do not get caught in a time crunch.

Third, do not start second-guessing yourself and changing your original answers.Research has indicated that your first hunch is more likely to be correct. You should only change answers to questions if you originally misread them or if you have encountered information elsewhere in the test that indicates with certainty that your first choice is incorrect.

Finally, allow enough time to go through the test to make sure that you have not left an item blank, mismarked the answer sheet, or made some other simple oversight.

Three Phases of Objective Test Taking It might help to think of your objective test taking as falling into three distinct phases, which, if followed in sequence, should improve your final grade:Phase One: Go through the test and answer only those items that you are confident you can answer correctly, skipping the other items momentarily. This strategy helps you build confidence and assures that you will get credit for what you know if you run low on time. Also, as you read and answer questions, you are making mental associations and reviewing the material. A term listed further into the test may be the one that was just on the "tip of your tongue" when you were trying to answer an earlier item.

Phase Two: Go back through the test and focus on items you skipped in the first phase, using a slightly different strategy: identify and eliminate what you are relatively sure are incorrect answers. Try cutting down on the possible choices to improve your odds.

Based on the knowledge you have of the subject, eliminate choices that are definitely wrong or unlikely.

On multiple-choice items, eliminate choices that do not link grammatically to the stem of the question. (Teachers may not phrase the incorrect answers as carefully as the correct one. If a choice is added to complete the stem and the result is an awkward or ungrammatical construction, it is most likely not the correct answer.

Eliminate choices that would be logically excluded by other possible choices. For example, if the possible answers to an item are a.) sleeping, b.) listening, c.) staring, or d.) napping, since a. and d. mean basically the same thing, and since only one answer can be correct, then it is logical that neither could be the correct answer.Phase Three: Once you have exhausted your knowledge and narrowed the choices remaining by eliminating unlikely answers, its time to make your best guess. But you don't have to make this a coin-flip decision. The next section looks at some issues that can help you improve your odds even further.You're Not Guessing...You're Thinking Critically.You can improve your odds by