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Improving Your Memory
Forgetting is a natural process, with the greatest losses occurring within the first 24 hours of learning. After one day you may forget nearly half of what you have read. Clearly, it is essential to review readings and lecture notes within one or two days of initial exposure, with brief additional reviews interspersed in later weeks.
PAY ATTENTION AND INTEND TO REMEMBER
Which are you more likely to remember, the name of a coworker or your boss? We remember when we decide to remember and when we have a reason/motivation.
- Eliminate distractions while reading/studying.
- Develop a strong motivation; think of a reason why you want to learn this.
ANALYZE HOW TO REMEMBER EACH FACT & CONCEPT AS YOU ENCOUNTER IT
- Decide whether you will emphasize concepts, memory devices, visualization, or reciting.
- Relate new material to facts and concepts you already know.
- To memorize terminology, think about familiar parts of the words or study the Greek and Latin roots.
INTERPRET/UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL
- To improve your long-term memory and to perform better on complex test questions, focus on understanding the basic ideas rather than simply memorizing isolated facts.
- Explain concepts to family members and study partners. This "teaching" will help you deepen your own understanding.
ORGANIZE THE MATERIAL
- As you listen to a lecture or read, use "advanced organizers" obtained by prior knowledge or scanning to organize the new information. Just as an office worker needs a filing system, you need a mental filing system if you hope to comprehend and retrieve what you have learned.
- During review, organize your notes by writing questions or headings in the left margin. Create study charts to summarize your notes or text.
- The human brain appears to be able to hold only seven chunks of information in immediate memory, so breaking up material into categories will help you remember.
VISUALIZE THE MATERIAL
- Study pictures, diagrams, and charts in your text and develop your own.
RECITE WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED
Recite for these reasons: it increases your level of attention, it creates a stronger memory by utilizing more senses, it provides immediate feedback on how well you are learning.
- Recite as you read, as you review your class notes, and as you study.
- For material you need to remember in detail, reciting should take up a considerable amount of your study time.
REVIEW SOON AND IN SMALL, FREQUENT "DOSES"
While longer study sessions are effective for writing or for creative projects, most study is best done in short sessions with breaks (for example, study for 50 minutes and take a break for 10).
- Review your lecture notes immediately (that day or the next).
- As you walk to your next class, recall the main points of the lecture you just attended.
USE MEMORY DEVICES SUCH AS ASSOCIATIONS AND MNEMONICS
Mnemonics are most useful for memorizing terminology and lists of facts, rather than concepts.
- Use word mnemonics -- such as HOMES to remember the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
- Use sentence mnemonics -- such as "Kings play cards on fairly good soft velvet." to remember the biological classification system: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, variety.
- Use mnemonics for spelling and for keeping terminology straight: A principal is a pal; a principle is a rule. Cyanates, I ate (harmless chemicals); cyanide, I died (poisonous chemicals).
- To improve memory, add humor and an "off color" element to your memory device.
Adapted from How to Study in College by Walter Pauk, Chapter 5.
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