Memory Skills

• If you do not understand the material, you cannot remember it. Anything thoroughly understood is well on the way to being remembered.
  • The process of trying to understand is the best possible process of trying to fix information in the mind. Understanding is probably the most important element of good memory. You may seem to understand while reading, but the material is merely included in your short-term memory, and quickly lost when you continue to read.
• Space study. Don’t try to learn everything at once. Study for 3 or 4, 45-minute periods with a 5- or 10 minute break between. This is much better for learning than to study for three or four hours straight. A good sequence might be to study for three 45-minute periods and then to review that material in the fourth 45 min. period.
• Practice and review of material is an excellent technique for storing information in long-term memory.
• Practice by thinking aloud; talk it over with yourself. This is an excellent way to prepare for examinations.
• Over learning is another technique. Once you learn something it can still be rather quickly forgotten. When you think you know the material, practice it a few more times.
• Spot what is to be memorized verbatim. (Use special markings in your notes or in the text to indicate information that needs to be memorized.)
• Study first the items you want to remember longest.
• Learn complete units of information at one time.
• Fix concrete imagery whenever possible. Close your eyes and get a picture of the explanation.
• Reduce the material to be remembered to your own self-made system or series of numbered steps.
• Make a list of key words most useful in explaining the idea or content of the lesson.
• Try making the idea clear to a friend without referring to your book or notes.
• Review from time to time in case you have to relearn information.

Memory Enhancers

NOTE: People remember 90% of what they do, 75% of what they see, and 20% of what they hear.

• Learn the main ideas first, then the details.
• Prior to reading each chapter, preview the chapter to gain an understanding of the topics that will be covered in the chapter and what you will be expected to learn from your reading. This will provide a framework for understanding the details of what you read.
• Make the information relevant. Make connections between what you are learning and your everyday life.
• Improve memory by making it physical. Use your body and your senses to help you build memory.
• Use visualization: create mental images that you can associate with the information you are trying to learn.
• Over learn the material
• Adjust your attitude about learning.
• Plan regular review time.