It
is more natural to forget something than to remember it. If you intend to remember something, apply as
many of the following techniques as possible.
1. Be
flexible. Experiment with many learning
procedures. Be willing to abandon
outmoded and faulty learning procedures so you will be free to acquire new and
more efficient methods.
2. Overlearn. In order to
retain anything learned, you must practice and reorganize it into your current
ongoing activity. One way to do this is
to incorporate the learned material as part of your present habit system. Use it in speaking and writing. Act out the material as a rehearsal of a part
in a play-a process known as role-playing.
3. Schedule. Schedule your
study time so that the time at which something is learned or relearned is close
to the time at which it will be used.
4. Rephrase
and explain. Try a little role-playing. Take the point of view of the teacher, for a
change. Rephrase and explain the
material, in your own words, to a classmate.
Allow your classmate to criticize your presentation. Then let the classmate be the teacher, while
you criticize. If you can't explain
something, you don't really know it.
5. Eliminate
accidental and unrelated associations.
A study situation in which a phone is
constantly ringing or receiving text messages produces breaks in the mental association process. Keep phones, television and other distractions away while studying.
6. Eliminate
previous mistakes. Take note of all previous mistakes on homework, quizzes and test, and
correct them. It has been shown experimentally that
consciously reviewing mistakes, making note of exactly why they were incorrect,
helps to reinforce the correct response.
7. Decide on an order
of importance. Some things are more important than
others. In a particular study unit,
decide what these are and organize the important material into an outline or
framework.
8. Use mechanical
memory aids. When material is complicated, it may
be necessary to use mechanical memory aids.
For example, suppose you had reason to believe that a certain table
showing all of the endocrine glands of the body with their secretions and
functions would be called for in an examination. In order to be sure that you would be able to
recall all of the glands, you memorized the first letter or syllable of each
gland, and organized them into three very strange words: Anpothy Paramed Adcorpan, the novelty of which aided recall. This could be deciphered as follows: An=anterior pituitary, po=posterior pituitary, thy=thyroid, par=parathyroid, amed=adrenal
medulla, adcor=adrenal cortex, pan=pancreas, etc.
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