Improving Your Memory For Information
Improving Your Memory For Information
Remember information is essential to your ability to excel in school and later in your career. If
you are unable to remember what you’ve learned then you won’t be able perform well on tests
and you will be unable to apply what you’ve learned in the real world. Remembering information
is an essential skill.
The following are a few proven tips and strategies for improving your ability to remember
information.
Active Studying
You can not passively study material and expect to remember it. Remembering material
requires active studying. The best way to ensure active studying is to think abou the
information you're learning by explaining it out loud to yourself or other people in your
own words. Another way to actively study and improve your memory is to think critically
about the material you're studying by comparing and contrasting, asking "how" and
"why", determining its significance, etc. Active studying will improve comprehension
and enhance retention of the material study.
Frequent Reviewing
Ever waited to start studying until the night before a final exam? I think we all have at
least once. While cramming is a solution it is not a good solution if you want to
accurately and effectively remember information. The way to remember information is
by frequently reviewing the information. You should review class notes after each lecture
and reading assignment. Review your notes and highlight key points. As you review your
notes you can also make additional notes in the left hand margin that indicate important
information including vocabulary terms, major concepts and possible questions that
would appear on an exam. After reading text book assignments you should go back and
reread chapter headings and section subheadings. Review the portions of the text that you
highlighted or marked. By reviewing frequently you'll greatly improve your ability to
remember information both in the short term and long term.
Mnemonic devices
Mnemonic devices are memory tricks that can be used to remember factual information
such as a list of words or phrases, and they often produce a visual image in the learner's
mind. Some common mnemonic devices include acronyms (the most common), nonsense
words, nonsense sentences, and rhymes.
Organizing Information
* although in free recall tests items will be listed in random order, it is our nature to
categorize the groups by paired-association. P.231
*as well, we chunk information together, whether items or letters or numbers in order to
allow for increased amounts to be stored to long-term memory. P.232