Memory Techniques

  1. Learn from the general to the specific.
  2. Preview, survey, skim, and get the big picture first. Then look for the details.
  3. Keep relating details to the main concepts. Use outlines, diagrams, or concept maps.
  4. Focus on comprehension.
     a. If you don't understand the material, get help.
     b. Ask yourself why this information is important.
  5. Link new information to old knowledge.
  6. a. Tie learning together; this helps when retrieving information from long-term memory.
  7. Use your strongest learning channel
  8. a. If you are a visual learner, draw pictures, concept maps, write notes in distinctive lettering or colors. Use a chalkboard or butcher paper taped to a wall or closet door. Make posters and put them on a door, the mirror, the refrigerator or the ceiling above your bed.
    b. If you are a stronger auditory learner, read and recite information out loud, listen to tapes, explain or teach the information to a friend.
    c. If you are a kinesthetic learner, act out a concept, write in large letters on a chalkboard or in the air, add gestures to your recitations.
  9. Use drills.
  10. To increase your memory recall write keywords, formulas, questions, and answers, sample math problems and/or diagrams on index cards. Recite/practice from the cards in small amounts of time. Shuffle the cards for random drills.
  11. Use mnemonic devices;
  12. a. Acronyms - e.g.. HOMES for the names of the Great Lakes, or FOIL for the math procedure:
     b. Acrostics -e.g., 'Every good boy does fine' for the names of the lines on the staff (in music).
     c. Rhymes - e.g., 'i before e except after c".
     d. Songs - e.g., "A, B, C, D, E F G. Make up your own songs.
     e. Stories Linking ideas - e.g.. The sentence "A religious speech was printed on the arms of soldiers outside my house which they wanted to search, thinking there was a grand jury inside' is a mnemonic for the first 5 amendments to the Constitution; freedom of religion, speech, & press; the right to bear arms, no quartering of soldiers in homes; protections against search & seizure; and the right to a grand jury.