Here are five handy tips if you have an exam coming up in a few weeks and find yourself continuously forgetting hard-to-remember formulas, quotes and methods.
1. Test Yourself
Quizzing and testing helps you retrieve information according to the multiple testing effect experiments. As well as improving your memory, you’ll get a feel of what is actually covered on the exam (hopefully). Try using a pack of flashcards or practice exams to get a good recall of things you’re learning.
2. Get Your Stationery Out
Get back to the old-school method of using pen and paper to revise. There is little use of reading a textbook and expecting memorization of what you’ve just read.Instead, try to write key points, things you’ve learned and questions. You can also check these notes at the end of your study session to see where you are up to.
3. Teach Others
Learning by teaching is a popular concept which involves, as the method suggests, teaching others to learn material. Not only will teaching improve your recall, as you have to be able to know what you’re talking about to teach, but you’ll be able to help others along the way.
4. Immerse Yourself
Cover your wall in posters and place revision notes everywhere you’re likely to see them. There’s no reason you can’t have a piece of paper with formulas as a bookmark, a poster on your closet door with quotes or a sticker on the front of your diary with steps to completing an equation.
5. Make Connections in Your Brain
Here’s an extremely helpful tip, especially if you’re learning a language or a lists of dates or rules. Try using a mnemonic phrase such as ‘Roy G. Biv’ for remembering the colors of the rainbow or ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit’ for remembering lined music notes on the treble clef (E, G, B, D and F).
