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Does the prospect of a test cause shivers down your spine? Do you find yourself unable to retain information that you previously memorized, leaving you scrambling for answers on the day of the test?
If so, don’t worry!
We have some tips to help with memorizing information and retaining it in time for your next test. Keep reading to find out more!
1. Do something silly to connect the information to memory
You don't have to be a comedian to make learning fun. Sometimes, all it takes is a little imagination and creativity to connect information with an association that your brain can remember easily.
Imagine something funny or strange associated with the topic you are trying to learn. For example, if you're trying to memorize the presidents of the United States in order, imagine each president saying something stupid or embarrassing as he introduces himself.
Make up a crazy story about what happens when one thing leads up to another (with no logic). For instance: The first president of the United States was George Washington. George Washington was an American General in the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War was fought between Britain and its colonies because they didn't want taxes anymore. So, maybe we shouldn't pay any taxes at all!
2. Try creating an acronym
One of the most effective ways to remember information is by using an acronym. An acronym is a word made up of the first letter or letters of each word in a phrase or series.
For example, you could use "Monday", "Tuesday" and "Wednesday" as your initials to make up MTW (or similar).
Creating an acronym can be a great way to remember information for a test because it helps you associate multiple facts together into one meaningful unit that's easy to recall when you need it most.
However, if you're not careful with your acronyms or create them incorrectly, then they won't help at all!
Here's a tip on how to create acronyms effectively:
Make sure each letter stands for something!
When creating an acronym from scratch, it's important that each letter represents something meaningful so that your brain can link them together easily later on down the line.
For instance, if I was going to make an acronym out of my mum's name Imeh, I'd make sure that I represented the name Ime since it begins with I; M would stand for Meet; E would stand for Ethan (which is my dad's name), and H would stand for heart. Because I know it would be difficult to forget my parents' names, remembering the acronym would be pretty easy.
You want the meaning of each letter to be clear in your mind so they don't get confused with other words whose meanings might differ slightly from your acronym.
3. Break up your study time
You should also break up your study time into smaller chunks. This will help keep you from feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. Plus, the more you focus on one thing at a time, the better you will retain it in your memory.
Make sure to take breaks while studying! It might seem counterintuitive to what we've been talking about, but taking frequent breaks when studying can actually make it easier for you to memorize information.
Don't feel guilty about taking a breather—you deserve some downtime too! And don't worry about forgetting anything. Just come back to where you left off once the break is over.
Memorizing information is a skill that requires practice, but it's also one of the easiest skills you can learn! Start incorporating any of these memorization techniques and tests should be a breeze.