Memory Tips For Students And Others Struggling With Recall

By: J Wall
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:50
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Whether it is preparing for a speech, studying for an exam or just plain trying to remember things better in the midst of our busy lives there are some memory tips that can help you. Here's a few that may help you maximize your memory.

One of the most basic memory tips is that of repetition. The more we repeat things the better we tend to remember them. However, that doesn't mean we can just quickly repeat something five times before a test and expect to have perfect recall. It also takes time and frequency. What I mean is that repetition works best if you use it, then give your mind a break and then come back and use repetition again. The cycle of repetition, break, repetition helps the mind to solidify the memory of whatever information you are trying to hold onto. This means you need to leave ample time to follow this process before the event where you need to recall the information.

When it comes to tips to improve short term memory, clustering may be one helpful tool. The idea is that short term memory tends to only be able to hold 5 to 9 pieces of data at a time. Clustering is organizing the data you need to memorize into clusters that are treated as one "piece" of data. For example, a phone number is 10 individual pieces of data if you look at each number separately. Clustering takes the 10 individual numbers and arranges them into groups that reduces the individual pieces you need to remember. So 456-787-3422 is not 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 7, 3, 4, 2, 2 but could be 45, 67, 87, 34, 22. Those five larger numbers tend to be easier to remember then 10 smaller ones.

Clustering is one of those tips to improve short term memory that works with a variety of information, not just numbers. It is important though that you organize the clusters in a way that works for your mind to make it easier to recall later.

Another of our memory tips is using acronyms. This is useful for lists and other similar groups of data. We are probably familiar with the R.G.BIV example for remembering the colors of the rainbow, (red, green, blue, indigo, violet). All it is is taking the first letters of each item on the list and making a word or some other shorthand to help remember the list.

We use acronyms often, sometimes without realizing that they stand for a group of words...like Scuba for instance which stand for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. The key is to make the acronym into something that is either a word itself or something that is easy to remember. If the order of the list is not crucial then shuffle the list around until you can get an acronym that you can remember.

Association is one of the memory tips that has some detractors. The idea is that you use something familiar, a picture or a song to help remember something. You "associate" the piece of information you are memorizing with that item. Then if you have trouble remembering you look at the item or recall the song and it should help you then remember the information connected with it. There is some debate as to the overall effectiveness of this concept. The main point if you are going to try this is to make the association an easy one for you to recall...something easier than just remembering the piece of information itself.

Though not a specific item on the usual list of memory tips, some people are also using herbal supplements to help improve memory and brain function. This is a fairly safe and effective method and probably more useful than the typical college effort of juicing yourself up with caffeine and pulling an all-nighter. Studies have shown that Ginkgo and Ginseng are helpful in boosting memory and brain function as well as helping improve the health of your brain in general. A two-for-one deal.

So, if you are consistent in utilizing our tips to improve short term memory along with our other general memory tips you should be able to positively effect your ability to recall. There are many other helpful ways to improve memory, but these should give you a good head start and are easy enough to implement in time for the next exam, provided you haven't procrastinated and the next exam is tomorrow.

Article source: Expert Articles