HOW TO REMEMBER

This post will go through the different techniques used to remember and increase one’s memory power EASILY.

I will take you through all the different techniques I have applied and got favorable results. Here again, some of the techniques might be known to most of you and some of them might be a real surprise for many.

OK! Let’s start.

Let’s play a simple game (memory) first.

************ GAME ************

Take 9 minutes of your time and try to remember the following 30 words IN ORDER.

Your Time starts now.

1. Olive Green

2. Hypothalamus

3. Fish Tank
4. Ikebana

5. Lime Juice

6. Meteorite
7. Stapler

8. 2-Bedroom flat

9. TFT Monitor
10. Alarm Clock

11. Key Chain

12. Coupons
13. Paneer curry

14. ‘Taal’ Movie

15. Credit Card
16. Shoe Brush

17. Sewing Machine

18. Access Card
19. Digital Camera 7.1 Mega Pixel
20. Calendar
21. Gold Ring
22. Iron Box
23. A piece of Chalk
24. Spinal Cord
25. Rope
26. Ball point pen
27. Exception Error
28. Chocolate
29. State Capital
30. Automation tool

******** GAME ENDS ********

Now, try writing all the 30 words in order.

For every word in its right position, award yourself 1 point.
Let the score be termed as ‘SCORE 1’.

Now, let’s learn some simple techniques to help our brain remember things quickly.

Technique 1:
‘Rhyme to Connect’ words

Technique 2:
Friends Help

Technique 3:
‘Story ki koi kami nahin’

I assure you, time taken to learn these techniques would be < 10 minutes each and the results would astonish you.






Technique 1: ‘Rhyme to Connect’ words

This technique is also known as the ‘Peg’ technique.

Here you have a rhyming word for each of the numbers



(1 – Bun, 2 – Boo, 3 – free, 4 – more, 5 – thrive, 6 – fix, 7 – heaven, 8 – wait, 9 – fine, 10 – pen). This is just an example. Have your own rhyming words which you can remember every time.



Now, the words (1-10) I gave were:

1. Olive Green

2. Hypothalamus

3. Fish Tank

4. Ikebana

5. Lime Juice

6. Meteorite

7. Stapler

8. 2-Bedroom flat

9. TFT Monitor

10. Alarm Clock



So, start connecting the rhyming words with the words to be remembered. Our brain remembers things better when they are funny or filled with humor and induce a chuckle.

No wonder, we remember Comedy Scenes in a movie.



1 – Bun – Olive Green

The Connection between the two words must be as funny/creative as possible.



How about, having a Bun with Olive Green Paint as chutney?



Trust me, you’ll remember better.



2 – Boo – Hypothalamus

Every time you Boo someone, the size of the Hypothalamus (in Brain) doubles.



3 – Free – Fish Tank

All the fish from the fish tank are free for an hour and are on a shopping spree in the City market.



4 – More – Ikebana

Ikebana is a style of flower arrangement from Japan. Give me an idea for this!!!



5 - Thrive – Lime Juice

Imagine your pet thriving only on Lime Juice. It likes Lime Juice and nothing else!



6 – Fix – Meteorite

A magical meteorite would fix all the water problems of this world.



7 – Heaven – Stapler

The authorities in Heaven forgot to staple your application form to Heaven.



8 – Wait – 2 bedroom flat

Your fans are made to wait outside your 2 bedroom flat on your birthday.



9 – Fine – TFT Monitor

You have a fine TFT monitor (size – 0.023mm thickness)



10 – Pen – Alarm Clock

The Alarm Clock fires pens at you to wake you up.



The first connection you get among the two words will be remembered the longest.



Congratulations! You now remember the first set of ten words



Technique 2: Friends Help
Here, you have ten friends in mind.
The same ten friends/relatives/places should come to your mind in the same order.
1. Key Chain
2. Coupons
3. Paneer curry
4. ‘Taal’ Movie
5. Credit Card
6. Shoe Brush
7. Sewing Machine
8. Access Card
9. Digital Camera 7.1 Mega Pixel
10. Calendar

Suppose your best friend ‘Urvashi’ is at the third position in your friends list and you need to remember ‘Paneer Curry’.

So, it may be:
Urvashi likes ‘Paneer Curry’ the most… Urvashi hates the ‘Paneer Curry’ the most… Or Urvashi cooked ‘Paneer Curry’ for you with NO PANEER!

Similarly, have 1 friend/relative at each of the 1-10 positions. The same person must come to your mind every time you think of 1-10 positions.

Technique 3: ‘Story ki koi kami nahin’
This technique is my favorite. We all have had heard a lot of stories.Story building skills is a major ingredient in using this technique
3: ‘Story ki koi kami nahin’.

The third set of words (21-30) are:
Gold Ring
Iron Box
A piece of Chalk
Spinal Cord
Rope
Ball point pen
Exception Error
Chocolate
State Capital
Automation tool

We need to build a story out of these ten words.

The story should be as original as possible. More the creativity, easier to remember.

Let’s start building the story. An example of a story is as follows:

A nice Gold ring presented on your birthday, is melted using an Iron box to get a piece of chalk. The piece of chalk is used to draw a figure on your Spinal Cord and then you realize that your Spinal Cord is replaced by a Rope. The Rope is used to catch the Ball point pens fired at you. Once you catch all the pens, you receive an ‘Exception Error’ message on your mind screen. You realize that it’s a dream/game and you get a Chocolate worth .023 paise on successful completion of the game. You are called upon in the State Capital, to present an ‘Automation tool’ to solve the game.

Congratulations! You now remember the last set of ten words.

Now, what are you waiting for?

Go through the list of 30 words again and write the words in order. Scoring pattern: 1 point for each correct word in its right position. This is ‘SCORE 2’.

I assure you, the ‘SCORE 2’ would definitely be more than ‘SCORE 1’.
Congratulations for achieving ‘SCORE 2 > SCORE 1’.

Thanks for your valuable time.

Also, let me know how you remember things, any specific technique you follow.
Please don’t forget to mention your SCORE 1 and SCORE 2.
The more the difference (+ve of course) (SCORE 2 – SCORE 1) would encourage me.

Ajay
ajay184f@yahoo.com

How to Study ? [Specially for Students]

How to Study:
I followed some known age-old techniques and then some totally new and interesting techniques to study:
One thing I’d like to stress on is that one needs to have interest to know something and only then he can concentrate/grasp knowledge about that particular subject. Interest plays a vital role in a student’s life. The more a student is interested in a subject, the better he’ll score and grasp the finer points.

So, first create interest for that subject. Now “how do you make a dull subject interesting” is a good question. There should be something called as GOAL or LAKSHYA in one’s life. He must constantly remind himself about the goal and the path; how this particular subject would get him nearer to his goal. Studying becomes a joy once the subject becomes interesting.

Also, our mind is a superb servant but a bad master. So, the tuning of mind to a servant or a master is always in our hands. What goes in to our minds as thoughts are reflected in our actions. The tuning of the mind should be done in the form of reading good books, discussing with knowledgeable people, exercise and finally hobbies and sports.

Once the raw materials (pun intended) like mind, the subject, goal is ready, we are ready to study. Proper lighting and studying at the same time in the same location helps to a great extent. Proper lighting helps to concentrate better and for long durations.

Now during exam times, I always found students asking me questions such as :
1. How to prepare a timetable?
2. Which subject to study first?
3. Which is the best time to study?
4. Should I study only one subject for 2-3 days or 2-3 subjects in one day?
5. Should I make notes or write the answers and practice?
6. Should I refer previous year’s question papers?
7. How should I revise and how often?
8. I totally forget once I enter the examination hall. What should I do?
9. How to answer a question?
10. Should I attend extra coaching/tuitions?

I’ll answer the above questions one by one….

1. Preparing a timetable:
Consider you have 6 subjects to study:
A, B, C, D, E and F.
Time available Feb 15th to March 14th.

The exam dates : March 15, 17, 19, 22, 24 and 25

Order of exams: A,B,C,D,E,F.

Now I will not study anything except A on 13th and 14th. I would end my revisions on 10th.

The mistake everyone does in planning a timetable to study is to start from Feb 15th
like Feb. 15th A- 2 chaps, B 1chap…
Feb 16th A next 2 chaps, B 1 chap…
And then finally come to March 10…14…

What I suggest is plan backwards…

March 10th: A: 6-end chaps revision. B: 4-end chaps revision.
March 9th: A: 1-5 chaps revision. B: 1-3 chaps revision.
…..
…. Keep on subtracting the chapters you have covered and you’ll know exactly how much to cover from the first day itself.
….
Feb 16th: A: 3-5 chaps, B: 2-3 chaps
Feb 15: A: 1-2 chaps….

If we start from Feb 15th and move on to March 10th, in the end we’ll be pressurized to cover more portions in the nth moment.
So, planning backwards really helps.


2. Subject to study first:
Tougher subjects need to studied early and more. With the above timetable, have the toughest subject to study when you are fully fresh.

3. Best time to study:
Depends on individual’s preference. Early morning is as good as late night. I’d prefer early morning. Also, just before sleeping don’t watch TV or hear music. The last thing you do before sleeping is always fresh in mind. So, study and head to BED.

4. one subject or 2-3 subjects?
2-3 subjects according to timetable.

5. Notes?
While studying the subject for the first time make notes. These should consist of important (key) points and nothing else. These should be used while revising at the last minute.

6. Question Papers:
These give you a clear idea of how the questions were set and what you can expect. Very useful to refer and practice answers for them as 25% of the current year’s questions are from previous year’s question papers.

7. Revision:
Revise as often as possible. For everything a timetable would guide you.

8. Forgot in Exam Hall
The problem is then you are just glancing during studies and ‘no grasping after understanding’ was done.
More concentration and a bit of relaxation would help.

9. Answering Method:
Key points should be underlined. Answer in points with the above format.
Key point 1
Explanation of the key point.

Key Point 2
Explanation of the key point.

When answering an essay type, make sure you answer in small paragraphs.

10. Extra coaching?
Depends on subject and coaching. If the subject is totally tough to understand, better attend coaching than repent later.

Finally, what you visualize in your mind is what you get.
Visualize that you are answering the exam well before every night’s sleep(specially the day before exam).
Have a clear picture of your goal in your mind. It helps.

Have a good night’s sleep. Revise once. And enjoy the exam and the results of hard work.

Good Luck.

Ajay
ajay184f@yahoo.com