Study Helps and Memorization Techniques

Acrostics These are one of the great study helps in remembering a list of words or phrases. What is an acrostic?

I'll give you an example: You have to remember ingredients to buy for a recipe. You need flour, sugar, eggs, and lemon juice.

Simply remember elfs - eggs, lemon juice, flour, and sugar.

This works great with remembering events in History class, parts of a cell in Biology, or any other subject that memorizing is a necessity.

Mnenomics If the words or phrases you are using do not work well to come up with an acrostic, then you can try a mnenomic strategy. This is a tool that allows you to remember a list of items by inventing a phrase or sentence to help you remember.

A common example is in learning the names of the planets in order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas -- This is all I have to remember to know all my planets in order. It jogs my memory to the names of the planets and tells me what order from the sun they are in.

Visual Imagery Pictures are another very useful tool in trying to remember something. If you are trying to remember how something works, visual yourself doing the activity. It is a lot easier to remember activities and things we see, than things we just hear. Make yourself draw a picture of it in your head.

Olfactory Senses This is your sense of smell. If you study a particular concept while chewing mint gum, you will recall the information much easier if you chew the same type of gum. Smells will trigger memories. Have you ever smelled something that made you think of an experience or even of a person? It is because our senses are heavily tied into our thoughts and memories. If you eat a chocolate bar while studying a math concept, you may remember it easier later just by smelling the scent of chocolate. Try it - you don't have anything to lose if you don't think it works!!

Rest Sleep cannot be underestimated. You can learn about many different study helps but without enough sleep your body will not be able to function at its greatest capacity. It is impossible to deny that alertness will improve your performance. This is true of studying and recalling the information later. You need a clear and rested mind to study and test well.

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