Memorization is going to be your companion throughout your whole educational career. Although it’s not as effective a method of learning as other techniques, it’s going to become a requirement for numerous tests. But relatively few people understand how to effectively memorize for a test.
The proven technique is called stacking, and it consists of mastering an amount of information and adding to it. Stacking works like this:
Suppose you are expected to memorize a list of 10 items for a test. Write them down on a sheet of paper, get in an area with some peace and quiet and:
- Memorize item one. Put the paper away and repeat it aloud.
- When you have item one down, memorize item one, then two. Put the paper away and repeat both of them aloud.
- Continue through the end of the list
- When you miss an item in the list, go back to that level and restart. Ex. – if you’re working on item 8, but you miss item 4 when repeating, go back to item 4 and move up from there.
A couple of things are at work here: writing helps to solidify your thoughts, speaking them aloud firms them up a little more and taking things in a regular order lets you chain associations of a lesser retained item to a stronger one.
And if you can take a short nap after your session, it’s proven that sleep will solidify memory. Just as long as you remember to get up and start studying again!
