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“FIRST THINGS FIRST”

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To improve your reading and writing skills, you should read and write more. However, it is important for you to know reading and writing principles to be effective. Likewise, to improve your memorization skills, you should read and write more, but it is prudent to know memory principles to be effective.

This guide illustrates principles that can help you to improve your memorization skills. As an added benefit, not only can these principles work for your class, but they can also work in other areas of study.

General Suggestions and Tips

Suggestions and tips in this chapter can be used as a foundation for all other chapters:

• Find the right time and place to study without being distracted to increase memory retention.

• Repeat and then apply what you want to learn. Once you hear a concept/topic you like to remember, repeat it immediately, while it is fresh in your mind. Thus, you can place that concept/tope in your short-term memory. Then, apply the concept/topic by using it in your vocabulary. Using concept/topic in this manner can place it in your long-term memory. Once it is in the long-term memory, it is difficult for you to forget.

• Remember new concepts within its context. For every text, there is a context.

• Add to the concepts you are learning a few at a time, not in large chunks, unless there is a compelling reason to do so (e.g., learning a concept within its context). It is better to learn three concepts that you can apply than to read three chapters–only to soon forget them.

• Rehearse what you have learned whenever you can. To reinforce concepts, review them in your mind while you are driving to work, waiting in a line, etc. This way, you can “etch” them on the “tables of your heart.” How often you review concepts you learn may determine how long you may remember them–or you may become “rusty” quoting them. If you do not use them, you may lose them. Therefore, it is good to remember the three Rs of memory retention:

o Read (Several times)

o ‘Rite (Several times)

o Rehearse or Rehear (Periodically)

• Learn concepts meaning. It is harder for you to memorize a concept if you do not understand its meaning. If you have a problem with a particular concept, examine it in another book or seek advice from others before attempting to learn it. Learning a concept meaning makes it easier for you to memorize it.

• Say concept aloud while you are learning them and write them down, if possible. When you hear, see, and feel through writing, you use three of your five senses which can help to prolong your memory retention.

• Purchase or create memory cards if they seem to help you. Use them when you are not busy.

• Remember several concepts at the same time that refer to a particular topic (e.g., bitmaps vs. vectors). Then, you can see how they relate to one another.

• Learn locations using maps. Create a mental image of locations as you learn that show directions.

• Be patient: As with any memory technique, it takes time, a conscious effort, and much practice to develop technique effectively.

Summary

Using these suggestions and tips set the stage for principles and techniques in upcoming chapters.

“A BOLD, CONSCIOUS, DETERMINED EFFORT (ABCDE) PRINCIPLE”

PRINCIPLE: Make a conscious, determined effort to learn new concepts.

This principle is the first and most important in learning. If you do not master this principle, most of the others may be in vain.

Procedures for making a conscious, determined effort to learn:

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1. When reading, STOP and TAKE NOTE of the concepts you want to learn.

2. Make a conscious effort to learn those concept(s).

While these procedures may seem easy, most students read the without ever making a conscious, determined effort to learn. They may have learned a few popular concepts because they have heard them for years (I before e except after c…, for example). This technique is called repetition, and it is the least effective and most time-consuming of all memory techniques.

Purpose in Your Heart

The following scenarios illustrate the idea of making a conscious effort by purposing in your heart:

• You were introduced to someone and immediately forgot that person’s name. Was it because you did not make a conscious effort to remember it when that person was introduced to you? (This scenario also holds true for remembering telephone numbers.)

• When was the last time you remembered where you parked your vehicle when you went to a large establishment (e.g., a mall)? Was it the time you made a conscious effort to stop and take note of the place your vehicle was parked before leaving it? Otherwise, you came out wondering where you parked.

This idea can be compared to a bookmark. You use a bookmark when you want to mark a particular place in a book. When you return, you can readily go to that spot without having to take additional time to remember where you stopped. Likewise, when you get out of your vehicle and walk away, you can “mark your spot” by making a “mental bookmark” so when you return you can use your “mental bookmark” to assist you in finding the place you parked.

The following exercise further illustrates this principle:

Which President’s picture is on the following bills?

1. $1– George Washington

2. $5 – Andrew Jackson

3. $10 – Hamilton

4. $ – Abraham Lincolm

5. $50 – Grant

6. $100 – Benjamin Franklin

If you know the answers, you made a conscious effort to remember them at one point. If you do not know the answers, you did not make a conscious effort to remember them even though you use some of them practically daily.

This idea holds true for learning new concepts as well. To learn new concepts, you need to make a conscious effort to stop and take note of the concepts you are learning before you advance to other concepts.

Many memory principles that are discussed in this guide are used to a certain degree unconsciously. This guide is designed to formalize these techniques in a more structured and systematic approach so you can become aware of your thoughts.

After you use these principles and their underlying techniques on a consistent basis with the examples given, an amazing thing will begin to happen to you. They will become a part of your thinking. They will become an unconscious reality to you. You will not have to think “long and hard” about what principles to use. You will be amazed at the times you will remember new concepts without making much conscious effort to recall principles you learned. This approach may seem like a contradiction of what was previously said about stop and take note. However, you are still stopping and taking notice but at a much faster pace.

The following three examples justify this concept:

1. This concept can be compared to learning how to speed read. At first, you actually slow down reading because you are aware of all the reading principles you have learned. However, after you have learned and started to use them effectively, your reading speed increases because you spend less time thinking of what reading principles to use and concentrate more on reading.

2. Another illustration of an action becoming an unconscious reality is the development of walking in infants. At first, they have to make a conscious effort to put one foot in front of the other to walk. After a while, they begin to walk without making virtual any conscious effort to do so.

Summary

You cannot learn effectively by simply reading. You need to stop, take note, and make a conscious effort to learn.

“Commit to Memory”

HOW YOUR MEMORY WORKS

Your mind is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, many students have not trained their mind to be effective. Your mind can be compared to a computer or a file cabinet. It can be triggered by things you have learned or experienced in your past. In addition, your mind thinks in pictures rather than words.

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Your Mind Is Like a Computer

Like a computer, your mind is capable of remembering whatever you store in it. Hence, you should guard what goes into your ears and eyes because they are gateways to your mind:

• If you put garbage in, you get garbage out.

• If you put good things in, you get good things out.

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Your Memory Can Be Compared to a File Cabinet

In a file cabinet, there are folders that should be arranged in a logical order so information can be retrieved readily. Similarly, your mind is like a huge file cabinet with various types of information in it. How well you store information in it may determines how well you can retrieve it later. If you clutter your mind like an unorganized file cabinet, you may have problems retrieving information when needed just as if you may have problems retrieving information from a “junky” file cabinet.

Your Memory Can Be Compared to a Computer Diskette

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Your mind can also be compared to a computer diskette. There is a table on a computer diskette that is called the File Allocation Table. Its job is to set aside space for files which can be compared to a book’s table of contents. The table of contents shows where information (sections, chapters, and pages) is located. Similarly, your mind has stored in it millions of pieces of data. How well you retrieve that information depends on how well you have setup your mind’s “File Allocation Table.” Hence, your inability to recall information may be a result of your inability to store it or your inability to retrieve it, if it is stored correctly.

This guide is designed to give you techniques to improve your mental “storage and retrieval” system.

Your Memory Is Triggered by Previously Learned Things or Events

What you have learned in your past may trigger your memory on what you know now. For example, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the word trigger? For most people, it’s a gun. In fact, the word trigger sets off images in your mind.

The following exercise demonstrates this idea. What is the first definition that comes to your mind when you think of the following words?

TIDE a detergent or a wave

MUSTANG a car or a horse

XEROX® a copy or a company

GAY a homosexual or being happy

CRACK a hole in the wall or drugs

PLANE an airplane or surface plane

CROOK a thief or something that is bent

The first definition you choose for the word on the left usually depends on what you have learned in your past.

The following scenario demonstrates the principle of “triggers” in your mind:

You were cooking in the kitchen and you heard the door bell ringing. You rushed to the door to find out who was there. Your neighbor decided to visit you on a hot summer day. You started to have a conversation with him. Suddenly, your neighbor asked, “Isn’t it a hot day?” You immediately responded by saying, “I have something in the oven cooking,” the second he asked, “Isn’t it a hot day?”

What happened in this scenario is your mind was “triggered” by the key word hot to remind you that you had something hot in the oven.

This guide shows how to set “mental triggers” to:

• Learn new concepts

• Link large concepts together

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Your Mind Is Programmed to See Pictures

Your mind is programmed to see pictures when you hear words. To prove this point, what happens when you hear the following words?

|APPLE |You “picture” in your mind a red (or green) apple. You do not think of the letters of the word |

| |apple––A-P-P-L-E. |

|HOUSE |You “picture” in your mind a house. You do not think of the letters of the word house––H-O-U-S-E. |

|VACATION |You “picture” in your mind you are having FUN on a vacation somewhere. |

This event can best be explained by the proverbs, “Words paint pictures.” and “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

This guide shows how to “paint” pictures in your mind to remember new concepts.

Summary

Knowing how your memory works enables you to become more aware of how to store and retrieve information from it better.

“Convenience Principle”

PRINCIPLE: Do whatever it takes to make learning fun and easy.

A common technique with the convenience principle is to use memory mnemonic. Mnemonic is any techniques such as association, acronyms, rhyme, etc. that helps you to remember.

The following are some techniques of this principle along with explanations and examples. The key is to develop your own techniques:

Acronym Technique

Associate what you are learning with an acronym. An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name, as WAC for Women's Army Corps, or by combining initial letters of parts of a series of words, as RADAR for RAdio Detecting And Ranging.

Procedure in creating an acronym:

• Determine if you can make an acronym from the material you are learning.

Below is an example of an acronym created by combining initial letters of parts of a series of words, as RADAR for RAdio Detecting And Ranging.

SCUBA – Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (Paragraph, Exponent, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction)

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles (Mercury, Venus Earth Jupiter Saturn Uranium, Neptune and Pluto)

FOIL – First Outer Inner and Last for quadratic equations.

Rhyme – In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.

Nine Times Table: Rule: 9 times any number is one less than the number it is being multiplied by that is added to a number they will make it 9:

9x 1 = 9

9x2 = 18 (2-1 =1 and 1+8=9

9x3=27

9x4=36

Etc.

Great Lakes (HOMES) Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eric, and Superior.

Rainbow color: Roy G. Biv (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet)

The school principal is your pal. The principle that serves as a guideline is a rule.

Every good boy does fine: temble clep

ARITHMETIC – A Rat In Tom’s House Might Eat Tom’s Ice Cream.

Circumference of circle is πr2: remember “a circle aren’t square, a circle is round.” Not to be confused with the perimeter of a circle which is: 2πr. Just move the square to (or 2) the other side.

The steps in CPR: A,B,C Airway, Breathing, Circulation.

To remember the scientific method use this sentence: 7.31 (Observation, Statement, Hypothesis, Experiment, Theory)

Thirty-day hath September, April, May, and November, al the rest I cannot remember (To determine the month other than February that has 30 days.

If the definition of SUPERHUMAN is: Larger than life, Imaginary, and Emotional. Then think of a superhuman as a LIE (from first letter of each word/phrase).

THINKING INSIDE OF THE BOX

While most people use the phrase “think outside the box”, this technique will show you how to “think INSIDE the box” SHOW EXAMPLES.

Instead of remember all of the area’s formula for triangle (½bh), circle (πr2) and the area under a curve, you can simple place an imaginary box about these shapes and use the square/rectangle formula (LxW) to determine or estimate the area.

Fall back, Spring forward to remember which way to set clock.

The sun rises in the EAST and sets in the WEST.

Association Technique

Associate (connect in your mind) what you are learning with what you already know. This technique has a twofold application. You can:

1. Learn new concepts you don’t know

2. Reinforce existing concepts you already know.

Procedures to create an association:

1. Locate association after reading.

2. Link both at the same time in your mind.

3. When r one concept, think back to the other associating concept.

TIP: Other Uses of the Association Technique

The association technique can also be used by linking (associating) something that is not directly related with the concept(s) you are learning. To do this, follow the procedures below:

1. Association concept(s) you are learning with something you already know.

2. Link that association to the concept(s) you are learning.

Linking Principle – link what you are attempting to learn with a rhyme or a short sentence. Or you can link one item in a list to the next item and continue the linking to link all items together like a chain.

For example, to help me remember NOT to forget my phone, etc. when I leave my house or my office, I usually repeat a simply statement that says, “Keys, Phone, Wallet, Watch.” In fact, one day when I was saying this aloud, my young son said, “Dad, they are all in alphabetically order.” Something that I did not recognize.

To remind my sons of a list of chores they have to do 10-15 minutes every day, I tell them to remember, “Dishes, Clothes, Trash.”

Pattern Principle – look for a pattern or a close pattern in number to remember them.

For example, what pattern do you see in the number below:

192837 – all pair of number add up to 10 (1+9, 2+8, and 3+7)

Loci System – remember items by associating them with large appliances and furniture in your house as you traverse your house in a clockwise direction from room to room. Then take a “mental” tour of your house to recall those items.

Summary

Do not limit yourself to the principles and techniques used in this guide. One of the best ways to learn new concepts is to develop or use techniques that work best for you. The key is to make learning a fun-filled, rewarding experience with many promising results.

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