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There are all sorts of tools to use when studying, but the trick is in finding ones that work for you. Studying is about converting information into meaningful and useful knowledge. What works for some people won’t always work for everyone, but one frequently used tool is the use of mnemonics. Mnemonic devices are memory tools. They can be easily adapted to a variety of subjects, but they are only helpful if you actually know how to use them!
Most people know about the mnemonic device of using an acronym. Specifically, that’s when a word is broken down into its letters and each one stands for a term or key fact. For instance, a common acronym used in texting these days, is, “LOL.” That’s actually an acronym for, “Laughing Out Loud.” Each letter becomes a symbol for another word. Acronyms are frequently used and memory tools, so if you’re not using those for studying, think of how often you use them for texting, and adapt the concept.
But let’s look at three other mnemonic devices that are equally simple to incorporate, but aren’t used as often.
- Acrostics – Acrostics are sentences, not words, that work like acronyms but they also incorporate order into their patterns. For instance, if you need to remember math operations, then likely you have encountered the acrostic, “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” Each word, using its first letter, is a symbol for the process and the correct order: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. Acrostics can be used for all sorts of things when the first letters don’t easily create a specific word to form an acronym. They can usually be incorporated into a sentence, like the one above, creating an acrostic.
- Pegging – Pegging is taking a familiar object and associating it with something new, usually creating a visual image of it so that you can capitalize on its familiarity. For instance, if you need to remember the date of the first battle of the Civil War, April 12, 1861, you can create a “movie” in your head. In date format, that’s 4-12-1861. Converting that to pegs, you could use a car for 4, because there are four tires, a carton of eggs for 12, since there are 12 in a dozen, a voter’s registration card for 18, a six-pack of sodas for the 6, and a barber pole for the 1, because it looks like a “1.” Now, create the movie – see this in your head. A car drives over a carton of eggs, then a six-pack of sodas, while the driver wildly waves his voter’s registration card out of the driver’s window. Then he runs into a barber pole which explodes into a puff of smoke for the first gunpowder explosion of the Civil War. Now that you have the image, you will easily remember the date for the first battle. I might add, the sillier the images, the better!
- Rhyming – Rhyming is exactly what it sounds like, and depending on what you need to learn, this is a quick one to use. For instance, let’s say you need to learn the term “base” from your science course. A base is a bitter substance, often slimy, which turns litmus blue. So, develop a rhyme to say that. “Base – bitter taste – slimy face – blue place.” This doesn’t have to make perfect sense to everyone else, as long as it works for you, but if you can add rhythm or sing-song delivery to your rhymes, even better!
The biggest problem with mnemonic devices is that students think they are too limited to a particular subject and they forget to use them. Be creative, and have fun with these. It will make studying more fun, engage the creative side of your brain, and your memory and study skills will sharpen and that’s what this is all about.
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