Posted: 9/26/2006 10:02:53 PM EDT
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really? i mean my memory sucks i was reading the waco thread a moment ago and i went to talk to some one about it and i honestly can't remember half the stuff i read. in all honesty this has been a reoccuring problem through out my life (i think high school partying killed alot of my brain) and i wanted to ask you guys and gals.....how do you remember stuff? facts and dates, and information? i seem to forget alot of stuff just a few minutes after reading or seeing it. so what should i do? visit a doctor? thanks -blue |
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I have a horrible memory. It must take me three times as much effort to remember dates and names and words in foreign languages than anybody else I know. But I still do very well, it just takes me a while to do it. First, I gather up the information I need to know. I make photocopies or get the books or tape lectures or whatever. Gather up that info. Then I copy it down by hand into a notebook. I just transcribe word for word, the entire body of knowledge that I want to learn. It really helps me to get familiar with the content. Then I get a stack of index cards and copy down terms and definitions and lists and key items or whatever. I copy that stuff down by hand. Most of the time, I have done the bulk of the heavy lifting right there. I am now familiar with the material. Then, I take the flash cards and run through them. First I do them by definition guessing the term. Every one I nail I put the card in teh Good pile, the others in teh Bad pile. I go over the bad pile again and try to put some more in the Good pile. I take the remainder of the bad ones and rewrite the info and take another tilt at it. Then I take maybe 50 of the flash cards, and set them up as a written test. See the term, write the definition. After all that is done, I do the MegaMemory approach and make up ridiculous stories and pictures in my head about the various terms that I have yet to learn. Mrs Petrocelli's name becomes Pet Roll Jelly and I try to make up some kind of action story with those words and try to make the picture in my head really bright and vibrant and full of action and energy. Like a Pet going nuts Rolling in Jelly. Flinging it everywhere, licking it off windows and doors, etc. And let's say that Mrs Petrocelli has a big nose. I might imagine my Pet cat Rolling all over her nose and scattering the jelly all over Mrs Petrocelli's face, and her horrified reaction, and the cat's nonchalant What? about the whole experience. If I'm lucky, at that point, I get together with a study group and try to teach somebody else the material. Most of the time when I get to this stage I realize I'm about halfway there and I get busy looking up terms I'm not totally familiar with or things I'm mistaken about. When my understudy gets it right I'm usually pretty sure I'll nail the test and it's all going to be good. The last part helps me fill in the gaps. I realize that must sound really time consuming and boring and whatnot, but it works for me and that's how I do it when I really want to understand something. It takes time and effort but if it's worth knowing it's worth spending some time on it. |
Well balanced diet, exercise and vitamins. There are mental exercises that you can do to help your short term memory. A web search on the subject will turn up specifics. Good luck! |
so you would do something like that for every class all the time? how long does it usually take you to study for a test (assuming your in school) thanks -blue |
any specifics? do you do any for your self to help your memory? i mean ones that work for you? thanks -blue |
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Make it Personal/Emotional dang-it! You don't forget that stuff  You need to be able to "Weed-out" sh*t that isn't all that important OR, is SOOO obscure that only another political junkie will know what the hell you're talking about (Calling someone a "Dialectic-Materialist" [That'll go over alot of heads] when "COMMIE-RAT-BASTARD'LL do just as well ect). I go for the lowest common denominator when talking politics because essentially, I'm "Preaching" my position in an effort to "convert" someone to (If not wholeheartedly embracing my position) see the mistakes in their own position. Also, eat LOTS of sunflower seeds, I hear they improve memory  |
I pick and choose. Right now, I'm taking a basic nursing class and a pharmacology class. The basic nursing class is a bunch of socialist multiculturalism indoctrination bullshit so I wander through it and kind of aim for a B. The pharmacology though, that is important information so I zero in on it and drill on that material as though someone's life depended on it. Cause you never know. It takes me three days to study for a test, six hours a day. Frankly, I'd rather study four hours a day for six days but that ain't always how it works out, does it. Also, that's not six hours a day from 4PM to 10PM, that's 10am to 10pm with lots of breaks in between. |