How to Use Your Memory during Examination Revisions

[ganeshbala]

How to Use Your Memory during Examination Revisions

Examination time is the time when many students are busy working on their revision planners or revision timetables. Some students are already highly organized and well into the process. For others it's a time of confusion and considerable stress. Whichever category you fall into, there are a variety of techniques available that you can use to improve the effectiveness of the time you spend revising for your examinations. What many people don't know is that the techniques were developed from our knowledge of the psychology of memory. By learning a little bit more about memory you can easily improve your own revision strategies.

The three processes of memory

Memory has three processes. These are known as encoding, storage and retrieval. Most people concentrate on the first process during revision, but by understanding and using what we know about storage and retrieval we can vastly improve our memory and performance in examinations.
Encoding

Encoding is concerned with the actual way in which you prepare information to deposit in your memory. We need to effectively get material into memory but we also want to make sure it will go into long term memory rather than short term memory (which lasts only seconds).

The majority of students use repetition as their main method of revision. In other words they simply sit with their notes and they read them over and over again until they think the information has 'sunk in'.

Now this repetition may be a good way to learn something like a telephone number, but it isn't the most effective way to get information into long term memory for examinations. I think that the problem is that many students who use the techniques are reluctant to stop using it because they have used it for so long. They think it works (it does to an extent but there are more effective ways to learn) so they keep on doing it.

So, how can you improve this encoding? Without trying to learn any major new techniques, there are a couple of very simple, practical things that you can do:

* Try to use all of your senses, either in reality or in your imagination. Instead of words use pictures, doodles and diagrams too. If you're reading something like history, imagine being in that time and place, what did it sound like, what did it smell like, what did it feel like?
* Reorganizing the information (by imposing your own organization e.g. constructing your own diagrams) you will gain a better understanding of it.

These don't take much time and they are very easy to do. Trust me on this - your memory for the material will be improved if you take a little time to organize your notes so that they make sense to you.
Storage

This is holding information between two points in time. You would be surprised about how much information we forget within a few hours of trying to memorize something.

The best way to prevent forgetting is to make sure you understand the information in the first place. Try to work out how it fits in with information you already know. Think about the past, think about how the new information supports it, links with it or contradicts it.

Again, you need to try to impose some kind of organization on the material. If you think about the information you are presented with and you impose your own organisation onto it, you will improve your memory for that information because it is building up stronger links in your long term memory. This is what examination revision is all about.
Retrieval

This is the process of recalling the information. Most people will focus on trying to 'cram information in' before examinations and they forget that they need to practice 'getting the information back out again'. This can be a major mistake to make.

The more you practice retrieval, the better you become. It's something you can do on your own before examinations, but it will improve dramatically if you get other people to help you with this. By having conversations about the work you will not only remember the subject matter you will also remember the conversations. It's a good feeling when you're sat in an exam and you suddenly remember what your friend told you about the topic you're writing about. It's certainly earned me more than a few points in exams I can tell you.
Forgetting

Lots of students spend hours learning material but they feel that as soon as they walk into an examination room they 'forget' most of what they know.

In order to forget, you have to have learnt something. I'm pleased to tell you that if you have been exposed to relevant information and you have taken time to try to learn it, the information is still likely to be there – even if it does seem to be hidden away somewhere deep within your memory banks. It's just a matter of coming up with the right sort of cues to pull the information that you need back out of those memory banks.

So, what use is the above information to anyone who is only weeks away from sitting exams? Well, on the basis of the above, psychologists have developed a range of techniques to help you to improve your memory, your revision strategies, your recall and, ultimately, your performance in examinations.

If you've enjoyed reading this hub and you want more information about preparing for exams, write a comment below and I'll follow up with more hubs on practical strategies that you can use to improve your revision techniques and your examination success.