Memorize Your Notes
We are constantly taking notes to help us remember important material, but once we’ve taken those notes, does it mean we’ve really processed the information? Sometimes we find ourselves struggling to remember what was in our notes. Often times we even forget what our notes were.
Here are some easy tips on how to memorize your notes:
- Take good notes
Take notes like you don’t have a memory system. Be engaged and pay attention in class. Taking thorough and detailed notes can help you to remember your material better. What would be the point of taking notes that are not helpful to you? There have been times we have all tried to just jot down the major points, but when reviewing over the notes, didn’t remember what the major points were.
Do not write everything down, word-for-word, not only is that impossible and stressful, it’s completely unnecessary. However, do make notes within your notes about the main topics. By adding side notes or parentheses, you are breaking down, in detail, the main topic, for your benefit.
- Highlighters or Colored Pens
Organize your notes by corresponding different colors to different topics or subjects. For example: Assigning the color red to Math, the color blue to Language Arts and the color Green to Science and so forth, will help you to mentally comprehend the material better.
You can divide the colors by the subject or by the different points in one subject. By doing this, you are programming your mind to visualize the words in colors and connecting those colors to the different points.
- Ask Questions and Be Engaged
By asking questions and engaging in the learning material, you will also improve your understanding. This is a technique that can be applied even outside of the classroom. The best person to ask is the person teaching you the material. You can hear first hand from the expert himself on everything you would need to know to draw in the information.
It’s essential to you to comprehend what you are learning. By connecting with the teacher, you are granting yourself the knowledge you need to proceed.
- Talk to People in Class About the Material
Communication is one of the most significant and powerful traits to have in any setting.
For example: When taking a Jujitsu class, you can talk to other classmates about the lesson. You can ask the instructor questions. You can engage with everyone to get better insight and a greater understanding.
Sometimes we view something only in our perspective, by engaging and asking others what they think and how they feel, we broaden our ideas and open up our minds to different view points. By expanding our point of view, not only are we able to see the entire picture, we are able to see many possibilities in different angles, which in turn, helps us to gain knowledge, in general.
- Use the Mind Palace Memory Technique
This technique is unique in the sense that it turns your notes in to pictures. Humans are programmed to remember things more visually. This strategy has been a successful technique that has been around for 2,500 years and still applies to this day.
The Mind Palace Memory Technique is simply placing your material on to physical objects inside your home.
For example: Pretend you need to memorize the Presidents of the United States, for your History class; pick a room in your house, then pick out 5 pieces of furniture from that room. Lets say the first piece of furniture you picked was your door, and the first president of the United States is President Washington; you visualize a washing machine, because of “wash.” (washing=Washington) Place the vision of the washing machine on the door.
Then your next piece of furniture is a painting, so imagine a dam and the dam is your visual (a dam= Adam). Connect the visual to the second president and attach that visual to your second piece of furniture, which is a painting.
By doing this, when you take a test, you will visualize your room and the five objects you picked in that room and it will automatically trigger your mind to remember the material you have linked to the object. You’ll picture yourself entering that room and looking at the door and remember the washing machine and then it’ll click that number one is President Washington, then you’ll shift over and picture the painting and remember a dam and attach that to President Adam.
Your mind will work faster than your ability to read this entire method.
Having the capability to memorize your notes is a skill that you can apply to your profession as well. Being able to memorize your notes will tremendously enhance how you study and improve the way you process information.
Click the link below for more tips on how to memorize your notes:
http://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-Notes-for-a-Test
