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'Visualizing the Page' Sometimes, a picture can help you remember information much more effectively than the words on the page of a book can. For instance, instead of trying to remember the printed facts from a page of information about the state of Florida, such as the climate and crops, try creating a picture of Florida in your mind. Picture a bright sun shining down, an orange sitting on a plate, and some people sitting on a beach under a palm tree. If you need to remember the year in which the Wright brothers first flew their airplane at Kitty Hawk, for instance, think of a rickety oldfashioned airplane just getting off the ground, with a big “1903” on the underside of its wing. If you visualize the name “Kitty Hawk” painted on its side, you are likely to remember that, too. Many people can remember dates, names, and other facts more clearly from seeing visual images in their minds than from trying to rely on words alone. You might want to add little sketches to your notes to help remember important events and dates. When words alone are not working for you, add a mental picture to your memory or a visual cue to your notes.

Memory Tricks There are tricks that can help you use your memory. They are called mnemonics (the first m is silent). The previous visualizing technique is a kind of mnemonic. Usually, mnemonic refers to words or sentences you create to remember lists of things, places, or events. One wellknown mnemonic is the word students use to remember the names of the Great Lakes: HOMES. Each letter of homes is the first letter of the name of a lake: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. A similar kind of mnemonic uses the first letter of each item of a list as the first letter of a word in a sentence. For instance, to remember the stages in the life cycle of insects—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—you might use this sentence: Every lady picked apples. Notice that the sentence does not have to make much sense or have anything to do with the idea you want to remember. But you may find it easier to remember the stages of the life cycle of insects by remembering Every lady picked apples than by repeating the names of the stages over and over. When you must remember not just words but their correct order, as in the case of the insect life cycle, a mnemonic sentence is more helpful than a single word. When order does not matter, as Make the Most of Home Study Time 53with the Great Lakes, a word works. Just figure out one with the appropriate letters.

Oral and Written Repetition Repeating a word, or any other piece of information, is a reliable way of storing it in your memory. When professional actors memorize their lines for movies, TV, or plays, they often do it by repeating the words— sometimes many hundreds of them—over and over. One technique they may use to keep the repetition from getting monotonous is saying their lines in a slightly different way each time they repeat them. Actors who perform in a play many times find that they usually remember their words years later. Repetition may seem monotonous, but it doesn’t have to be. Some people remember more clearly when they look at what they want to memorize, while other people remember better when they hear the material. You can experiment with both ways to see which one suits you best. If your memory responds better when you say words and phrases out loud, then start doing that more. You can also record the information you want to memorize on a tape, so that you can listen to it repeatedly without straining your voice. If your memory works better when you see words on a page than when you hear words spoken aloud, try rereading only short bits of material at a time instead of soaking up big chunks. Once you are sure you have stored one small piece of text in your memory, go on to the next little piece, until that one is fixed in your mind, too.

Flash Cards Do you need to memorize the definitions of some vocabulary words? Do you have a list of facts to learn? Do it with flash cards! You can make them from index cards or cut construction paper into card-sized pieces. Write a vocabulary word, or a question, on one side of each card and the definition, or answer, on the other side. If you use index cards, put the questions or vocabulary words on the lined sides and the answers or definitions on the blank sides. To keep homemade cards in order, write a “Q” on the question sides and an “A” on the answer sides. Put the cards in a pile with the questions facing up. Look at each card, and try to say the correct answer without peeking at the other side. Then, check to see if you got the right answer. If you did, put the card in a “correct answer” stack. If your answer was incorrect, return the card to the bottom of your main pile. At the end of the pile, go back through the cards where you missed the answer. Once more, pull out the cards that you answer correctly. Keep going through the cards until you get them all right. Later that day or the next, repeat the entire process. You should find that before long you do not miss a single one. Keep the cards for review at a later date. If you use the flash cards for learning new vocabulary words, you might want to collect a set of flash cards for all the words you learn in the term and go through them regularly to be sure the words stay in your memory. Working with a Partner You may want to bring in a partner to help when you do some memory exercises. Your partner could be a classmate, friend, or family member. Sometimes memorization can get dull, so having a partner may make the process more enjoyable. Be careful, however, that it doesn’t get too Make the Most of Home Study Time 55

enjoyable. If you find that you and your partner are distracting each other, you might decide that you need to work with a different person or that you are better off working alone. If your partner is a classmate, each of you can prepare for your session by making up a quiz based on the material you are studying. Use your quizzes to test each other’s knowledge. When you do not answer your partner’s questions correctly, make a note of what you missed. After you take a break, quiz each other again, and see if you now get the right answers to the questions you missed earlier. You also can use flash cards with a partner, with one of you asking the other the questions on the cards. Just as you would do when working with flash cards by yourself, return cards to the bottom of the pile when the person being tested gets a wrong answer, and then go through the pile again and again, until the person being tested correctly answers every question. Take a short break, and then the person who had asked the questions can take a turn answering them.

Studying for Tests How does studying for tests differ from studying for classes? For surprise, or pop quizzes, the only way to prepare is to make sure that you are always up-to-date with your reading assignments and lessons. But all other exams, including final tests for a term, require advance preparation. When you’re facing an upcoming test, you’ll feel glad that you kept all your notes and class papers organized and ready to review. Tests usually involve a specific area of knowledge. Even when the test you’re studying for is a final exam for a term, much of the test may focus on facts, rather than broad ideas. Even tests in subjects that might include essay questions, such as science, history, or English, expect you to remember specific events, reading selections, or other de-

tails from the course. Become as familiar as possible with factual details, such as the order in which events took place, the names of places and people, and the correct spellings and definitions of special words used in the content areas (such as photosynthesis, immigration, or tragedy). The memorizing strategies described in the previous section are helpful when you study for tests. Mnemonics, graphic organizers, and flash cards are useful ways of arranging a lot of information in your mind so that it’s ready to be recalled and written down. Studying together with partners can be an effective way to prepare for a test— assuming that you don’t distract each other from the work that has to be done. Whether studying alone or with a partner, start by jotting down the areas that you think are likely to be included on the test, and then concentrate on those areas. If you have kept up with your assignments, kept orderly notes, and studied a little bit each day leading up to the test, you can enjoy a good night’s sleep and approach the test with confidence.

Studying at Home Big text 1. You can use several different types of charts as graphic organizers, depending on the kind of material you are working with. They include box charts, Venn diagrams, time lines, and concept maps. Look at the following ideas, and decide which kind of graphic organizer you would make to remember the information: a. The sequence of the major battles of the Revolutionary War b. A study of the differences and similarities between cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals c. Early European explorers of the North American continent, their areas of exploration, and their encounters with native peoples 2. Try to make up a few mnemonics for yourself. Make up a sentence that helps you remember the first six presidents of the United States: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Adams. Remember that your sentence doesn’t have to make sense or have anything to do with American history. What word or sentence might you use to remember the planets of our solar system? Remember—if you want to remember them in a particular sequence, such as from the sun outward, you need to create a sentence.Bold text