Boost your memory

Why can't you remember the main points of what you have studied? Richa Pant in Mumbai has some advice.

Many students can remember once about half of what they read, which is not a good formula for success.

Memory is not an object, but rather a process of remembering that takes place throughout the brain.

What appears to be a single memory (for example, a cup of coffee) is really a highly complex construction, since your brain retrieves its image, its warmth, its taste and its smell when it's steaming in the cup.

To create a memory object, first you must pay attention to it, then retain it and finally be able to retrieve it.

Generally, if you don't do anything within the first 20 seconds after reading to process and hold onto information, you will probably forget it.

For example, if you don't try to 'capture' someone's phone number in your head within the first 20 seconds, you probably won't be able to repeat the digits.

It's not possible to remember every single thing you've studied.

Your task is to identify and remember the important points.

Memory boosting tricks

- Have a focused approach. First identify what is really important.

- Establish sensory connections. Students can use their senses of sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste, which is known as multiple coding.

- Organise material in outlines and categories. Students can better recall information organised in a logical manner.

- Flash cards. Collect index cards, pen, and the information you need to learn. Write a question on one side and its answer on the back.

- Mnemonic tools. "Mnemonic" refers to a phrase or word made up of the initials of the points you want to remember. For example, the phrase 'My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us Nine Patties', used to be excellent to remember the planets of the solar system — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. (With Pluto's downgrade as a planet, the phrase no longer applies.)

- Repetition. Just continue repeating what you want to remember over and over again.

- Picture the items in your mind. The mind recalls ideas and pictures well. You can even "picture" whole pages in the book, resulting in a "photographic memory".

- Use posters. Having the important points displayed in front of you will help a lot to memorise those points.

- Underline, circle, highlight, and make margin notes. Generally you will not highlight more than four or five items per page, and many pages will have no highlights.

- Comprehension. Understanding the essence of the concept greatly increases long-term memory.

- Word division. For memorising long and tough words, it helps to analyse the parts or construction of the word rather than the whole word.

— The writer is a freelancer based in India