Boosting Student Memory
Techniques for Test Preparation Using Mnemonics, Sentence Cues
Discover an arsenal of memory-enhancing strategies that improve the study and recall of information, thus boosting your child's academic performance.
You helped your child prep for that big science test, and it was a lock: the kid knew his stuff. So how come the disappointing results? Had studying been a night-before-the-test affair, the answer’s easy. All those gathered facts never reached his long-term memory, so were never “owned.” By morning, about 10% of the crammed information had likely faded away already. Add in anxiety and countless distractions—aka interference—that started with his wake-up call, and he didn’t stand a chance!
The Forgetting Act
Ask your child to find and quickly glance at an unfamiliar number in the phone book, immediately shut it, dial the number, and hang up. Then, after chatting for about five minutes, have her write down the number—and likely see an error or two.
Stored only in her short-term memory, the number faded as if a switch had been flicked. Items stored there enjoy a limited shelf life, with new facts bumping out previous ones. Quite simply, they’re erased, like unsaved information on a computer. “Saving” to her long-term memory takes work.
Memory Lessons
To minimize forgetting, information should be repeated frequently, with the intent to learn and remember—and always out loud. Recitation is the most powerful memory tool of all when coupled with repetition. Chunking, or grouping information, is helpful, too, as in flash cards. After the first go-through, your child ends up with an I-know-these pile and one for the not-so-well-known, which require repeated, recited sessions until all are memorized. Ma Bell understands: instead of 1234567890, phone numbers are listed as 123-456-7890.
For memorizing lists, creating sentence cues is effective. For instance: “My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nachos” helps recall the planets in order—without Pluto. Or suggest acronyms, such as ROY G. BIV for remembering the colors of the visible spectrum as they appear: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Meanwhile, just creating a mental picture in our "mind's eye" sends an electrical impulse to our brain’s vision center, and this, too, is an effective memory tool. Think of Aesop’s “The Fox and the Crow.” Can you “see” that bird drop the cheese right into the fox’s mouth? And for all those tricky spelling words, help your child generate some mnemonics, like My nIEce loves pIE and WE are WEird. Need help? Check out Murray Suid's Demonic Mnemonics.
Memory Tips
- Shorter nightly sessions work better than a long one the night before; cramming invites forgetting.
- Believing in our capacity to remember improves the odds.
- Recollection requires mindful focusing on the information at hand.
- Gesturing while reciting improves thinking and recall.
- Writing triggers the memory process, causing the brain to refine thinking and deeply process information.
- Unchecked anxiety interferes with out ability to learn and remember.
- Carbohydrates (whole wheat breads and pasta, fruits and veggies) eaten 15-20 minutes before a memory-demanding task improves performance.
- A diet rich in fish, chicken, eggs, peanuts, sweet potatoes, spinach, strawberries, and blueberries--the "brain berry"--enhances memory.
- Losing just two hours of sleep one night can impair recall the next day.
- Reducing to-be-studied facts to about six, analyzing their relationships and then forming a mental picture, makes them easier to remember.
- Clapping out information under study or repeating it to the beat of a familiar tune cements recall. Lyrics stick around.
- Role playing, such as acting out historic battles or ocean currents, bolsters remembering.
- Walking briskly three times a week improves reasoning ability and decision-making by improving circulation.
Then add a few games like Scrabble, crosswords, jigsaws, too, along with a good night’s sleep to maintain peak performance. Now your child is test-ready.
