How am I going to remember all of this???? According to experts, our brains can only hold up to seven items lasting between seconds (in total) at any one time in our short-term memory. To remember information for exams or interviews, you have to move the information from short-term memory into long-term memory, by using some form of memory technique. Different techniques work better for different people!

Don’t think it will be enough simply to read through notes. It won’t. Very few of us have a photographic memory, so we need to use other techniques.

Use highlighters As you read through your notes, use different coloured highlighters to pick out key words /themes/ideas/ points etc. You could try a different colour for each theme or topic. There are revision websites where you can read revision notes and highlight as you go.

Underlining  Underline key words as you read through your work  You could make a list of the key words at the end  You could underline in different colours or patterns

Use Colour Your brain just adores colour and will remember things much more easily if you use it. E.g. put all the important words in red, the important names in green, important dates in purple etc.

By changing what is in our exercise books or textbooks into a different form, we kick start our brains into action – we start thinking about new ways of presenting and digesting the information and start learning. TRY CHANGE

Break down your notes into lists  Bullet point them Or 1.number them Or a)letter them (whichever suits you best.)

EXAMPLE The average person can take in four numbers or words at a time, can concentrate on revision for a maximum of 45 minutes at a time and remember information best shortly before bedtime. Broken down:  Remember 4 words/numbers at a time  Revision max 45 mins  Remember best before bedtime Take this piece of information:

Q & A Create a quiz about a topic and swap with a friend. You could think of doing a “Who wants to be a millionaire?” game, where the questions are graded according to the difficulty you choose.

Make your notes into a time-line (e.g for history) Make your notes into a poster ( Using the main points of a topic )

Make up a rhyme about the topic you are revising, just like many people use the rhyme below to remember how many days there are in each month. ‘ 30 days have September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, except for February alone. When leap year comes once in four, February then has one day more’ Rhymes A rhyme is more likely to stick in your mind than a paragraph from a book

Make up a sentence One way to remember a list of words in a particular order, is to use the first letter of each word to make up your own sentence. People remember how close each of the planets are to the sun, with the sentence - ‘ M y V ery E fficient M emory J ust S tores U p N ine P lanets’ ( M ercury, V enus, E arth, M ars, J upiter, S aturn, U ranus N eptune and P luto) e.g. ‘ R ichard O f Y ork G ave B attle I n V ain’ for remembering the order of the colours of the rainbow from the outside to inside ( R ed, O range, Y ellow, G reen, B lue, I ndigo and V iolet)

Another way to remember a list, is to a make up a word using the first letter of each of the words in your list. Take this shopping list: cheese, lemons, apples, tea bags, eggs, onions, crisps, olive oil, honey. If we use the first letter of each item to make a new word, we can make the word chocolate, which will help us to memorise our shopping Make up a word C risps H oney O live oil C heese O nions L emons A pples T ea bags E ggs

A good way to remember a long list of items is to group them into categories. Look at this list of sports: long jump, badminton, 100m sprint, hockey, rounders, discus, squash, high jump, javelin, football, tennis, rugby, cricket, hurdles. It is easier to remember them if you separate them into categories, e.g: Group your list of items Athletics Long jump 100m sprint, Discus High jump, Javelin Hurdles Sports played on a pitch Hockey, Rounders Football, Rugby Cricket Racquet sports Badminton Squash Tennis

Make information you need to remember into a picture Often, the brain finds it easier to remember visual images rather than long explanations or lists DIAGRAMS & PICTURES “It’s much easier to remember colourful mental images, than it is to remember dull facts”

Flash cards This memory technique is useful if you are finding it difficult to learn a key sentence. Write out the sentence onto small flashcards (one word per card) Put the sentence into the correct order and read it through 2 or 3 times. Mix up the flash cards then time yourself to see how quickly you can put the sentence back into the correct order.

Flash cards Take it one step further ……. Work with a partner. Each player uses their own set of cards, but you race to see who can put the sentence back in order the quickest. OR Lay out the cards in order – ask someone to take one card away and you then have to try to remember which word goes in the gap.

Record yourself reading information you are trying to learn This method is useful for remembering longer pieces of text. You can listen to it at any time – when you’re getting ready in the morning, on a bus or in a car, in your bedroom last thing at night. TOP TIP After a few listens try pausing the track and see if you can predict the next part of your notes.

Write facts that you need to learn on post- it notes and then stick them in places around your house Write facts that you need to learn on post- it notes and then stick them in places around your house Use different colours for different topics Make sure the places are where you go regularly (back of the toilet door????) You could organise them into what you know and don’t know – rearrange know and don’t know – rearrange as you learn more as you learn more Use post-it notes

Revision shared, revision halved. Teach someone Be the teacher! Once you have revised a topic, try teaching it to someone else A good way of remembering information is to explain it to another person. Get your ‘pupil’ to ask you questions about what you have just taught them – can you answer their questions? Pair up with someone and ask each other questions This helps both of you to remember the information.

Use mind maps/spider diagrams Write the name of the topic that you are going to revise in the centre of a sheet of paper Write the name of the topic that you are going to revise in the centre of a sheet of paper Then draw branches off from the centre, with key words / sentences about the topic Then draw branches off from the centre, with key words / sentences about the topic

Could contain diagrams, doodles, names, cartoons of important people, dates, places, etc. Should be colourful and bold Could include humour! Funny things are easier to remember than ordinary one Your finished mind map/spider diagram ……..