Step 6 Memory Tricks

The Irish exams are a test of memory as much as anything else. Memory Tricks

EVERYONE can have a great memory. Memory is like fitness. Train it and it will improve. Memory Tricks

EVERYONE can have a great memory. Memory is like fitness. Train it and it will improve. Even better, there are a load of little memory tricks (“mnemonics”) that can help you cheat and perform amazing feats of memory beyond anything you could possibly believe. Memory Tricks

Find what combination of memory tricks works for you, and use it to make your life easier.

Something that doesn’t make sense is hard to remember. Trick 1 Understand the Material

Example: And 1 st are need smelly years dipping usually regular all sheep Trick 1 Understand the Material

Example: 1 st years are all smelly and usually need regular sheep-dipping Trick 1 Understand the Material

It’s hard for the human brain to learn long lists of information. So break it into chunks. Eg: Remember the counties of Ireland by breaking them into provinces. Trick 2 Link the Material into chunks

Use the first letters of each word to form a new word. Eg: BEMDAS, SCUBA, LASER Colours of the rainbow: ROY G BIV Trick 3 Acronyms

Use first letter of each word to form a sentence Eg: Billy Vomits Constantly after Mouldy Pies (Bacteria, Virus, Chemicals, Metals, Poisons) Trick 4 Sentences

Make the material into a poem or song Eg: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star = ABC Trick 5 Rhymes and Songs

Imagine a route with lots of rooms/landmarks. At each point, remember one item. Make the images vivid and funny. Trick 6 The Ancient Locus Method

Linking an image to the concept will help you remember it. Works well in languages and maths. Silly images work best! Trick 7 Associate images with words

Some people find mind maps and spider diagrams very helpful. Check out for ideas, or look up Simple Mind software. Trick 8 Mind Maps

Remember 3 items, then add in a 4 th. When you can remember them, add a 5 th and so on. Trick 9 Practice

Review what you remember 1 hour later – 1 day later – 1 week later – 1 month later – 1 term later This is the main purpose of the school exams Trick 9 Practice

Make flashcards to study. You can then get someone to quiz you. You can do something similar with the voice recorder on your phone/iPad. Trick 10 Flashcards or Voice Recorder

If you can’t remember a word, recite the alphabet slowly, letter by letter, and surprisingly often a certain letter will trigger the word/concept. Trick 11 Remember with ABC

This is a little self-hypnosis trick I find brilliant. As you memories points, visualise the exam room. It means it’ll come back to you easier when you’re there. Trick 12 Visualise the exam centre when memorising

And finally…

I started off by saying that memory is like fitness. Train it and it will improve. And finally…

I started off by saying that memory is like fitness. Train it and it will improve. But just like fitness, people forget the second bit – it comes with training, and the more you work on it, the better it will get. And finally…

I started off by saying that memory is like fitness. Train it and it will improve. But just like fitness, people forget the second bit – it comes with training, and the more you work on it, the better it will get. Your job now is to USE these memory tricks to make sure you can make life as easy as you can for yourself. And finally…