Exams
- 1. Exams
- 3. Memory is a process: we do not remember instantaneously This process has four different stages it is possible to improve your memory by training yourself to consciously move through each phase.
- 4. Remembering You need to be focused and alert in order for your memory to work. If you are not concentrating when taking in new information you are unlikely to remember. If you don’t understand the new information you won’t remember it.
- 5. Sometimes the memory techniques we use, depend on the type of learner we are
- 6. Active Revision / Passive Revision • Write revision cards • Annotate text or notes • Re-reading your notes • Copying out notes • Repeating out loud or teaching the information • Using past papers • Putting your notes onto your computer • Highlighting notes • Using memory tricks e.g. mnemonics
- 7. Active Revision / Passive Revision •Passive learning doesn’t work •You need to think actively about the ideas •Think – understand – connect •Connect the things you are trying to learn to your existing knowledge •Consider how you could use the information to answer an exam question “What have I just learnt and how could I use it?”
- 8. When you revise, what techniques help you remember the information?
- 9. Memorisation • Overlearning • Breaking Tasks Down • Look, Cover, Write, Check • Spaced Repetition
- 10. Overlearning Involves…………………. • Continuing to work on material after you have learned it • Improves your memory of the information by reviewing the learned material in other ways • If you suffer from test anxiety, some believe that overlearning is something you should do every for every test • Anxiety interferes with ability to recall information, so anything overlearned should be firmly embedded and so anxiety doesn’t affect it
- 11. Breaking Tasks Down Involves……………….. • Split your personal study time into 50 minute chunks with 10 minute breaks in between. • It is important that you relax or do something physical or creative during the break to refresh your brain • This practice will help you stay focused because you do not feel rushed to learn all of the material at one time. • Also consider if you learn better in the morning or at night
- 12. Look, Cover, Write, Check • This is a common method that works for many people • It is useful for practicing terminology, quotations or reviewing opinions of writers • It involves…………………. • Revise a section of work • Cover it so you cannot see it • Write down as much as you can remember • Check your answer against the original work • See what was missing and repeat this again on a different day
- 13. Spaced Repetition : A way to remember
- 14. Space Repetition • A memory phenomenon called the spacing effect, which describes how our brains learn more effectively when we space out our learning over time • The first principle of this theory is that memories have two different strengths storage • Storage strength - doesn’t fade over time. Once information has been acquired and the brain says it has reached a level, it stays stored. Storage strength can only increase through repeated recall or use. • Retrieval strength – the ability to access the memory – does fade. It changes, and we need to regularly think and re-think about the information so we can get it.
- 15. Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve 80% of what you learn today will be forgotten if you don’t make a conscious effort to remember it
- 16. Spaced Practice •The opposite of cramming •Allows information to consolidate in long term memory •Allows information to be better organised in your long-term memory
- 17. Spaced Repetition Apps • supermemo • memrise • Nimblenotes • Eideticapp • Anki App (but it is very expensive on iPhone)
- 18. The Revision Cycle Example: 1. 10 minutes after learning something (e.g. at the end of the 10 minute study break which you take after learning the topic).2 2. 1 day later at the beginning of a revision session. 3. 3 days later... 4. 1 week later.... Test yourself again and again but with increasing gaps between tests:
- 19. Other techniques Use your own words: • When you write notes, this connects your ideas with your own understanding Explain the idea: • If you revise with a friend, doing this can help you understand and see if your ideas are clear Learning formulae • If you have to memories formulae, write then on different coloured cards and put them around your house, so you will see them • Once you know it, replace with another • Collect them all together and test yourself Past papers • Even if you do not actually write an answer, think how you would plan and organise your ideas – visualise what you would write.
- 20. Remember : There is no “magic wand” or quick way to improve our memory You have to choose a method that works for you You might use different methods to compare them, or just to give your brain some variety