Your Guide to Getting Better Grades With Less Studying

Effective memory techniques don't involve years of training and exotic practices like hypnotism or meditation. You can get started with a couple of simple memory function techniques that actually pay off right away.

Review/Relax Timing. Believe it or not, the brain does not work well under an "all work, no play" regime. It turns out that storing information in the long term memory part of the brain takes rest as well as review. That's why cramming solidly for an exam often does not work. The brain needs quiet periods to consolidate information. Review and relaxation are both needed for effective learning.

In fact, a certain schedule of review and relaxation works very well as a way to study.

Here's what we suggest for memory training. (If you're a workaholic studier, have faith. This works.) First of all, note the time on your cell phone.

· Review the information you want to learn for no more than half an hour. Don't try to absorb more than one or two pages at a time. Make a summary if you need to.

· Relax for five minutes. Go get a soda, or make a quick call to a friend. Don't think about the information.

· Review again for another half hour. Don't review for longer than that.

· Relax (or do something else) for a whole hour.

· Review the information for just 15 minutes.

· Continue to review for 15 minutes at a time for the next day.

The result is nothing less than wonderful. Your information will have been transferred from your short term memory into your long term memory. Congratulations, and bring on those exams!

Absurd Story Telling. Lists. There's nothing worse than a list of Greek philosophers or English authors. How do you get a handle on lists like that?

You use a learning skill that seems like one of the most absurd methods in the memory technique library. Take every one of those list members and string them into a story. Incorporate the facts you need to know into the story. The story will be silly, absurd, and even fun. In the story your English authors may end up cheating on their taxes, having strange love affairs, and making crazy comments. Actually, the crazier the better. As you think about the story, write it down.

This absurd exercise will pay off. You'll find that the facts arrive in your head as you write that quiz. Don't worry about how this works. It just does.
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