Forgetting things easily

onethreefive

Hi,

I am having extreme difficulty remembering the stuff i learn off. For example today I learnt off a sample answer for a Geography question and I can nearly guarantee by Friday I will have forgotten it. Right now I know it perfectly and can write it out without looking at it. Is it bad that it takes me over an hour to learn one and a half pages?

How can I ensure that I will actually remember what I am learning off in the weeks to come?

Thanks!

T0001

I think with Geography you will either know it or you won't. Trying to reem off a page and a half of information is difficult. We have a class of 23 and maybe 2 people in the class can get 26+/30 for an essay. The rest are in the mid to high teens.
Personally I learn trigger words for each topic. When writing once I see the trigger word I think of other information about the topic. It's like manipulating your sub-concious.

Eg. Earthquakes: release of energy > destructive > deep focus quakes > shallow focus quakes > passive > San Andres fault > 1994 earthquake > impacts ..... and so on for each topic

onethreefive

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I did try the trigger word idea but I cant remember what follows them, its like the only way I can remember them is writing out sentences and learning them off.

I think if I look at them every evening for a couple of minutes i might remember them.

robman60

Do you mean actually learning every word? That's not really practical at all. Learn the key words and build your sentences around that. Alternatively, you could try learning the words as a silly story and it really makes things easier to remember. Give this method a go, it can be really beneficial.

3raser10

review what you have learned everyday, now that you know it perfectly it should take you no more than 5 to ten minutes doing that. Try it for a few days & you will know how it benefits you! Going over something again & again which you think you now know perfectly can seem tedious and a bit useless but it will save you hours of learning everything again (if you don't look at the stuff you learned for weeks)

HelenAnn

I find it impossible to get something long like that into my long-term memory by just learning it once but I think the trick is to constantly revisit it. Look over it again for a few minutes tomorrow, then in a few days time, then in a weeks time etc... Your memory might falter sometimes but each time you go back to it it'll get easier and easier to get back into your head again!