[recom.org] Rote Memorisation

In my opinion, repetition does work but it only applies for short-term memory. You can rote memorise a chapter for your monthly test, but by the time you have your final exam 90% of what you have memorised would probably have vanished into the thin air, and you will end up memorising everything again.

I agree with the posts above that we should employ strategies which suit us best. If you are better at "auditory memory" then go for chanting, singing or listening attentively at class; if you are visually orientated then draw your own flowchart and familiarise yourself with it. In all cases, especially for history, let yourself be a part of the story, imagine that you are one of the characters of the story. Think how he thinks, know why he did the things he had done, empathize what it was like when World War erupted... it does help a lot.

Talking about keywords... you can hate it, swear it, curse it or swallow it, but at the end of the day, they are the things that earn you marks. I personally hate rote memorisation of keywords too, but nevertheless, I still do memorise them.

One of the strategies that makes keyword easier to memorise is well-thought mnemonics. Mnemonics are words, rhymes, story, or sentences that make it easier for us to memorise keywords or story sequences. Now that I am taking medicine course, I realized that mnemonic is indeed one of the most important strategies of improving your studies. There is even a website dedicated to the mnemonics of medicine-related stuff.

To give you some ideas of how mnemonics work, here are some of my favourites: * sorry if my examples are mostly about reproductive system, it just happens that this is my current topic *
1.
Fact: The pathway of a sperm in male reproductive system is from Seminiferous Tubules to Epididymis to Vas deferens to Ejaculatory duct.
Mnemonic: My boyfriend's name is STEVE.

2.
Fact: Erection is controlled by Parasympathetic nervous system while ejaculation is controlled by sympathetic nervous system.
Mnemonic: Point and Shoot.

3.
Fact: The abundance of white blood cells in decreasing order is Neutrophil, Lymphocyte, Monocyte, Eosinophil and Basophil.
Mnemonic: Never Let Monkey Eat Banana.

4.
Fact: The colour code of resistors from 0 to 9 is Hitam, Perang, Merah, Oren, Kuning, Hijau, Biru, Ungu, Kelabu, Putih.
Mnemonic: Sorry, too vulgar to be typed on ReCom. My friend created this mnemonics in form 1, and I can recall it until today. Basically it's a vulgar sentence with a combination of Hokkien and Malay words.


Hope that helps. If everything else fails, remember one word: priority. Remember to prioritize on the importance of the facts, and make sure you remember the more important ones if you are running out of time. It works most of the time.