REMEMBERING FOR EXAMINATIONS

Few people hear the word 'examination' without a slight
feeling of fear or distaste. In Speed Reading, I have dealt
comprehensively with methods for studying three to ten times
more effectively. Here I'm going to discuss examinations in
relation to memory systems.
Typically, the person taking an examination dashes to his
seat in order to use all the available time and reads his exam-
ination paper so nervously, quickly and confusedly that he
has to read it over again to find out just what it is he is being
asked.
At this stage he usually becomes flustered, desperately trying
to co-ordinate all the information which he thinks might relate
to the question he is trying to answer, but which is buried in
the mire of all his other disorganised knowledge. How often
have you yourself, or have you seen someone else write an
examination, spending as much as 15 minutes of an hour's
time jotting down notes, scratching his head, resting his chin on
his hand, and frowning as he frantically tries to recall all that
he knows and yet at this moment does not know?
Such students often possess more knowledge about the
subject than others. I remember at least three students in my
undergraduate years who knew more about certain subjects
than virtually everyone in the class and who used to give
private tuition and coaching to those who were struggling.
Extraordinarily and regularly, these students would fail to
excel at examination time, invariably complaining that they
had not had time in the examination room to gather together
the knowledge they had.
Problems such as theirs can be overcome by preparing for
examinations using the Major and Skipnum Memory Systems,
in conjunction with the link system.
Let us assume that the subject to be examined is psycho-
logy. Reviewing your notes, you realise that in the year's study
you have covered four major areas, and that each area had four
or five main theories, four or five major figures, and a number
of experiments.
Applying this information to the memory system, you link
the name of the first major area with the first word of the
system, list the main theories on the following numbers, the
main figures on the next numbers and after that the experi-
ments. For the next major area you repeat this process until
you have covered the major key words and ideas for the
content of the year's course. Should any of these items have
smaller items which you think might be significant, they can
be linked to the key psychology words.
It may surprise you to learn that in circumstances where
my students have applied these systems, their memory list
for any given subject in a yearly exam seldom exceeds 70 items!
In the examination room they are immediately far ahead of
their erstwhile "peers. When considering their answers to
questions, they simply survey their organised knowledge in
less than a minute, selecting those items that are relevant. In
addition, the items selected are already in an 'essay' form.
In the example we are using, the answer to any question
could take the following form 'in considering the problem of
blank and blank I wish to discuss three of the major areas of
psychology, citing the theories of blank from the second, and
the theories of blank and blank from the third area. In connec-
tion with these areas and theories I will also consider the
importance of the following major figures in the history of these
ideas, and shall discuss in relation to the entire question the
following experiments: ...'
Without having said anything our imaginary student
already sounds well on the way to a 1st class! Indeed he may
well be, for as his initial fact getting-down task has been made
so much more easy, the amount of time left to him for creative
discussion and comment on what he has written will be
greater.
To carry this last point a little further—it is advisable to peg
on to your memory system creative or original ideas that flash
into your mind concerning the subject of examination. These
often make the difference between a 1st and 2nd class, yet
normally they tend either to get mixed up in a generally con-
fused presentation of knowledge and ideas or lost in the heat
of the moment.
Smaller details, including the titles of books, articles and
dates, can obviously be co-ordinated with the system explained
above.
Examinations are not all that difficult. Explaining what you
know in an organised and coherent fashion to an examiner can
be—use your memory systems to help you!