Yes, I am a first-year college student, and not a floppy disk and therefore, I cannot memorize every single letters and words into my regular sized brain. Memorizing is a hard, very challenging task, and it is also the most important part of studying for exams. There are a lot of other factors in studying, such as reading, citing, understanding, comprehending and such, but in the end, if you do not have a single thing in your head, you will not pass the exams. Thus, memorizing is a burdensome part of work.
Of course, it is impossible to memorize a whole book. But when it comes to memorizing concepts, vocabulary and definitions, there definitely are the right ways for me to memorize. The two best ways that help me most in memorizing are using flashcards, and Link System Strategy.
I used flashcards in my PSY 205 class. I did not use it for memorizing vocabularies, since I will be using more than 100 flashcards for the 4 chapters that I am studying for, and I know I do not need to memorize these vocabularies with flashcards. There is no need. What I used it on was knowing each of the concepts and relating them with each other. If I have flashcards, it is easier to flash them at myself anytime anywehre, and it helps me absorb the materials more quickly because I can repeatedly do it in order to memorize. 
I used Linking System Strategy in PSY 205 as well. I like to LINK my concepts into something more interesting in order to get myself familiar with the unfamiliar concepts. I also included related definitions since that is what is important in memorizing these concepts. I love how these systems work because they are amusing to use and at the same time they help me learn the actual materials as well. These are the kind of topics that I would not use flashcards for. Therefore, this LINK strategy works in heaps of way for me. They make the topic more interesting and let me relate to them in all ways.
I learned that learning and actually memorizing the materials in your head is all about repeating and repeating. Whether it is reading, or just memorizing definitions of vocabularies, repeating is the first thing in memorizing something. However, I found that I am not too efficient in writing down things to memorize. So I rather use these kinds of visuals that can relate me to the topics. Whatever strategy is there to use, repetition and practicing is the key points in remembering them most. Now, LET's MEMORIZE.
The flash cards are my favorite way of memorizing when I study for the tests. Like you wrote in your blog, I can take the cards anywhere, anytime, looking over at them easily. That definately helps me absorb the materials naturally, in which I won't forget later on. Also, I used the acronym setence to memorize the words but I think LINK is very similar to my way. Whatever helps you the most is important! Let's memorize!
ReplyDeleteI like the first picture you have. hahaha. I totally agree with your point "memorizing is a burdensome part of work." I don't like to force myself shoving in the materials and informations. Like I said in Adrien's blog, flashcards seem to be a useful strategy when you have to memorize terms and definitions. LINK strategy is one of the strategy that I don't really prefer using it. I feel like things will be bit more complicated when I relate a term to something, and do the process over and over again. Anyways, if the strategy works for you, there will be no problem.
ReplyDeleteApparently, I go against the flash cards because it takes too much time to create flash cards for my courses which are biology and chemistry, where there are millions of things to memorize. However, link system really works because when I tried it, I was able to find rhythms and patterns for each definition, and therefore, further helped me to efficiently memorize my definitions better. Overall, good job B-mayne!
ReplyDeleteThe flash cards are very useful when it comes to memorization. I also used Link strategy this week to memorize some of the terms in CFS388. I agree with Adrien on using acronyms from time to time to memorize multiple terms. But, I think the best strategy is what fits you the best.
ReplyDeleteI like using flash cards for memorizing things such as words and concepts. They are easy to make, easy to carry, and feels much more intimate than writing things down on your notebook. Also you can also flip it back and write definitions and stuff and terms on the front side. I will consider using this strategy for my next exam on NSD 225.
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