Use Simple Tricks to Boost your Memory

Have you ever seen a so-called “memory expert” name off every single person in a room after only hearing their names once? While this certainly requires focus and good recall skills, there are some tricks commonly used by memory experts that make this task a bit easier. These same tricks may help you in your own studies.

Mnemonics are devices to help you remember things. You could devise an acronym by making a new word using the first letter from a group of words. For example, did you know the word “laser” actually stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation? Acrostics are sentences, usually silly ones, formed by using the first letter of each word you want to remember. For example, if you want to remember the taxonomic classification system of living organisms, you could memorize the sentence “King Philip Can Only Find his Green Slippers.” This will in turn cue you to recall the taxonomy: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. The Method of Loci (also called the Journey Method) involves thinking of a path you regularly walk and identifying various landmarks along the path. Then you mentally associate the word or concept you want to remember with that particular landmark. If the first landmark is your bedroom, and you want to remember the word laser, you could picture a laser in your bedroom, and so on.

Remember to practice these techniques, because frequent practice is another way to enhance your memory!

The Academic Advising & Career Centre is a team of professionals who advise, counsel and coach University of Toronto Scarborough students with their learning and career development. Learn more about our study skills and time management offerings on our website: http://joomla.utsc.utoronto.ca/aaccweb