Reported by:
Ng Yi Phin JR2Z(2)
As high school students, memorising texts, passages and historical stories are definitely a part of our daily school lives. However, most students may find it difficult to remember all those long and boring information. What can we do to improve our memory, and make things easy and fun to memorise? On 16th April 2022, Mr. Benson Lim provided the answers and secrets to memorising stuff to all the Junior Middle 2 students.
Mr. Benson Lim
Two unique and creative ways were provided by Mr. Lim, which were the 1) story memory technique, 2) body parts memorisation technique and 3) numeral pictures technique.
1) Story memory technique
We can memorise different information by making them into an interesting story. Mr. Lim used the twelve horoscopes’ mandarin translation as an example. In a bottle (水瓶座 – Aquarius), there are two fish, which are Aries (白羊座) and Taurus (金牛座). Aries and Taurus had twins, called Gemini (双子座).
He reminded us that our brain’s maximum capacity for memorising things is seven. If there are more than seven pieces of information to memorise, try and separate them into different groups to memorise. Therefore, our brain will not “overload” and fail to process the big wave of information.
Tips:
– the story must have an orderly sequence
– try and use possessive pronouns and verbs
2) Body parts memorisation technique
As we have different body parts, from our hair to our feet, we can attach different information to each body part (note: mentally!). For example, if we have to memorise the words ‘grape’ and ‘rice’, we can imagine the grapes to be our eyes and imagine us holding the rice up on our shoulders. Therefore, various vocabularies can be memorised through this method
Tips:
– the brain likes dramatic and unrealistic stuff, so make your imaginations as crazy as
possible!
– use different senses to memorise information
3) Numeral pictures technique
We can also link numbers with items that they look like. Here’s the photo:
This method is useful to memorise historical stories and classical stories.
Everybody’s brain structure is the same, and nobody is born smarter or clumsier. The main point is whether we have the heart to do it or not. We also have to remember to use our brain frequently so it will not forget important information after revising.
Information processing
How can we efficiently process information? The ways include repeating/reciting information, connecting the information with other stories to produce a deeper impression and separate the information by groups to study. However, the first way isn’t recommended.
Q&A Session
1. How can we improve our concentration?
Ans: Play unfamiliar music as you will be able to concentrate on your work compared
to familiar music that will make you want to sing or hum. Everybody’s
concentration times also vary, some during the day, and some during the
afternoon or night. You should also stop and rest after working for about 40
minutes.
2. What is your suggested sleep length?
Ans: For high school students, at least 7 hours of sleep is suggested.
3. Should I study easy or harder subjects first?
Ans: Everybody is different, therefore it is up to you.
Junior Middle 2s have learnt a lot from this special talk. We do hope that students will be able to use the skills learnt in their daily life. Lots of thanks to the Kuen Cheng Counselling Department and Mr. Benson Lim for organising this enlightening talk!
