Revision and memory strategies
Hello friends I am Nadeem Siddique, a CA Final Student from Kolkata .As exams are near and
we are on the verge of revision I hope my article may help you to do proper revision. Many
students worry about memory especially in relation to exams. This article offers advice on
ways to improve your memory while revising. Not all of these suggestions will be effective for
everybody, so experiment and find what works for you. It includes:
Getting your timing right
Practising active learning
Strategies for understanding
Strategies for rote learning
Testing yourself
Recalling the information
In exams, for most modules, you will not be expected to be able to repeat information by rote.
ICAI exams are designed to test your ability to apply information by applying facts and ideas to
the question being asked. You will need to be able to see the links between ideas quickly and
select the most relevant information to include in your answer.
Getting your timing right
Time of day - Think about when you work best (morning, afternoon or evening). When you
need to learn facts, try to revise when you are most alert and focused.
Taking breaks - Take regular breaks to let your memory recover and absorb the information
you have just studied. You will learn best if you revise material, have a sleep and then review
the material the next day.
Pacing your learning - You will learn best if you spread your learning of a particular topic
over an extended period of time. Rather than focusing on similar information for a whole day,
change topics completely. When you next pick up a revised topic take a short time to recall
what you learned previously and then build on it with new information.
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Practising active learning
Passive learning does not work! - It's not effective to read your notes over and over, copy
out notes or highlight bits of handouts. You need to think actively about ideas if you are going
to remember them.
Learn actively by thinking, understanding and connecting the things you are trying to learn
to your existing ideas and knowledge. Consider how the information can be used to answer
exam questions from past papers. Is it a theory? Or supporting evidence? Do you agree with
it?
Ask yourself…
"What have I just learnt?"
"How could I use it to answer an exam question?"
Strategies for understanding
Make sense of the information - Information is hard to remember if it does not make
sense. So you need to understand what you are trying to learn and relate it to things you
already know.
Use your own words in revision notes as this connects the ideas to your understanding.
Think about the material… and look for similarities and differences between new
information and what you already know. Why was the research valuable? Has it been
replicated? Does it support old theories or suggest new ones?
Explain the idea to a friend as this helps you to organise the ideas and ensures that you
have really understood them.
Organise the information - It is easier to remember well organised information. Try to find
a meaningful structure for the information. Identify the most significant points, break down
ideas into sections. Make a spidergram to summarise ideas and evidence. It is easier to
remember one series of connected ideas rather than a lot of separate points.
Make the information more memorable – One way is to generate sounds or images to go
with the information and form mental images to go with the ideas. Or make a spidergram
using colours to create a visual image.
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Strategies for rote learning
Learning formulae and brief facts - Start learning formulae early in your revision and learn
one at a time. Write the information out in colour on a card and stick it somewhere prominent,
e.g. by the kettle or in the bathroom. Look at it every time you pass by. Test yourself. If you
know it then put another formula in a different colour by the kettle and add the old one to a
pile that you test yourself on regularly.
Mnemonics - These can be a useful way to learn facts. Use the first letter of each word to
create an easily remembered phrase or word e.g. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (colours
of the rainbow in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet).
Using music - if you're good at remembering song lyrics, you might try choosing a song and
replacing the lyrics with the formulae or phrases you need to remember.
Testing yourself
The revision cycle To get the most from your revision, test yourself again and again but with
increasing gaps between tests:
1. 10 minutes after learning something (e.g. at the end of the 10 minute study break
which you take after learning the topic).
2. 1 day later at the beginning of a revision session.
3. 3 days later...
4. 1 week later....etc
If you can't remember the information at any point in the cycle then relearn it and go back to
(1).
Recalling the information
Remembering Practice planning lots of answers to old exam questions. You don't have to
write the answer out in full. Practice plans will get you used to interpreting questions, then
choosing and ordering what you know in order to answer them. During the exam this will help
your ability to retrieve information quickly and see how to apply it to the particular question.
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Stay calm During exams stay calm. If you can't remember something move on to another
topic. Your mind is likely to remember the information once you stop searching for it. For any
query mail me at [email protected] or whatsaap me at 9903102587.
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