Learning is most effective if you study for periods of 20 to 40 minutes interspersed by regular 5 minute breaks. Then spend a couple of minutes reviewing what you have just learned before moving on to the next section.



reviewing is very important and should be carried out at increasingly longer intervals. The first review should take place no longer than an hour following the learning period. the second review should be carried out a day later and the third review one week later. A complete and full review of any information fixes it in your long term memory and makes it easier to recall at a later date.

Memory training is the key and the four essentials for effective memory training are: association, visualization, imagination and sensation.

Association: Stage performers use linking systems which associate the things they need to remember with objects or events.

Visualization: if you visualize what you want to remember, you will remember it far more easily than if you simply file a word away. It also helps if you visualize something that is personal to you, especially if it's something you own or wish to own. for example, don't think car, think BMW.

Imagination: the more imaginative you are, the easier it will be to remember, make that BMW a sports model manufactured in the year you got married.

Sensation: As with imagination, the more sensational or bizarre your picture is, the easier it will be to recall. So the perfect memory image would be a silver 1995 BMW M3 with red and yellow flames down each side.

Using a mind map: Mind maps are a simple but very effective method of note taking, which show key thoughts in a round form rather than a straightforward list.

start by putting the subject in the center of a piece of plain paper, then write the main subheading around it in a circle. draw lines from the center to each subheading before adding more items in circles around the subheadings. next, redraw your map in order to rearrange things in a more logical order, you may also find it useful to add little pictures as memory joggers. For example, if your main subject is an apple, draw an apple in the middle of the page and write apple in it. If a subheading is apple pie, draw a pie shape, connect the apple to the pie with a line and connect your other thoughts with lines to the pie.

To recall the whole mind map, think apple, and the other contents will come back to you.

The link system: This links items together by fitting them into a story. For example, you are going shopping to buy buy bread, bananas, eggs, pepper, paper tissues and face cream.

Visualize yourself going into the shop, the only bread they have is such a large loaf that you can't see where you are going and subsequently you don't spot the banana on the floor, you step on it and go sliding towards a display of eggs, you swerve to avoid it and crash into a box of pepper, the pepper burst open and causes you to sneeze violently, you grab some paper tissue to wipe your nose but this makes your nose sore, so you find some face cream to ease your sore nose.

I realize it seems a bizarre way to remember things, but the more off beat your story is the more memorable it will be. Exaggerate everything, add colors sounds and even smells, these will help the method to work.

The Roman room system: Instead of making up a story around the items, associate each item with a feature in the room. use a room you are familiar with and go around it in the same way we did the shop.

This could involve the bread propping the door open, a monkey sitting on a chair eating a banana,the fried egg pinned to the kitchen door which you open to discover it's been booby trapped with a pot of pepper. you reach for the tissues on top of the freezer to wipe your nose and have to use more to wipe up the pot of face cream that is bubbling over on the cooker.

Remembering numbers: All systems for remembering numbers with more than seven digits work by breaking the numbers down into separate chunks and giving a label to each of them.

The number shape system uses a set of images that are constant. You choose your own images so as to make them meaningful to you, provided they are the same shape as the number.

For instance, the number 1 is the pencil, number 2 the swan, number 4 the sailing boat and so on. So, if the number you wish to remember is 214 you visualize a swan using a pencil to write on the side of a boat.

Names: remembering names can be a source of great embarrassment for many people. The reason we forget names when we are introduce to someone is that we weren't really paying attention. You failed to file the information in a memorable enough way to store it in your long term memory bank. to remedy this, when you meet someone repeat their name back to them. If you can do it without feeling embarrassed ask them how they spell it. Use the name again as soon as you can, repeat it when you say goodbye to the person and you should find that it will be stored permanently in your memory.

Personal items: We all lose personal items such as keys, pens and glasses, mainly because we weren't paying enough attention when we put them down. create a special place for items that you misplace regularly.

Make it a logical place, and visualize it every time you come in or out of your home or office. even if you don't have your glasses with you, check to see that they are still there.

Having a great memory is more about habit and less about a natural gift. Using the methods described above will result in a greater capacity for remembering the little niggling things and can be easily adapted to remember the bigger more important things.