Memory Improvement for School?

[sweetmisty]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum and am hoping for some advice. I'm starting college soon and would like to improve my memory so that I can perform better on exams. In high school, I studied a lot but often times found that I would "blank" out and forget some of the things that I know I spent time studying. I want to take a good course on memory improvement, because I feel that a good memory is very important to doing well in school.

I've done many Google searches and there are SO MANY options out there. It's hard to decide. I've pretty much narrowed it down to two though: School of Phenomenal Memory course and Chester Santos' Memory Fun 101.

The School of Phenomenal Memory has so many testimonials that it sounds so convincing. It's very expensive though, and I wonder about whether or not the testimonials are real. Also, I don't know if the inventor of the course has any real qualifications to teach memory. I saw a thread about that school in this forum and it put doubts in my mind. Apparently some people asked for refunds and didn't get it, it sounds very time consuming and difficult, and the founder seems to be a very mean person based on post to that thread. However, it does seem like it might be a really good course.

On the other hand, I read about Chester Santos in the SF Chronicle and there are SO MANY articles on him. He is the USA National Memory Champion and seems incredibly qualified to teach memory! His accomplishments are so numerous and I'm positive that he knows what he is talking about. I loved his CNN and Wired interviews on YouTube. He seems like a very nice guy too. Also, his course seems like it will be a lot of "fun". It also has a money back guarantee. However, I don't see any testimonials for his course anywhere, so I'm not sure. Has anyone taken it? I'm definitely leaning towards his course at this point, but any input would be appreciated.

Any other suggestions besides those two? I would really like to improve my memory before I start college in the fall.

Thanks,
Misty

[g00016138]

I don't believe that your blanking out is a memory problem. From my experience as a student, many students who 'blanked' during exams did so as a result of psychological stress. What made it worse is parents expection. I know people who have aced school by using these simple tricks:
-Review notes immediately after the lecture. A lot of us seem to assume that it's unnecessary to review notes immediately after a lecture, because you just had the lecture, and you still remember SOME things. But the reality of the situation is, when you review the notes immediately, you are doing two things 1) reinforcing the information 2) raising questions regarding the notes you took. This will give you so much time to research your queries further. The thing is, the moment you understand your topics, you can ignore the notes until the final exam.
-Do not stress out. This was the ultimate secret for many acers in my universtiy. They never stressed out. They wre so cool about the exams, it felt like they were going in to play a game. When asked, all they could say was, "Why stress out? It's just an exam. That doesn't determine my success in life. bill Gates was a colege dropout and he still succeeded. I'll give it my best shot, but that's it." Coming out of the exam, they would normally come out with the highest grades, because others' had blanked out while they were idly answering with heads on their hands on the table.
-consult a councelor to find out if it's really a 'memory' problem, otherwise you'll be wasting money.
-Connect the unconnectable. Be creative while studying. I nkow people who made cartoons out of science subjects and science terminologies and aced exams that way. The more bizarre the cartoon is, the more memorably it becomes. There are more tips on creativity in:
-I really hope it helps. I am not an expert in memory, but I did brefriend a lot of Engineering A students.

IGNORE INC.: NUTZ 101: Introduction to Creativity

[Doku]

I'm an old school kinda guy. I would recommend any of the books by Harry Lorayne. This guy is MUCH more impressive than Santos, and has been doing this for... well, a long time.
Harry Lorayne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's something to know about College vs. high school. You are better off increasing reading speed than memory. (And I mean reading with comprehension, not the speed reading, photoreading, or other flavor of the month) In high school, you are told to read the next 5 pages for the next class. In college, you are told to read the next 5 chapters, and write a paper that answers question X for the next class. You also need to learn to type faster. In high-school, you MIGHT get a 500 word essay. In college, you MIGHT get a 30 page report. (although they generally make assignments around 5-10 pages for most essay type things) Even lab reports for chem/physics/... are usually 10+ pages.

The other thing about memory in college is this: In high school, you are expected to regurgitate facts. And while that happens in college as well, it is also often the case that they will ask you to answer a question with 1-2 paragraphs instead. And that question will require that you comprehend the material, not just memorize it.

[g00016138]

My advice is to consult a psychiatrist to find out if your problems are memory related, and not just psychological stress. Because from my experience as a student, the A students had a common trait, which was they never got scared over exams. Some of them used to take it so lightly, they used to sit, and laugh and about it - even after 'thinking' that they did bad. surprisingly,they ended up with As most of the time.

Hope I helped,
Regards,
IGNORE INC.

[AviMar]

Originally Posted by Doku

You are better off increasing reading speed than memory. (And I mean reading with comprehension, not the speed reading, photoreading, or other flavor of the month)

I agree - working purely on "memory" is kinda silly, because you need more to be able to understand it and use it.
However, if you are saying photoreading doesn't give you comprehension, then you don't really know what photoreading is. It's frigging awesome!

I was thinking about making an online workshop - like that one about memory - but about ideas for LEARNING, not memorizing. Would include atleast the photoreading concepts and the ideas in Scott H Young's book about holistic learning. They really complement each other.

[machoman]

Well, I am using the Phenomenal memory course and it is very time consuming. But I get the results slowly. I am also using paul scheele memory optimizer course. It is also very good. But let me tell you about the difference between these two courses.First I will tell you about Phenomenal memory course. After doing the course 2 months(and still continuing), I can tell you that it is very very time consuming. I say this from my experience. It will take you atleast 100 hours or more than that to finish the course.You can compare this course to learning any new language or to mastering any skills like kung fu. You need to practice the exercises to get the results as you might have read in the testimonials of the website. But it will give you rock solid results after you finish the course. Let me tell you one thing. If you are commited and really want to improve your ability to remember and are willing to do the exercises that the course offers, then you can take this course. I also tell this because I was also, like you, was searching to improve my memory and bought the course. But after practicing a few lessons of the course, I found out that it is too challenging for me. It seems to be too much difficult just to do the exercises. I even took 2-3 hours just to finish 1 exercise at one stage! So only after few weeks of constant practice, I could be able to continue the course. So the point I am trying to make to you is that it takes a lot of time to finish the course and lots of practice. If you are willing to do, then just buy and study this course. It will give you the results!

Next, I would like to tell you about Paul Scheele's Memory Optimizer course. It is also a wonderful course and it not very time consuming as the the Phenomenal memory course. You could finish this course within 2 months. It helps you to improve your memory in a very different way. It is also very interesting to listen to the course because actually you listen to two people who discusses the course just like two people talking! So you will find it very easy to understand the principles.

If you are very serious about improving your memory, then I would recommend School of Phenomenal memory course. This will definitely work if you are willing to spend time doing the course. You need constant practice to get maximum results as told in the website. Let me repeat,in bold words, to get maximum results, you must practice!On the other hand if you want to just improve memory very fast and efficient,then you can use memory optimizer course. It will offer you a number of techniques to develop things like improving your vocabulary, helping you to remember information by using techniques like "inner archive" and "Creating ABC's lists".You can find a lot more about this course here:

Memory Improvement with the Memory Optimizer


One final note: There are many courses available on net, but I find only these two courses very useful because of its quality and content. These courses specializes you in improving the memory. Not just any theory and telling you to do all by yourself. I even tried books written by Harry Loraine, Tony Buzan( which are very identical to each other) but I find it vague when compared to these two courses.
Anyway,I wish you all the best on your journey to improving your memory !

Also, I would appreciate people in the forum to suggest any other courses here which are very useful other than these 2 courses.

[Dannyboy1]

Originally Posted by AviMar

I agree - working purely on "memory" is kinda silly, because you need more to be able to understand it and use it.
However, if you are saying photoreading doesn't give you comprehension, then you don't really know what photoreading is. It's frigging awesome!

I was thinking about making an online workshop - like that one about memory - but about ideas for LEARNING, not memorizing. Would include atleast the photoreading concepts and the ideas in Scott H Young's book about holistic learning. They really complement each other.

It looks like a huge scam. You've done the course?

[Doku]

Here's the issue that I have with the photoreading... This is a comment from another person's website who says that he's an advocate of it, and has been using it for over 4 years:
"With PhotoReading, you subconsciously take in the printed information out of a book, and then consciously ‘activate’ that information upon going back through the material in a number of short passes."

Um.. ok, so you skim the material, then go back and READ the material. How is this faster than skipping the skim step?

So, here are the steps that he lists:
1: Prepare (get in the right mental state)
2: Preview (dunno what he is talking about here)
3: PhotoRead (ie: glance at each page)
4: Activate (actually READ the material)
5: RapidRead (traditional speed reading)

Um... ok, so you "read" the material in three different ways, and this is faster exactly how?
Scott Free Thinking » All About PhotoReading

Yes, I know that Steve Pavlina is also a proponent of the book, and has written his own articles in praise of the method, etc. I just don't see it.

[pianoperformer]

Yes, Phenomenal Memory definitely works. Yes, it is very time consuming. No, the guy isn't always very nice.

But, I do still recommend it.

Maybe put in an hour a day. In that way, you should be able to finish a lesson every two days or so.

[AviMar]

Originally Posted by Doku

Here's the issue that I have with the photoreading... This is a comment from another person's website who says that he's an advocate of it, and has been using it for over 4 years:
"With PhotoReading, you subconsciously take in the printed information out of a book, and then consciously ‘activate’ that information upon going back through the material in a number of short passes."

Um.. ok, so you skim the material, then go back and READ the material. How is this faster than skipping the skim step?

So, here are the steps that he lists:
1: Prepare (get in the right mental state)
2: Preview (dunno what he is talking about here)
3: PhotoRead (ie: glance at each page)
4: Activate (actually READ the material)
5: RapidRead (traditional speed reading)

Um... ok, so you "read" the material in three different ways, and this is faster exactly how?
Scott Free Thinking » All About PhotoReading

Yes, I know that Steve Pavlina is also a proponent of the book, and has written his own articles in praise of the method, etc. I just don't see it.

to explain briefly each of the steps, and how it DOES save you time...
1) the right mental - when you are in the relaxed-attentive state, you are more curious and want to learn the information. The critical part of your brain shuts off, and you don't perceive the passing of time. Everything you read and hear makes a deeper impression. You remember easier.
2) preview - you take a look at the summary & table of contents. What in this book do you want to read? Based on that, you select a purpose. One of the things most speedreading courses do is make you more motivated, so you read faster. But that goes away when you leave the course. This is about you making yourself excited for every book you read, and focused, so you are concentrating more (or only) on this book.
3) photoread - when you do it, you are at the very least pulling in the right brain by looking at the empty space. Even if you skip this, I think the system will still help you a LOT. I can't really measure how much this helps, my activation has been pretty manual.
4) its not normally reading. its looking broadly and then skittering what seems useful, or "rhythmic perusal" which is a more idea-focused faster sort of reading.
5) if you think you STILL want more - I spent 1hr on a 400 page book (with my poor activation skills), and I got the gist of it. I will activate it another time or two. But if you still want more, you read it again. But some parts, you will be very familiar, or completely disinterested in, so you will skip.

Oh yeah - one huge thing in this system which is very cool is that knowledge comes in layers. Its much easier to remember details when you learned the gist of it first.

I "read" a 480 page book in 5 hours. I did it "wrong" - it took me too long. (Yes, I got ALL the material out of that book.) But thats a HUGE improvement over what it would have been without this system. And, I found (and remembered it all when I was done) what I was looking for in the book (and more.)
It's a great system.

[machoman]

Originally Posted by AviMar

to explain briefly each of the steps, and how it DOES save you time...
1) the right mental - when you are in the relaxed-attentive state, you are more curious and want to learn the information. The critical part of your brain shuts off, and you don't perceive the passing of time. Everything you read and hear makes a deeper impression. You remember easier.
2) preview - you take a look at the summary & table of contents. What in this book do you want to read? Based on that, you select a purpose. One of the things most speedreading courses do is make you more motivated, so you read faster. But that goes away when you leave the course. This is about you making yourself excited for every book you read, and focused, so you are concentrating more (or only) on this book.
3) photoread - when you do it, you are at the very least pulling in the right brain by looking at the empty space. Even if you skip this, I think the system will still help you a LOT. I can't really measure how much this helps, my activation has been pretty manual.
4) its not normally reading. its looking broadly and then skittering what seems useful, or "rhythmic perusal" which is a more idea-focused faster sort of reading.
5) if you think you STILL want more - I spent 1hr on a 400 page book (with my poor activation skills), and I got the gist of it. I will activate it another time or two. But if you still want more, you read it again. But some parts, you will be very familiar, or completely disinterested in, so you will skip.

Oh yeah - one huge thing in this system which is very cool is that knowledge comes in layers. Its much easier to remember details when you learned the gist of it first.

I "read" a 480 page book in 5 hours. I did it "wrong" - it took me too long. (Yes, I got ALL the material out of that book.) But thats a HUGE improvement over what it would have been without this system. And, I found (and remembered it all when I was done) what I was looking for in the book (and more.)
It's a great system.

Well said AviMar!
Thats what I wanted to say. Photoreading whole mind system works well when you have proper attitude towards your books. Many people are curious about this course when paul scheele says that one can read at 25,000 words per minute. But really, you can only 'photoread' a book at that time. But seriously it will damatically reduce your time in studying book in my experience.

[Brutha]

First I'm no photoreader myself.

"With PhotoReading, you subconsciously take in the printed information out of a book, and then consciously ‘activate’ that information upon going back through the material in a number of short passes."

According to the theory you don't read all the material again in those short passes.

(Yes, I got ALL the material out of that book.)

I heavily doubt that. It nearly impossible to get all the marterial out of a book whether you read it normally or the photoreading way.

[Restrikted]

I wholeheartedly agree with g00016138 about it being a result of psychological stress. When I first got to college I would study as hard as I could and completely stress out during the exams, which would cause me to draw blanks on questions that I knew. It was actually on this forum that I learned stressing out does absolutely no good, so the next test I had, I still studied as hard as I could, but on my way there I just kept telling myself things along the lines of "F*ck it," and "It's just a test, in the grand scheme of things it has no impact on my life," and it worked! Everyone was freaking out before we were about to go in (it was physics), but I did the complete opposite, and that was to try my best not to care about it. My grades did nothing but improve since then. On my way to tests, I like to imagine myself just walking around and strolling into a classroom, where there happens to be an exam booklet, and I say to myself "I'm not doing anything for the next 1.5 hours, I guess I'll take it." Like I said, it sounds to me like you care too much, which is causing you to blank on the tests.

[sweetmisty]

Thanks for all of your responses! I appreciate them! I live near San Francisco, so my mom has decided to sign me up for Chester Santos' workshop. She figures that it would be smart to take a workshop from the national champion in memory, and that in person instruction would be preferable to downloading the class. He's pretty famous around here, and I think it will be fun to meet and learn from the best in the country at something. I really disagree with the people who said that memory isn't as important to doing well in school as "understanding" the material. The problem is that I DO understand the material, but just can't seem to remember it sometimes when I need to. It's not that I don't understand it. I feel that remembering and understanding are separate things and that understanding the material is actually a lot easier than being able to remember it for tests. Anybody who says that memory is not important to school, has probably not been to school in a while. Maybe it's different for college, but a lot of friends that I've talked to say that you still have to "remember" lots and lots of information for exams in college. School of Phenomal Memory doesn't seem reputable enough for me. Well, it might have been fine, but I agree with my mom in that Chester Santos is very likely to know what he is talking about from his credentials. The videos from his website are from official media appearances, so I know that they are not faked or setup. To become the champion, he must be very knowledgable in how to remember. It was interesting to read about Harry Lorayne. Thanks for the link! He seems like a dinosaur though! Haha. I'm wondering if what he did were "tricks". It sounds like he is a magician. Maybe he somehow fooled people like Chris Angel does. I don't know, but Chester Santos definitely seems legit and the best nowadays. I would actually really like to see Harry Lorayne go up against Chester Santos in a memory competition. I have a feeling that the dinosaur would be destroyed if it were an official competition, but it would be fun to watch! I wish that they had more things like that on TV instead of so much sports, but oh well. Anyway, I feel pretty happy with my mom's idea to take Chester's workshop in San Francisco. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks again for all of your input!

p.s.
in my case, i dont feel too anxious or stressed at all when i go into exams, because i know that i've put in so much hard work. i feel prepared and ready, so no reason to be stressed, but sometimes i just can't recall some of the terms. a lot of times i basically know the concept, but just cant give the exact term, so they take off points. also, sometimes i do remember the right answers, but it takes me too long to remember it, and i cant finish the exam. that is actually a big problem. i often dont finish a test because i went too slow. if i could remember things faster, that would be great.

[Avi]

sweetmisty,

Can i ask what you though process is when you are taking notes in class and how you do your HW?

In high school, 2 years ago, i myself had a similar problem. i studied a lot and the results were less than expected and in my first year in college it was a similar situation. And it turned out HOW i studied and what i did in class had a lot to do with it. A semester later, right now, i have worked on HOW i do it enough be the first one to finish the test or understanding concepts in very little time. Check these out

How to become a straight A student
Amazon.com: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less: Cal Newport: Books

and

Scott Young's book
Learn More, Study Less
Scott H Young » Get More

These two books really helped me understand what i actually do when i study and how to improve it. I suggest you check it before you spend your money on something more expensive.

[sweetmisty]

It's been a while. I meant to let everyone know how things ended up going. I attended Chester Santos' workshop in San Francisco and it was awesome! I'm doing much, much, better with exams now. He taught us how to create mental filing cabinets and file away all of the information for exams that we need to remember. Now when I'm asked a question on an exam, I just mentally go to the appropriate filing cabinet and retrieve what I stored there. It's so easy!!! Anyways, I guess different things work for different people but his workshop was definitely a big help to me, so I would recommend it. Thanks again for all of your suggestions!

xoxo Misty