School of Phenomenal Memory??

[Brutha]

Is there any way to go back and edit a post?

No.

It would be nice if he would allow a credible person to test his memory in person (like at a memory championship) and see what he can really accomplish.

Memorizing 52 cards in under five minutes or under one minute isn't the name of the game.
The interesting thing is whether his claim of teaching people effective memorization is true. I also think that blindly trusting testimonials shouldn't lead you to making decisions.

Having a bunch students that complete a medical degree in a halve the time it normally takes after getting through would be a sign of credibility (and please in a way that allows verification of the claims, testimonials don't count).

I would really like that some memory trainer comes up with a system that gives his students the ability to complete a medical degree in halve the time and afterwards provide evidence of that success.

That's what it's about. It's not about the trainer getting a world record in memorizing 52 cards in the shortest amount of time.

I am fine with plainly calling that dishonesty. If that's a selling point, then I don't really want to be involved.

While I probably wouldn't do such a thing myself I don't think it's a big deal, it's just not the major point of what the product is about.
Lying about your refund policy however is.
During a time where he gave a blogger a refund he wrote in this forum that he didn't gave anyone a refund (The internet is a small place...).

[servantofone]

Brutha, yes, I hope to see a day when that happens. Did the blogger you're referring to ever write a review of the product? I read a thread in which he promised a review after he secured a refund, but I never found the review.

[Brutha]

Brutha, yes, I hope to see a day when that happens. Did the blogger you're referring to ever write a review of the product? I read a thread in which he promised a review after he secured a refund, but I never found the review.

I don't think so, I know about the fact that he did get a refund because I exchanged messages with Shlomo (the blogger) and not because of something that Shlomo wrote publicly.
As a result Ruslan didn't knew that I knew at the point he made his claims in this thread.

[ghozt]

who here, actually owns the Course?

-just wondering..

Cheers
-Pres

[VIPFaktor]

Originally Posted by ghozt

who here, actually owns the Course?

-just wondering..

Cheers
-Pres

Ruslan.

[ghozt]

Originally Posted by VIPFaktor

Ruslan.

No. seriously, who owns it?

[aegis]

Originally Posted by ghozt

No. seriously, who owns it?

I don't actually own the course, but let's just say that a "friend" let me borrow it. I posted my thoughts on the system in this thread a while ago, but it looks like my post was deleted.

I got through the first 22 lessons and gave up on it. It was simply too mentally exhausting, and I found it difficult to retain the information over longer periods of time. I may have been able to recall most of the information on the following day, but 2-3 days later, I'd forget more than half of it. Visualization actually became more difficult as I progressed, which I found strange.

I believe that some type of visual component can help tremendously when it comes to retaining information. However, the visuals should be used in conjunction with other means.

Brutha mentioned that "having a bunch students that complete a medical degree in a halve the time it normally takes after getting through would be a sign of credibility (and please in a way that allows verification of the claims, testimonials don't count)."

I respectfully disagree. In fact, I'd be leery of seeing a doctor who used this program to study in medical school. Diagnosticians should possess an intuitive understanding of medicine. Simply memorizing bits of information won't make them good doctors.

Time and repetition is the only way to master a particular field. The brain actually goes through physical changes as new skills are formed. It's part of the natural learning process and there's really no shortcut. You'd be doing yourself a disservice by simply cramming the information.

This may work great if you're a visual learner, but despite popular belief, most people aren't. Most people benefit from learning in a variety of ways including visually, auditory, and hands-on. You need to find what combination works best for you.

[Hatred4Scammers]

Hi. This is a random post not having much to do with the topic out of nowhere but... I just wanted to say that I'm a lurker on this forum and finally decided to create an account. I was actually going through this entire thread because I wondered if it actually worked. (And for a silly moment, I even wondered if I should purchase it lol) After reading the many posts from DarkSide on this thread, and various others who seemed to appear (and created their accounts on the same month) at the same time, I decided that it might be a scam. So I googled and found various people with the same names on this topic also advertising (probably copy and paste lol) elsewhere. Perhaps, the product-sellers are merely trying to advertise but I found it highly suspicious. If it works for you though, good for you. =)! And if it didn't, I just wanted to warn you that it might be a little suspicious. This is all I wanted to say.

[Brutha]

I respectfully disagree. In fact, I'd be leery of seeing a doctor who used this program to study in medical school. Diagnosticians should possess an intuitive understanding of medicine. Simply memorizing bits of information won't make them good doctors.

Intutition comes from having enough different patterns in your head.
I didn't said that a propective doctor should spend 100% of their time memorising stuff.

The way medical school is structured everyone has to spent some time memorising stuff that they forget once they are doctors.

The brain actually goes through physical changes as new skills are formed.

Of course the brain goes to physical changes when it does anything. It's no big news unless you still believe in dualism.

[Brutha]

I really don't like drive by internet marketing. Therefore I will from now on limit participation in this thread to people with already have wrote 10+ posts elsewhere on this forum.

[VIPFaktor]

Originally Posted by Brutha

I really don't like drive by internet marketing. Therefore I will from now on limit participation in this thread to people with already have wrote 10+ posts elsewhere on this forum.

Yes, and to be frank, that's really terrible and dumb way of trying to influence people. I don't know who's doing this, if it's Ruslan, then I really feel sorry for him for not having sales, this is a very good system (this is the marketing that he needs - word of mouth, guerilla, etc), with some background research, their good application and careful integration of memorization methods, most of which were known for a long time before he rebranded them, but that's not important. I personally like the product, and I'm on the first part of the practical part. I believe this is good enough product for disciplined (very important here) people with enough time, and some predispositions for this. It's not easy at all (in terms of time, mostly), and many people will quit and start saying it's scam or something. It's not.
Anyway, I, as an [internet] marketer, am truly disappointed to see the lack of real marketing knowledge used for the promotion of this product... he's either hiring amateurs to do this, or he's doing it himself. This thing has had, and still has plenty of potential.

Sigh...I easily get into the offtopic when I get chance.

Originally Posted by Brutha

Therefore I will from now on limit participation in this thread to people with already have wrote 10+ posts elsewhere on this forum.

You can do that on per-thread basis? Nice...
It seems vBulletin is worth it's pricetag.

[Scipio]

Has anyone successfully learned a language very shortly with these techniques?

I already take advantage of a few techniques, such as the imaginative memory method in Heisig's Remembering the Kanji, or I do little tricks of visualizing something related to the sound of the new word in my native language, but I'd like to increase my ability in all the languages I'm studying drastically. Is there anything I'm missing that could significantly help, that is taught in this course? I also use a spaced repetition system to solidify the language into long term memory.

I'm studying Korean, Japanese, French, and Esperanto concurrently.

[Mich210]

Originally Posted by DarkSide

I am not going to argue with you. I have provided all necessary information here. You keep changing your story and I am not going to play this game. It is getting ridicules. If you cannot memorize 33 images, then how could you pass the test? Why you didn't tell me about this problem instead of writing a positive testimonial?

Good luck, I have nothing to add.

Hi just signed up for PMemory and hope I have not made a mistake. I was really excited as to tell my friends to check it out too but I am now just hoping that I will not be the next guy who is going to be refused for refund. This is a new system and if it was not for the 100% money back guarantee (no question asked) would not sign up without finding things like this. I understand that this is 2007 I would like to know if you had the same terms? I am really disappointed as how would some one of this calibre and skill would be so arrogant in business sense or customer satisfaction? I just can't comprehend the good luck answer ?

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by ghozt

who here, actually owns the Course?

-just wondering..

Cheers
-Pres

I own the course but never got past lesson 7 because I am lazy.



But I can tell you just from lessons 1-6, it is the real deal.

Originally Posted by aegis

I got through the first 22 lessons and gave up on it. It was simply too mentally exhausting, and I found it difficult to retain the information over longer periods of time. I may have been able to recall most of the information on the following day, but 2-3 days later, I'd forget more than half of it. Visualization actually became more difficult as I progressed, which I found strange.

This may work great if you're a visual learner, but despite popular belief, most people aren't. Most people benefit from learning in a variety of ways including visually, auditory, and hands-on. You need to find what combination works best for you.

I think you were doing the lessons wrong.

No offense intended, but I only did SIX lessons and I can already use techniques that I learned in those first 6 lessons to memorize materials for my classes incredibly easily. I just translate the detailed information into mental images, go through them a few times and bam - I can remember them for weeks without studying them ever again.

And btw, every human being has a visual part of their brain. Even blind people think in images, they are just different images than what non-blind people see.

Human beings generally cannot understand anything without first being able to imagine the concept or thing in their head as some form of an image. This is the basis of "understanding" and also happens to be the basis of "knowledge" of raw facts, since human beings can remember images extremely easily if they know how to train their brains to do so.

Example: Think of what your bathroom looks like. Think of every little thing in it, the bar of soap, the shower, the water faucets, the electric outlets on the wall, the light bulbs, everything. Now think of the same detail around other rooms of your house. With just a little bit of thought, you can remember almost all of them easily. This is because the human brain records memories in images, and unique and detailed images stand out particularly well in our brains.

Originally Posted by Mich210

Hi just signed up for PMemory and hope I have not made a mistake. I was really excited as to tell my friends to check it out too but I am now just hoping that I will not be the next guy who is going to be refused for refund. This is a new system and if it was not for the 100% money back guarantee (no question asked) would not sign up without finding things like this. I understand that this is 2007 I would like to know if you had the same terms? I am really disappointed as how would some one of this calibre and skill would be so arrogant in business sense or customer satisfaction? I just can't comprehend the good luck answer ?

The original money-back guarantee from a few years ago said that if you finished the entire course, they would guarantee you are able to memorize entire books easily or your money back.

I believe they said this because many people bought the course, then realized how much effort it takes to train your memory, then wanted to quit and asked for a refund. Well, their laziness doesn't mean the system is a failure, it just means they don't have the focus or time necessary to complete the lessons.

Eventually after this lead to some bad press, I believe Ruslan changed the guarantee to be a 100% money back guarantee with no conditions, meaning you can ask for it at any time even if you don't do the course at all. I may be wrong but I believe this is the case.


Sidenote: I know what I am talking about, because I am one of those lazy people who never finished the course. I even asked for a refund and came up with tons of excuses, but Ruslan refused because back then the refund policy was different. Today I am thankful that he refused to refund me, because the course DOES work, and right now it is on my "to-do" list of skills to build in my future. Thankfully when you buy the course, you have a lifetime membership to the forums and all future updates

[Brutha]

The original money-back guarantee from a few years ago said that if you finished the entire course, they would guarantee you are able to memorize entire books easily or your money back.

This is Ruslan's version of the story. The original wording however wasn't that clear. He also lied afterwards about his refund policy in this thread.

Well, their laziness doesn't mean the system is a failure, it just means they don't have the focus or time necessary to complete the lessons.

If a system doesn't produce result it fails.
The very definition of failure is the inability to deliver results.
The psychological issues of mnemonics are a central problem. Even Ruslan himself criticizes other products on the basis that they don't produce results.

Eventually after this lead to some bad press, I believe Ruslan changed the guarantee to be a 100% money back guarantee with no conditions, meaning you can ask for it at any time even if you don't do the course at all. I may be wrong but I believe this is the case.

At the moment the website doesn't say "no conditions". Regarding the semantic game that Ruslan played at the beginning I'm not sure that Ruslan means "no conditions" at this stage. If he actually means no conditions/no questions asked, he could write it into his guarantee but he doesn't.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Brutha

If a system doesn't produce result it fails.
The very definition of failure is the inability to deliver results.
The psychological issues of mnemonics are a central problem.

The system could probably be made a lot easier and less stressful to perform, but it would also probably take a lot longer to complete. I don't know if that would work or not.


But really you can't blame only the system for the failure of the individual. That is like blaming an exercise program for an individual quitting the program and getting fat, when he would have lost weight if he just stuck with the program.



Also, I do not know what Ruslan is doing with the guarantee now, I was just saying what I thought it was. So I won't argue anymore about that. I guess just read it on the website and whatever it says is what it says.

Keep in mind though, that no business owner wants to encourage his clients to ask for refunds. That would just be bad for business. He IS out to make money, after all.

[Brutha]

But really you can't blame only the system for the failure of the individual. That is like blaming an exercise program for an individual quitting the program and getting fat, when he would have lost weight if he just stuck with the program.

A good exercise program is structured in such a way that people can keep up with it.
Otherwise creating an exercise program isn't that complicated. You get some book on exercise from the library and it provides you with a few exercises.

Will a good program get everyone to stick with it? It probably won't.
Responsiblity is about providing what you promise. The exercise program gets sold with the promise of some results. If it doesn't than you are right that it's not the responsibility of the program when a user quits.

Keep in mind though, that no business owner wants to encourage his clients to ask for refunds. That would just be bad for business. He IS out to make money, after all.

The present guarantee isn't worded in a way to discourage people to ask for refunds either. It just avoids phrases like "no conditions" and "no question asked".

Crystal clear money back guarantees increase sales. At least that's what a lot of internet marketing gurus say about money back guarantees.

[Guru1984]

I started the couse 5 days ago. What I don't like about it, and currently it has nothing to do with the product itself, is that I couldn't find reviews of guys who finished the course on some forums outside of the pmemory forums and also I saw way to many posts by guys who just joined some forums and posted great things about pmemory.

But, I figured out that I will probably spend around 180 hourse doing it (60 days - 3 hours each day), which is not that much considering that up until few years ago I played video games few thousand of hours in total and didn't have any benefit from it.

So, in 2 months, more or less, I will give detailed report of all lessons that I have done and my final report of the product. Hopefully, I will have benefits from it.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Guru1984

I started the couse 5 days ago. What I don't like about it, and currently it has nothing to do with the product itself, is that I couldn't find reviews of guys who finished the course on some forums outside of the pmemory forums and also I saw way to many posts by guys who just joined some forums and posted great things about pmemory.

But, I figured out that I will probably spend around 180 hourse doing it (60 days - 3 hours each day), which is not that much considering that up until few years ago I played video games few thousand of hours in total and didn't have any benefit from it.

So, in 2 months, more or less, I will give detailed report of all lessons that I have done and my final report of the product. Hopefully, I will have benefits from it.

Good luck.

As for not finding reviews of it anywhere else, honestly that is probably because not many people have even bought the course. Only around 5000 buyers or even less, that is my best estimate based on the number of forum members at the Pmemory website. Of course, I could be way off, but I highly doubt it is more than 10,000 at the maximum.

And out of those who bought it, I also guess that more than 50% (like me) haven't finished it, due to the nature of it being so strenuous on the mind. It is literally unlike any other mental exercise you will experience in life, simply because they just don't teach this stuff in schools at all. Most humans don't know that it exists.


So, the lack of reviews is probably just because only like 0.0001% of the population of mankind has ever learned these techniques.


Oddly enough, a couple years ago my girlfriend at the time was attending a different university than me. I mentioned Pmemory to her once and she said that her teacher had actually been talking about it, saying that he used it himself.

So, there is one example of it in real life. Just randomly, my girlfriend heard about it from her teacher, then from me.

[momo313]

pmemory is rubbish.

I paid for the course after doing my research, which included this thread, to gauge its effectiveness.

I've done the course and it's poorly designed (bad wording and confusing instructions) with little attention paid to student compliance. They (pmemory's marketing) even turn this into an advantage with the "it's so tough that only a few can complete it" gimmick, when in reality it's more like "this course is badly worded and designed".

Out of interest, curtis2011, a quick glance at your post history reveals you've been a major promoter of pmemory on these forums, even in the face of Ruslan's dishonest claims, and of only completing 6 lessons. On the surface, you look like you're doing whatever you can to market pmemory, regardless of its ineffectiveness.

My advise would be to consider Total Memory Improvement (TMI), it's an excellent course designed by a neuroscience researcher, Ryan Levesque, who is much more transparent and authentic than Ruslan of pmemory seems to be. If you want a powerful memory that you can use to memorize anything, get this course. Though, consider getting it only after buying a few of the top selling memory books from amazon - they will give you the basics, then you can investigate TMI if you want to deepen you memorization ability (via the use of a database).

All memory systems are based on the same principles, i.e. creating a mental database with which you associate items/objects/colours/numbers that you use to map onto things you want to remember. TMI is the best system I know of that succinctly and efficiently takes you from a beginner to a memorizing-god and its focus is on applying your memory to learn "academic" subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Law.

[Trustme]

What's the difference between TMI and PM?

All memory systems - as far as I can tell - work on the same principles. I still haven't found a way to drag the mechanics over into real life in a meaningful way. Ok - you can use it to memorize a shopping list or even data for a test or an exam. And it works well for that but beyond that?

[Guru1984]

@Curtis2011 Thanks man and good point about reviews.

I finished lesson 8 yesterday. I will finish the course by doing each lesson completely. At lesson 4 I started writing a journal with the time that took me to complete each exercise and my comments on them. After I finish the course I will post whole journal. If nothing else, at least I will improve my English vocabulary by doing the course.

[shadoxity]

why did my post get deleted?

[Brutha]

why did my post get deleted?

A bit above in this post I announced that I will delete posts of new posters to prevent this thread from being hijacked by internet marketers because of past dishonest marketing attempts.

[Foggy]

I can vouch for Pmemory being the real deal. It's really hard, and I've only actually made it part way through lesson 3 before giving up. However, once inside the students only areas of the forum, it becomes fairly apparent that people who are completing the course in the correct way are obtaining the skills that the course promises. I'm not saying it's perfect; I would rate my experience with the course a 7/10 so far. The instructors are usually prompt at answering questions and what not (I've asked four questions, 3 were answered in under two hours, the other was answered in 12). The message boards are active, but barely. Some threads get ignored and I've noticed that if you want to guarantee an answer to your question it's better to message the instructors from your mail box. Otherwise, the students are friendly and supportive for the most part. I've been confused about the wording in the course at one point during the first three lessons. In general the instructions are clear, but the wording can be hard to understand due to English not being the first language of the writer. If you want a taste for it, download the their free manual from the website - it's pretty much all written in that style.

I really want to recommend this course fully, but I believe that before I could do that it would have to clean up a fair amount. There are some really great aspects here, but the management is stubborn and slow to change things. You guys have all seen the way they tend to advertise - it can be kind of underhanded and poorly communicated - some of that feeling slips into the course. Fortunately, most of the moderators are better communicators and easier to work with. I also want to emphasize again that it is really hard - I can't imagine that it wouldn't be possible to redesign the course with a less steep learning curve, but the makers are very resistant to the idea of doing that. In conclusion, my experience and sense of the course is overall positive but there are definitely parts that are frustrating. If this review sounded more negative, it's partly because I figured people would prefer a more critical review since it's hard to get a good feel of what the course is like from most of the advertising.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by momo313

Out of interest, curtis2011, a quick glance at your post history reveals you've been a major promoter of pmemory on these forums, even in the face of Ruslan's dishonest claims, and of only completing 6 lessons. On the surface, you look like you're doing whatever you can to market pmemory, regardless of its ineffectiveness.

The methods taught in the course are effective.

As for the teaching of the methods itself, yes they are somewhat ineffective. However, I don't know how you would actually go about teaching them in a way that makes them easier to learn for the student, and still get the same result.

It is sort of like lifting weights. If you want to bench press 250lbs, then you will eventually have to work up to that amount. Whether you practice with dumbbells or bench press or pull ups or whatever, you will eventually have to get your arms and shoulders strong enough to lift that weight, one way or another. With your memory, it is sort of the same way. You start out with very low attention span and get frustrated at memorizing things. Eventually, you get better at it. And finally, it becomes almost automatic. Or so I have heard.

Originally Posted by Trustme

What's the difference between TMI and PM?

All memory systems - as far as I can tell - work on the same principles. I still haven't found a way to drag the mechanics over into real life in a meaningful way. Ok - you can use it to memorize a shopping list or even data for a test or an exam. And it works well for that but beyond that?

If you can memorize a shopping list, you can memorize anything, IF you have training in the right ways to memorize different kinds of data.

Want to remember 100 names and their phone numbers? You can do that quite easily (after you have practice at it). Want to memorize a string of 20 random numbers that you use for your email password online? You can do that easily as well.

Ruslan gave the idea of using Pmemory (or whatever system you want) for changing your personality. He gave an example that you could buy a joke book containing 100 funny jokes, and literally memorize each one perfectly. Then, when you are out with friends or at a party, you can literally tell off jokes (or scary stories or whatever) one after another, with perfect recall.

Also, people on the pmemory forums seem to mention that once you memorize information, it tends to influence your behavior subconsciously. One member gave the example that as soon as he started memorizing information about the effects of different foods on the body, he started eating healthier almost by default.

Another example is one of the moderators on the forum. He learned how to write and speak near fluently in a new language in only a few months. I believe it was Italian or Russian but I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by Foggy

There are some really great aspects here, but the management is stubborn and slow to change things.

That is a good way to put it.

Ruslan is an interesting character. Nobody really knows what he's up to. Also, he seems to get angry, or at least frustrated with other people, quite easily.

[Ceoarob]

Wow. I just have to LOL at everything here...

[Ceoarob]

Originally Posted by Ceoarob

Wow. I just have to LOL at everything here...

I'll make this a relatively in-depth review about PMemory.

Yesterday, I finished lesson 16. I've been doing a lesson a day.

If you're half-dedicated to the course, then save yourself the money. I bought the course in Dec 2010, started the first couple of lessons, got to lesson 4, gave up because it took me 4 hours to do, and thought that PMemory suxxord.

Then, I came back from my Vipassana retreat and decided to give it another go. However, this time, I was going to do it full-out, the way it was supposed to be done (59 lessons in 60 days).

The first 12 lessons are the hardest. Hands down. They would usually take me anywhere between 1hr30 mins to 2hr15. Why so hard? Because you need to get the core skill of visualizing down before you can progress to the other lessons.

In lesson 1-12, you most *likely* aren't going to be able to apply any of it into the real world. That's what Lesson 12-24 are about - creating mental databases that help you memorize information.

In L1-12, you go through visualization bootcamp. I went through the first 12 lessons in 13 days and I got to 12 and I was like..."Okay...this is bullocks...I don't know how to do anything".

In L13-15, I learned how to actually APPLY the data to real life stuff. No more memorization of silliness. However, if I didn't spend hours memorizing "silliness" then I wouldn't have been able to do what I do now.

Most people give up somewhere around L3 or 4. Maybe it's because they don't have the right diet, or they're expecting magical fireworks for them to shoot out of their asses and they can memorize entire dictionaries in Japanese. IDK what everyone is expecting.

However, I got very disappointed with PMemory somewhere around Lesson 10 or 11 because I didn't know how to apply it to real life.

Now (and with every lesson I continue to take), I realize that my concentration skills have become on point, I use alot more of my brain, my visualization skills have soared through the roof, and it has become ALOT easier to create connections and recall them very vividly.

When you get to Lesson 12, you learn how to use a software Called Memorization-Master/Improve-Memory. That basically is your workout gym for the brain. That's where my abilities started getting more honed in and much more detailed.

[Ceoarob]

Originally Posted by Trustme

Ok - you can use it to memorize a shopping list or even data for a test or an exam. And it works well for that but beyond that?

Hey there, that's what I asked myself too...

But the more I got into it, the more I realized that my brain is starting to think less in "words" and more in "pictures".

This is the fastest way that the brain can work. Whenever I speak by words, I'm limited by my ability to speak and process. However, when I use images in my mind to recall information or even save/memorize it, the process happens alot quicker.

After I've done Lesson 24, I'll come back and write about all this, but I'll just leave on this note...

The more I learn about PMemory and apply it to my daily life, the more I realize that it is a DEVASTATINGLY effective tool and mental process that can be used as much as your imagination allows you to.

If you can put anything in an image, then you can recall it. And I'm for real...ANYTHINGGGG.

-AR

[Ceoarob]

But oh yeah, you do have to eat well and make sure that you get your vital Fatty acids along with the proper vitamin balance.

Or else you'll have bad results. Not because you, personally, suck, but because your brain just won't have the necessary physical components that it needs to perform at peak performance levels.

It's the equivalent to putting Diesel in a Ferrari...the two just don't mix.