Human memory is not like computer memory. It's more akin to a workout. Your muscles get strong by repeated stress of a long period of time. Your brain remembers through repeated learning over a long period of time.
Cramming for an exam is a little like cramming for a marathon. Not a good idea.
Study in smaller time segments spread out as much as possible. Vary your study patterns and environment. Use different techniques. Connect details with concepts and narratives.
The trick is to study throughout your life. Never stop learning, integrate that information into your life. Just like someone who learns how to play a new game, they use use that information regularly.
i do and for whatever reason i only remember what i dont need like i remember that d/dx(tan(x)) is sec^2(x) (which i learned from some random chat on irc) but not how to do radicals (which i have to do a lot this year)
What scum downvoted this!?
The same kind of ~~morons~~ sorry I meant to write very articulated persons that downvote posts everywhere on Lemmy, for no reason? Expecting them to express any semblance of reason in words would be like asking an oyster to do some tap dancing?
I found school wasn't that helpful. They seemed more geared to just test. I used services like cbt-nuggets to supplement the lesson plans and found it invaluable. Perhaps there's something like that available to you.
hmm...seems like i only forget stuff if im gonna be asked for it...maybe?
i mean, half of what is in the plan is stuff i already knew
Learn the material not study for the exam. That means do the homework. That means attend the lectures. That means read the textbooks. Preferably do all of the above on different days. The key is to see the same material (in different contexts) many times before the exam. The day before the example you do a quick review and that is enough.
i do homework always. unlike my classmates
I'll admit to not being very good about homework, but I didn't wait until the last minute when I did do it. I was an okay student at best. Doing more homework would have helped me more than anything else.
You're studying wrong.
I've got no suggestion on how to study correctly as we all learn in different ways but whatever you're doing now clearly isn't working.
As an example, I've got ADHD and I learn through doing. I could spend eight hours miserably staring at text books and retain nothing... but if I instead study by constructing or finding an applicable problem and struggle through solving it I'll retain quite a bit.
i have adhd too and sadly trying to apply that...welp i spent 4 hours trying to solve a problem and i never got it right, i seem to only remember what i dont need
I also have adhd and the best thing I have found is tricking my brain into seeing the thing as interesting by adding context. I'm not referring to the associate a single thing with another thing that apparently works for most normal people, but by entirely changing the context.
Even singing the thing I'm doing to myself while I write it down can be enough. Or writing it down in a way that adds some extra context. A stick person on a sled on a graph of a slope is enough to remember something like whether it is ascending or descending. Or an alligator eats the larger number for 3 > 1.
More complex subjects are harder, but the concept is the same. Need to interact with it in a way that piques my interest or it is going to float away from memory.
If you can't solve that problem, can you solve another slightly easier problem? Sometimes it is the level of difficulty that is too high for the moment, and you have to find something a little less challenging and repeatedly conquer that before you are capable of the more challenging problem. You may also be experiencing some anxiety because you are telling yourself you can't remember it or do it. To work on this you will have to change your attitude toward your ability and working on the easier problems may also help you gain more confidence.
These are just suggestions from a veteran teacher who works with many students with the same issues; these are the things I've seen help the most. I hope they help you!
If information isn’t transferring from short-term to long-term memory, find some related information you already have in your long-term memory that you can connect the new information to—then you’ll be able to retrieve the new information by association.
As I once heard a neuroscientist say, our brains are built to understand, not to remember. Find ways to relate the material to things you already know.
Maybe try Anki ? It is specifically designed to help memorize stuff long term through spaced repetition.
You will need to create you own cards or find someone else's cards. Later after learning a card, it will magically schedule a review at the best time to not forget it.
It really help me to learn vocabulary. (enable FSRS from the beginning)
thing is, the issue is mostly with math (also with languages but mostly with spanish, which is pretty ironic since im a native speaker)
might give it a try tho idk
You should share some context: how do you study, in what conditions (quiet room, all by yourself, in a busy place, watching TV or listening to music?)? What do you study (Minecraft cheat codes, astrophysics, XIX French literature)? Using what methodology? (ie do you take notes or not, how. Do you read, and how?)
FYI, I cannot memorize anything if I'm not writing it down... longhand.
And I can hardly understand anything I read/study if I'm not taking notes while I'm studying/reading it. Even when I read a novel or an article, I take notes ;)
so like i always do some random exercisex apart of my homework and read stuff on the topic and always on my desk, doesnt matter if i take notes or not i still forget what is in the exam. also happens when mom asks me if we have mustard in the fridge
Blackmail and threats always works for me.
"Better knock it off brain. I control the arms."
I've been known to stay awake at night singing a song in my head. The tune, lyrics, and percussion are valueless to my life but my brain gobbles it up. I can recreate every part in my head. Memorizing stuff for school is impossible. Memorizing stuff for my job is somewhere in between. The real stupid part is I was in band back in middle school, wasn't great at all, but for some reason that's my brains jam. Ain't that some shit?
I don't have any advice, I just feel your pain and hope you figure something out.
Strattera was pretty useful for me
Spaced repetitions and the overwhelming feeling that the exam is in one month
Look for a Youtube video on the memory palace technique. It's a method for indexing information in mental images to help recall. It's simple and makes it much easier to commit things to memory.
i thought that was a myth, it really works?
I've used it successfully to memorise phone numbers, shopping lists, etc.
Depends, do you want it to work?
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