Remembering What You Learn in Class

There's a difference between memorizing something and remembering it. Straight memorization doesn't usually stay with you very long. Real learning, on the other hand, lets you apply what you learned. Because you use it, it has meaning for you. Because it has meaning for you, you're apt to remember it!

WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU?

You have your lecture tape and/or notes, you have your reading log and/or tape-you understand what you've read, the lecture made sense to you. You know it now and you want to know it tomorrow and the next day and...Ask yourself, and answer in your notebook:

-What do I want to remember?

-Why is this important to me?

LONG AND SHORT MEMORY

There are basically two different kinds of remembering: long-term and short-term. To better understand the difference, think of your brain as a parking facility. One part of it specializes in "parking" new information for only a few days. If the new information is reinforced, it gets shifted to long term parking. Think of the long-term parking lot as your "grandmother" memory, because that's where emotional memories are stored, perhaps like the one you have of yourself as a child with your grandmother.

The only memory that really sticks with you is long-term memory. If you want to learn something at the beginning of the semester and still be able to remember that information for the final exam, you will have to move it from short-term memory to long-term memory. On the other hand, some things belong in short-term memory; they would just clutter up the long-term side.

You may memorize a friend's phone number, for instance, just long enough to get to someplace where you can write it down.

Some people are very good at remembering things they learn right away. Others are better at remembering things they learned a long time ago.Which are you? Whichever you are, you may want to use your learning style to practice on the other. Below are some suggestions; you'll probably come up with more on your own or find that a combination of a few works best for you.

Repeat It

Repeat what you just learned over and over in your head. Put it on tape and listen to it often.

Visualize It

Imagine a silly picture using what you just learned. Draw the picture in a small notebook or on an index card.

Expand It

Imagine what came before and what might come after what you just learned. Write, draw, or list what you imagined in a small notebook or on an index card.