One subject I struggled in was history. The dates, events, and names would not remain in the right order or stay matched to the right idea in my brain regardless of how often I reread the material. I felt like I was wired for numbers, formulas, and problem solving, not for memorizing when someone did something people viewed as important. However, no matter how much I detested history, I still had to take two years of it in high school.
At the beginning of my first year in history, I tried to study by reading ahead and taking notes about the next day’s material, but, often, I lost interest in the reading. Although I took notes, I could not recall anything after my study session. When the daily quizzes were passed out the next day, I had trouble recalling the material or mixed up the information in my mind. Thankfully, I soon discovered a method that allowed me to not only enjoy learning historical information, but helped me better retain it as well.
My history teacher gave PowerPoint presentations to teach her lessons. While she presented the material, I took color-coded notes about the key ideas and organized them using in an outline format. This allowed me to see order in the jumble of information from the lesson.
After I arrived home and before I went to sleep, I reread my notes from that day’s lesson. This reminded me what I needed to learn and gave me more time to cement it in my mind. It was a form of space repetition which helped reinforce the information in my memory.
The next morning, I would review the material with my friends by quizzing each other; however, we did not ask questions with straightforward yes-or-no answers. We asked carefully worded questions that forced the other person to recall the material and prove that they knew what they were talking about. Often, we taught each other simple memory tricks to help us memorize bits of information more easily, whether it was using simple acronyms or finding little words to trigger a bigger idea.
By appealing to my personal need for organization, reviewing the material, and working with my friends, I was able to overcome my struggle in history. Once the daily quizzes and monthly tests came around, I was ready.
