{"id":486,"date":"2007-10-23T06:47:22","date_gmt":"2007-10-23T13:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/23\/how-to-overcome-a-leaky-brain-in-your-studies\/"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:35:34","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:35:34","slug":"how-to-overcome-a-leaky-brain-in-your-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/23\/how-to-overcome-a-leaky-brain-in-your-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Overcome a Leaky Brain in Your Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Leaky <\/a><\/p>\n

Do you find yourself studying and then, when the test date comes, you end up drawing a blank? You understand the concepts, but little details just seem to leak out of your brain. You can remember studying them, but the knowledge they contain leads to a dead end.<\/p>\n

I would separate academic learning into two categories: holistic and memorization. With holistic you are striving for the big picture, you \u201cget\u201d the subject. With memorization you need the details: facts, dates, terms and specific patterns. Both are important.<\/p>\n

I Wasn\u2019t Born with a Steel Trap<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve always been good with holistic learning. Understanding concepts, linking them together and finding metaphors or visualizations has always been easier for me. This ability can help with remembering facts, but it also made my memorization skills weaker as I used them infrequently.<\/p>\n

After a great deal of research and experimentation I\u2019ve been able to build a steel trap even if I wasn\u2019t donated one at birth. Now I\u2019m confident I can memorize any information I can\u2019t integrate holistically. Here\u2019s how you can overcome a leaky brain too:<\/p>\n

Crucial Idea: Know What You Won\u2019t <\/em>Remember<\/h2>\n

Memorization isn\u2019t that difficult. You\u2019ve probably picked up some of your own techniques to remember facts. The problem is memorization can take time and you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ll forget!<\/p>\n

The key to memorizing effectively, therefore, is to read while being sensitive to what information you are likely to forget. Knowing your own weaknesses is crucial, otherwise you\u2019ll waste a lot of time studying material you didn\u2019t learn properly the first time.<\/p>\n

If, for example, I encounter a list of dates, places or facts, I can be aware that just reading won\u2019t be enough to store this. When this happens I can switch modes and start encoding the information so it has a reasonable chance of surviving until the test date.<\/p>\n

Memorization Tips<\/h2>\n

Here are some different techniques I use to help store information. Find a few you like and practice them. For the anything you encounter that won\u2019t fit into one of these methods, your alternative is simply to repeat it enough times that it will stick. Brute force is an inefficient, but sometimes effective solution.<\/p>\n

1) Link or Peg<\/h2>\n

One of my favorites is the link technique. The ideas behind this are fairly simple:<\/p>\n