How To Remember Something You Read
A wise man once said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go”. I don’t know about you but that really sounds like empowerment.
Undoubtedly, Social media has taken over a very important habit that I must say is vital and develops an individaul. These days it is a lot easier and fun to watch TV, chat and view pictures of friends on social media than to read, eventually, our conception of reading centers around Tweets, facebook or Instagram Updates….I am guilty of that too.
Yes, the love of reading doesn’t come naturally to some people, but if you fall into the categories of people who simply do not like to read regularly, practising often will go a long way in helping you develop the habit.
Tip To Reads And Understand What You Are Reading
Create a study environment: similar the one in which you will have to recall the information later. If you are studying for a test that will be held in a quiet room with a ticking clock, it will be easier to recall the information if you study in a similar environment, like a library or study-hall.
Try not to study on the couch or sitting on your bed: since you will probably be taking the test at a desk.
Try chunking information: This means you break a piece of information, like the number 8374668809, into smaller chunks: 834 466 8809. You can better remember the information in smaller groups than as one long sequence, or by each individual piece of information.
Identify the larger similarities in the information you are trying to memorize: Like a significant date or location–and categorize the remaining information under these headings.
Use a mnemonic device to memorize information. Mnemonic devices are tricks used to organize information into easy to remember statements, images, or words.
A common mnemonic device is Every G ood B oy D oes F ine, which presents the musical notes on a treble clef (EGBDF) in a simple statement. There are almost limitless ways to come up with mnemonic devices. Try making up rhymes, creating acronyms, or an easy to recall visual image.
Break up your study sessions: Itnstead of a single marathon cramming session, which can exhaust your brain, schedule yourself for two study sessions with a break in between. You can learn twice as much information in two three-hour study sessions than you can in one six-hour study session.
Summarize each paragraph in the margin of your book: Just reading the information isn’t always enough–you need to make sense of it, too. Summarizing requires you to think about what you’ve just read, distill it to the essentials, and re-learn it. When you’ve finished reading, try to look at the subject from the broadest perspective (this is a book about history) and then keep narrowing it down (this a chapter about World War II; this is a section about the Battle of the Bulge) until you are examining the important lessons, themes, and facts you should take away (this was the last great German offensive, the massive casualties destroyed the German Army).
If you don’t want to mark your text book, summarize each paragraph in a notebook. You can even rip this page out and carry it in your pocket to study on-the-go.
Exercise your body with aerobic (cardiovascular) activity: Walking, running, jumping on a trampoline–whatever gets your heart rate up will also get your brain in top form. One reason is that the exercise brings nutrient-rich oxygen to your brain, which helps your brain work better.
Studies show that the effects of exercise on the brain are cumulative. That is, if you work out regularly, you will see better results than if you work out only occasionally.
Be social: People usually immediately think of doing Sudoku or Crossword puzzles to keep their brains sharp, but these “brain exercises” are actually less efficient at challenging your brain than carrying on a conversation. A conversation forces you to listen, absorb information, and process it in order to form a response.
Seek out new experiences. The more often you do something, the less challenging it becomes. If you can decorate a cake without even thinking about it, it is requiring very little from your brain. To exercise and grow your mental abilities, you must push your brain.
Make sure you are genuinely interested in these new activities: Faking interest isn’t going to challenge your brain.
Get some sleep: Our brains are encoding (or forming memories) during our waking hours and are vulnerable to all sorts of distractions. Until your brain turns that new information into a long-term memory, those everyday distractions can lead to the loss of the information. Sleep is the perfect environment for your brain to process and turn your new memories into long-term information.
Napping between study sessions is a good way to let your brain absorb everything you just learned.