How To Make Memorable Notes

As last weeks introductory newsletter on memory went down well, I thought I would write a second edition.

This weeks newsletter will focus on the rhetorical questions your teenager should ask whilst making notes which will improve their long-term memory.

Currently, most teenagers spend their time trying to memorise their notes by reading and re-reading the same old information, in the same old environment. It is therefore unsurprising that they are getting the same old mediocre results.

Let’s first talk about the environment and then I will move on to the big rhetorical questions . As I have mentioned before in my newsletters, it can be detrimental to both a teenager’s work and their sleep when they spend all of their revision time in their bedrooms. It is harder to memorise information when their brain associates their bedroom with relaxation and sleep as well as it being more difficult to sleep and relax when their bedroom also doubles as their primary work station.

Therefore, my first tip is to encourage your teenager to move around. Students should be strolling round the house, bouncing a ball in the garden, going to coffee shops, memorising in the car and so on. Memorising should not happen stuck behind a desk in a dimly lit room!

Creating Notes

I often hear how students dislike making notes as they do not feel like it improves their memory. I can definitely sympathise with having this thought throughout my GCSEs.

I would almost go as far as to say that note taking can actually be a form of glorified procrastination when it is not conducted in a thoughtful way.

In order to make the process of creating notes useful, students should ask themselves the following 3 questions over and over again throughout their revision session.

How does what I am currently writing connect to the previous point I just wrote?

This question is all about forming mental connections. This question is all about simply stating out loud (or in their heads) how their current point relates to their previous point. For example, “World War II started in 1939” which could connect to their previous point “The Nazi party obtained power in 1933” by simply stating how the Nazis started World War II.

How can I elaborate on what I am currently writing?

This question is about forming mental cues. Just like how its easier to remember the 10th line of a song after you have sang the first 9, it is easier to remember a fact if you remember a different fact which in your head leads on to it. For example, if they wrote “photosynthesis happens in plants” they might elaborate by stating how, “photosynthesis involves plants taking in Carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen.”

How could what I am writing be turned into a question?

This question gets your teenagers to start thinking about the most important thing when it comes to GCSE exams, application. Your teenager does not need to come up with a sophisticated questions. For example, turning the piece of information E.g. “the Nazis started World War II in 1933,” into a question by asking “why did the Nazis start the war?” is perfect.

It is not necessary for your teenager to ask themselves these questions for every piece of information. However, having these questions in mind and circling through them throughout the process will have significant memorisation benefits.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead,

Best wishes,

Joel