Learn How to Create a Mnemonic to Memorise Things Better
Do you want to know how to memorize something faster and also for a long period of time? In order to do that, you have to know how to make a good mnemonic and what it is.
Have you ever struggled with remembering a tricky spelling or any complex formula related to trigonometry? Well, what did you do at that time? Didn’t you make multiple tries to memorize the thing, either by repeating the spelling again and again or by relating the formula to something else? Both the methods then helped you to memorize the entire thing pretty easily and that too for a long time, right? Well, that is an amazing thing that happens to most of us. It is due to the application of mnemonic techniques.
You see, the human brain works in very tricky ways and sometimes, it requires a push to recall or remember certain things. It might be true that understanding something is always better than memorizing. But sometimes, you need to have a few tricks up your sleeves to remember things better. So, this is where the mnemonic techniques come into action.
What are Mnemonics?
The simple definition of mnemonics is that these are memory aids that can help you remember things, which are at times difficult to keep in mind. These words are basically one of the best learning techniques that can boost memory. There are different forms of mnemonics such as acronyms, images, rhymes, songs, phrases, and sentences as well. These techniques are particularly effective when it comes to retaining different facts, lists, and spellings. And do you want to know the best part? You can learn it at any age. Whether you are 5 or 50 years old, mnemonics can help you retain information efficiently.
Mnemonic Examples are Literally Everywhere
You will certainly be in awe to know how often and frequently the type of mnemonics are used in our everyday lives. From recalling tables to remembering formulas, we tend to use these learning techniques everywhere. For example, you might have remembered some elements of the periodic table like this:
Mnemonics for Elements of Periodic Table
How Exactly Do Mnemonics Work?
Some of the mnemonics have been used so much that they have been around for a very long time. For instance, the phrase ‘My very eager mother just served us nine pizzas’, has been used in almost every single school. What does it stand for? Well, it was used for remembering the planets in the solar system back then. You can tell since the P in Pizzas stands for Pluto, which was considered to be a planet back then. The nine words stood for the 9 planets in our solar system. Now there are only 8 since Pluto is considered to be a dwarf planet.
However, when we use mnemonics that have some sort of personal relation to us, it works even better. So, mnemonic tricks aren’t really the standard tricks which are the same for everyone. If you can find a link that can help you remember things better, then it will definitely work. It doesn’t matter how strange or random the link is. It is your chance to play with your imagination and make things work for you.
In fact, here is a list of mnemonics that one can use to boost up their memory and recall things in a better and more efficient manner.
Rhyme
Rhyme is definitely one of the most popular forms of mnemonics that triggers a part of the brain that mostly responds to music and rhythm. This is the same part of your brain which helps you remember the lyrics to a song.
Acrostics
Now, this is a very interesting method that one can use for mnemonic words in the best way. The process is to create a sentence out of the first letter of each word and turn it into a sequence to make it memorable. For instance, King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk is a mnemonic that is used in correspondence to values in the metric system such as Kilo, Hecto, Deca, Deci, Centi, and Milli. For learning the colours present in the rainbow, we would use the term VIBGYOR which is another example of an acrostic mnemonic.
Chunking
Do you know how some adults are able to recall so many different security codes for their cards, phone numbers, and various addresses? Well, it is with the use of a number remembering technique that we call ‘Chunking’. As it is pretty evident from the name, Chunking is a technique which refers to grouping or chunking the numbers into smaller groups to make them easy to remember. For example, if you try to remember a number like 4566789901341245, it will be easier if you divide or chunk the number into smaller groups of four such as 4566 7899 0134 and 1245. You will see that the number becomes much easier to remember.
Image
There are many people who are able to learn things visually. Hence, they are able to remember things better if they have a video or a picture linked with the actual fact to remember. With the help of a memory mnemonic, you can explore different things and link everything to a single image or picture that makes sense to you. For instance, if you want to remember the days in every single month, the Knuckle method has proven to be extremely useful.
How to Create Mnemonics That Work?
One of the best things about creating great mnemonics is that there isn’t a right or wrong approach to the whole thing. What you have to do is find out some connection or link between the things that you want to remember and use your imagination. Here is how you can create a good mnemonic.
Take the 1st letter or a keyword of the thing that you want to remember and write it down.
Create a proper sentence using the keywords of the phrase. Use the words that pop into your mind first when you see the keywords. Don’t worry, it doesn’t really have to make sense to work.
The next thing is to write down the sentence a few times so that you understand the acronym better. That’s how you have a mnemonic.
Conclusion
After learning about the mnemonic meaning and how it works, you are all set to memorize things faster using this technique. Just follow the steps mentioned above and you can create a great mnemonic that works for you. Just make sure that the mnemonic device isn’t too complicated to remember.
