Better Memory= Better Grades?

I just wanted to see what everyone's opinion about memory improvement courses are. The reason I am asking because I want to take some of these courses to improve my memory in order to do better in school. I have read that memorization is a key to learning and in reply I would think that if I could improve my memory I would be able to make my school year a lot easier on me. So I have done some research and found a couple of sites. Like the School of Phenomenal Memory and Dr. Bruno's course. I don't know if anyone has any experiences with either these or any other memory improvement course but any help would be great. Thanks.

Yes, better memory will help you remember what you study...but you will still have to apply good study skills to learn. I don't have any experience with that coursework though, sorry. TC!

Hi Vuman --

Welcome to PC. I don't know anything about the courses you are describing.

I teach college courses, and I feelibit skeptical about these courses. I don't want students to memorize so much as I want them to master the material. This means they have to use critical thinking skills to integrate course concepts with their observations and experiences in everyday life.

I've started giving take-home tests in many courses, because students live in an environment where information is at their fingertips. Finding information is not a problem for most of us these days. I use Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive learning outcomes as a guide to what I would like students to master.

Visualize it as a pyramid. At the bottom level is knowledge. At the top level of cognitive outcomes is evaluation. It seems to me that a course in memorization addresses only the first step in learning. Perhaps looking over these developmental aspects of learning will help you to evaluate what these memorization courses have to offer you.

There are often resources on campus that teach how to study and how to prepare for tests and other assignments. Generally, these are free. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to identify some of these resources before spending your hard-earned money on memorization courses.

1. Knowledge –The learner defines, describes, enumerates, lists, labels, identifies, examines, and tabulates. Learning at this level is primarily rote in nature -- meaning, it is at the level of memorization.

2. Comprehension –The learner demonstrates the meaning of concepts. Summarizing in your own words and interpreting are two activities that demonstrate comprehension.
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3. Application –The learner uses learning to solve new problems.

4. Analysis – These functions often overlap. In solving the problem, I may have to identify the parts of the problem so that I can relate them to concepts I am learning. Analysis literally means taking something apart to see how the parts function in relations to each other and to the whole.

5. Synthesis – This is an "Aha, this is almost like that" moment. Again, these cognitive steps are not separate, but overlap as we master knowledge.

6. Evaluation – Instead of relying on our gut-level emotional responses, we are able to provide support for our conclusions. For example, at the beginning of this post, I noted that my feelings were that a course in memorization was not a high-quality educational tool. After I looked up Bloom's taxonomy to refresh my memory, I have been able to provide you with criteria against which to evaluate the promises these courses make and whether they will fulfill your learning needs.

You will go through many of the other steps of application, analysis, and synthesis as you reach your decision.

Good luck, and I hope you keep us posted. I'm interested in learning what you finally decide about these programs that have caught your interest.

I'm not very big on taking courses myself, as it is scouring the internet and trying to make sense of things myself that have given me the biggest 'eureka!'-moments. Not to say that courses are totally without merit. Far from it! But if you know what you want I would sooner suggest looking into it yourself as opposed to going to a course where they supposedly teach you 'everything you need to know'.

This particular source sprung to mind when I read of your problem, I suggest you read it through. It's a chapter from a book on how best to practice your technique on piano. It focuses on the best way to memorize musical scores, but I think the general techniques can be succesfully applied in many different situations. The link below brings you to the first paragraph of the section I'm talking about.

http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.6.1

The general ideas posed are

1. memorize things in different ways, memorize them verbally, in writing, if applicable in actions or in different sequences. By remembering them in different ways you can always fall back on a different kind of memory if a particular one fails.

2. Don't be afraid to forget. If anything, try and forget things once you've learned them, and then relearn them. things that are memorized more times over tend to stick with you better then things you've only memorized once. So once you've learned something, try and forget it. If you can't succeed in forgetting it, then it probably sticks well enough to not be forgotten for quite a while.

of course, there are probably a lot more little tricks to memorizing as best as possible. like many things, just practicing it frequently probably helps a lot as well. Keep searching and good luck!

I wouldn't pay money for a course, I'd get a book(s) at the library first and see how memory works and learn some of the tricks and see what is possible. Anyone wanting money for anything has a "conflict of interest" where you are concerned; they want your money. Professionals like doctors, therapist, lawyers, etc. may also want to get to know you personally and help you, but people you are not interacting with one-on-one can't really have that goal. Look at how people spend money you pay them. If there are elaborate Websites and advertising; big "pretty" churches full of people being televised; that sort of thing, for me, means they're more interested in my money than in me, personally and everything they say has to be fine-tooth-combed for the "truth".

There are a lot of good, free sites from many schools about study skills such as http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html including facts and tips about memory: http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/remember.html