Memory & Reading Technique for Leaving Cert Students

In the months before sitting your leaving certificate, you are going to read a lot, but that is not going to be of much value if you do not remember it. Memory is the essential ingredient that will tie work, revision and note-taking together, ensuring that you perform to the best of your ability on the exam day.

If you find yourself agreeing with any of the below statements you should read the following article to improve your memory & concentration skills.

I often have to revise a topic I covered from scratch

Sometimes, something distracts me and next thing I know, the bell has gone and class is over

I'll read a chapter of a book, close the book, and I can't tell you really what I just read

If you agree with any of this, then read on!

The RQRR method.

The RQRR method is a way of more actively engaging with texts and has been proven to be much more effective for information retention in young adults.

Review Spend two minutes skimming over what you will read. Pay special attention to headings, subheadings and diagrams. Get a feel for the articles structure.

Questions Based on your review what questions occurred to you? Look at your learning objectives and work out a list of questions you should be able to answer about the topic.

Read Now read the text as you normally would, highlight important information and take your time in complex places (provided these areas are necessary to help you answer your set questions - there is no point wasting time on unnecessary information). Re-read paragraphs if necessary as the goal here is understanding and being able to answer the questions you set earlier.

Review Without referring to the text, go over the main points of what you read. Briefly recount what you have just learned. This early review helps cement the information in your memory.

→ The result will be that you are significantly better at retaining and remembering what you have studied

The CRAM Method

Memory is simply the way that we store experience - when you can't remember something it means that your brain doesn't know where it stored the information - so to improve memory you have to improve the way information is stored. Try our CRAM method.

Cluster People's short term memory tend to hold an average of 7 pieces of information. Group information in clusters such that at any stage you have no more than 7 pieces of information. For example, in geography, divide a topic into 3-7 subtopics and then each of these subtopics into 3-7 sub-subtopics. A country might have physical, social and economic information. Each of these subtopics has a number of smaller topics, e.g. economic geography has exports, employment, etc.

Review Information has to be regularly reviewed - one month after you learn something you will have lost 80% of information is lost if not reviewed. So, review everything the following day and once per week, do a review of everything you have done.

Apply it The information will be better remembered if it is applied. Some ways to do this are having a discussion with friends about the topic, doing extra reading online, or trying to answer questions on the topic.