quote memorisation for exam conditions english

Quote Memorisation & Revision Strategies for Exam Preparation.

Learning Intention: I will apply memorisation strategies to quotations from key texts in preparation to exams.

Success Criteria: I will be able to narrow down the six strategies to those that I am most able to use effectively and that connect with me personally.

6 strategies for Memorising Quotations

1.Songs2.Acronyms3.Rote / Repetition4.Narrative5.Imagery6.“Memory Palace”

The core concept of memory and memorisation.

• The brain is mostly associative which means that every new experience is remembered better if it can be associated with previous experiences in the long-term memory.

• Each of the strategies provided are different ways for you to process the information you are trying to recall and to make different associations between content you are trying to learn and content you already know well.

Songs

Benefits: Builds on existing knowledge, if it is a catchy song it will be placed along well used neural pathways.

Drawbacks: You may only remember the songs original lyrics, only quotes with a nice rhythm are suitable for this.

Good for: people who like catchy, poppy songs. Anyone musical or lyric focussed.

Either assign a letter to every word in the quote, or only the key words as shown here.

CGHWCSWHHMC (Every word)

CGHSWMC (Key words)

Benefits: Works best for short quotes and where the acronym makes a meaningful word.

Drawbacks: Not ideal for long quotes.

Good for: People able to recall words easily.

Acronyms

Rote / Repetition

Benefits: Easy to understand and complete.

Drawbacks: It can be time consuming.

Good for: Students who learn through doing and repetition.

There are 4 different methods to apply this strategy.

Rote / Repetition – Method 1: Repetitive Writing. Benefits: Easy to understand and complete, can engage short term memory.

Drawbacks: It can be time consuming.

Good for: Students who learn through doing and repetition.

Rote / Repetition –Method 2: Audio recall.

Benefits: Engages the audio processing section of your brain.

Drawbacks: It does not require active processing of the information

Good for: Students who spend a lot of time travelling.

Rote / Repetition – Method 3: Digital Audio Dictation.Benefits: Engages the audio processing section of your brain.

Drawbacks: It does not require active processing of the information.

Good for: Students who have difficulty recalling written information.

Rote / Repetition – Method 4: Write and Check.

Benefits: Encourages accuracy and precision.

Drawbacks: Does not form any associations between prior knowledge.

Good for: Students who like to practice their short term memory and recall.

Narrative

• Benefits: Good to connect ideas to characters and their role within the story.

• Drawbacks: Can require additional information to recall rather than the original plot.

• Good for: Students who like stories and narratives.

Imagery

• Benefits: Great for artistic students and visual learners.

• Drawbacks: Takes time to sketch and draw, often does not connect to other concepts and ideas for retrieval.

• Good for: Quotes that have symbolic language or imagery built.

“Memory Palace”

You will need:

• Sketch of house / home or somewhere else you know well

• Locations, people or objects that you can tie to quotes.• Some quotes

• Benefits: Links your personal world with the world of the text, can be a physical thing, taps into spatial memory.

• Drawbacks: Adds another layer of mental work to your memorisation.

• Good for: Visual and physical learners with strong spatial skills.

Select some quotes• A good rule of thumb is 4 per text.

• These quotes should be ‘Flex quotes’, quotes that relate to multiple themes of the text.

Select items or pieces of furniture that relate to the quote.

The connection between the item and the quote needs only to make sense to you personally.

Choose a place and plot a route

This is the route you will follow when you are rehearsing or recalling the key quotes from your “memory palace”.

Point 1

Point 2

Point 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Conclusion

• Rank the strategies from the one that you found most effective to the one that you found least effective.

• Success Criteria: I will be able to narrow down the six strategies to those that I am most able to use effectively and that connect with me personally.