Pass the exam: How to read, take notes and review effectively? Memory guru Dominic tells you

I believe that everyone has seen the variety show "The Strongest Brain", and the contestants can remember a large amount of information in the shortest possible time. This often amazes us.

Are these people born with a strong ability to recall? Or do they have special skills that are not known?

The answer is in the book "Every Exam Must Pass".

Book covers

The author of the book is Dominique O'Brien, who has an extraordinary memory and won the Las Vegas casino at the blackjack table, leading the casino to ban him.

He has also won eight World Brain Championships, was named "Strongest Brain" of the Year in 1994 and "Memory Master" by the British Think Tank in 1995.

This book introduces his original "Dominica memory system" with association and imagination as the core, and introduces a series of memory techniques.

In addition, he also listed the specific and efficient memory process for the professional subject areas, as well as exquisite examination skills for speed reading, note-taking, and revision.

He hopes to provide readers with practical memory skills through this book, so that readers do not need to memorize by rote, they can pass the exam and achieve a leap in learning ability.

So let's take a look at what memory master Dominic showed us about speed reading, taking notes, and reviewing the exquisite exam skills.

01 How can we improve our reading speed?

The British writer Hamerton said: "The art of reading lies in skipping wisely. ”

One of the things that prevents us from improving our reading speed is that we get into the habit of saying every word we see from the beginning.

When you first start learning a language, reading while reading may improve our skills of speaking and reading. But if we read these words out, it will slow down our reading speed.

Dominique's advice is that when we read a sentence, don't say the words in the sentence to ourselves, and don't allow ourselves to hear any voices coming from within. By constantly learning and practicing these techniques, you can more than double your reading speed.

As a result, the reading speed is improved.

So how can you improve your reading comprehension?

First, speed up your reading and form a rhythm that helps you concentrate and improve comprehension. It should be emphasized that we only need to understand the overall meaning of the article, and we do not need to consider every word.

Secondly, if we want to understand the content of memory, we must tell ourselves that "this sentence will only be read once" to avoid memory backtracking. Doing so will improve your reading concentration.

You may have to ask, what if you miss the meaning of a phrase or a sentence? Stop?

The author's advice is that we don't need to interrupt our reading rhythm for a strange word, we just need to keep our eyes moving steadily to improve our comprehension.

When reading, we can also guide the line of sight through our fingers. Don't think it's a very bad thing to do. In fact, doing so can effectively relieve the burden on the eye muscles and improve the level of reading.

So how do you use your fingers to guide your gaze?

You can do this:

Place your finger under a line of text on the page, move from left to right, until your eyes are able to scan the text without pause, and then gradually speed up until the text in front of you becomes blurred, and don't worry too much about how to interpret the content.

After many practices, you will find that using your fingers will not hinder you from improving your reading speed, but will speed up your reading speed and improve your comprehension ability.

When our reading speed increases, we can slow down to the level we feel most comfortable with. We can also choose a slender ballpoint pen or a pointed pencil as a line of sight guide.

In addition, the author emphasizes that a stable rhythm of hand movement is also very important. Because a steady reading rhythm will make your brain have no time to pause or have memory backtracking, you can get new information without interruption.

02 How do I take notes?

The British printmaker Samuel Palmer said:

"It's often said that painting is something that sits between something and an idea."

Good memorability is not as good as bad writing. Whether it's taking a class, reviewing before an exam, preparing a speech, or conceiving an essay, notes play a crucial role.

So how can I improve the efficiency of taking notes? Is there a note-taking method that makes notes more intuitive, useful, easy to understand, and helps the brain easily digest information? The answer is yes, which is to scientifically combine painting and writing.

This efficient method of note-taking is mind mapping.

What is a mind map?

The book describes it in a passage:

1. The main object is presented in the form of a central image;

2. Each theme radiates from the middle image in the form of branches;

3. Highlight each branch with unique labels, colors and shapes;

4, each branch can further radiate out the sub-branches determined by key images or keywords;

5. Branches or sub-branches may be related to each other, depending on the connection between the two.

What are the advantages of mind mapping over traditional note-taking methods?

Dominique believes that the advantages of mind mapping are endless. For example, it can fully mobilize imagination, sense of space, verbal expression ability, logic and other skills of the cerebral cortex.

For example, mind mapping can fully unleash people's imagination. It allows you to diverge your thinking, get rid of the shackles of one-way, single-level thinking, and make a steady stream of random ideas flow unhindered.

For example, a mind map will construct a knowledge structure for you and act as your personal assistant to build a mental model for you.

Look at this picture and you'll be able to look at the big picture. This is all linear note-taking, which cannot be done. In short, a mind map can illustrate everything you want to express with just one diagram.

Having said all that, how do you draw a practical mind map?

Step 1: Pick a piece of paper large enough to radiate all the subjects from the center;

Step 2, write only one keyword per line;

Step 3: Use as many symbolic images as possible. Because images can have a strong impact on vision and help memory;

Step 4, different themes use different colors, highlighting the text effect, increasing personality and attractiveness, and also facilitating memorization.

Step 5, and the most important step. It is to make full use of creative imagination and association.

In this step, you don't need to arrange your thoughts neatly in the diagram, you don't need to concentrate your thoughts too much, you just need to sprinkle your thoughts on this diagram.

Of course, mind maps don't have venue restrictions, so use your imagination and create them now.

03How to review effectively?

The ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch once said:

"The mind is not a ship to be filled, but a flame to be lit."

To ignite the flame of this dream in our hearts and make it burn, we need skills and methods.

From birth, we work hard for our dreams. Constantly learn new knowledge, digest new knowledge, and use it. How can we ensure that all this new knowledge is stored in our brains? A good review is required.

So what are the tips for reviewing? See what Dominic has to say.

Dominique believes that the first thing to do in review is to make a plan. A timeline needs to be planned to ensure that every subject that needs to be reviewed is given sufficient attention.

How do I do that? It boils down to the following:

1. Quantify the content that needs to be reviewed in each discipline, how much time is required for each subject to review, and what content to master within the specified time, and you must know it in your heart.

2. Estimate how much time it takes to complete the review, and reasonably allocate the rest time, so that the combination of work and leisure can be doubled with half the effort. Let's say study for 20 minutes and then take a 5-minute break.

3. However, after learning a new subject, it should be reviewed immediately. The learning frequency is from high to low, and these times are from long to short. To keep your brain fresh, you can also take the approach of rotating subject review. For example, review biology first, geography first, then math, and so on.

4, the plan is always a plan, the plan must be implemented into action to be useful, so please be sure to adhere to the implementation of your plan.

5. Please use the power of habit. By developing study habits, you can turn the negative effects of habits into positive advantages. You can do some regular warm-up activities before you learn. Let's say you plan to learn from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., and you can start counting down to 7 p.m., do crossword puzzles, play computer games, or participate in some kind of exercise.

For some people, learning is a painful thing, so they often feel stressed and resist learning. What should I do then? To this end Dominica has developed a method called "Keep a Good Attitude".

First of all, you can lie flat or sit comfortably on the sofa;

Then, close your eyes and focus on each muscle of your body, starting with your feet to release the pressure in your muscles. Focus your attention on breathing, heartbeat, and any nausea triggered by tension, anxiety;

Then, take a deep, slow breath. Use your imagination and try to convert the tension and pain and nausea you feel into images associated with it to continue to release your stress. When your body has relaxed and continues to take deep breaths, the nausea is slowly reduced;

Next, you can imagine a place or person that can make you feel calm, happy, or relaxed, and immerse yourself in pleasant feelings. Superimpose this pleasing image on an image that expresses anxiety;

In the end, you will be able to face your biggest fears, eliminate all the negative emotions associated with them, and solve your studies with a positive and relaxed mindset.

epilogue

Success is at hand. Through learning, we can also embark on the exclusive path of those with special learning talents, with incredible knowledge absorption potential, success in exams and insatiable desire to learn. We will also be able to achieve a gorgeous turn in life and become the envy of others!