Mnemonics

Mnemonics (pronounced “ne-MON-iks”) are different methods or tricks to help you remember information. Mnemonics tend to fall into four basic categories:

  1. Acronyms. Acronyms, which are new words created from the first letters of several words, can be helpful in remembering. The names of the Great Lakes can be more easily recalled by remembering the word HOMES for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
  2. Acrostics. An acrostic is a verse in which certain letters of each word or line form a message. Many piano students were taught the notes on the treble clef lines (E, G, B, D, F) by remembering the acrostic “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.” Many students are taught the following to remember the planets of our solar system: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).
  3. Rhymes or songs. Do you remember learning “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one, excepting February alone. It has twenty-eight days’ time, but in leap years twenty-nine”? If so, you were using a mnemonic rhyming technique to remember the number of days in each month.
  4. Visualization. You can use visualization to connect a word or concept with a visual image. The more ridiculous the image, the more likely you are to remember the word or concept. For example, if you want to remember the name of George Washington, you may think of a person you know by the name of George. You should then picture that person washing a ton of dishes. Now every time you think of the first president of the United States, you see George washing a ton of dishes.3

Mnemonics are a sort of mental filing system that provide a way of organizing material. They probably aren’t needed if what you are studying is logical and organized, but they can be really useful when material doesn’t have a pattern of its own. Although using mnemonics can be helpful in remembering information, it takes time to think up rhymes, associations, or visual images that have limited use when you need to analyze or explain the material in depth.

Make Good Choices

Choose Review Methods That Work for You

This chapter has offered several strategies for reviewing material before you take a test or exam, including review sheets, mind maps, flash cards, summaries, and mnemonics. Some of these strategies might work better for certain subject areas. For instance, mnemonics and flash cards will help when you have to remember definitions or other specific bits of information. Review sheets, mind maps, and summaries work more effectively when you need to understand broad concepts. When you begin studying for your next test, let the type of test and the material it will cover help you choose the best study method.