So... I've got my exams coming up. I'm terrible at doing homework since I always leave it until the night before it's due in, usually about 2 hours before I go to bed. I find it hard to study. Knowing I don't have to sit with a book in my hands puts me off completely. I have to memorize about 8 minutes worth of French for my orals (shhh) next monday. I'm generally bad at remembering things and our teacher told us to learn it over the easter holidays. I simply refused because it was the holidays. Now I'm unsure whether I'll be able to pull it off because I did terribly on the mock orals. So... tips anyone? Thanks.
1. Write down the main points, and see if you can work from them without looking at your piece of paper. If you need to refresh your memory, glance at the speech and then try to carry on. Or see if someone will help and prompt you when you get stuck. This means that you will associate these words with entire paragraphs meaning easier retreival from long-term-memory. 2. Write it out over and over. Having to write it out means your brain has to process the words which means they are implanted more firmly in your Long-term-memory. 3. Recital. Just recite it out loud, anywhere, everywhere. Again, this means your brain has to process it. 4. Practise straight before you go to bed. It means less interference before you go to sleep, meaning easier retreival. <Psychology student, I know the brain I thank the lord I gave up on modern languages so I don't have to go through this any more. All I can say other than the tips above is practice, practice practice! Seriously, the more recital, the more firmly and clearly embedded it is in your memory.
(lolol my thread got moved. I didn't know how severe it had to be so I just shot it in Chit Chat :3 ) Now if only my teacher said it like that... I'd be ace. He just complained that we never written stuff down because it helps us remember it, but never explained why. I had a basic idea, but I hate it when teachers tell you to do things because they said so, kind of thing. Thanks for replying though. When you say before I go to bed, do you mean like while I'm in the bed or when I decide I'm going to go to bed? I don't understand how that's different from generally reciting it.
Okay, for example if you practise at say 7pm - 8pm and then watch TV and then go to bed, you go to sleep with the TV still in your mind. But if you practise before you go to sleep (does that make it less ambiguous?) then you go to sleep with that still being in your mind, and the last thing before you go to sleep. Usually, if you have something on your mind just before you fall asleep it stays in your subconscious for however long you sleep, meaning deeper embedding. If you watch TV then go to sleep, the TV is what's on your mind which interferes with the memory of the rehearsal.
Which means you dream in French! yayyyy.... Sorry. Holly's exactly right. If you do all those things you should be right. Also, try to keep your study sessions for no longer then about an hour/hour and a half. If you do this, then you can do something else, come back to it, and your brain won't be overloaded. hope this helps.
Work with someone. I find studying much easier and I do not procrastinate when I am working with someone else, even if we aren't working on the same thing, just having their presence gets me motivated.
I usually read when I get into bed until I'm about ready to sleep. It does help to distract from whatever issues are in my mind by temporarily replacing them as I go to sleep with something less important. Magazines are good because you can get to the end of an article as a convenient stopping point, unlike a good book where you keep wanting to know what's happening next.
advice... if you're doing gcse, practise doing role plays wioth anyone you can lay your hands on., learn your presentation really well, and then you'll have half the marks in the bag. for general conversation, don't bother learnign set answers. seriously. unless you're very lucky, it'll all go out of your head under the pressure. i would learn set phrases like, i don't know really etc... then practise a set passage on say, what you did on holiday, what you do in your spare time etc [if thoses are the topics you do -that's what we did]. but DO NOT write out a perfect answer for each of the questions, as if the question is slightly rephrased you'll be in trouble. hope that helps.
