Hi.i speak spanish. I dont understand well. That exam so hard in india is to enter university or to finish high school? Or to get a Job in the government? I visited ron White channel of yt and surprised that most were indians. And one explained to me the hard that exams were there. How do you study there? Use memory palace or others?
‘How do you study there?’ i have a low level job, not in education “
Hi. I meant how do you study for that difficult exams? Using palace or how?
Hey there!
It would be wrong for me to comment on the genral nature of difficulty of exams in my country,since there are a variety of them. I am not sure how to put the difficulty for specific exams in words for the purpose of example either.
The education system is basically streamlined when you enter 11th grade. Art,Commerce and Science are the streams which one is required to choose from.
There is a general enthusiasm about working in the public sector. As a result many young graduates try their hands at it. These exams may or may not be particularly hard, but the sheer number of test takers results in the qualifying marks for these tests being sky-high.
Another group of people choose to compete for prestigious institutions after being done with their high school, and as in any other country, everyone wants to enter and the seats are limited, this is another kind of ‘difficulty’ in my understanding.
As a resident, I feel that our country’s system is fairly meritocratic and working hard does yields result.
I hope this clear some doubts.
Cheers!
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‘ i have problems with my cognitive function
send
Hello,
Could you please share some advice with me, especially with regards to memorising law?
I’m memorising the articles of the Indian Constitution. I already have a palace setup with the parts of the constitution. But I don’t think I can fit the many articles in the parts. It will be too overcrowded and very much mentally taxing to recall. It overwhelms me.
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I feel myself – have a bad quality of ability to memorize due to ‘autism ASD mercury - do you know what that is? thanks
I believe I could have that. I a Reading about it. I Have a lot of things of it.
Hi. I didnt use the palace to do it and was very hard. The law language is very difficult and each article is diferent. I used a lot of things. One that was good was write a line about the article. And a lot of that lines. And each ten give more atentión to that one. Like if that one was more imoortant of the others to orden such a mess..
How often do you use spaced repetition with memory techniques?
Hi. In my country is viewed as wrong the rote memorization. Except in law or medicine. But I see in other countries like Asia are not like that. For me is almost impossible to use that method. I have to understand. So was a tremendous work to study something like law. That most of professors want verbatim. And they explain horrible and not in a scientific way.
I will be giving you very specific instructions just as guidelines from Rhetorica Ad-Herennium which many miss, few know implictly but do not know how to express and only a handful consciously use it.
The book says ‘likeness’ of matter which is of greater use and ‘likeness’ of words which he says should be practiced to exercise to strengthen ‘likeness’ of matter.
What is this ‘likeness’?, It is actually understanding of what interests you. The book implictly assumes that a person has developed interest in material even before you use Method Of Loci. Once you get this mental stance, some random memorization in names of training disinterests you and even feels inefficient.
You and I both are not interested in constitution and specifically yours with some rules still in practice from ‘british raj’ bothers you because any man with common sense knows how obsolete it is. We are interested in getting good marks when the question comes in prelims or more importantly mains. This honesty will keep us in touch with reality.
How to develop ‘likeness’ in material you study? Always starting from understanding is the key. Take for example Epidemic Disease Act of 1897 enacted to control bubonic plague in bombay now ‘mumbai’. To remember this, study the material and see what you understand. For me I understand ‘there was bubonic plague in mumbai in 1897 feb, it needs to be controlled, I know from further study that this act was enacted on pressure of national and international bodies’.
Now I shall encode my understanding of material and not the actual words which is the key of it all. In delhi gate I see a baboon crying with a rotten leg(reminds me of bubonic plague) eating idli(to remind me of EDA), an U.N guy with land-cruiser of boboon’s right side manhandling(to represent international pressure) P.K(it is my P.A.O for 97, I do not need to encode 18 because I know it is colonial era) P.K holds bomb in his hand out of anger(to remember bombay).
That is how to use it. Never encode words without the hint of your understanding of material and especially you who want to crack UPSC should not indulge in foolary. Can’t you see, someone in the forum says he knows what ‘Advita Vedanta’ says. Someone wants P.A.O to cover 10 digits and one particualr whats to develop video recording like capability, I do not know what purpose it serves but he wants it badly. Some want to develop hyperphantasia. Some want to develop maths and musical skills through MOL. What more stupidity can you expect? It is absolutely fine for them because they want no serious use of the method and I just say whatever, go with it. You in particular have to face the consequences. I do not know I am overly empathetic or not but it aches my heart seeing 40 year olds throwing aways their precious life for this exam. With great rigor should you practice the method for learning material of use. With blood and sweat should you earn this faculty. Read the book Ad-Herennium. Do not try to develop newer ideas for the method. The method is already robust for any kind of information. Do not learn the informations as to be an expert in field. Go with the PYQ’s and figure out what are frequent topics.
MOL could be party trick for almost all but for you it is what your life relies on. It is the most potent tool in your toolbox which later integrates as a mode of perception. It teaches you how to navigate whole of the material. Think UPSC as ‘long’ and not hard. Nothing is hard, I have myself seen all the questions. There is just overwhelming amount of syllabus and that’s about it.
There is no doubt that you are a soldier and you are in the frontlines of the war.
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This comes from research I conducted for an article, the source of which I don’t currently have.
The “3-2-1” Pattern
The study demonstrates that long-term memory isn’t created by how long you study, but by how you separate your study periods. The most effective method found was:
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Stimulus 1: 20 minutes of intensive, rapid instruction.
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Break 1: 10 minutes of rest (doing a completely different activity).
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Stimulus 2: Repeat the information (20 min).
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Break 2: 10 minutes of rest.
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Stimulus 3: Repeat the information one last time (20 min).
Why Does It Work? (Simple Explanation)
The brain is like a muscle that needs short recovery periods to strengthen.
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LTP (Long-Term Potentiation): This is the scientific term for when your neurons connect strongly. The text explains that this connection needs periods of time of minutes, not hours or days, to initiate properly.
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Deliberate Distraction: These 10 minutes of rest aren’t just for resting; they allow the brain to finish “writing” the information into the DNA of the cells without new information interrupting the process.
| Method | Study Time | Test Results |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional | 4 months | 55.2% (average) |
| Spaced Learning | 1 hour | 63.8% (average) |
Important Note: This method works best when information is delivered quickly and concisely. It’s not about reading slowly, but about absorbing the content intensely and then taking a break.
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you think you have the ‘mercury type of autism - and similar bad grades 5 GCSEs like myself?
About the point of ‘likeness’:
So if I grasp the meaning, a single image can trigger a whole paragraph of thought?then I should try to understand and get the ‘spirit’ of the content, right?
“Now I shall encode my understanding of material and not the actual words which is the key of it all”
Point noted. I will first read and understand the text thoroughly and then encode the information from my own understanding.
“What more stupidity can you expect? It is absolutely fine for them because they want no serious use of the method and I just say whatever, go with it. You in particular have to face the consequences.”
Thankyou for saying this. Until now memory techniques have been a matter of fascination for me. I have slowly come to realise what they mean to me and my future. You words motivate me to strive to achieve the best of my potential,I will do my best!
I am also grateful for the example you provided for encoding information. I found it very helpful.
And I will make sure to read the book, ad herrenium. There appears to be plenty of interesting things mentioned in the book.
I hope it is not annoying. Could you please resolve a few more doubts?
How do I structure the memory palace for this particular task of memorising the article?
I already use a palace for the parts, but each part is an individual loci. I have observed that I tend to feel overwhelmed when I try to fit too many loci at a point. Thus, it may be unrealistic to put the articles in the loci for their parts. I have tried using it. It works well for parts which have fewer articles.
For Instance,In Part I, I use a gate, and the 4 articles are the 4 corners of the gate. For the second Part concerning citizenship, the loci is a wash basin,thus using the various toiletries around it worked as a solution.
But the part concerning The Union, Part 5, contains too many articles to be encoded in one loci.
“20 minutes of intensive, rapid instruction.”
Is there any specific meaning to ‘intensive and rapid instruction’?
In the footnote you mention,
“…It’s not about reading slowly, but about absorbing the content intensely and then taking a break.”
Then,does rapidly encoding information in a memory palace from information on a page, deciding the loci on the go, counts as intensive?
I like the muscle analogy you gave, it helps me be positive when I am taking time to understand a topic from the course book. I just think to myself ‘don’t be impatient, your brain is growing and learning so it’s a little hard, like how increasing weights at gym is hard at first’
In any case, I will implement this right away. I will let you know how it goes!
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What I’ve found with this is that my brain keeps working in the background.
Another tip: memorize the index or title that covers the topics you’re learning.
After you have the title and order of what you’re going to learn, start forming analogies to remember what you’re learning.
Before studying a topic, I create an index if one doesn’t already exist, and I form a general image of the subject, like a painter who first creates a shape and adds layer by layer, stroke by stroke, until they have a complete form. For example:
You want to learn calculus and you start with the Cartesian plane. Obviously, you already have the index memorized, so let’s say you have the general image for the Cartesian plane. In my case, it was easy to use René Descartes, its creator.
I visualize the plane as an American football field, with the origin in the middle, depicted with René Descartes stepping on a ball while holding a baby. For the y and x axes, I see a player with a torch running vertically, and for the x-axis, a player wearing a shirt with a red X painted on it, or a pirate, running horizontally. Both pass through the origin. For the quadrants, I see a man selling ice cubes leaning against a column, running from the first quadrant to the fourth counterclockwise.
It’s difficult to explain because I have to write it out, but it’s easy to do in practice, and you can significantly reduce the forgetting curve. The previous method can be used for shapes, equations, or difficult topics where you can’t use analogies or other techniques, whether because you don’t want to or for whatever reason. With mnemonics, you can study for longer periods.
Well, after these comments, I doubt I’ll be around the group for a while. I’ve been working and studying quite a bit lately.
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I don’t understand well I speak Spanish . I think I could have asperger or something. About what I have written. But went to university. People. light and noises give me problems.
The instructions are sufficient.
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Do you speak Spanish? If you speak Spanish or English, contact me privately.