Understanding how your own memory works
Discussion
I've recently started studying for a new qualification and it has made me question what is wrong with my memory, or at least start to try and understand it better.
I never really thought much of it when I was younger but I was never one of those kids who could sit through a lesson and instantly retain the information they had learnt. It seemed that I forgot it as I quick as I had learnt it. It was massively frustrating seeing those who hardly had to revise come away with an A*. I managed to make up for it by revising loads and coming away with adequate grades.
The problem is/was, that even after studying hard for the exam (cramming might be a better word), I could probably only remember 10% of what I had learnt 2 weeks later. It seems that I can fit a large amount of information in to my short term memory, enabling me to get through an exam, but only a very small amount stays in my long term memory. I must be memorising, rather than understanding. Thinking back to school, I cannot remember hardly anything that we were taught, I'd fail a basic algebra exam today for example if I didn't make an effort to relearn it.
Coming back to the new qualification, there is some cross over of information within the modules. So I'll learn a topic for one exam and then 6 months later might be studying the same topic again in a different module. Rather than being able to skip this as I should know it, it is actually like I have forgotten most of it. It does come back quicker than if learning new information but it is still hugely frustrating. I will add that this is all distance learning, so I'm purely teaching myself from text books.
Is there something wrong with me? Is it just the way I'm wired? Or is it a case of not having discovered a method/technique of studying which places information in to my long term, rather than short term memory. It's not like I'm completely stupid, I have a decent job and probably come across as fairly intelligent in a conversation. I can also be shown something, such as how an MRP system works, and pick it up straight away (whereas others would need to be shown multiple times).
Does anyone else struggle in the same way and have found a way of improving things?
I never really thought much of it when I was younger but I was never one of those kids who could sit through a lesson and instantly retain the information they had learnt. It seemed that I forgot it as I quick as I had learnt it. It was massively frustrating seeing those who hardly had to revise come away with an A*. I managed to make up for it by revising loads and coming away with adequate grades.
The problem is/was, that even after studying hard for the exam (cramming might be a better word), I could probably only remember 10% of what I had learnt 2 weeks later. It seems that I can fit a large amount of information in to my short term memory, enabling me to get through an exam, but only a very small amount stays in my long term memory. I must be memorising, rather than understanding. Thinking back to school, I cannot remember hardly anything that we were taught, I'd fail a basic algebra exam today for example if I didn't make an effort to relearn it.
Coming back to the new qualification, there is some cross over of information within the modules. So I'll learn a topic for one exam and then 6 months later might be studying the same topic again in a different module. Rather than being able to skip this as I should know it, it is actually like I have forgotten most of it. It does come back quicker than if learning new information but it is still hugely frustrating. I will add that this is all distance learning, so I'm purely teaching myself from text books.
Is there something wrong with me? Is it just the way I'm wired? Or is it a case of not having discovered a method/technique of studying which places information in to my long term, rather than short term memory. It's not like I'm completely stupid, I have a decent job and probably come across as fairly intelligent in a conversation. I can also be shown something, such as how an MRP system works, and pick it up straight away (whereas others would need to be shown multiple times).
Does anyone else struggle in the same way and have found a way of improving things?
I'm exactly the same but I don't think there are any secrets and I suspect it's the same for a lot of people. I don't think the point of an exam is to show full mastery of a subject but to show that you have the capacity to learn and understand the concepts which you can then build on. Think of the driving test, it doesn't produce fully fledged driving gods but instead shows a basic level of skill which is then up to the driver to build on.
I struggled all through school, I blame it on just not being interested in the subjects so my brain switches off. I went through college and apprenticeship with issues, just couldn't spark. Funny thing is I can remember how to strip the entire Kalashnikov range, fix most mechanical issues on old vehicles and if needed land nav out of most countries, all of which I enjoy
Same. Stuff I like, no issues. Stuff that bores me, not interested anyway regardless of how hard I try to retain the info.
I also seem to have the capacity to remember loads of absolute rubbish that has little value in life but I can sit at the end of the bar and beat a full pub in a quiz.
I also seem to have the capacity to remember loads of absolute rubbish that has little value in life but I can sit at the end of the bar and beat a full pub in a quiz.
Ive got a poor but very selectively so memory; stuff like languages and wotnot just went in one ear and out the other, but other stuff like maths/science, I was able to kind of visualise a formula, understand the relationship, it made sense and I think I had a much greater understanding than probably the majority who cruised through just remembering which order the letters go.
Teachers were all like "you cant be A-grade in one subject and flunk others, you're just lazy and not trying", found out I was dyslexic 14 years after leaving school which explains a lot and I wouldnt be suprised if you teasted positive.
The educational systems learn-by-rote approach is not actually ideal for everyone.
Teachers were all like "you cant be A-grade in one subject and flunk others, you're just lazy and not trying", found out I was dyslexic 14 years after leaving school which explains a lot and I wouldnt be suprised if you teasted positive.
The educational systems learn-by-rote approach is not actually ideal for everyone.
Memory tests are a very poor method of testing learning. I'm the same as you OP, but have struggled through a Masters and now halfway through a PHd. It's no fun doing a presentation when the night before your mind goes blank. But - and this won't come as breaking news - the best way to ensure the pertinent facts are in your LTM is to practice using them.
I can't remember jack, never have been able to. If I'm to have any chance of remembering something, I have to write it down.
Strange thing, the mind. I understand concepts really quickly and well, and can apply them no bother. If I understand something, I can remember it without trying. If anyone can tell me how to be less useless at remembering people's names, that'd be a good one - nowt worse than never remembering who people are..
Strange thing, the mind. I understand concepts really quickly and well, and can apply them no bother. If I understand something, I can remember it without trying. If anyone can tell me how to be less useless at remembering people's names, that'd be a good one - nowt worse than never remembering who people are..
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