How to Memorize Anything (34 page)

Q8: Narrate the achievements of RajendraChola.

Ans.
Rajendra succeeded his father Rajaraja-I and carried in the aggressive policy. He conquered the whole of Sri Lanka. He overran the Chalukyas of Vengi. He took his kingdom upto Central India. He then overran the whole of Orissa and Bengal right up to the Southern banks of the Ganga. He then annexed the islands of Lakshadweep and Maladweep. He also humbled the Sri Vijya kingdom which included the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.

The naval supremacy helped him build a vast maritime empire to control trade and commerce. Indian ships began to sail through the straits of Malacca. He also conquered Java and some other eastern islands.

Memory Solution:

Break the answer into several small sentences, as shown below, and identify the key words in each sentence.

• Rajendra
  succeeded his
  father Rajaraja-I
  and carried in the
  aggressive
  policy.
  
• He
  conquered
  the whole of
  Sri Lanka.
  
• He overran the
  Chalukyas of Vengi
  .
  
• He took his kingdom up to
  Central India
  .
  
• He then overran the whole of
  Orissa
  and
  Bengal
  right up to the Southern
  banks of the Ganga.
  
• He then annexed the islands of
  Lakshadweep
  and
  Maladweep.
  
• He also humbled the Sri
  Vijya
  kingdom which included the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.
  
• The
  naval supremacy
  helped him build a vast maritime empire to
  control trade and commerce.
  
• Indian ships
  began to sail through the
  straits
  of
  Malacca.
  
• He also
  conquered Java
  and some other eastern islands.
  

Visualize the answer point wise while associating with the rhyming pegs as given below:

1. Sun:
   Raja
   (Rajendra)
   and his father double Raja
   (Raja Raja-I)
   went to visit Sun and due to its heat became aggressive.
   
2. Shoe:
   Wearing the magical shoes, he conquered Ravan
   (Sri Lanka)
   .
   
3. Tree:
   A chalu
   (Chalukyas)
   behanji
   (vengi)
   is running on a tree.
   
4. Door:
   He built doors up to Central India.
   
5. Hive:
   He ran and started doing the Orissa dance
   (Orissa)
   wearing bangles
   (Bengal), near a hive
   on the banks of Ganga river.
   
6. Sticks:
   He hit everyone with sticks and got the islands of Lakshman
   (Lakshdweep)
   and Mala
   (Maladweep)
   .
   
7. Lemon:
   He achieved vijay
   (Vijya)
   and wore the garland of lemons.
   
8. Plate:
   He controlled trade and commerce with the help of an oval
   (naval)
   supreme
   (supremacy)
   plate.
   
9. Line:
   Indian ships made a line to sail through streets
   (staits)
   of the actress Malaika Arora
   (Malacca).
   
10. Hen:
    Hen is working on the computer to conquer Java.(language).
    

Q9. Describe the layers of the atmosphere.

Ans.
Our atmosphere is divided into five layers which, starting from earth’s surface, are the following:

1. Troposphere—
   most of the
   changes in the weather
   occur in this layer.
   
2. Stratosphere
   —it provides
   ideal flying conditions
   for large jet airplanes. It has also a rich
   layer of ozone
   which absorbs harmful ultra-violet radiations from sun.
   
3. Mesosphere
   —
   Meteoroids entering
   from the space burn up in this layer.
   
4. Thermosphere
   —in this layer
   temperature rises
   very rapidly with height. This layer helps in
   radio transmission
   .
   
5. Exosphere—
   Air
   density is very low
   in this layer and it is merged in the inter-planetary space.
   

Hint: The first point can be memorized as:

Troposphere can be visualized as a trophy. Visualize that sun is holding a trophy which is causing changes in the weather.

Other key points have been set in bold for you. You have to associate the points with the corresponding rhyming codes.

Your memory visualization for the above:

Using Chain Method

Q10. What are the main functions of a Municipal Corporation?

Ans.
A Municipal Corporation performs a lot of functions. It is responsible for:

1. Water and electricity supply.
   
2. Maintaining roads and street lights.
   
3. Maintaining gardens, parks, and beauty of the city.
   
4. Running schools, hospitals, and health centres.
   
5. Sanitation and control spreading of diseases.
   
6. Garbage collection and disposal etc.
   

Memory Solution:
To memorize the above answer, we make the PNN of Municipal Corporation as follows and then form a chain of all the points in the answer and visualize them simultaneously.

The PNN for
municipal
can be
munimji
and for
corporation,
it can be
corporate people
. So the scene you can create is that some corporate people are coming to investigate and
munimji
is supposed to make all the arrangements. In order to impress the
corporate
people, he arranged for:

• Proper
  water and electrical supply
  in the area.
  
• With electricity supply, he arranged for
  road and street lights
  .
  
• Fancy street lights are placed in the
  gardens and parks
  to enhance their beauty.
  
• In the gardens,
  schools and hospitals
  are opened.
  
• In the hospitals, to
  control the spread of diseases
  , proper
  sanitation
  and
  garbage collection
  are taken care of.
  

You see by connecting the entire key points together in a chain, it becomes very easy to memorize all the 6 points in a sequence, without forgetting any point.

Now you can try the following question yourself in the same way
:

Q11. How are mountains useful to us?

Ans.
Mountains are very useful to man. Some common benefits are:

1. They are the
   storehouse
   of water.
   
2. Mountain
   glaciers
   are the
   source of perennial rivers.
   
3. Many
   fresh water lakes and springs
   originate from there.
   
4. The valleys and slopes are used for
   cultivation.
   
5. Mountains have a rich variety of
   flora and fauna
   .
   
6. Reservoirs
   on rivers are used for
   generating hydroelectricity.
   
7. Forests
   on mountains are a good
   source of fuel, fodder, gums, and raisins
   .
   
8. Mountains are
   good tourist’s spots
   and are known for adventure sports.
   

Hint: The key points have been set in bold for you. You have to make a chain of all the points while visualizing the same.

Your memory visualization for the above:

Using the Hide-and-Seek Method

Q12. What were Mahatma Gandhi’s views on English education? Why did he want to teach children handicrafts?

Ans:
Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest leaders of India, had his own views on education.

1. He held the view that
   colonial education
   would create
   a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians
   . It would make them think that
   Western civilization was superior
   and destroy the pride that they had in their culture.
   
2. According to him, Western education focused on reading and writing rather than on oral knowledge;
   it valued textbooks rather than lived experience and practical knowledge.
   
3. He believed education in English would cripple Indians,
   distancing them from their own social surroundings
   .
   
4. He strongly felt that
   Indian languages
   ought to be the medium of instruction because this would
   make it easier for them to understand
   the whole thing and would enable them to
   recover their sense of dignity and self-respect.
   
5. Mahatma Gandhi laid
   emphasis on learning a craft
   as it would make them work with their own hands and get a
   practical knowledge
   of the whole thing. By doing so they would learn how different things operated. The learning of a craft would develop not only their mind but also their capacity to understand. Later on such a thing could
   help many to earn their own living
   .
   

Hint: The key points have been set in bold for you. You have to associate the points with the stops in your route or location.

Memory Solution:

Suppose the route of your classroom is as follows:

• Door
  
• Poster
  
• Chair
  
• Blackboard
  
• Window
  

Now the points in the above answer can be linked with the stops in your classroom as:

1. Door: The
   colony
   of
   Indians
   is considered
   inferior
   , so they are not allowed to enter through the door to get education. Only people belonging to a
   superior western civilization
   can go in.
   
2. Poster: The boy in the poster is suggesting the use of
   only textbooks, no practical knowledge
   .
   
3. Chair: As the teacher sits on the chair, it starts flying and takes her to a
   distance away from her own social surroundings.
   

   Now try to associate the remaining 2 points of the answer in the same way:
   

4. Blackboard:
   
5. Window:
   

Since the hiding places are unlimited, a lot many questions can be easily memorized using the hide-and-seek method. Also, chain method and other pegging methods are equally helpful in memorizing different kinds of answers. After visualizing the associations strongly in your mind for 2–3 times, the answers will be embedded deep in your memory. Revising answers, memorized by these methods, take much shorter time.

M
IND
M
APS
. R
EMEMBER
?

Long answers and whole chapters can also be summarized using the smart note making technique of ‘Mind Maps’ learnt in
chapter 15
,
‘Mind Maps–Creative Note Making’
, which will help you not in just summarizing but also in memorizing the notes.

20

MATHS AND PHYSICS

Maths and Physics are logical subjects. In such subjects, we need to understand the concepts to solve the problems and practice each concept thoroughly. To find the solution to problems, we also need to make use of certain formulae. Most of the times, students get confused or forget the formulae. In case we totally forget the formula, we generally try to recollect it, if possible, by using certain logic or understanding about the topic.

For example,
if a student forgets the formula of the volume of cylinder, which is πr
²
h, he may recall it from the knowledge that

Volume = Area of base × height

So, Volume of cylinder = Area of circle × height

Therefore, Volume of cylinder = πr
²
h

So, understanding the concept is important in Mathematics, but if you get confused in some formulae or are not able to apply any logic to recall, you can make use of the creativity of memory techniques to memorize the confusing part or even the complete formula.

MEMORIZING PLACE VALUE

Remembering number of zeroes in place value chart is very difficult and confusing for most of the students. Here is a chart showing some mnemonics to memorize it:

PLACE VALUE CHART