How to Memorize Anything (36 page)

Q2. Write the order of taxonomy in biology.

Ans.
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Memory Solution:

Acrostic:
K
ids
P
refer
C
heese
O
ver
F
ried
G
reen
S
pinach.

Q3. Name the five kingdoms in which the organisms are grouped.

Ans.
All living organisms are divided into five kingdoms, namely Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.

Memory Solution:

Let’s give all five kingdoms nicknames using the PNN method so that they become meaningful images and then connect them with each other in a meaningful sentence.

Monera:
Monica
(name of a girl)

Protista:
Protest

Fungi:
Fun

Plantae:
Plants

Animalia:
Animals

Visualization:

Visualize a girl named
Monica protesting
to have
fun
with
plants
and
animals
.

Q4. What are the main features of vertebrata?

Ans.
These animals have a true
vertebral column
and are
bilaterally symmetrical
. All chordates possess the following features:

1. have a
   notochord
   
2. have a
   dorsal nerve
   cord
   
3. are
   triploblastic
   
4. have paired
   gill pouches
   
5. are
   coelomate
   

Memory Solution:

The bold words are the keywords, which can be visualized using the PNN and Chain Method as follows:

Visualization:

Vertebrata
can be visualized as the backbone of any person.

Visualize that a doctor is demonstrating the
vertebra
(backbone) of a man to his students. He shows that it is
vertically placed
in the body and
symmetrical
on both sides. It is
no
t connected with any
chord
, so one of the
nerves
is connected to a
door
. Suddenly it blasts three times (
triple blasts
) and as a result
fishes
came out in
pouches.
These fishes are all
college mates
.

Q5. Explain how animals in Vertebrata are classified into further subgroups.

Vertebrates are grouped into five classes.

1. P
isces

2. A
mphibia

3. R
eptilia

4. A
ves

5. M
ammalia

Memory Solution:

These five classes can be summarized in an Acronym:
PARAM
.

Since a student already knows his subject matter, and is very well aware of these words, he only needs a clue to be able to recall it fast without missing any point, so this acronym will serve the purpose very well.

MEMORIZING DISEASES AND THEIR SYMPTOMS

Let’s say you have to memorize that
‘Hypothyroidism
’ has the following signs and symptoms:

• Puffy face
  
• Weight gain
  
• Constipation
  
• Feeling cold
  
• Poor hearing
  
• Hair fall
  
• Muscle aches and stiffness
  
• Pain in joints
  
• Fatigue (tiredness)
  
• Weakness
  
• Poor memory and concentration
  

Memory Solution:

Since a student of the subject must know that
hypothyroidism
is a condition marked by low activity of the thyroid gland, which is present in the throat area, you can visualize a lady wearing a band around her neck, with ‘
low activity’
written on it.

To link the signs and symptoms of the disease, visualize that the lady, who is very
fat
(weight gain) and has a
puffy face
, came to your house. You asked her ‘Why you are so fat?’ She said ‘I am fat because of
constipation
.’ Outside she was feeling very
cold,
so you invited her inside. As soon as she comes inside, she started dancing very fast. You asked her repeatedly to stop, but she couldn’t listen to what you were saying because of her
poor hearing
. Suddenly her
hair
started
falling
all around. Seeing that, she stopped but now her
muscles
were
aching
badly. They became very
stiff
; she started feeling severe
pain in
her
joints
. She was feeling very
tired and weak
, so you asked her where her home is, but she couldn’t tell as she had
lost
her
memory
.

You can visualize all the above symptoms in this funny way on any person you may know who is suffering from hypothyroidism. Once you have visualized this clearly on someone, the moment you think about that person, all the symptoms will come to your mind without any confusion and will bring a smile to your face.

In the same way you can make visualizations of different disease symptoms and memorize them easily.

Many Biology topics can be very well summarized in creative and colourful mind maps, discussed in the chapter of mind mapping and also in next chapter on study skills. These will help you to have a whole topic or chapter at a glance. These notes will also help you revise things very fast.

22

SMART STUDY SKILLS

S
tudents generally study just for the night before an assignment is due or the night before an exam. It’s never too early or too late to develop good study habits. The sooner you get into a good study groove, the easier everything will be, and the better your chances of getting good marks.

Any skill which boosts a person’s ability to study and pass exams with excellent scores can be termed a study skill. Study skills are discrete techniques that can be learned, usually in a short time, and applied to all or most fields of study.

Now-a-days, the most limited resource for everyone is time, especially for students who not only have to perform well in academics in this highly competitive world, but also excel in other activities. Good time management is the key to achieving academic success. We need to learn to effectively use our time so that we can achieve the best results in a limited period of time.

USEFUL STUDY SKILLS FOR OPTIMUM UTILIZATION OF TIME

• Smart Goal Setting
  
• PQRST Approach
  
• Mind Map Your Notes
  
• Use Memory Techniques
  
• Revise Scientifically
  
• Avoid Procrastination And Distractions
  
• Exam Tips
  

SMART GOAL SETTING

WHY GOAL SETTING?

Goal setting is important to channelize your energy, time, resources, and ideas into achieving something that is useful and meaningful in life. Without a target or a goal in our mind, important resources can go waste.

Clearly written goals enhance success. Although your main goals right now are most likely related to education and career, you may also want to set personal and relationship goals. Goals can be of 2 types: long-term goals and short-term goals.

• Long-term goals
  (1–5 years goals):
  Goals that you want to achieve in the future and that will take a few years’ time (roughly about 1 to 5 years) to accomplish.
  
• Short-term goals
  : Tasks that help you work toward meeting one or more long-term goals or things you can accomplish today or this week or the next month). It can help you focus and work efficiently.
  

SET ‘SMART’ GOALS

• S
  pecific: Goals should be defined in specific and clear terms.
  
• M
  easurable: It should be measurable so that you will know when you have achieved it. ‘I will improve my vocabulary by end of this year’ is not a measurable goal as improvement means different things to different people. Rather the goal should be ‘I will learn 1000 new words in the next 12 months.’
  
• A
  chievable: The goals should be achievable and realistic according to your resources and capabilities, otherwise non-fulfillment of goals becomes disheartening. For example, if you are getting 50 percent marks in an exam, don’t target to achieve 100 percent directly in upcoming exams which is just a month ahead. Keep a more realistic target keeping on mind your own capabilities and motivation. Though 100 percent will be your final target, you should try to reach it step by step.
  
• R
  elevant: You should have a clear relevance of achieving that goal in your life. Don’t get affected by others people’s goals. Just because your friend decided to lose 5 kilos, it doesn’t mean you should also aim for it. See if you really want to do it or is it just because of peer pressure.
  
• T
  imed: It should be time bound.
  

  

  e.g.,
  ‘I will finish my assignment by 4.00 pm Tuesday.’
  is a
  SMART goal.
  

  e.g.,
  ’I want to spend more time with my family’
  is
  not a SMART goal
  . It’s vague, immeasurable, and lacks a time limit.
  

Record your
(SMART)
goals in a table where one column is for
long-term goals
and another is for
short-term goals.
Some examples are given below:

PQRST APPROACH

While reading any information or chapter and making notes out of it, one approach which is highly recommended to make the best use of the first learning time is PQRST method. This method prioritizes the information in a way that relates directly to how they will be asked to use that information in an exam.

PQRST is an acronym for
P
review,
Q
uestion,
R
ead,
S
ummarize,
T
est. PQRST stands for five steps that you should use when reading something that you want to remember. These five steps are:

1. PREVIEW:

The first step,
preview
, advises that one should resist the temptation to read the whole book or chapter and instead glance through it in order to identify headings, sub-headings, and other outstanding features in the text like graphics, boxed text, etc. This is in order to identify ideas and formulate questions about the content of the chapter.
For example
, when you take an overview of a chapter on
‘Principles of management’,
you will notice that it talks about Fayol’s 14 main principles. And by just going through the headings you will know the gist of the chapter.

2. QUESTION:

Formulate questions about the content of the reading. For example, convert headings and sub-headings into questions, and then look for answers in the content of the text. Other more general questions may also be formulated:

• What is this chapter about?
  
• What question is this chapter trying to answer?
  
• How does this information help me?
  
• What must I remember about it?