NLP (or Neuro-Linguistics Programming) is a form of applied Psychology with many forms of usage. One of its usage is to assist students to learn better and retain that memory longer (sometimes forever) and do well in their exams. Parents have spent thousands of dollars to such service providers in an attempt to improve their children's grades in school.
Stepping out of the programme, usually, the kid doesn't instantly become smarter, what happen is that the kid is more motivated to study and limiting belief of not being able to do well are removed and the kids are taught to "learn how to learn". There are many ways to do it using NLP, the method that I'm going to share in this article is the favorite method that I use and have shown tremendous results. It is very reliable as well because I use it all the time.
As a working adult studying part-time, I must admit time is of the essence and studying is definitely not my favorite thing to do.
Therefore, in order to do well, I follow the following model:
1. Get motivated to study!
2. Study hard smart!
3. Access those memory as if you have just read them off the book.
1. GET MOTIVATED TO STUDY
Getting motivated to study is one of the biggest hurdle in studying. To muster the motivation to even touch a text book during your free time is even harder. Therefore it is important to understand the basic psychology of human and get yourself motivated to study hard. The following is just some of the strategies I used:
GET A RIVAL: Getting a rival means you get yourself a competitor. Compete with a tough opponent, never compete with someone whom you think you can win them easily. The old saying of 'Choose somebody your own size' is true in this aspect. The small pressure and stress of fighting to be better than somebody your own 'size' is a great fuel to fuel people to go the extra mile in studying. To add a fun element into it, you can come up with conditions, like the person who did better will get a gift from the person who did not do so well.
STUDY TOGETHER: Studying together can either go very well or go very bad! Most people ended up talking to each other so much that they didn't study much in the end. So what can you do about that? Draft out an objective of study. For example the objective for today's group study can be to complete revision of chapter 1 to chapter 5. Group studying is very convenient at times because somebody may already have the answers to your question, simply voicing out and you will receive the answer.
VISUALIZE: Up till now, we haven't really cover anything NLP have taught us. So I guess it's almost time and let's not keep you in suspense. Visualizing is a very powerful method to get motivated. My favorite method to visualizing is using the visual swish method. The swish method involves 2 frame of pictures, or videos. 1 video/picture is the normal you which do not like to study. The other video/picture is an image that display your desire to study well and attain great results. Visualize yourself throwing out the first picture (the one that you are not motivated to study) and realize the picture spinning like a boomerang and returning to you. While you grab the picture again, realize it is 'retrofitted' with a new image of you enjoying your studies. To make yourself even more motivated, see in the image that you are enjoying your study and move on to after the exams when you receive your results. See in the image your friends, families and other people whom you enjoy being around congratulating you. Imagine that you are going up to the stage and getting your bursary and everybody is cheering for you. This should give you enough motivation to study! (The idea here is to have great imagination of the feeling of satisfaction of you attaining the coveted accolade that you can only dream of, it gets you very pumped up to study)
2. STUDY HARD SMART!
So you got yourself motivated to study now. What is the next step? Most people lose steam at this phase and realize that all the motivational effort goes down the drain. So why get motivated in the first place if you can't convert those motivation into actions that is productive, right? So I have a number of strategies that can assist you to do better.
PAST YEAR PAPER
The first thing that you should ever do to prepare for your exams is to get your hands on the past year paper. The past year paper can often be obtained either in the school library or from your lecturer. Sometimes, the lecturer gives them out and it saves you the trouble. Next step is to look for common question that appear on those paper. Most school have a question bank. Those questions are similar in nature with slight differences in the variable. Being able to grasp the strategy to answer those question gives you the ability to answer any exam question of similar nature. Therefore pick out the common questions.
LIST A STUDYING OBJECTIVE
The second thing to do is to list out a studying objective. This phase is important. After you list out the common questions that are always coming out in the exams, the next step is to look for the answer in the notes or textbook so that you can answer those questions the way the teacher wants you to answer.
HIJACKING YOUR BRAIN
After you know what you need to know and have the study located in the notes. The next thing to do is to download all this information into the brain. Don't you sometime wish you have a USB port at the back of your neck and it connects to your brain and information can easily be downloaded in a matter of seconds? The fact is, we have such a mechanism that allows us to remember things easily. I call this method hijacking of the brain. According to a study done by the Ministry of Education (Yes, the Singapore's very own MOE) the study reveals that there is about 7 synapses gaps between the left hemisphere and right hemisphere of the brain, meaning those synapses exist near the left and right hemisphere and they fail to link the brain neurons together. The number 7 correlates well to the NLP theory that we can process between 5 to 9 information at one point of time where the median is, you know it, none other than 7. So what can I do with this information? Here's the strategy:
Step 1: NLP states that when you look up to a top corner, you are visualizing. It could either be recalled or constructed. Your first objective is to determine which side is your Visual-recall side, the top left, or top right. You can do so by trying to recall what you have for dinner last night. Realize you look up to a corner? That's your visual recall side.
Step 2: Place the book in a way when you look at the book, you are looking at the direction of your visual recall side. You can put it on the table and position your head in a way when you look at the book, your eyes is lock in the position when you do the visual recalling. I know it's in an awkward position. This is why most people are not studying in the way they should be, they have the book in the wrong place!
Step 3: Anchor the answers. Now that you have the book at where it should be, determine the hand you should use to anchor the answer. If you are right-handed, you should use your left hand to anchor. We will explain why later. For now, just know that you should use your left hand, and vice-versa for left handers. Now look at the first point you want to remember and read it out, meanwhile squeeze your thumb and index finger together. You are anchoring the answer on three different senses, you are anchoring auditory, visually and kinesthetically. How many times do you do the anchoring? Easy. 7 times. As you move on to your next point, do the same except when you try to anchor them on your fingers, you move to the middle finger and thumb, subsequently, the forth finger and thumb, and then your pinky and thumb. And you realize you run out of fingers. Don't worry, you can always 'recycle' them. Continue with the index finger and thumb again!
It may sound like a hassle, but if you have a list of study objective, this isn't so hard after all. In fact, as you do this, you will feel more and more motivated because you know you are studying what is going to come out for exams and you literally have the answers at your fingertips!
3. ACCESS THE MEMORY AS IF YOU HAVE JUST READ THEM OFF THE BOOK
Now that you have the answers at your fingertips, how do you access those memories during the exams? Very easy. LOOK TO YOUR VISUAL RECALL SIDE AND SQUEEZE YOUR FINGER. Squeeze them one-by-one and you will realize that you are recalling the points you need as if you are looking at the book. If you are not very confident, then you can try-it-out by doing the past year paper and see if you can recall using this method. It should! And the reason that you anchor with your left hand when you are a right hander is simply because you do not have to put down the pen during exams. Time is of the essence!
It's a lengthy article. But once you master the method, you will realize this is actually a very simple process. I have introduced this method to many people. It worked for me, worked for my friends and I'm very confident it will continue to work. Until there is an incredible breakthrough in neurology where installing a USB port that integrates with your brain is possible, otherwise, this is the simplest method to memorize and prepare for exams. Good luck!
0 comments:
Post a Comment