Technique of the Week - Mnemonics

Mnemonics are something teachers would love you to use to memorize information that has to be in a certain order, unfortunately, they can not teach you how to use them best, because they would get the sack! Seriously!

Never Eat Shredded Wheat (North, East, South, West)

Yes it gets the point across but it's boring, you need to make Mnemonics memorable. The best Mnemonics are really dirty, rude and shocking. 

Top 10 - Educational Apps

Nowadays a lot of people have a iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Lots of teachers get angry with students using these but actually, if used correctly, can really help you get better grades.

1. DropBox
Put your PDF revision sheets and DOC revision guides (or anything else) into your DropBox account on your PC/laptop/iPad/iPhone/iPod and they will show up everywhere else as well. With 2gb of free space you'll probably never pay a penny. I save my revision guides on my macbook then move them to DropBox so I can also see them on my iphone, if I've got a bit of a free time, I can just have a quick browse of it using...
Use this link to download DropBox on your laptop/computer http://db.tt/692T5UHB It gives you a bit more space, and me too.


2. iBooks

Best way to read pdf/doc/ebooks that you move into your Dropbox. Once you choose the option to view them in iBooks you've saved them to your device and can then view them offline. 

4. SimpleMind

SimpleMind is a very easy-to-use mind mapping tool. The free version lets you create and export Mind Maps in the SimpleMind format. Check my earlier post if you want tips on how you MindMap

5. Cram

Got a big test coming up? You’ll want to check out Cram. Cram is a study tool on which users can create flash cards and multiple choice tests (with automatically randomized questions). These study aids can be shared with friends and synced to the offline Mac OS version.

6. Anki Mobile

This is the only one I'm listing where you have to pay. However, it's so good I think it's probably worth it. Basically it's a super sophisticated but yet simple flash card app. Try it out free on your PC/Mac to see if you like it before you try the mobile version which you have to pay for.

7. Free Podcasts
This is not an app, but rather a way in which you can use your iPod/iPhone/iPad to enhance your learning. Have a check of the iTunes store for ones related to what you are studying. I would particularly recommend Deutsche Welle ones for those studying German. 


8. Evernote

If you plan at all on using your iPhone/iPod/iPad/Macbook for taking notes in class, you’ll want to utilize Evernote. The free application supports text, photo, and voice notes, and syncs to an online account, as well as Mac and PC versions of the app so you can have access to your notes anywhere. Evernote has some really nifty features, such as Twitter integration, geo-location, and the ability to search text within photos.

9. iTranslate
Quickly and easily translate foreign words to your native language, it will even read it out to you if you want.


9. myHomework

The free myHomework app is a visually stunning way to help students stay organized by creating a calendar of assignments and when they’re due. Assignments are color coded, so you’ll know when due dates are coming and when they’re late. The app doesn’t do much more than that, but it is helpful for keeping overloaded students on top of their work.

10. BBC News

Keeping up-to-date with the news is often overlooked as part of the educational experience. However, getting relevant information into your exams can set you apart from the crowd. Particularly for those doing General Studies and Critical Thinking, this can be a very useful app to check often.

Outstanding Teacher Biography: Alphonse Chérel

Alphonse Chérel, born 1882, was a frenchman who discovered an extremely simple method of learning that enabled him to learn English, German, Russian. The core principles of his method were very simple:

• Make and don't break a commitment to learn Daily
• Make progress, but don't overload yourself
• Re-cap what you have previously learnt often
• Make the lessons fun and it will be a pleasure to learn

These principles have since been built on, both by Alphonse and his decendents who created the Assimil publishing company, who sell self-study courses for learning a foreign language. Whilst this company is relatively unknown in the UK and US, it is extremely successful in Europe.

Though you may want to try out an Assimil course if you are wishing to learn a language (if you commit to between 30-60 minutes every day for 150 days, you will probably learn between 2000-3000 words in your new language, quite a start!), if you are learning other subjects these same principals can still be applied. 

Technique of the Week - Learning Poster

This is the complete opposite of the flash cards (reducing information down on to tiny cards). For students who just don't 'get' flash cards, the learning poster always seems to hit the spot!

Get a BIG sheet of paper, A3 at least. Now do a poster which explains the topic, or targets a particular question likely to come up on the exam (which you may be able to spot from looking at lots of previous papers).

Particularly for those with visual memories, make sure your poster is full of colour, diagrams and drawings.

Put them around your bedroom, look at them often, absorb the information.

If these were learning posters, the student would do so well!

Outstanding Teacher Biography: Paul Pimsleur

Paul Pimsleur was a language professor and teacher who, through research came up with a highly efficient method of learning, based on how we forget information. The problem with a lot of revision is that it is great at getting things into your short term memory, but it just doesn't seem to 'stick' around long enough for the exam. This is especially bad for languages, since it's not just about exams, but about learning to be able to speak it.

Pimsleur found the key to remembering stuff was being reminded of it. Simple eh? But how many times do you need to be reminded, how regularly? In 1967 Pimsleur came up with a memory schedule, which would test you at certain intervals, and therefore get it into your long term memory.

Pimsleur's memory schedule: 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 5 days, 25 days, 4 months, 2 years. This is called Graduated Interval Recall, after each

He later later used this information to design CD/MP3 language courses. The basic design of the course war that:

• The student listens to a recording on which native speakers speak phrases in both the foreign language and the language used for teaching (usually English).
• At varying intervals, the student is prompted to repeat a phrase after the speaker finishes it
• The student is then introduced to a new phrase and the meaning is explained.
• After repeating several times, the student is asked to repeat a previous phrase, along with integrating vocabulary from the new one.
• More new phrases are introduced, while old phrases are prompted at ever-increasing intervals

You could either use Pimsleur's system with his own CD's (available from Amazon), but as they are very expensive I recommend you borrow them from a local library, since most library's seem to stock them. After you have finished the Pimsleur course, you could continue the method Pimsleur discovered with this Open-Source programme, designed by a Computer Scientist at Cambridge University.

Ebbinhaus's Forgetting Curve shows how the % of Data remembered increases after each time you revise it! Simple!

Technique of the Week - Mini-Question Quiz

The Mini-Question Quiz is based around breaking down the information you need to know into the smallest possible questions which can be answered in a few words. This is great for exams where you have to know loads of facts.

The best way to do this is for each question you could be asked.

For example, for the question:
"Outline the Role of a Jury in a Criminal Trial - 10 marks"

We can break this question down into at least 7 mini-questions and if you include the answers to all of them in your exam answer, you'll get 100%.


* When and where is a Jury used?
* What is the job of the Judge in relation to the Jury?

* What does a Jury decide?

* How does the Jury decide, does everyone have to agree?

* How do the Jury come to their decision? What and who do they listen to?

* Once the trial has finished explain what happens. (Where do the Jury go to make their verdict? What can they take with them?)

* Once the Jury have reached their verdict, what happens?

These questions are not only testing your knowledge, they are giving you clues as to what information to include. Also, the process of having to break down lots of information into mini-questions helps to make it clear and memorable to you.

Top 10 Tips: Your Personal Statement

Writing a Personal Statement is one of the most important things you will do at college, it can be the difference between getting or not getting a place at the University you really want to go to.

1) See as many examples as possible of good personal statement to get an idea of the structure and things to include

2) Bullet point it first. It makes it so much easier to write out a bullet point list of all your achievements and reasons why you want to do the course. It also makes sure you don't miss anything out later on.

3) Key things to include: Why you want to do that course and Why you are suited to do that course.

4) Do many drafts. Don't worry too much if it's not great at first, or over the word limit. You'll write and re-write it, cut it down and include more.

5) Remember you might be asked to talk about things you have mentioned in your personal statement, should you be invited to interview. So everything you include, you need to be comfortable talking about.

6) Research the Course using its website. It will tell you the areas it studies and you can use this information to tailor your interests to it. For example, if I was applying to do a History degree at the Mentor Univeristy, and the vast majority of the course was about medieval history, it would seem a bit silly to only say in your personal statement how much you were interested in WWII.

7) Make it relevant to all courses you apply for. This balances out the point above a bit, because although you want to tailor it to a particular choice, your first choice, 5 different Universities see it and they don't know your other choices.

8) Go to University Open Day's, they usually give talks on how to do Personal Statements and what in particular they want to see in the ones they get.

9) If you can link the course you are applying for to your future career plans, it looks like your choice is a well thought out decision. If you can't link them, maybe you should wonder why you picked it?

10) Get as many people to read it and check over it as you can before you submit it. Hopefully this will weed out any spelling mistakes or anything that just doesn't quite sound right.