how to memorise essays in less than a day

[dermite]

Hi there,

i have an essay to write in class this thursday (8th March) and i've just finished writing it.

II have the memory of a goldfish, so I find it really hard to memorise essays.

I need some tips as to how to memorise an essay in less than 2 days..
Any tips are appreciated,

Thanks

[lazaward]

What I do to memorise essays is to read it out first, then look away from the paper and recall what you just read. Do this a few times until you’ve remembered most of it. If you want do it paragraph by paragraph and then rewrite the paragraph without looking at your paper. Then read the 2nd paragraph, recite it and write the 1st and 2nd paragraph from memory and so on. This is just something that works for me!

[TheAspiringDoc]

What I do to memorise essays is to read it out first, then look away from the paper and recall what you just read. Do this a few times until you’ve remembered most of it. If you want do it paragraph by paragraph and then rewrite the paragraph without looking at your paper. Then read the 2nd paragraph, recite it and write the 1st and 2nd paragraph from memory and so on. This is just something that works for me!

Ditto! Also, don't be too too exact on remembering it exactly as it is written. I think it is sufficient just to remember the key parts of the sentence. (E.g. Doesn't matter if you use "therefore" or "thus" or "hence" etc.)

[Poet]

Hi there,

i have an essay to write in class this thursday (8th March) and i've just finished writing it.

II have the memory of a goldfish, so I find it really hard to memorise essays.

I need some tips as to how to memorise an essay in less than 2 days..
Any tips are appreciated,

Thanks

Hi dermite!
I agree with the others!

Now, these tips aren’t from someone in the same situation, but I use them when I need them and they do help quite a bit:

• Rewriting the text. This helps (especially handwriting) as you have to go over words repeatedly. Consciously make an attempt to read each word, like you're talking to yourself in your head.
• Using it like a speech; talk to yourself out loud. Like memorising for a speech, practice going over phrases so that you can remember each paragraph smoothly. You don't have much time, but I've memorised speeches in a single day with this method, so I'm sure you'll be OK!
• Recording your own voice reading it back to you and listening to this, or getting a friend to do a favour and read it to you. Even if you find your voice annoying, you get used to it after a while. It's a really good way to memorise because you can be doing other things while phrases are being dumped into your brain.

Using all of these together, or just one, should help you a lot. Don't panic, breathe easy, and know you'll be fine. Your memory is as good as you make it. Don't think you can't because you sooo can.
Good luck! 

[katie,rinos]

When I memorised my essays/quotes I would record myself saying them and then listen back to it quite a few times that night and in the morning which worked really well for me.

Hope this helps!

[kaustubh.patel]

Dermite write ur arguments and evidence and transitional phrases in a order and memorise them (they should be more or less half a page of writing in mind map or dot point form) cram some cool words also and write an essay on the spot using what u wrote.

[jamonwindeyer]

Love all the contributions above

This guide could be helpful

[dermite]

i'd like to give a HUUUUUUUGGEEE thanks to all of you,


i used most of the options you legends suggested and it worked!

i memorised almost my entire essay

[elysepopplewell]

It's too late for you now, dermite! But I'll add here that I always found that walking around as I was saying the speech/essay out loud would help me retain it better. Maybe it's because the movement was keeping the oxygen pumping through me and I could remember things better - I'm not sure! But it worked for me

[jenae.madden]

Okay, maybe this is just specific to me, but it seriously helped especially during prelims. I was having tests every day and for my English Extension I had 1 night to remember both my narrative and essay and I did word-by-word.

All i would do is print out a copy, get and empty notebook and write. I would start with my bodies as they were most vital, then I would copy it down while reading it. This really helps. Then i would flip it over and see how much i could write before forgot what I needed, so would flip it over, read it, and cover it until I needed it again. Then do the same with you other paragraphs.

After that I would go back to the first and try to do the whole essay still doing the read and cover thing I had going on, I think I did that twice and at this point you can see a massive improvement in how much you remember.

Keep writing it and writing it.  I would really try and stick the first sentence of every paragraph as this will jog your memory, I always found if I couldn't remember the first sentence I couldn't remember anything. Its very tedious but it seriously sticks.

[Lumenoria]

Okay, maybe this is just specific to me, but it seriously helped especially during prelims. I was having tests every day and for my English Extension I had 1 night to remember both my narrative and essay and I did word-by-word.

All i would do is print out a copy, get and empty notebook and write. I would start with my bodies as they were most vital, then I would copy it down while reading it. This really helps. Then i would flip it over and see how much i could write before forgot what I needed, so would flip it over, read it, and cover it until I needed it again. Then do the same with you other paragraphs.

After that I would go back to the first and try to do the whole essay still doing the read and cover thing I had going on, I think I did that twice and at this point you can see a massive improvement in how much you remember.

Keep writing it and writing it.  I would really try and stick the first sentence of every paragraph as this will jog your memory, I always found if I couldn't remember the first sentence I couldn't remember anything. Its very tedious but it seriously sticks.

Omg this is literally the exact thing I do, and that last sentence is particularly true. When I was doing my English Extension memorisation for the creative and essay, I got so fucking stressed memorising over 2300 words (at that point, I had only had to memorise single essays around 1300 words in length, never over 2000) that I was going to just wing it in the end. However, come morning of the exam, I realise I am not a dropkick and did this exact method - stuck to it more stingently than the night before because I knew this was an imminent concern. Ultimately, I memorised 2300 words in 2 hours (not word for word, but pretty fucking close to it) - something I thought I would never achieve. However, I'm seriously unsure about how I'm going to approach the modules in the HSC for Advanced English - there is no way in hell I'm memorising 3600+ words - that will literally make me insane.