Test-taking Strategy - Memorization

TEST TAKING STRATEGY FOR MEMORIZATION

The Memorization part of a test will be administered first.  The first test book you receive on the test day will contain the material to be memorized.  It will be in a separate booklet; you will be told not to open the booklet until you are instructed to do so.  You will not be allowed to have a pencil in your hand when memorizing.

After you are instructed to open the Memorization booklet, you will be given five minutes to memorize its contents. 

When the Memorization time is up, the booklet will be taken from you.  Then you will be given another five minutes to think about what you saw.  The first questions in the test booklet will be related to the Memorization materials.  You should answer these questions at once, while your memory is still fresh.

The normal process of collecting the Memorization booklets and distributing the test booklets will interfere with your memory.  You must reduce this interference to a minimum during this time by staying calm, ignoring everything around you, keeping your attention focused on your memory even if this requires you to keep your eyes closed most of the time, and rehearsing in your mind the things you have memorized.

No matter whether the Memorization material is words, a diagram, or pictures, the same basic memory techniques will be useful.  These techniques can be summed up in

The SPACE Technique

S         Select key information.  You probably do not have enough time to memorize every word or every squiggle on the page.  Memorize what seems to be important.  Memorization questions will focus on what would be important in a real job situation.  For instance, at a fire scene the locations of doors, windows and fire escapes are important.

P         Picture things and events and persons in your mind.  Close your eyes for a few seconds and form a mental picture of things, people or events which are being described.  The brain words more efficiently with pictures than with words.  If you are memorizing some kind of scene, imagine yourself taking a walk through it from one end to the other.

A         Arrange things and events in some order in your mind.  Information which is grouped in some way or in some order is easier to remember.  Count things, e.g., 5 people, 3 doors and 7 windows.  For picture material, draw two mental lines through the picture to divide it into quarters, then note what is in each quarter.  Notice what is next to what, what is above or below. 

C         Compare things.  For a picture or diagram, compare the contents of each quarter of the drawing.  If there are several items you may have to distinguish from one another (like rooms in a floor plan, or faces or diagrams of two different pieces of equipment) compare them to one another as you are memorizing.  Making comparisons helps you become more conscious of details.

E         Exercise your memory.  Go back to a section of a picture you already memorized.  Repeat items to yourself.  Repeat them.  Repeat.  Go back and repeat again.

Technique:     Test your memory continuously.  As you memorize more information, keep checking that you remember what you already worked on.  Keep testing yourself.  You can test yourself by asking over and over something like the 4 W's if it is a story:  Who?  What?  When?  Where?  If it is not a story, you may be asking yourself:  What?  Where?  How many?

Fingering the Information.  During the Memorization part of the exam you will not be permitted to hold a pencil in your hand.  But your fingers will be not taken away from you.  Your index finger will assist you in remembering.

Use your finger to circle, trace, underline, poke at, or emphasize in any way the important details.  Information in picture form should be literally traced with your finger.  With a floorplan or diagram of a building layout, "walk through" it with your finger, taking note of important items.  Fingerwork will reinforce what your eyes see.  When you are doing this sort of fingerwork on a test, it may look weird to somebody else, but being odd in this way may help you get the job.

Good luck in your pursuit of the greatest job on the face of the earth!  Remember – luck goes to the prepared!