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Remembering Tips 49 REMEMBERING TIP 3 Reinforce the Right Memories If you have a really good memory, you're going to forget at least one-fourth of what you learn by the end of the day yeu learn it. If you're like most of us. count on forgetting a lot more than that. The only way to hold facts and thoughts in your head long enough to be tested on them is to keep reinforcing your impressions. Scientists have figured out the most efficient schedule for long-term remembering: reinforce once five minutes after learning, once later the same day. once the next day, once the next week. once the next month. and once right before the test. We'll have more to say as we go along about how to do each reinforcement painlessly. But do make sure you reinforce only correct information. Before you turn on the memory circuits each time. check with your notes to be sure you've got the facts and ideas right. If you've read Learning Tip II, you already know why this is very important. Be especially wary of misremembering when you're trying to recall small details. The mind is a storyteller; it likes to fill in "facts" when it doesn't have them. and some of those mismemories seem as plausible as the true facts. Be sure to double-check any details that you've worked hard to dredge up from your memory before you reinforce them in your brain. For the same reason, correct misinformation and misunderstanding as soon as you know about it. When you do homework. rework your wrong answers. Straighten out errors as soon as you can. This is even true of practicing a musical instrument. If you've ever memorized a musical composition and played it in public. you know that most of 50 STUDY SMARTS the parts you stumbled over were the parts you got wrong the first, second, and third time through and never quite corrected. You never did erase the faulty connection. Use every chance you have to pinpoint places where your thinking is faulty. If the instructor gives frequent quizzes, you're in luck. But many college courses have only a midterm and a final. For those, be smart-find a workbook that has answers in the back, and test yourself periodically. If you can check your accuracy, it's been shown your selfconfidence will actually speed up your memory. ...

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