Memorization of texts part 2

(Memorization of texts part 1)

GMS® completely excludes passive recollection (testing for recognition, i.e. answers to questions). The quality of memorizing any information, including that in texts, is tested by active recollection only. That means that a student must consistently reproduce all memorized data orally or in written form, without any leading questions.

In the GMS®, the following criteria of evaluation of textual information were set:

- One is not allowed to break the sequence of paragraphs in the text (sequence of anecdotes, short extracts of factographic information, paragraphs in the frames of the text);

- One is not allowed to omit nor misrepresent exact information (numerical information, surnames, names, terms);

- One is not allowed to break the sequence of exact information within the framework of any one paragraph.

As you can see, the criteria for GMS® are very strict; the first two methodological approaches discussed above do not provide such quality of memorization.

Texts of what level of complexity can be memorized with the help the GMS®? Here, I would like to digress… Yesterday, I visited a website devoted to speed reading and memorization technique and found some interesting ideas.

According to the words of the site’s authors, GMS® teaches you to memorize information which is not logically connected (lines of words, lines of numbers, and syllables). The site recommends that you use other methods if you need to memorize texts. It maintains that the GMS® is inappropriate for memorizing texts, as they contain logically connected information - and the GMS® teaches you to memorize information which is not logically connected. Such is the logic of the authors of the site.

In other words, the authors of this site use methods for memorizing texts which are not based on GMS®. This means they teach memorization of texts via training speed reading or via analysis of the inner structure of a text; in other words, they employ methods which are much less effective than GMS®.

I’d like to ask the authors one question: “How can a person memorize a text with large amounts of exact information if he cannot memorize this exact information?” Logically, before learning to memorize an entire text, a person would learn to memorize the numbers, exact dates, surnames and names, terms and titles, sequence of information, etc. in that text. Everybody knows from experience that, after reading a paragraph from history textbook, exact information is not often recalled.

How do representatives of pedagogical methods solve the conundrum of exact information within a text? As usual. There will be no exact information in the texts (very short ones) used for training. Further, methods of testing (answers to the questions) obviate the necessity of memorizing the sequence of paragraphs.

Furthermore, the authors of the site have separated voice information from visual information (visual images). In their opinion, methods for memorization based on memorization of visual images are completely inappropriate for memorizing textual (voice, logical) information.

To my mind, you don’t have to be a psychologist to understand that natural memorization of text is based on visual images. It is obvious. A person understands and remembers a phrase thanks to the mechanics of re-creative imagination. The words on the phrase reflexively call into one’s imagination the images - and these images join together under the influence of spatial operators of speech (prepositions, endings, verbs, etc.). The mechanism for the memorization of texts is the same one used for memorization of a random sequence of numbers and other exact or precise data. Moreover, there really is no other mechanism can do it all.

If anybody thinks that science can not explain the processes of memory mechanisms, I suggest they visit our website and read our GMS Manual®. (chapter titles “Memory Mechanisms.”)

The GMS® allows one to memorize texts of any level of complexity.

With the GMS®, teaching a student how to memorize textual information proceeds as follows:

First, you acquire basic memorization methods and the technique for memorizing the most widespread types of information (historical dates, exact dates, surnames and names, terms and notions, constants – everything you could come across in the textual material of a textbook). Simultaneously, we train you to increase your stability of attention along with formation of memorization skill (the ability to encode information into images quickly and record these images in the brain).

After acquisition of the basic methods of memorization and formation of elementary memorization skills, you can start learning the technique for memorizing texts.

Initially, students are taught to memorize the sequence of short extracts of textual information which do not include exact information. Training at this stage includes great number of anecdotes (tens and hundreds of anecdotes reproduced in strict sequence and even by numbers).

Now, we train our students to memorize short extracts of textual information containing large amounts of exact information. This encyclopedic information is also called factographic information. Strict criteria for the quality of memorization of these texts are observed. A student must recall 30 encyclopedic extracts sequentially and without hints and, meanwhile, reproduce all of the exact information in each extract along with its sequence in the extract. In GMS®, incorrect reproduction of the sequence of information is considered to be a mistake. For instance, if during the recollection of chronological chart, you changed the sequence of two dates, these two dates are counted as two mistakes.

Next, we teach you how to memorize short texts (of approximately one typewritten page). The texts of high complexity (large amounts of exact information) are chosen deliberately. For instance, they are similar to extracts from history textbooks, heavy in content with specific dates, geographical names, surnames, etc.

Subsequently, we teach you how to memorize texts of normal length (paragraphs of a textbook).

The technique for memorizing the textbook as a whole is discussed separately. One variant is reviewing for an exam. In that case, detailed memorization of the text is not employed. The main focus is to systematize in the mind the materials of the whole textbook and its main statements. It is assumed that, during the school year, the student memorized separate paragraphs qualitatively.

The technique for memorizing the content of lectures, reports, and speeches is also discussed separately. In such cases, it is supposed that lecturers (teachers) quite well know the content of their lectures. The main focus for memorization of the lecture, then, is to fix in the memory the sequence of the material to be reproduced during the lecture along with the sets of exact information to be used while giving the lecture.

As you can see, the technique for memorization of textual material is one of the main focal points of the GMS®. Since demand for the above-mentioned techniques is quite high, they have been thoroughly researched and tested.

Is word-for-word recall possible? Word for word? Criteria for evaluating the quality of memorization of texts using GMS® do not ask word-for-word recollection. The recounting textual material is done in your own words but with the obligatory observation of the sequence of the paragraphs in the text and all exact information within each separate paragraph. Text can be memorized word-for-word, but in my opinion, that is the waste of time. What real purpose does it serve to learn the material in a history textbook by heart, word for word. We teach word for word memorization only so our students can memorize text on foreign language.

In psychology, there is the concept known as frustration. Let’s say your friends call you and say, “Set the table with a grand feast; we are coming to visit! We’ll bring presents.” What do you do? You hurry to the market, buy groceries with your last few dollars, spend hours cooking delicious food… and are waiting for your guests. Now… what if nobody shows up? Imagine the feeling you have. It is called frustration. Now, imagine hours of studying… only to forget all the vital information you need for a test or interview? Frustration… it CAN be avoided.

All methods for teaching the techniques of memorization of text are proven to be effective and work well. Each method has its certain tasks and criteria for evaluation of the quality of teaching. If you do not want to be frustrated by the memory courses, learn in detail what the method of teaching will be, the level of the complexity of the texts to be used in exercises, and the criteria for evaluating the results of teaching/evaluate how well you have learned. Then, compare this information to see how it suits your memorization needs.

We are the only company in memory improvement field that guarantees that you will be able to memorize entire books after completing the course.