How to Retain Memory for Long Durations?

Preparing for the UPSC civil services exam is unlike any other exam. Candidates have to cover the impossibly large UPSC syllabus and recollect all that they have learnt from textbooks and newspapers on the exam day. Although cramming up such facts helps only to a limited extent, the memory still plays an important role in the IAS Exam. Even if the answers you write should be the result of critical thinking and analysis, you do need to be able to remember some basic facts and data about the topic in question. 

This article will give you tips on how you can retain your memory for longer periods.

Ways to retain memory for a longer duration

Human beings don’t forget some basic things like the alphabets or numbers from 1 to 10, or even some facts like the name of the Prime Minister of India. This is because this sort of information is well-stored in the memory in an organised fashion. In addition to that, these facts are frequently heard or repeated. Apart from that, you might have noticed how you can remember certain lines of a song without even trying to remember while no matter how hard you try, some lines of a textbook always elude you.

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If you apply some of the points mentioned in the previous paragraph, you can successfully retain what you read in textbooks for a much longer duration. Three things are needed for this purpose:

1. Storing in an organised fashion
2. Repetition
3. Interest (motivation)

First of all, when you study, you must do so in an organised manner. Chart out a plan in the beginning and follow that. Don’t pick out random topics and study. Have a schedule for each subject. Make separate notes for each subject and keep your notes categorized and in an orderly manner. Haphazard notes will confuse you.

The manner in which you read is also important. It is suggested that your first reading of a topic should be light and fast. In this reading, read for the sake of understanding and appreciating a topic. Underline all the important words or phrases. Don’t try to learn anything by rote. Then, after a gap of about 8 days, commence your second reading of the topic. This time, you should go deeper and more importantly, try to form questions that can come for the exam. Try to understand the topic from several angles. Invest more time for the second reading. The third and subsequent readings will form the revision of the topic. This kind of repeated reading will ensure that you remember what you read for a much longer duration.

Some of the other tested and proven methods of memory retention are:

1. Discuss what you have learnt with your peers: After you are done studying you can have a discussion about certain topics that will be in turn interesting for your peers and in the process having a discussion will help you remember have much you have learnt 
2. Understand when you will be attentive: Individually speaking, every human being will be better focused at certain times during the day. It varies from person to person. Your mind is better focused during certain times of the day. This is different for every person. Understanding when you’re most attentive will help you determine your optimal study times.
3. Focus on one subject at a time: Some subjects require an extreme amount of focus to fully remember them. Jumping from subject to subject will dilute your efforts and consequently limit your ability to retain the information. Avoid this habit at all cost.
4. Take a break at regular intervals: It’s difficult to fight the impulse of rushing through the material, but the outcome of this habit is limited retention. Rather than reading your study materials from beginning to end, absorb it in small chunks, pause to reflect and review the concepts, then move on.
5. Take notes: Writing uses a different part of the brain than reading. This means that when you take down a few brief notes that help in remembering what you have studied. 

Conclusion

Your interest and motivation levels will decide your ability to recall all that you have learnt. Anytime you feel demotivated or disheartened by the amount of studying you have to do, remind yourself of your dream. If you really want to crack the IAS exam and become an IAS officer, you will naturally feel inclined to read more and with utmost concentration. This will ensure good recall.

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