In high school, you have to learn how to write and remember essays. But when you have so many essays to plan, write, and memorise, it seems impossible.
You might have been told that memorising an essay is not good educational practice and in some ways this is true. However, a good deal of your education does involve remembering information and recall of a sound essay will certainly help you.
There’s no denying that it’s not easy to remember a large number of essays. But, just like with anything else, there are always methods to make the process easier and more productive.
Below are a few tips that will get you started:
Split it up
The length of an essay can average anywhere from 800 to 1200 words. It takes a lot of time and effort to try to remember the whole essay. You might not be able to remember it all even if you had all the time in the world. But you can make it easier if you break it down.
Usually, an essay is structured in three parts: an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Start by memorising the structure of the paragraphs while you reivew them. Having a great structure makes it much easier to remember what the essay is about as a whole. You can break it down even more by giving each topic sentence an example, an explanation, and how it relates to the thesis.
Read them before going to bed
Sometimes, it’s not hard to remember an essay. You just need to take advantage of how your brain works. This is a great tip if you put off writing your essay until the last minute.
You don’t have to waste time trying to remember it word for word. Instead, read it a few times, pay attention to the main points in each paragraph, and then go to sleep.
Studies have shown that while you sleep, your brain goes over what you just learned. Also, when you sleep, your brain is better able to remember things.
But you have to make sure that your last study session before bed is focused and that you don’t fall asleep.
Read, check, cover, and write.
This is another thing students do when they wait until the last minute to finish an essay. It’s more like learning by rote, which doesn’t work in the long run but can work for a short time. It will help you remember the essay quickly, which is exactly what you need right now.
Start by reading through a small section of the essay. Cover it, take a piece of paper and write it or say it aloud. Uncover the essay and check to see if you were right. Do the same thing with another part of the essay. Repeat the same steps until you can memorise the whole essay.
Use Keywords
Here’s another good way to get a lot done in a short amount of time. Mark each paragraph with a number and count how many sentences are in each one. Look at each sentence more closely and pick out a few trigger words that will help you remember it. Now, just try to remember the trigger words. You only have to remember 20 words per paragraph instead of 200.
It saves you time and makes sure that you learn more in less time. The catch with this tip is that you have to pick the right words that will be hard to forget.
Start Early
Most students wait until the last minute and then try to cram everything into their heads in one night. Your best bet is to start early.
Memorising something takes a bit of time. If you start early, you can make sure that the essay stays in your mind many times. By the time of the test, you’ll be able to remember the whole essay without having to spend hours trying to remember it.
Try writing the essay a few weeks before the test, just to be sure, and see how much you can remember. Spend as much time as you can thinking about it.
This advice also comes with a catch. You shouldn’t start too early. You’ll get tired of it and throw it away. You will have forgotten everything by the time you get to the test. Timing is very important. You should start studying early enough that you are in full gear with about a week to go before the test.
In summary
When trying to learn an essay by heart, it’s best to spend as much time as possible on it. Even though there are ways to remember things quickly, short-term memory is often not that reliable, especially when you are anxious or stressed.
Masterclass English College is experienced in English tutoring in North Shore. Talk to us about your child’s English learning goals and our English teaching method today.