another boy who lived

19th February 2012

Question with 3 notes

obscuredbeauty asked: Regarding a mind palace: Do you have any tips for a first timer doing it for an exam? I've read your detailed post about it, but I'm not sure how to fit an entire subject into one room? Also, I'm not sure how one image/object can trigger pages of text from a book? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks xx

Firstly, you look so much like my sister in picture that I had to do a double take.

Anyway - I do hope I’m not too late for you!

Evidently I may be rather useless as I’m so late in my reply, but give yourself as long as possible between laying the triggers and the exam, so by the time you’re sitting in the exam hall it’s almost boring to go through everything. I’d say at least a month with a review every day; if you have a look through the ‘How to build a mind palace’ tag I detailed the different levels of reviewing for someone else.

Do not under any circumstances follow my example and try to place triggers the night before the exam. This was horribly stupid and may be proved as such when my grades arrive in a few weeks; if I’m experienced with this stuff I dread to think how badly you could do if you copy my behaviour.

In terms of fitting a subject in one room, hopefully the following will answer that, but if not then do let me know.

It doesn’t trigger the ability to ‘view’ the page from the book (that would be ridiculous); what I meant by that was that it triggered the information covered over a few pages of the textbook - the bullet points, if you like. And it works because one object leads to your association and that leads to all the things surrounding that. So with an essay subject your trigger will lead to your main association then an argument which counterpoints it, and an argument which counterpoints that, and so forth. I know it sounds complex but trust me - it’s far simpler than it sounds. Just give it a go and you’ll see what I mean.

Tagged: askvodka-barbieHow To Build A Mind Palace