Midterm Studying :(

Studying for midterms is a major drag. There is so much information, and you really have to look it all over again, or else you will miss something. But luckily, when you do look it over, it is part of relearning, the easiest type of retrieval. So basically, the first time I tried to memorize the Bill of Rights in US History, it took some time, perhaps 10 minutes. But when I looked at the Bill of Rights again while I was studying, I was not able to recall all 10 parts right away. However, I was indeed able to look over the 10 parts again, and this time it only took me 5 minutes to memorize them.

Within my mid-term studying, I use retrieval cues that I had used while studying for my tests during the year. So when remembering the steps to writing a DBQ essay in history, I use the mnemonic "PERSIA." PERSIA stands for political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, and artistic. These are the categories by which to remember how to go about inserting outside knowledge into DBQ essays.

But as I know from last year, once I get into those midterms I have major retrieval failure. First off, there are all those terms I want to insert into my essays, but I cannot quite remember the term. I know what I want to say, but the associations in my head are not quite strong enough, and the tip of the tongue phenomenon prevents me from being able to get that information onto the paper (What was the name of that guy from Kentucky? He lived in a log cabin; big time abolitionist; 16th President of USA. Can't remember...).

And retrieval failure also comes in the form of proactive and retroactive interference. Since I am studying so much for all these finals, and I am having to go back and look at earlier things while still trying to remember the newer things, my mind gets confused. So on the test, I have proactive failure when the old material prevents me from remembering the new material, and I have retroactive failure when the new material prevents me from remembering the old material (Who was the 1st President of the USA - was it Grant or Washington?)

Midterms are evil. Can't wait until Thursday.