Before I start listing off all of this wonderful studying info, I would like to bring to your attention that you CAN email me ( [email protected] ) (or the Send Me Stuff page) your own study methods/tips! You get full credit! If you want to email me some tips, include your name PLEASE!!! It is all I am actually going to ask for. If you have an email you could but don't have to include that, but please... no more information than your email, name, age, website if you have one and would like to advertise it here but NO MORE than that! If it isn't appropriate, please don't send it.
Here's a Link
I don't know if this works yet, but I found a memorization website I was surfing around and I signed up for a newsletter. Just yesterday, I was sent a link about memorizing the Bible. Again, I don't know if this works since I didn't use it last year and haven't had the chance to use this link yet but hey! Here you go: http://youcantbeatme.com/improveyourmemory/articles/memorizing_the_bible.php?name=Maegan&utm_source=memorizeme2&utm_medium=email&utm_content=e12
One more thing: I do not post these like God would strike you down if you didn't do them, or even read it all. You do not HAVE to do anything on this site! You have freedom of choice so USE IT!
Study Methods.
1. Read it
Yeah, it's what EVERY rookie tries to do to memorize... even if all they are going to memorize is the key verses. By the end of the year you figure out it gets kind of plain studying like this. This is actually the best method, though, for quiz meets. This way, all you have to carry around is the text and its less stressful.
2. Highlight your hard parts!
Thanks to my soul sister Patricia! Love you! Basically, you highlight or outline all of the areas you have trouble with memorizing so you remember what you need to study the most, and when your friends are practice-quizzing you, they can help you with where in the verse you are having troubles with, its really hard to notice where you go wrong on your own.
3. Make a timeline
Kind of self-explanitory, but let me explain. You either take a piece of paper or open your computer's word processor and type the order of events in each chapter. It may look like this:
Luke Chapter 2:
Census, baby, shepherds, dedication, Simeon, Anna, offering, Passover, Jesus in the temple.
Or it could look like mine, with all of the verses when all these events are happening.
4. Do your 'homework'
Where you take quizzing, your head coach or whatever its called should have given you the option of buying a workbook. Did they? If so, take the opportunity and buy the workbook! It helps more than you could ever imagine. Plus, in the back there should be a pre-meet review section to help you make sure you know what you are doing before you go quiz. I would recommend doing this section the week before, and after every study session put your text away and after a 5-minute break go back and try to fill in the questions you couldn't answer.
5. Copy it out
It actually helps to copy the material out... especially your trouble spots. If you go back and double-check it the parts you mis-typed will be easier to quiz in since you paid just that little bit more extra attention to it. Think you're too smart for copywork? Try to type it out without the text in front of you. And while you're at it, go recite for your coach and get a pretty certificate.
6. Audio
Patricia, thanks again!!! What Patricia has suggested is that either you get your hands on an audio version of the book(s) you are studying, or for a lower price, record it yourself! That way, you can study in disguise, through your mp3! It helps so much, because according to Patricia, you can sort of hear it inside your head during the quiz (no mp3's in the quiz, sorry! lol She means mentally) and even if you can't remember the audio kind of fills in the blank.
7. Motivational Questions
This is my fav! It is kind of fun if you think about it. If you have a timed flashcard set online, great! If not here's a link:
Luke: http://www.flashcardmachine.com/392649/6tg7
Corinthians: http://www.flashcardmachine.com/520884/p6d1
John: http://www.flashcardmachine.com/891179/5q5v
Now, what you do is you find something you can do that you HATE!! Got it? I use push-ups or situps. Choose something you will do but hate to (or just don't like to) ... had to change your mind? Thats fine! Anyways, you go to your flashcards and set them to go off after 30 seconds after the flashcard is shown. For every error put a mark on a piece of paper. For every mark on the paper, add a certain number of that exercise to your plan, 5 push-ups. This idea came from dancing... a few years back every time we made an error we'd have to put a tick on a chalkboard and for every tick everyone had to do 5 extra crunches at the end of class... it was painful but it worked! Some things you could use are: push-ups, jumping jacks, jump rope, even math problems if you want. If you want to be more strategic, you can study a few more minutes or (if you really want to be intense) copy another chapter of the text for every check.
WARNING!!! DO NOT try the above method using intense physical activity if you would get hurt, use something less physically challenging if you need to. Also, DO NOT use anything that could injure you. PLEASE no cutting, hitting or physically harming yourself! Use this method at your own risk!
8. First Verse Highlighting
This one was from Amy from Southgate, and she's in grade 12. Thanks Amy! What Amy did was highlighting the first verse in each paragraph with a bright colored highlighter. The example she gave ws from Luke 1 (Bold would be highlighted):
1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years. 8Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
If you get a chapter verse reference question, you can remember what verses were highlighted and think if it was, say, verse 7, you would know it was in between verses 5 and 8, which were highlighted.
This must work very well, our team quizzed against hers I think twice at one of the meets, and I remember calling her the Chapter Verse girl... I have a hard time with names! Thanks again Amy!
9. Act it out! (This one works better for the letters, because they are like very long monologues)
Okay, so maybe its just because I am a theatre junkie, but this helps me a lot. Go somewhere with a mirror and a door you can close. Maybe put a sign up asking people to knock or lock the door. Then, grab your quizhelper or Bible, or printed pages, or I guess anything else that might have the material on it. Go through the entire material (or maybe just your trouble areas) over-dramatically! This helps you remember what you said after whatever was in the question (and maybe even how!). If you're boring, you can always not be dramatic and stuff, but that's... ya know... boring.
10. Keyword Verses
In the quizhelper, there should be a keyword (words that only appear once) index in the back. Take the list, and look at the first word on the list. In Corinthians it should be abandoned, at 2 Corinthians 4:9. Find the verse listed, and copy out the word, the reference and the verse. I find it helps to underline the word. In quiz meets, if you miss a keyword you are called wrong, so its good to remember where all the keywords are and what the keyword are, so you won't have a 'wow I was off by one word' moment, especially if the two words meant the same thing.
11. Flashcards.
Making them is a great way to study, but if you just want to use them, the link to the ones I made are here:
Luke- http://www.flashcardmachine.com/392649/6tg7
Corinthians- http://www.flashcardmachine.com/520884/p6d1
John- http://www.flashcardmachine.com/891179/5q5v
12. Crossword Puzzle!
I am currently working on a keyword crossword so hang on tight! If you want to make your own, the clue is either the verse that it's in, or the surrounding words.
13. The Famous 'Cranium-Cracker'
Did you know that the cranium is the part of the skull that encloses the brain? And you know that sound that you heard when you tripped on your own feet and broke your right foot? What? I'm alone on that one? Whatever. What I think of doing is putting the words into my brain until I can HEAR my cranium crack. So for every verse, I read it, then think really hard about it for a few seconds, then see if I can write it down. If I can't, I didn't really put it in there. This works cause I never acually hear the crack! Typical. Boo :o(
14. Reference-less Keywords.
Another tip sent in!!! This time from Josh on Southgate 1. What Josh suggested is putting all of the keywords in the text so far onto a document without the references, and studying keywords that way. This way, you have a list of keywords, but only the ones you've studied so far, and no references, because at quiz meets they do not give you references on key word questions... sadly. But if they did, it would be way too easy.
15. Say it like a RAPPER!
Okay, so I bet you've heard a rap song where they talk so fast you can barely understand a single word they say, right? And if you haven't, you've heard Larry the cucumber sing about his lips. In fact, if you're from WCD, you've probably heard Jon sing about Larry's lip dilemma with the fire department and Oscar and 'ousta!' Well, how well do you think these people have to know their scripts or lyrics to say it that fast? Do you see where this is going? This is really fun... you have your book in front of you and you see how fast you can say a portion of the text. By the time you get it to warped speed, you've spent a lot of time on your trouble areas and its pretty much stuck in there! Happy rapping!
16. First letters
Okay, so this tip is helpful for word-perfection... its practically copywork (this tip works best in mainly trouble spots) except you only write out the first letter fo each word. For example, John 1:1 would be I t b w t W a t W w w W a t W w G. It would be a lot easier to memorize the first letters than the words directly if you're stuck. Just remember to read it as "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" and not the letters. Read (and think) the verse, but write out and visualize the first letters.
17. Do Re Mi
All through my years in AWANA, I had all of my verses memorized and recited on time. Why? Because I had a tape with all of the verses in the form of short songs. Musically driven quizzers qill most likely benefit from taking their trouble sections and turning them into short songs. Don't want to put the effort in? Search the name of the year's book, NIV and songs, on Google and go to videos. You'll find some good ones there.
Study Tips
1. Stop when you need to
If your eyes start to close by themselves or you get to the point where you can't handle staying awake any longer, don't take drugs or something like that! Studying all night can be fun especially when done with friends or turned into a game or puzzle, but if you're going to fall asleep on your desk, wouldn't you be better off just going to bed?
2. Eat!
Keeping in mind that if you really want to do well you won't be snacking on liquoriche, bring some veggies or cheese or something to nibble on while you study, your brain needs fuel and you will be falling asleep after a few minutes without food (see above tip)
Choose foods high in Omega-3 and healthy fats. Some snacks I found that are supposed to be good are mangos, pomegranite, dark chocolate (in moderation), and of course, water.
3. Remove distractions
You have an annoying little brother? Lock your door and put on headphones. Phone constantly ringing? Turn the ringer off. Chatting with friends online is fine and won't be totally distracting as long as you can keep focused. Listening to music is the same deal. Don't call anybody on the phone, verbal communication keeps you from focussing on either your friend or your study material, and you don't want that to happen, do you? (This is not the case if somehow you found a way to buddy-study over the phone. If this is the case, you are amazing and haven't sent that tip to me yet. Send it to me. Please.) If you aren't focussed it will NOT turn out well.
4. Grab a buddy!
If you don't like studying, misery loves company! If you like studying, cheerfulness does too... I guess... Its fun to have a friend to laugh with at your complete blankness on a question you know you knew! If you have a friend, you guys can check eachothers review sections. Isn't that nice?
5. Keep On Keepin On
Okay, we ALL have trouble verses, or have a problem with SOME part of the text, wether we like it or not. Most of the time, we don't! But, thats okay. When you think you can't memorize your club verses, keep trying. Kinda like if you err out in a quiz. You're not gonna just go home, or stop jumping for the rest of the meet, are you? Keep trying, you'll get it!
6. NIV PLEASE!
WHENEVER you're reading the new testament, I don't care if its quizzing material or not, it might be future quizzing material. New King James John 3:16 is (apparently) the reason for so many 'darn-it-I-wish-I-hadn't-gotten-that-last-error' moments. NIV is your friend, people. You can read NKJ, but if you want to memorize something out of potential quizzing material, not a great idea.
7. Understand What You're Reading
1 Corinthians 1:(something... I hate references and could've looked this one up easily but I'm too lazy) says something about 'he chose the lowly things of this world, and the despised things, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are'. WHAT??? How do you nullify something? Sounds like a wrestling term 'And he just NULLIFIED him!!'. Do you know that to nullify is to declare invalid, or invalidate? (Come to think of it, some wrestling announcers COULD add that to their dictionary...) Once I looked that up, the verse was stuck in there.
8. Study ANYWHERE!
This tip from Josh from Southgate made me laugh, then I realised how great of a tip it is... especially for the type of people who suffer from studying withdrawal after a few hours. What? That doesn't happen? Wow... I must be wierd... anyways, Josh says he was billeting for a quiz meet once and saw that the super-quizzer that was living there had posted the material on the wall of his bathroom, presumably so he could study in the shower. He said that he figured out that if you laminate the text or put it in a plastic baggie, it works just as good. Thus proving that you can study anywhere and everywhere.
9. Be comfortable
If you want to jump up and down while you're studying, do it! If you want to lie in your bed, study in bed! Room too dim? Turn another light on! If you are focussing on how annoying being uncomfortable is, you won't get the material memorized... or it will be VERY HARD!
10. Be CONFIDENT!
I know what you're thinking. "Maegan... why are you posting about confidence in the STUDYING section of your site?". I'll tell you why. Because if you aren't confident that you can memorize what you want to memorize, and do well quizzing on it, you're not going to be able to memorize it as well or quickly, or maybe not at ALL. I don't kow if its a proven fact, but I know that when I study a hard chapter and think about it too much... I fail. If I don't feel like I can get away with quizzing on it, my brain shuts down. It took a loooong time for me to figure that one out, but I did.
11. Keep A Study Journal
I have an entire notebook (a fairly large one at that) completely dedicated to Quizzing this year. In the front few pages, I put the tips on this site and what worked for me last year, then some little motivational quotes (Troll: NERD! Me: Uh, yeah, you just figured that out?). Then I use the first 2 sections (there are dividers) for copywork and studying, the last section is my quiz meet and studying journal. What works for you? What doesn't? What bores you? What were you doing at quiz meets? What could be improved? Questions like that are what help you with studying, so write them all down.
12. Steer Away From Memory Suppliments
Unless your doctor gives you an okay, and tells you a correct dosage and perscription, DO NOT use memory suppliments. I have taken this into consideration, but after research, it can put you at risk for things you wouldn't have been even THINKING about otherwise.
13. Don't Over-Do It!
When Josh (Southgate 1) emailed me this tip, I got flashbacks from last years finals... which wasn't the best quiz meet of my life to say the least. I just HAD to post it! In his own words: "Don't let it take over *too* much (some obsession is essential though), or get too worried. At some point it eventually starts to work against you and one gets too obsessive and spends every waking hour worrying. Then one is a complete wreck at the quiz meet and convinced that one knows nothing 'cuz just a few of one's studying sessions weren't perfect. So just study as much as you can, and don\'t stress. (it sounds easy, eh? =P)"
So there you have it! Too much is too much! (Yeah yeah... I know... I sound like a total hypocrite, but that's why I QUOTED him... Stop laughing!)
14. Schedules=Awesome
So. I know I'm not alone with this one... but if I make myself a schedule and promise on a cup of apple cider that I'll stick to it, I usually do. What I just discovered is that I am much more productive in my studying if I choose my method ahead of time and give myself, say, an hour or an hour and a half to finish the week's flashcards, or 2 hours to underline my trouble spots and copy them out 3 times or something. I just started doing this... I used to just make a schedule for my day (as a homeschooler) and put studying in there, along with free time in case I was sick of studying and wanted options. Now, I'll schedule in flashcards, copywork, and study guide, and one or two other study methods, depending on how badly I need to study. It gives you a good idea of how much you really NEED to be studying and gives you a bit more structure to work with, in my opinion. If you don't want to go through and set a time to study, although I recommend it, I strongly suggest setting a timer for your studying. Usually 1 hour on, 10 minutes off is good for me. This also ensures that you get proper breaks and keep up with your every day life outside of quizzing... school IS important!