Dominic O'Brien Books

 

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How to Pass Exams

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Introduction

 

• Imagination is the key to developing a perfect memory
• A mnemonic is any device that aids memory.
• Association, Imagination and Loci or Location is the basic methods. 
• The more you practise, the clearer your images will become. The clearer your images, the quicker you’ll be able to generate them.
• Paradoxically, the more images you create, the greater the capacity you’ll have for storing them because your memory will rapidly become stronger, sharper and thirstier for more knowledge as it activates your mind and encourages a state of accelerated learning.

Speed Reading

• The art of reading is to skip juciously
• Fingerig, not mentally speaking the word, looking 3 word at a moment together, image making, Having a rhythm, avoid backtracking (thinking that I will come again to read this)

Note Taking Using Mind map

• Use creative imagination and association.
• Preparing Essays
• How can you write introduction to something you haven't yet written about? So plan the main body of your essay first- that way you'll guarantee an accurate introduction.
• Drawing up a plan really is the only way to start writing an essay.
• Blindly trudging off down the path of the first thing that enters your head can lead to imbalance, repetition, and a disjointed account. It also wastes you time and marks.
• HENCE MIND MAP is the tool for essay.

Memory

• Memory is the mother of all wisdom
• Head-to-head games such s chess, bridge, and scrabble and group games involving problem solving, lateral thinking or strategy are all excellent ways of challenging and stimulating thought process.

Imagination and Association

• It's not what you look, but what you see that matters. 
• Any effort should be directed toward training the visual side of our imagination.
• We define an object not by what it is but by what we associate it with.

Link Methods

• Colorful image, exaggeration, moving 
• Register correctly
• Clear image with all the possible senses
• be inventive and ingenuine 
• Have a background of story, not just sequence of actions.

Visualisation

• How can I remember 52 packs of shuffled cards (totally 2808 cards)

• This is the main reason why I use people to represent playing cards.  When I first started experimenting with memory systems I chose various household objects such as a chair, book or table as symbols for remembering  cards, but they all lacked that Brad Pitt factor. Not surprisingly, Brad Pitt is easier to remember than a kitchen table. People have their own distinct character; they are animate, versatile, react in certain ways to different surroundings, and you can interact with them in many more ways. A kitchen table, wherever it is, is still a kitchen table.
• It is people, then, who hold the key to memorising information – any information, whether it be a random sequence of playing cards, a complicated speech from a Shakespeare play, chemical formulae, historical dates or whatever key facts you wish to have at your fingertips when you walk into that exam.

The Journey Method

 

• So develop different journey's in your mind, as many of them.
• Like this your favorite movie, Computer game graphics etc can be used as journey method. Where you know the exact sequence of events.

The language of Numbers.

• Use peg system or Dominic system
• Dominic system: Each pair of digits, and there are 100 of them ranging from 00 to 99, represents a person to me, each one carrying out his or her own unique activity. 
• Once you have learnt your set of letters, you can start to pair letters together to form the initials of various people. Your cast should  include a rich mixture of friends, enemies, relatives, actors, singers, comedians, celebrities, cartoon characters and historically famous people. It’s not necessary to be able to form a vivid mental picture of each person, but a vague impression of a physical feature or characteristic action will greatly help.

• The best way to remember numbers is to breathe life into them by giving them an artificial meaning, a personality, a set of characteristics. 
• The DOMINIC System works like a dictionary, translating foreign, unintelligible digits into more meaningful, memorable images 
• Create your own cast of characters by drawing up a list from 00 to 99. Gradually fill in the names of people you associate with certain numbers, and make sure you highlight a unique characteristic action for each. 
• The language is easy, quick and fun to learn. You won’t need to travel abroad to pick up the lingo, as numbers are everywhere and, because you are in contact with them on a daily basis, you will have ample opportunity to practise and become fluent. 
• Once you are fluent – and it won’t take long – you will be able to start munching your way through huge chunks of numerical data with a degree of zeal. Just as anyone who has been studying French can’t wait to practice their new tongue in a Parisian café, so you, too, will relish the thought of absorbing history dates, statistics and figures. Once they were there to make you yawn and slow you down, but soon they’ll be a welcome  break.

Never Forget a Quotation

 

• The best books are those whose readers think they could have written them - Blaise Pascal 
• The best way is to “house” them all in a certain building or contained area in the same way that you will house foreign vocabulary in certain parts of town
• If you remember words produced from images rather than relying purely on the sounds made by your tongue, you will have a richer appreciation of the literature you are studying, longer retention of it and a greater, more significant comprehension of its meaning.

• The idea is to convert the first word of each line into a key symbolic image and then mentally “place” it along one stage of the journey.
• The key images act as guide ropes or stepping stones enabling you to steer a smooth course through each line from word to word. 
• Once the words have been transformed into tangible images, they too can be joined together using the link method, and anchored to their particular stage
• Summary
• Before committing literary material to memory, get to know the text thoroughly by:
1. taking an active role during reading
2. developing empathy with one or more of the characters
3. studying the interaction between characters
• To help identify the main plot and theme, imagine it all taking place in a familiar geographical setting, and use people you know to act as the characters portrayed. 
• Seek help from English literature guides, a dictionary of literary terms, critical essays and group discussions. 
• Learn some of the background of the author and the circumstances under which the text was written. 
• To memorise a section of a play, a poem or a prose text, choose a familiar walk or journey to lay down individual lines which will preserve the natural order of the text. 
• Use your imagination to translate key words or themes from a line into key mnemonic symbols 
• Then anchor these symbolic images along the various stages of your mental journey. 
• Use association and the link method to understand and remember the
• meanings of certain words or phrases that have either changed or are obsolete now. 
• You can reduce individual quotations into complex images and store them all in a familiar building, such as your local library or bookshop. 
• Above all, use the combination of association and location with your inventive imagination to lift the text from its two-dimensional linear form, and bring the words alive by animating the characters and making the scenery vivid.
• Other tips
• The method described above is particularly beneficial if you are an  actor.
• Put yourself in the shoes of each character. Imagine what it must be like for Hamlet. 
• You can also pinpoint the exact position of a line by a simple calculation. If you make a mental note of every fifth or tenth stage along the route, you will quickly be able to work out the number of any particular line.

The Easy Route to learning Languages

• For each language, choose a familiar city, town or village to house all the words of a basic vocabulary.
• Organise your town to accommodate different types of words by dividing it into distinct sectors or ghettos. Create separate gender zones for masculine, feminine and neuter words, choose the sports centre for action verbs, select the local park for adjectives, and so on.
• By using imagination and association, create a link between the foreign word and its English meaning and turn it into a mental image.
• Once you have formed your key image, file it away by mentally “placing” it in a suitable area of town. This will then act as a pictorial reference guiding you to and reminding you of either the English word or its foreign translation along with the correct gender.
• Continue to build your mental filing system by adding more key images as you spread them geographically throughout the town.
• One of the many advantages is the self-revising nature of this system. As the population of images increases in your town, so too do your memories of them. Each time you return or revisit your town you will be reminded of scenes and characters from the past. Vocabulary revision will begin to seem enjoyably nostalgic as you mentally saunter through your internal mnemonic world.
• Note
• Let’s take French, for example. If your town or village is, say, split down the middle by a main road or high street, then all masculine nouns could be placed anywhere to the east of the street and feminine nouns to the west. The road acts as an effective, although somewhat antisocial, barrier or cut-off point preventing the two genders from ever crossing each other’s paths.
• There’s no limit to the amount and type of information your town can hold. If  you’re having trouble remembering the days of the week for any language, then apply the link method by making up a short story that links one day to the next. 
• Conversely, if information isn’t processed properly and filed away neatly, then it hangs around in a sort of limbo, always showing its face and demanding your attention like an untidy desk piled high with unfinished business. 
• If it’s easier, you could use two or more cities to segregate the genders.

Mathematicks Tricks

• To study multiplication table convert number to peg systems and make a connection.
• Addition of several multiple digit number  => SUBTOTALING.
• sum each column and form a person peg,
• Each peg is then stored in path of sequential order.
• now perform calculation one by one.
• Other tips
• Rounding up or down of certain numbers before adding them then subtract. 
• With blindfold in place, ask someone
• How I counted 10 four digit number like a calculator without even seeing it.
• to write down ten single-digit numbers in a column whilst calling them out slowly at the same time. As you hear the numbers add them up, and when you arrive at the total, translate it into a person. Once you have fixed the first person in your head and in position on your house, ask your helper to move on to the second column of digits. With all four players lodged firmly as a picture in your mind, you can now announce to your audience that you are going to add up the numbers  in your head. As you prepare by reminding yourself of the images, tell your audience that you are quickly scanning through all the numbers, just to add to their bewilderment The key images are now perfectly positioned in your mind, allowing you to start slowly calling out the total from left to right as you carry out the last simple additions in your head for the tens of thousands column, the thousands column, the hundreds column and so on. Anyone watching will think that either you’ve got a photographic memory or you are a walking computer.

The Abstract World of Science

• Science is nothing but trained and organised common sense - Thomas Huxley. 
• The irony is that common sense can often mislead.
• Steps to study
• Approach: continue to use your common sens but be open minded to accept things out of your sense.
• Debate: Rather than blindly accepting answers just discuss with your friends and others.
• Question your teacher: "Where's the logic?, pleas explain, I didn't understand?"
• Be selective: Prioritize one or two area and leave the rest as time will always run out than content.
• Add Perspective: Search the background and linkage of the information.
• Remember scientific terms and equations
• create memorable images about any technical terms you might encounter.
• PV = nRT (Pregnant Virgin Never Reveal the Truth)
• Similarly symbols

How to Remember History Dates

• Mastering history requires three things
• Extensive reading 
• Analysis
• Imagination.
• Use a familiar location and people you already know to act as substitutes for the real ones.
• By supplying your imagination with people and places to act as links to key names, dates and events, it is really an incredibly simple task to fix important historical episodes firmly in your brain. Using this method will ensure that you have facts at your fingertips, filed chronologically and accurately, for deployment in exams to support the points you are making in your essays.
• When it comes to trying to remember facts, figures, dates and awkward names, mnemonics can play quite a role in history. Take the name Kerensky, for example. Although Kerensky was a man, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use a substitute such as Karen, someone you know, on a pair of skis. It doesn’t matter how you arrive at the name, just as long as the method works.
• I have to use all kinds of outlandish, crazy and unspeakable associations to remember them by.
• So crazy, in fact, that I can’t fail to remember them and so unspeakable that to reveal to certain individuals my associations would get me into serious trouble. So be inventive with your ideas, but keep them to yourself!
• Mastering Historical Jargon
• Oligarchy : Of Little people Government.
• Anarchy: Aana killed lion and declare jungle is free from government of any kind.
• Totalitarian: Total Control (form of government where government control everything)
• Autocracy: Autobiography of Crazy man (Hitler) who ruled whole nation by himself, never sharing power with anyone.
• Reactionary: the one who react to change (Granma)
• arche is Greek for rule. Once you know this you can unlock the meaning of several similar terms, such as matriarchy (rule by women) or patriarchy (rule by men). 
• Developing vocabulary is important, and choosing the right word to back up your arguments will impress your examiners and show that you have a good understanding of your subject. 
• Using simple association, and the DOMINIC System to translate dates into people, it’s possible to introduce a whole cast of interesting  characters, and bring a difficult subject to life. Who said learning history was dull?

Geographical Tips

• Analyse each specific country you study to a familiar village or town or place or room. Once you have designated a “place” for each country, you can start filing away facts and statistics by converting numbers into key people using the DOMINIC System. Choose a key image for each type of information or statistic, such as popcorn to denote population.
• To remember that the population of the Netherlands is 16 million, first transport yourself to the shopping mall and create an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger (AS = 16) handing out popcorn to crowds of fans.
• Use your own cast of personalities to represent the relevant numbers and don’t forget to create really way-out images to fix the data firmly in your mind.
• Capitals
• Approach the task in the same way as learning a foreign vocabulary.
• The trick is to find a link between the country and its capital by forming an exaggerated and memorable key image.
• Memorising List of Data
• To store a list of information in order, such as the largest oceans or deserts, the longest rivers, highest mountains, and so on, use either the journey method or the link method. 
• To remember the order, I would form a short journey along a familiar coastal route divided into ten stages. Next, I would reduce the name of each ocean or sea to a key image. My father would represent the Pacific (Pa), an atlas the Atlantic, an Apache for Indian, and an iceberg would remind me of the Arctic Ocean. 
• Statistics involving area, height, length and depth of the oceans and seas could all be accommodated by adding more images to the relevant locations.
• You will be able to memorise key data connected with whatever topic you are studying: development statistics, tectonic plate names, examples of climate variables, migration figures or demographic data such as countries’ GDPs, energy consumption figures or life expectancy.

A Brain for Economy/ Business

• Same method of linkage and association.

Mind over Media

• Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe: - Thomas Jefferson. 
• In media studies you learn to develop what’s known as critical  autonomy – in other words, thinking for yourself.
• The first thing to realise about the media is that it does not offer straightforward reflections of reality. What it actually provides are artificially created representations of reality.

ICT with Imagination

• what distinguishes the related fields of computing and of information and communication technology (ICT) from other areas of study is their extreme and sometimes quite baffling use of abbreviations and  acronyms. Listening to an ICT expert explain a computer problem to me is often like trying to take in the random lists of letters sometimes used for memory challenges.
• NATO Phonetic Alphabet, or international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, which was invented in the 1950s to make spellings intelligible to NATO’s allies. These words are well known and widely used, and memorable images can be formed from them.
• A Alpha
• B Bravo
• C Charlie
• D Delta
• E Echo
• F Foxtrot
• G Golf
• H Hotel
• I India
• J Juliet
• K Kilo
• L Lima
• M Mike
• N November
• O Oscar
• P Papa
• Q Quebec
• R Romeo
• S Sierra
• T Tango
• U Uniform
• V Victor
• W Whisky
• X X-ray
• Y Yankee
• Z Zulu

Giving A Presentation

• There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person - G.K. Chesterton 
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself: Franklin D Roosevelt
• Planning Your Presentation: MIND MAP.
• It’s important to gather as much information as you can before imposing an order on your presentation. If you commit yourself to a specific order straight away, you run the danger of continually backtracking, which will prolong the planning of your speech unnecessarily and may result in an imbalance of contents. 
• Once you have collated all the information and can “see” the extent of your speech, you are ready to apply some form of order to it. All you have to do is to number the key words as you run through the speech in your head.
• Remember that a good speech has a beginning, middle and end. The Mind Map will provide the body of the presentation, but it’s worthwhile spending time to prepare separately a colourful introduction and conclusion. Afterwards it’s usual to invite questions from the audience.
• Try practising your speech by talking to an imaginary audience and, if  you can bear to, make a recording of your own voice so that you can judge the delivery for yourself. The more you become accustomed to the sound of your own voice over several dummy runs, the easier and smoother it will be on the day.
• Don’t try to memorise your speech word for word – you’ll alienate your audience or even send them off to sleep. It is the spontaneity of your own thoughts and interpretations that people want to hear, and the key  words will keep you on track.
• Giving the talk from memory, i.e, no note
• If you are at the stage where all your key points are numbered, you are only one step away from total recall. All you do is translate the key points of your speech into associative key images and place these at various stages along a familiar route, using the journey method.
• Note
• I showed you how to memorise a Shakespeare soliloquy by reducing each line to one or more key images, and then depositing them at significant stages along a favourite walk or at various points on a golf course. The principle for memorising a presentation works in the same way, except, if anything, it’s a lot easier: you won’t have the added pressure of having to remember your lines word for word. You are, after all, supposed to be giving your own account, not somebody else’s.
• Whether you use flip charts, transparencies, slides or photographs, visual aids can greatly enhance a presentation. Finally, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use visual aids as memory aids themselves.

Planning Your Revision

• "The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled" - Plutarch. 
• when it comes to revising is to make a plan. It is vitally important that you organise a timetable to ensure that all the subjects you need to revise receive adequate attention. 
• Quantify the amount of work required for each subject. You must have some idea of the size of the task in hand before you can divide up your revision time, as some subjects will require more attention than others. Study the syllabus for each subject so that you know exactly what you are supposed to have covered, and get hold of past exam papers. 
• The ideal arrangement is to have short bursts of twenty minutes of concentrated study, followed by five minutes of rest or a complete change of activity. 
• If you have just been learning a new topic, the simple answer to when you should next review it is immediately; then 24 hours later, one week later, one month later, three months later and so on
• always adding a new review date at the end of each review session. Box off a section in the corner of your notes specifically for keeping dates. 
• It is very important to rotate subjects, for example by revising some biology, some geography, some maths and so on. That way you’ll maintain your interest with an element of contrast, rather than stagnating and getting bogged down in one subject. 
• Having devised your timetable, keep to it!

Stress Handling Exercises

• Lie on your back or sit comfortably in an armchair. 
• With your eyes closed, focus your attention on every muscle in your body, starting with your feet. As you work your way up, let go of any tension in those muscles until your whole body feels like a heavy, dead weight. Feel the tension go in your face muscles and let your jaw sag as it succumbs to the gravity. 
• With the rest of your body taken care of, you can now concentrate on your breathing, heartbeat, and any feelings of nausea caused by the anxiety of stress. 
• Breathe deeply and slowly, even though your heart may be pumping furiously. Now, using your imagination, try to translate whatever feelings of tension, pain and nausea you may have into an associative tangible image. For example, the occasional nauseated sensation I feel at the back of my throat I picture as a slow trickle of tiny, greyish pellets. Lower down in my chest they gather into a heaving mass of sticky, soot-covered ball bearings. Whatever your representation, imagine a hand gently dipping into your body, grabbing the offending objects and throwing them far away. Continue the process until most of the stress has been removed. 
• With your body relaxed, your breathing deep and your nausea reduced, conjure up an image of a place or person that gives you a peaceful, happy or relaxed feeling. This could be a scene from your childhood, a holiday location or a loved one. Latch on to that image, and try to immerse yourself in those pleasant feelings
• Now, slowly superimpose that pleasant picture on to the image of your anxiety. You might, for example, visualise walking into the examination room and seeing your loved one standing there. In my case, I use the scene of a quiet casino with a croupier standing at an empty blackjack table (that always gives me a good feeling!). But sitting on the table is not a pack of playing cards, but … a word processor, which normally represents  work, deadlines, accounts and other aspects of responsibility. By blending or mixing the two images together – one of happiness, the other of  anxiety – I am in effect neutralising the object of my fear. 
• Having stared my worst fears in the face and removed any bad feelings associated with them, I can now approach the job in hand in a completely relaxed, positive state of mind.