Link system

I had a history of illustration exam last week. I had to memorize lots of illustrators’ names, dates, historical events, magazines’ names, and illustrators’ characteristics. I was worn out even before I started to memorize because it was too much. There are lots of French and English illustrators, so it was hard to memorize. I was trying to find a way to memorize the information easier. I read chapter 7, memory, carefully. I realized that there are many different ways for effective memorization. Among them, I thought link system is the most suitable method for me. History of illustration exam includes lots of illustrations and historical events. I thought if I memorize look like pictures, sounds, and events, it will be easy.

First, I selected illustrators’ names and historical events I need to remember. I opened textbook and lecture notes on the desk and wrote down what I had to remember for the exam. After I wrote down all of the illustrators’ names and historical events, I could understand easier the information that I had to memorize.

Second, I created images and words that could be pictured that looks like or sounds like the abstract words and concepts. Illustrators have their own drawing styles, so I associated of illustrators and their drawing styles together. For example, J.C. Leypecker was an illustrator during World War I. When I reminded J.C. Leypecker, I thought battle field and homesick drawing. Another example is Walter Wiggers. Walter Wiggers is a representational illustrator during World War I. So, I memorized like W-Walter, W-Wiggers, I. Through this method, I could memorize French and England illustrators’ names easier.

Third, I visualized an absurd picture intersecting the images. Sometimes, I could not memorize some of illustrators’ names, although I tried to associate images and words. So, third step is a good way to remember something that I cannot associate. For example, Harvey Dunn was an illustrator that I had difficult to memorize. He usually drew women. I imagined his name, Harvey as harvest. Then, I imagined The Gleaners (1865) by Jean Francois Millet. In The Gleaners by Millet, there are lots of women who picked up crops. After I used these way, I could memorize Harvey Dunn easier.

I didn’t like memorization. I am not a native speaker. So, English was hard to me and memorizing English was much harder to me. However, through link system, I realized that memorization can be fun and easy. After I memorized with link system, I could remember for a long time even after the exam. Through this method, I took the exam successfully. I going to use this method for the next exam, too.



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