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Learning an essay off by heart

Basically I need to learn an essay off by heart, but I am really struggling, I have until 11:00 tomorrow to learn it, so far I have tried:

-writing it out
-recording it onto my iPod

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

This is for an A2 exam so its important, the essay is quite good and I worked really hard on it so I am getting upset that I can't learn it, I feel like I'm letting myself down.

Reply 1

piiineapple

Think of the key words in each paragraph and they'll act as prompts.
Also, try and write the key sentence in a different colour, the evidence in another colour etc. etc. because colours are another memory prompt

Reply 2

Redpanda91

Is it Philosophy by any chance? My friends are doing their timed conditions Philosophy essays at the moment. You just need to remember the key points, there's no point trying to learn all of it off by heart, depending on the length. It can be done, it depends if you're good at learning things off by heart in general. For my Italian oral I've had to memorise 2 A4 pages of arguments and I did most of it the space of a few days, I listened to some music, learned a sentence or two, listened to some more music, then learned some more, and so on! I just gave myself really short, regular breaks and kept reciting it aloud to myself.

Reply 3

junglegirl

keep readin each sentence out to yourself. just keep repeating it aloud, llike your explaining it to someone.

Reply 4

Languagesfreak

Whatever you do don't try and learn it word for word.

Reply 5

Isabella___

Yeah think of one word of summary for each paragraph, then make a song or a rhyme with each word beginning with the first letter of each summary word in the appropriate order.
Other than that just write it out again and again, looking as little as possible.
And try to keep calm.
Why do you have to learn an essay anyways?

Reply 6

2009er

if its for a controlled language coursework, write little prompts in your dictionary, assuming your school lets you bring your own :wink:

Reply 7

keepoffthelawn

why not just learn the subject so you master it and then just write the essay based on your knowledge...

Reply 8

Azori

Just learn a couple of key points for each paragraph, and then the padding should come back to you as you write it, if not as long as you've got the key points down you should be able to explain them.

Reply 9

robotic_dancer

I did this for German last year, and almost got full marks. Although I did a paragraph a day...

Reply 10

meercatman

If I were you I'd just remember the relevant points. I did a little of that in preperation for my exams by making up rhymes that referred to the important sections I should include in various essays.

Spoiler

Reply 11

Katieloula

Learn the main points in bullet points, all I do, then just fill in the gaps when it comes to it, maybe remember a good intro and ending fully, but for r.e synoptic were just learning the main points inbetween and the intro and eval. :smile:

Reply 12

Sociallyanxious

I find that this helps a lot. OK read the first line out loud then close your eyes and say what you ust read, read the next line and then close your eyes and read that line and the first one together without looking.

This helped me memorize all my psychology notes :smile:

Reply 13

I~am~what~I~am

Ta everyone, might have overreacted just a bit, could remember most of it when I got up in the morning, and it went okay.
Good luck to everyone else whose got exams!