Memory - doomed to failure?

As results day draws near I'm getting more and more worried.

My problem throughout my school life in exams has always been memory. No matter how hard I try to learn things, they just don't seem to stick.

Up to the exams, I started revising ages before. Going through the entire syllabsuses, revision guides, writing and rewriting my own complete sets of notes, but when it comes to the day before the exam, I cant remember a bit of it, or at least only vague bits of it.

Normally I can remember what I need a bit before the exams, so I had to basically relearn everything the night before in order to get through them, not an easy task.

When it comes to working out things and such, I can usually be quite good. My best area tends to be computers, because I can experiment with them and dont need to remember every little thing. Also, with computers, I can remmeber quite a lot and I believe this to be because when I work things out, it makes sense to me, so I remember it.

The problem is, in school, nothing is explained. You are basically expected to memorise specific quotes from the text book or teacher, and use them to answer questions. The background information is unimportant. Knowing why something is something is 'not meant for GCSEs'. So I suffer as a result.

It correlates to what I recently read in the newspaper saying how these days, schools tend to teach you 'how to pass the exam' rather than the subject itself. Indeed, some tests showed that some people didn't actually know the subjects in depth, only the answers to questions they were expecting to come up. I dont know if that is the situation for others, but it certainly seems that way for me.

I've always found it unfair, that I spend ages revising and trying (and failing) to do well while there are some people, at least at my school, that put in 0% effort in school and at home, yet can remember everything - and they do well.

Coursework has helped, and at least from what I know, I've done well with it, because you dont need to remember everything all in one go, and you can reference things, take time over it and such. But the exams seem to be just one big memory test.

It seems if you have a bad memory, you are ruined for life, as I am :frown:

I probably wont even be able to go on to do the A-levels I wanted to, because my grades wont be high enough.

I would love to be like some of the people that can just take in facts, and remember them. Memorise pages and pages instantly, and be able to recall them word for word.

If you have a good memory, consider yourself lucky. I would do anything to have a good memory :frown:

Is there any hope at all for me or even people like me? I've payed close attention throughout school, worked hard, tried to be organised but to no avail.

It doesnt help the fact that when I am under stress and worried, such as in exams, my memory freezes up even more.

Does anyone else find this, or am I alone? Is there any hope?

I apologise for the long post, it was not originally intended to be this long.

Reply 1

smudger99

you dont sound like you are unintelligent so for number 1 i think that u are worrying a bit too much. i honestly think that you will probably do better than what you are anticipating for the pure fact that you have concerns over your efforts. what a levels do you want to take and what grades do you need to study these?

Reply 2

Nightowl

I totally understand your concern, I think alot of people including myself suffer from a bad memory. I can remember all too well nights before exams going through work at 10 o clock at night thinking "I don't remember that" but as long as you have revised, there is nothing to worry about. The exams were not designed to trick us, they tried to help jog our memory. As Smudge said, you certainly don't sound unintelligent. I think you are stressing too much about this, as practically everyone else is, but we must do our best to distract yourself from thinking about it, for example I've started playing squash, walking the dog and bicycling.

What I'm trying to say, relax, as long as you put in the 100% effort which is plain to see that you did, that WILL show in these exams. Good luck.

Ps. Welcome to the boards!

Reply 3

Pixelated

I can sympathise; I have had that problem also. Perhaps, not to such an extent whereby I would fail to get into 6th form, but I feel my memory is probably going to be my demise, one way or another. I agree that teachers (at least in state schools) teach their pupils how to pass an exam, as opposed to teaching them the ins and outs of the subject; which is frustrating for me. It's unfair that some people, who have photographic memories, can just waltz into an exam, with next to nothing in terms of preperation/revision, and walk out with an A*.
What really annoys me is when people put forward the argument, "people who gain A*'s with no revision, are naturally clever". This makes me feel like a complete dunderhead, which I'm not. The GCSE exams test one's understanding of what they have learnt over a two year period. They are a measure of how teachable one is. A good memory is becoming key nowadays, with the mutation of exams.
Anyway, I totally agree with you, TotallyFearful :p:

but unfortunately there isn't much we can do to change GCSEs at the moment. :frown:

Reply 4

chazzinio

mind maps are great for remembering things: where remembering one thing triggers off the memory of another related thing and so on. worked so well for history

Reply 5

Nightowl

chazzinio

mind maps are great for remembering things: where remembering one thing triggers off the memory of another related thing and so on. worked so well for history