• YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page

horrible memory... (1 Viewer)

potatoe456

New Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2024
Messages
7
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
random topic i dont think ive seen anyone talk abt this before but i have such bad memory when it comes to recalling content. ive only seen this affect me recently with ext 1 maths when i kept having to see the solution to the same types of questions over and over again and when i would keep referring to my notes and the content after reviewing it numerous times ive noticed that i have to take way longer than my classmates to revise content simply because i just cant remember things. there's only sm repetition i can do, im started to get worried with hsc right around the corner how the hell would i fix this?
 

iloveeggs

Active Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2023
Messages
303
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
random topic i dont think ive seen anyone talk abt this before but i have such bad memory when it comes to recalling content. ive only seen this affect me recently with ext 1 maths when i kept having to see the solution to the same types of questions over and over again and when i would keep referring to my notes and the content after reviewing it numerous times ive noticed that i have to take way longer than my classmates to revise content simply because i just cant remember things. there's only sm repetition i can do, im started to get worried with hsc right around the corner how the hell would i fix this?
why are you memorising for math? genuine question i just dont get it. ive never had to memorise anything for a test before.

you dont need to memorise question types and approaches to questions if you know your content. understand the theory behind why theorems, formulae etc. are the way that they are. and then spam questions. there really are no shortcuts to maths apart from repetition im afraid. and you dont actually don't have to do the same kind of question multiple times, but just do a few really thoroughly - e.g. find hard questions, write out every step of working and keep the question somewhere in a book or smth. yes its okay to refer back to this book or whatever but over time as you've referred back to it so many times it should just come to you, meaning you have to work on topics continually and not just leave it alone once you've finished learning that topic.

you're in year 11, so currently prelim adv and e1 maths? ik it might not sound believable but you genuinely have a lot of time to your hsc. i know what its like to comprehend things slowly (im a slow ass thinker too) but it gets better the more you practice and then it just becomes intuitive. you can get better, and you wont flop your y12 bc you think slow, but unfortunately that just means you have to put in hard work into maths until it gets better.
 
Last edited:

liamkk112

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2022
Messages
967
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
random topic i dont think ive seen anyone talk abt this before but i have such bad memory when it comes to recalling content. ive only seen this affect me recently with ext 1 maths when i kept having to see the solution to the same types of questions over and over again and when i would keep referring to my notes and the content after reviewing it numerous times ive noticed that i have to take way longer than my classmates to revise content simply because i just cant remember things. there's only sm repetition i can do, im started to get worried with hsc right around the corner how the hell would i fix this?
i’d recommend understanding what gives rise to the formula/method rather than memorising it. eg for ext 1, for drawing sqrt(f(x)) you don’t need to explicitly remember that the graph will be bigger for f <1 and smaller for f > 1, all you need to see is that taking a square root of a number less than 1 is going to give you something bigger than that number. hence when drawing the graph, you need to make the graph bigger when f is less than 1. that’s a super simple example but you shouldn’t need to cram the information of how to draw the graph, if you can follow the logical steps then there’s no need to do much memorisation and you can “derive” most of the results from things just making sense. additionally if you are applying formulas over and over again you will likely not forget them. so instead of memorising stuff like geometric series sum, do more geometric series questions and you’ll both memorise the formula and get better at geometric series.

also formula sheet exists for ext 1, so you don’t necessarily need to remember every detail (i always forgot products to sums so i just used the reference sheet every time to double check)
 

cossine

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
627
Gender
Male
HSC
2017
random topic i dont think ive seen anyone talk abt this before but i have such bad memory when it comes to recalling content. ive only seen this affect me recently with ext 1 maths when i kept having to see the solution to the same types of questions over and over again and when i would keep referring to my notes and the content after reviewing it numerous times ive noticed that i have to take way longer than my classmates to revise content simply because i just cant remember things. there's only sm repetition i can do, im started to get worried with hsc right around the corner how the hell would i fix this?
consider seeing a doctor
 

potatoe456

New Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2024
Messages
7
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
why are you memorising for math? genuine question i just dont get it. ive never had to memorise anything for a test before.

you dont need to memorise question types and approaches to questions if you know your content. understand the theory behind why theorems, formulae etc. are the way that they are. and then spam questions. there really are no shortcuts to maths apart from repetition im afraid. and you dont actually don't have to do the same kind of question multiple times, but just do a few really thoroughly - e.g. find hard questions, write out every step of working and keep the question somewhere in a book or smth. yes its okay to refer back to this book or whatever but over time as you've referred back to it so many times it should just come to you, meaning you have to work on topics continually and not just leave it alone once you've finished learning that topic.

you're in year 11, so currently prelim adv and e1 maths? ik it might not sound believable but you genuinely have a lot of time to your hsc. i know what its like to comprehend things slowly (im a slow ass thinker too) but it gets better the more you practice and then it just becomes intuitive. you can get better, and you wont flop your y12 bc you think slow, but unfortunately that just means you have to put in hard work into maths until it gets better.
idk more like memorising specific frequent qs or like proofs or details and tricks said by the teacher is what rlly slips my mind
 

iloveeggs

Active Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2023
Messages
303
Gender
Female
HSC
2025
idk more like memorising specific frequent qs or like proofs or details and tricks said by the teacher is what rlly slips my mind
do you get the same kinds of questions again and again in an exam? or do they ask for particular proofs? if you KNOW thats going to happen why not just do more questions/proofs like that for revision so you get practise and you eventually wont need to memorise it? i think @liamkk112 puts it better:

you shouldn’t need to cram the information of how to draw the graph, if you can follow the logical steps then there’s no need to do much memorisation and you can “derive” most of the results from things just making sense. additionally if you are applying formulas over and over again you will likely not forget them. so instead of memorising stuff like geometric series sum, do more geometric series questions and you’ll both memorise the formula and get better at geometric series.
and what they said about formulas still applies to frequent q's. for example, if you know that for extension 1 you will commonly get a multiple choice question asking to find the equation of a polynomial from a graph, try to understand how the graph relates to the equation (the zeroes of the equation are x-intercepts, constants of eq are y intercepts etc.) and then do a bunch of questions with graphs asking to find the equation.

also btw you don't need to write down certain reasoning things word for word. you can sort of paraphrase as long as its still correct.

if you truly need to rely on memorising question types and tricks thats an indication you don't understand the concept i reckon. or you just dont get enough revision and you tend to forget smth when you don't use/recall that info enough. it happens to me too, for example when i was revising for trials i realised some prelim content was completely erased from my mind, and that was my fault bc i wasn't revising properly.

consider seeing a doctor
this too, adhd and things like that can make it difficult to remember things. if it's truly not like an issue with your revision or whatever and the memory issues apply to all areas of your life you should get it checked out
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top