I know that lots of you are worried about how you are going to remember enough quotations for your literature exams in June. The answer is really simple: you need to form a new 10-minute-a-day habit. No matter how busy your day is, you can spare a few minutes to do this and those 10 minutes will be worth many hours of frantic cramming next May.
The best way to memorise quotations is to do it little and often. I am asking you to commit to spending 10 minutes a day memorizing just two quotations. If you can do that five days a week between now and the exams that’s 10 quotations a week. Keep recycling and relearning them, mixing up learning new quotations with revising the ones you have already learned. If you do this regularly every single day, you should have a solid knowledge of up to 200 quotations by the time the exams come round.
Create a habit
If you want this to work, you need to make it a habit. This means that you should pick a time and place that works for you and build it into your daily routine. Many people find the morning works best for them. Think about how you could use any areas of ‘dead time’ in your day. If you take the bus to school you could use 10 minutes of that time, for example. Once you have thought through your day and found a suitable time, stick to it like glue. You could even create a chart that you tick off every day when you have done your 10 minutes to act as a visual reminder.
Plan the method that works best for you
There are lots of different ways you can do this. Below are some suggestions. Think about how you best learn before settling on one to stick to. It’s best not to mix and match because what you want to do is set up a routine that you do automatically every day. It is also important that your resources are easily available at the time and place you choose.
Quizlet
This has the great advantage that a lot of quotations for our set text are already on our class page and it is easy to search for others. If you choose Quizlet make sure you download the app to your phone.
Make a revision card fan
There are blank revision cards in lots of different colours available in the classroom for you to use. Pick up a couple every day and add two new quotations to your fan. You can make different sets for different texts and organize them by colour for characters and themes. They are also easy to carry around with you. Use the reverse of the cards for notes about how you can use the quotation.
Create a notebook
A notebook is useful because it gives you plenty of space to annotate each quotation as you learn it. You can divide it into sections for your different texts.
Stick them on the wall
This is a good method if you like to study in your bedroom. One of my daughters was particularly keen– see above for a picture of her bedroom wall just before her exams. Some people even stick them round the bathroom mirror so they can combine their 10 minutes a day with brushing their teeth.
Which quotations should I memorise?
Pick killer quotations
What is a killer quotation? It is a quotation that encapsulates a character or theme or provides a vivid illustration of a key technique. For example, in the opening of The Sign of Four when Holmes says: “I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.”, it illuminates not only the restless, risktaking side of personality, but also hints at his vanity and sense of superiority to others.
What’s the best way to memorise quotations?
Different methods suit different people so here are some suggestions to try.
- Associate them with themes and characters
- Create a visual image to go with the quotation
- Cover the quotation up and write it out
- Set it to music – try setting a series of quotations to a catchy tune
- Add drama by saying the quotation in role as the character who speaks it
- Get someone else to test you
- Buddy up with a friend and play ‘finish the quotation’
- Annotate your quotation with the different ways you could use it
Don’t forget memorizing alone is not enough. You need to be able to deploy your quotations strategically in your writing. Here are some ideas to help you do that.
Mindmap your ideas
Write your quotations on a piece of paper and do a detailed annotation of the different ways you could use it in an exam – what characters and themes does it link to? What literary techniques is the author using? What are the connotations of the key words?
Link and think.
When you are choosing your daily two quotations, try to pick two quotations that link in some way and think about the connections you could make between them. This will help you to develop your analytical writing. For example, you could pick two quotations from different poems that link to a theme or that use a particular technique, and do a mindmap to compare them. Or you could choose two quotations about the same character or theme from one of your set texts and do the same.
mrs odriscoll 10W/E 