Improve Your Memory Every Day (2015)

The Mammoth Memory Test

This is the place where you get to put your brand new, super-powered memory to the test. I realize that not all readers will have wanted to memorize everything in the Memory Tasks section, so what I have done is to split the test up so that you need only answer questions on subjects you feel comfortable with. That way you will end up with a score that says, ‘Questions Attempted / Correct Answers’. You aren’t expected to do the test without revision, so there is review time built into each section, but bear in mind that you have memorized the material before, so all you should need to bring it into sharp focus is a quick run-through. Even so, there is no point in trying to be a hero and then being disappointed because you haven’t remembered as much as you thought you could. Attempt a section only when you are confident that you can get a good score.

The basic rules are, as ever:

✵ Divide and conquer (split tasks into chunks).

✵ Attack on all fronts (use as many methods as you can simultaneously).

✵ You don’t have to do the whole test at one sitting.

... put your new super-powered memory to the test

REVISION TASK 1

The alphabet backwards

Suggested revision: Write the alphabet out backwards once and sing it as you do so.

The test

Cover up your written effort. Go and do something else for a little while. Now see if you can sing the alphabet backwards.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 2

The NATO phonetic alphabet

Suggested revision: Spend ten minutes revising the phonetic alphabet from the table.

The test

Read out the following in the phonetic alphabet. Try to read without pausing for thought. Pretend you’re a cop reading out licence plates over the radio.

For each line you get completely correct (without pausing): 10 points Deduct 2 points for each mistake and 1 point if you had to pause.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 3

Awkward spellings

Suggested revision: Go through the list and remind yourself of all the words you find hard to remember.

The test

Get someone to test you on fifteen words from your list at random.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 4

Playing cards

Suggested revision: Study the table again and see if you still have a picture of it stored in your mind’s eye. If your original memorization was quirky enough it should still be with you (remember J-Lo as the Queen of Hearts?). Give yourself a few minutes to get it all into sharp focus again and then try these questions.

The test

1 Where is the 9 of Hearts?

2 Where is the Jack of Spades?

3 What comes above the Jack of Clubs?

4 Which card comes above the of Hearts?

5 What comes two places below the 10 of Clubs?

6 What is at the top of the middle column?

7 What is in the bottom right-hand corner?

8 What is in the very centre of the cards?

9 What comes at the end of the row that starts with the Jack of Hearts?

10 What is in the middle of the column that has the Queen of Diamonds at its bottom?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 5

I’m sorry I’ve forgotten your name

Suggested revision: Briefly look back at the pages and then answer the following questions.

The test

1 What is the name of the person wearing glasses?

2 What colour is Kelly’s hair?

3 Does Miles Hill have a moustache?

4 What is Miss Lloyd’s first name?

5 Who has red hair?

6 What is Tom’s surname?

7 Whose nickname is ‘Cornflake’?

8 What colour are Miss Dear’s eyes and what is her first name?

9 How do you remember Carmen’s name?

10 Who is ‘Beaky’?

11 Recall Allen Levi’s appearance.

To build up your skills in this area, here is another set of names and faces to remember. Imagine you’re at a party and have been introduced to various guests. Look at their names and faces for three minutes and try to fix them in your mind using the skills learned earlier in the book. Then cover the pictures. First, try to recall the faces in your mind’s eye and put names to them. Then look at the book (covering the names with a piece of paper) and try to recall all the names. If you remember all the names and faces after just two minutes, well done! If you can’t do this in that time, try again for another two minutes, and another. At this stage, accuracy is more important than speed. Now give yourself a break and try again 24 hours later. If you can still remember all the names and faces, you’re doing really well.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 6

Dates

Suggested revision: See how much of your timeline you can still draw from memory. Take a look at the original and fill in any gaps.

The test

1 In which year was Alfred Nobel born?

2 What happened in Orlando, Florida in 1971?

3 When did Herschel discover Uranus has two moons?

4 When did Iceland become an independent republic?

5 When did Lincoln announce the end of slavery?

6 When was Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party?

7 When did the author of the Tarzan books die?

8 When was the province of Quebec founded?

9 When was Sigourney Weaver born?

10 When was Juan Peron born?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 7

Shopping list

Suggested revision: You can take a very quick look at the original list. With luck, you have adapted this by now and it has become your own shopping list (in which case you might be better off not completing this test as it might confuse you).

The test

Simply write down the whole list from memory and check your answers against the original.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 8

Signs of the zodiac

Suggested revision: Remember to use both visual and listening cues for this task. Close your eyes and visualize your zodiac diagram, then recite all the signs and their dates in order.

The test

1 Which sign comes after Virgo?

2 Which sign comes before Gemini?

3 Name the Water signs.

4 Is Libra a Fire sign?

5 Which sign covers most of August?

6 Which sign covers January and part of February?

7 Which sign is represented by a pair of scales?

8 Which sign are you born under if your birthday is 15 May?

9 A December baby is most likely to be born under which sign?

10 Name one sign from each of Water, Earth and Fire.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 9

Animal farm

Suggested revision: Spend a few minutes revisiting the pictures. Remember to read out loud the names of the animals and touch them as you do so. Close your eyes and try to visualize the whole set of pictures in your mind’s eye.

The test

1 What is to the right of the cow?

2 Where is the tiger?

3 Are the sheep above or below the porcupine?

4 Where is the grizzly bear in relation to the polar bear?

5 Where is the leopard?

6 Is the panda to the left or the right of the giraffes?

7 Where is the lion in relation to the fox?

8 Is there a cobra in the picture?

9 Is there an orang-utan in the picture?

10 Where is the elephant in relation to the ostrich?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 10

Kings and queens of England

Suggested revision: Make sure you have the mnemonic off pat and know what it means. Spend some time going over the pages and use both visual and verbal clues to try to fix the names in your memory.

The test

1 Who lost his jewels in The Wash?

2 How many Edwards are there?

3 Which monarch was the victor of Agincourt?

4 Who succeeded Henry II?

5 What events separate the House of Lancaster and the House of York?

6 Who came before and after Elizabeth I?

7 Who came after Richard III?

8 Who came after the three Neds?

9 Who came before Victoria?

10 Who was Elizabeth II’s grandfather?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 11

Café Olé

Suggested revision: This was a tough exercise the first time around and, now that some time has elapsed, you may well find it even tougher. Don’t panic! Relax and let the memory you created earlier come back to you. If you have made a point of memorizing something it will still be there, and all you need do is encourage it to surface.

The test

1 Who had the croissant?

2 Who ate the English breakfast?

3 What went with the slice of fruit cake?

4 Who had the cherry pie?

5 What did the customer drink with his pepperoni pizza?

6 Who had the fried chicken?

7 Who drank soda water?

8 Who had sausage and beans?

9 Who liked honey?

10 Who had the raisin scone?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 12

Ticket to ride

Suggested revision: This was a tough test, so it makes sense to take time going over it again. Of course, if you’ve been super diligent, you will have included this test in your regular reviews, but it is likely that you’ve let it lapse. So spend time now reading it out loud, and looking it over to re-energize your visual memory. When you read the lists of places, use a silly voice of some sort. A rhythm or a song tune will work wonders. If any of the place names have odd associations for you, don’t hesitate to make a note of that. Remember to keep it stupid, childish and even vulgar because these are the things that stick in the mind.

The test

1 Which platform does the Thorpe train leave from?

2 Which line is Abbey Morton on?

3 Which train is delayed and by how long?

4 Which train has been cancelled?

5 Which platform has trains to Gromby?

6 When is the Dudstead train supposed to arrive?

7 Which line is Carlton on?

8 Which station precedes Dewenter?

9 Which station precedes Harling?

10 What time does the Fairfield train depart?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 13

Presidents of the USA

Suggested revision: There is really no substitute for splitting the list into small blocks and learning them to a rhythm. Try to get the pictures fixed in your mind. They will provide valuable cues. Use silly associations wherever possible - want to remember Garfield? Think of the cartoon cat! Get all the well-known presidents lodged in your memory (if you forget Washington, Lincoln or Kennedy, there is really no hope for you). Once you have a framework, you can start to fill in the gaps. Can you do them out of order? Let’s see.

The test

1 Who came between Lincoln and Grant?

2 Who came after Teddy Roosevelt?

3 Who came before Eisenhower?

4 What are the initials of the first President Bush?

5 Who came before Garfield?

6 Who did Hoover succeed?

7 Who came before and after Nixon?

8 Who preceded Reagan?

9 Who came before Harry Truman?

10 Who came after Andrew Jackson?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 14

Learning Braille

Suggested revision: Get out your homemade Braille cards and refresh your memory. Remember, sighted people should learn Braille by sight as well as touch. There’s no point in not using all the tools at your disposal. You might, however, like to test your reading speed by working with your eyes shut. Apparently, experienced Braille users can read almost as fast as a sighted person. Give it a try and see how you get on. Now try to read the following by sight.

The test

Check your answers.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 15

Wine bottle sizes and names

Suggested revision: The pictures should give you all the information you need and, luckily, because bottle names are all ‘odd’ words, they are very memorable. The hard bit is working out the variations for champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy. Write down all you can remember (making a table just like the one we printed), and then add bits as you can. Work in pencil so you can correct mistakes.

The test

1 What is a triple-sized bottle of Bordeaux called?

2 What is a double-sized bottle of any wine called?

3 How many bottles make a Methuselah?

4 Which bottle of Bordeaux represents 6 normal bottles?

5 What is the largest bottle of wine you can get?

6 How many normal bottles are in a Balthazar?

7 How many normal bottles are in a Double Magnum?

8 What is a Picolo?

9 What is a Nebuchadnezzar?

10 What is an Imperial?

For 5 extra points add the missing information to the illustration below

Your score:

REVISION TASK 16

Beaufort Scale

Suggested revision: Make a point of noticing the wind speed each day and working out its likely rating on the Beaufort Scale. This will take care of the lower wind speeds, though you may have to wait for a while to experience the higher ones. Read through the description of the scale one more time and then try to answer the following questions.

The test

1 What does smoke do in a Force 1 wind?

2 What force is required to set large branches in motion?

3 What force constitutes a gale?

4 What is another name for Force 12?

5 What effect does a Force 3 have on trees?

6 What force is also known as Violent Storm?

7 What wind force is the first to make using an umbrella difficult?

8 What grades come between Calm and Fresh Breeze?

9 At what force would you observe whole trees in motion?

10 At what force would slight structural damage occur?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 17

Roman numerals

Suggested revision: As long as you understand the system, you should be able to do Roman numerals by now without revision. If you don’t understand the system, you need to brush up on the rules and remind yourself of the meanings of the more unusual letters (everyone remembers I, V, X, C and M, but many people get caught out on D and L). Also, remind yourself about letters with an overscore being multiplied by 1,000 - it does make quite a difference if you forget!

The test

Put the following into Roman numerals:

1 128

2 436

3 1300

4 21

5 2345

What do these numerals stand for?

1 XXIV

2 MCVII

3 CXVII

4 MDCXVI

5 DLV

See the answers.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 18

Memorizing unusual capital cities

Suggested revision: If you followed the advice given earlier you should have a comprehensive knowledge of world geography. Use any silly, childish or weird sounding associations you can to get names to stick in your mind. Weird names work best! Can you ever forget Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou?

As an extra test of your skills, see how many of the cities in the map above you can identify correctly.

The test

1 What is the capital of Ecuador?

2 What is the capital of Morocco?

3 Paramaribo is the capital of which country?

4 Where would you find Muscat?

5 What is the capital of Qatar?

6 Of which country is Asmara the capital?

7 What is the capital of Grenada?

8 Where would you find Vientiane?

9 Of which country is Libreville the capital?

10 Where would you find Tegucigalpa?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 19

Memorizing cloud types

Suggested revision: If you have made a habit of observing cloud types, you should have the whole system well memorized by now. Because you can watch a free ‘cloud show’ outside your window each day, the whole cloud system should make perfect sense (and your powers of weather prediction will also increase).

The test

1 Which clouds do you find in a ‘mackerel sky’?

2 Which cloud produces a halo effect?

3 What does ‘cumulus’ mean?

4 What does ‘cirrus’ mean?

5 Does ‘nimbus’ mean the same as ‘snow’?

6 Which clouds do you associate with a bright, sunny day?

7 Which form of cloud is only found at the lowest level?

8 Which is the highest cloud form?

9 What does ‘stratus’ mean?

10 Identify the cloud types shown here.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 20

Learn semaphore

Suggested revision: Quickly run through the whole system. Don’t just read about it, do it! The ‘learning by doing’ method is very important here.

The test

Signal the following (get someone to read out the questions and check your signalling against the alphabet).

1 It was a fine and a pleasant day.

2 Flowers regularly bloom in spring.

3 My two sons are called Fred and Charlie.

4 I saw two zebras and a tiger at the zoo.

5 Signalling gets tiring after a very short time.

Start with 50 points and deduct 5 points for each error. For an extra 10 points, work out the sentence signalled below.

See the answer.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 21

Learn Morse code

Suggested revision: Tap your way through the alphabet a couple of times. If you memorized this code properly the first time around, you shouldn’t need to look at it now.

The test

Tap out the following messages. Get someone to check you. Go for accuracy rather than speed.

1 They do not sell chocolate at the corner shop.

2 Dogs are a nuisance when they bark at night.

3 Cauliflower goes well with ham.

4 I like to work in the garden every day in summer.

5 On winter evenings I like to gaze at the stars.

6 I hope to go on holiday to Zanzibar.

7 My mother needs an x-ray on her hip.

8 I bought a yacht and painted it green.

9 Let’s all go out for dinner together.

10 Morse code is enough to make you dash your head against a wall.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 22

Memorize something really confusing

The test

1 What colour is APPLE?

2 Where is SILVER?

3 What colour is SKY?

4 What is two places to the right of PURPLE?

5 What is two places up from BROWN?

6 Where is BLUE?

7 What colour is COAL?

8 What is at the top of the third column?

9 What colour is GOLD?

10 Where is ORANGE?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 23

Comprehension

Suggested revision: If you learnt this piece thoroughly the first time you tried it, you may well find that much of it has stuck with you. A few minutes spent re-reading the piece should be all you need to bring the memory back into sharp focus. Some people find it helpful to think of real people with the same names as the characters in the story. If you don’t happen to have friends and relations with the right names, you can always borrow celebrities and work them into your drama.

The test

1 Who used to go out with Laura?

2 What meat does Mark dislike?

3 Who comes from Wales?

4 Where does Sophie work?

5 Where is the Maharajah?

6 When did Pete and Laura get engaged?

7 What is Laura unable to eat?

8 Where is the cinema?

9 Who loves Mark?

10 What does Sinead do for a living?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 24

Memorize a table of symbols

Suggested revision: Take a few minutes to refresh your visualization of the table. Try to draw it from memory. When you are satisfied that you have it fixed in your mind’s eye, test yourself with the following questions.

The test

1 Which symbol is at the top of the right hand column?

2 What comes immediately below ‡ ?

3 What is to the right of ?

4 What is two places below ± ?

5 What is at the far end of the row that starts with ?

6 What is at the bottom of the column that starts with ?

7 What is at the beginning of the row that ends with Ω ?

8 What is directly above # ?

9 Can you remember all the symbols that surround ‡ ?

10 Where is ≈ ?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 25

Learning to tie knots

Suggested revision: The type of memory you acquire by feel is extraordinarily tenacious, so you shouldn’t need to revise for this test.

The test

Tie each of these knots.

Jug sling

Surgeon’s knot

True lover’s knot

Shamrock knot

Blood bight

10 points for each knot that matches exactly the pictures.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 26

Learning long words

Suggested revision: Take a look at each word ONCE ONLY. That should be enough to bring them to mind again.

The test

Get someone to read out the words, one at a time, and try to write them down from memory.

Honorificabilitudinity

Dihydroxylphenylalanine

Gynotikolobomassophile

Hexamethylenetetramine

Bathysiderodromophobia

Rhombicosidodecahedron

Pseudomonocotyledonous

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Hepaticocholangiocholecystenterostomies

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovoicanoconiosis

Aequeosalinocalcalinosetaceoaluminosocupreovitriolic

Osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilagninonervomedullary

Start with 50 points and then deduct 1 point for each mistake. Get someone to check your efforts against the book.

Your score:

REVISION TASK 27

Learn the battles of the American Civil War

Suggested revision: This was one of the toughest tests in the book so, if you still do not achieve 100 per cent, don’t get too disheartened. Try writing out a list from memory and then work on filling in the gaps. This is one of those tasks that is very hard to accomplish unless you have at least some understanding of the subject. If you looked up a potted history of the war earlier your efforts should have borne more fruit than if you merely tried to learn the facts in isolation.

The test

1 What year was the Battle of Cold Harbor?

2 Which battle took place in Tennessee in 1863?

3 By what other name are the two battles of Manasses known?

4 Where is Antietam Creek?

5 In which year was the Battle of Seven Days?

6 What was the last battle of the war?

7 What was the first battle of the war?

8 When was the siege of Petersburg?

9 When was the Battle of Chickamauga?

10 When was the Battle of Shiloh?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 28

The Periodic Table of elements

Suggested revision: This was a brutally hard task and, if you completed it, you should congratulate yourself. If you really memorized the whole table it will have stayed with you and you will need only a swift rehearsal to get all the questions right. If, however, you skimped on the work before, nothing is going to save you now.

The test

1 What does Ti stand for?

2 What is the symbol for molybdenum?

3 What comes directly below hydrogen?

4 What comes just below sodium?

5 What does Y stand for?

6 What comes after zirconium?

7 What does Rf stand for?

8 What is the symbol for magnesium?

9 What does the symbol Uuq stand for?

10 What does Sb stand for?

Your score:

REVISION TASK 29

Learn some basic Chinese characters

Suggested revision: This should be an easy task as long as you remembered the clues that were given about each character. A quick glance should bring it all back to mind.

The test

Identify the following characters:

Your score:

Answers

Roman numerals

XV

CCXXXIX

VCCXLIV

VLDCCCLIX

XXXV

CDXXVI

VMMDCCCXC

Learn semaphore

1 Reading semaphore is easy with practice.

2 The meeting place has changed.

3 We are landing at midnight.

4 My speed of translation improves all the time.

Braille

1 In spring the flowers bloom.

2 We all go to the beach on holiday.

Roman numerals Converting into Roman numerals:

1 CXXVIII

2 CDXXXVI

3 MCCC

4 XXI

5 MMCCCXLV

Converting into numerals:

1 24

2 1107

3 117

4 1616

5 555

Learn semaphore What a good memory you have.