For thousands of students in June every year the agony of sitting exams in different subjects they have studied over the years takes place. Most students are well aware of the importance of these exams. They know they hold the key to their future and will determine the life path they will take in regard to the course they will be offered based on the points they gain from their Leaving Certificate.

For most students the key to learning is to be able to regurgitate all the formulas, notes and text they have learnt in order to answer the questions that come up in those few hours every day for two weeks in the month of June. Memory plays such a huge role in these crucial weeks that I am amazed memory techniques are not part of the curriculum.

Charles Garavan is one man that recognises the power and importance of understanding the way memory works. Having attended one of his lectures on memory I can still remember the images that we were given that evening four weeks later!

As a child Garavan was given Harry Lorayne’s book ‘American Memory Techniques for Tricks’ as a present from his father, which may have sown the seed for his later interest in memory.

A former barrister and taxation consultant, he has spent years researching the psychology of memory and has developed his own unique memory improvement systems for exams, which are explained, in his book ‘How Best to learn and Remember for the Leaving Certificate’. For him they worked. The proof being that when Garavan sat the Irish Taxation Institute final exams, he achieved first place in Ireland in the exam overall as well as first place in two of the four papers!

He acknowledges that most educators see the purpose of education as a broadening of the mind and the development of skills beyond the ability to perform in exams. Yet, after years of education Garavan knows that success in the Leaving Certificate depends on performance. He says in his book, and rightly so, that at the end of twelve years of school you are judged solely on how you perform in the Leaving Certificate exams.

He compares preparing for the exam the way an athlete approaches the Olympics. The athlete that wins Gold in the Olympics will have trained for their specific event, focusing on the skills and attributes that are needed in order to win.

Athletes will only prepare and train in a way that will improve their performance on the big day. You need to think about how a professional coach would prepare and train you for such an event.

Effectively explained in his book, he covers how memory works, the best way to study, critical thinking for exams and effective and successful memory techniques. All the skills that are needed in order to obtain the results you desire. Learn how to study using past exam papers to test yourself, keep an eye on the clock and be mindful of what the examiner is looking for and the marking system.

Garavan dismisses the myth of some people having a photographic memory. He maintains everyone can use his or her memory effectively. How do you know people’s names and phone numbers without ever having to look them up? The fact is we test our memory every day without realising it and it works.

Garavan’s technique with regard to study is to test yourself consistently on the facts you are learning as soon as you learn them. This retains the information long-term.

First, write down all you know on a chapter you are about to study. Then open the book and read through the relevant section jotting down points as you go along. Then test yourself again on what you know now. Scan back and see where there are gaps in your information.

Repeat, testing yourself on what you know now and scan back once again. This works because you are activating the memory for what you have learnt. This sends a message to the brain that the information is important and should be retained. It also focuses you to remember the points you have read.

At the end of your study you know what you have learned. It’s vital that you test yourself again within twenty-four or forty eight hours. Repeat the test regularly until it is firmly planted in your brain. Garavan’s message is simply use it or lose it!

Charles Garavan runs the Memory Academy and gives seminars in memory techniques. He can be contacted at 01-2611798 or charles@memoryacademy.ie. You can also purchase his book ‘How Best to Learn and Remember for Leaving Certificate’ at most good book stores.