While studying in college, I find cramming information into my brain is the least effective method when trying to do well for an exam. Elaborative Rehearsal is when you transfer information from Short Term Memory into Long Term Memory by making the information meaningful. Some people have used acronyms or phrases to remember information. I on the other hand, put words into songs to make sure I remember the information I need.
In eighth grade, I had a music teacher who was absolutely crazy. Everything was sang to the classroom by a song, she never was able to just speak. One of our lessons was “The African Song”. This song had every single African country in it. At first I was like “how the heck am I going to learn every country in Africa?”. After two weeks of singing the song, with repetition and putting it to a beat, I actually knew every country in Africa. To this day, I still sing it and remember all the words. “Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, Eritrea, Sudan, Burundi…”.
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1426&bih=673&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNRp9gODVITIgb9vGqgwHHC-4BA2zA%3A1571240356193&sa=1&ei=pDmnXfmwC8vU5gKzmKH4AQ&q=acronyms&oq=acronyms&gs_l=img.3…38535.38535..38794…0.0..0.0.0…….0….1..gws-wiz-img.mrwyoXqWasw&ved=0ahUKEwj5kqa6jqHlAhVLqlkKHTNMCB8Q4dUDCAc&uact=5#imgrc=thQD_ByjGFOwGM:
Along with songs, acronyms are a way to remember information needed. We all grew up remembering the colors of the rainbow by saying ROY G BIV. We use acronyms every day when we text people, because this is something just stuck in our brains.
Instead of cramming words and information into my brain, I now use songs and acronyms because doing this helps the information store better in long Term Memory which helps when you need it for exams, etc. Using these tools makes the information you are learning personally meaningful and by relating it to prior knowledge, it will lead to overall stronger Long Term Memory. Make a song for your next exam and I promise you will thank me later!