Remember Anything

By: Ruslans Mescerjakovs, Founder
School of Phenomenal Memory

I still remember my exams in secondary school. I will let you to decide how common this experience is.

On the Literature exam I was asked: “Have you read “War and Peace” by Tolstoy?” I honestly said that I have not.  The response I received from my teacher was “OK, you have earned only a C”.  In the government physics exam our teacher spent the time looking intently out the window, while the exam was being held.  So basically all the students opened their books and notebooks and copied the answers to their questions from their books.

I remember only one real exam, a math exam. But we were spending so much time doing math similar to the exam that it was pretty hard not to pass it.

I would say – it’s impossible not to pass all one’s exams.  With the slightest effort even the dumbest and laziest of students can usually pass one way or another.

I understand teachers in the schools and universities – they all have a plan for their students’ results. I understand students; usually, they don’t clearly understand the meaning of studying. I have read somewhere that the brain is fully developed by the age of 25.  Most people start to study knowingly from this age.

There is a very interesting proportion in any school: 90/10. Only 10% of students are capable of a qualitative learning studying discipline. The other 90% are having problems learning. Students usually perceive studying as something that is unpleasant and boring. However, learning is a necessity for them.  In other words, for 90% of students, knowledge has no value; they need just a paper showing that they are educated.

Here are some statistics from a driver’s school I read about recently. Out of 30 people, only 15 students passed the theoretical test.  Of this 15 only 7 students passed the driving skills portion and, finally, only 3 of original 30 actually passed the ‘on the road’ city driving portion of the course.   That is only 10 percent of the original 30 student to actually pass the course.

There are only 2-3 A-Students in the group. Take a look at how many people can actually dance in a night club, – usually not more than 3 from 50.

A 90 to 10 proportion. Every teacher knows this proportion, but they have to teach everybody, not just the 10 percent who can actually learn.  If all exams and tests were honest – the result would be catastrophic!  And who would get the blame for such abysmal scores?  The teachers of course – because they “cannot” teach their students.

That is the reason that teachers and schools have made exams so easy.  The results are higher and everyone gets a pass regardless of actual knowledge.  The fact is that teachers do not have the time to deal with the real problems of education, so they have manufactured a system where most students pass regardless of their knowledge.  Most of the 90 percent who don’t really know the material pass anyway, and teachers act like they teach and students act like they are studying.

Businessmen are making a lot of money on this subject. We have a lot of private schools now. A lot of classes, education by mail, education by internet are all growing education routes. There are hundreds of schools where you can get any diploma for a short period of time. It’s a perfect place for everybody – students are getting diplomas they need and teachers are getting good money for tutoring. One of my friends was studying in very good university and he had very low marks, so his parents transferred him to a different private school and now his marks are much better. Basically he’s getting good marks not for his studying, but for his parents’ money.

Education of the ninety percent of students with some form of learning problem is simply being ignored or worse, pushed aside as unnecessary or psychologically damaging to poor students.  All the while real education is getting weaker and weaker.  True Universities are becoming less and less popular.

I had a friend a few years back who was attending an excellent university, but he had very low marks.  His parents decided to transfer him to a private college and his marks are suddenly much better.  Basically he’s getting good marks not for his studying, but for his parents’ money.

You cannot learn anything for the short period of time doing nothing. A quality education means hard work.

It is very easy to figure out the level of education in a university by its tests and exams. If the university you are choosing – is using any of the next described ways of testing students and you are looking for the knowledge, not a diploma – you’d better find something else. Here are some details:

1. Simple questions

Questions are specially created so students can answer them without studying or reading anything. They are based on well-known information.

Example:

What is the name of the biggest animal in the world? What animal died in the Ice Age? Who is the president of the US?

It is possible to make those kinds of questions about any subject. So student will be able to answer them without any reading or with just going quickly through the book.  

2. Tests (Multiple choice questions)

Tests are getting more and more popular. Most universities are using tests all the time and in every exam. Basically a test is – question with answer. There are a few answers, but even if you look through the book once and very fast you will be answer correctly, plus you can always logically figure out the answer or you can always guess.

Example:

What is the capital of France? (Paris, Madrid, Rome)

3. Exact data is always skipped in the exams

Most universities never ask for exact information on the exams.

Example:

When battle of Nicopolis took place? (1396, 25 of September)

4. Simple sums and equations

Most of the people think that math and geometry equations are complicated and are great tests for students, but all those kinds of equations can be solved very easily if you have formulas for them. There is no need to have any knowledge; all you need to have is a cheat sheet with a limited amount of formulas.

5. Short exams

Some exams are very small, so it is very easy to be prepared. For instance: memorizing 20 new words.

6. Tickets

Usually students are getting a few questions from the huge amount of questions. Like 2 from 200. Plus students usually get some time to get ready. This time can be used to look at the cheat sheet for example; if he is ready he should talk right the way. But let’s skip this part. Here is the question: If a student knows answers for 2 questions from 200 how do we know he knows answers for the rest of the questions?

Well, you can say that it’s like this everywhere. All Universities testing students like that. It’s not true. There are Universities and teachers who have a goal to give knowledge to student. So how should students be tested?

Short amount of material

Let’s say we have an exam in physics. Students are getting a blank piece of paper and a ticket. Not one single question in it but something like “Please write everything you know about “Atomic Physics” (Surnames, dates, formulas, constant values, main concepts).

Big amount of material

In this case, an oral exam should take place about entire physics material. It will be very clear how student is prepared. All questions should not have any hints to answers.

It is possible to make even more complicated exams. But they can be used only to students who had special memorization training. That kind of test means not only writing information from the memory to the blank peace of paper but preserving sequence of information. Here is the example of that kind of test. It’s a test in the School of Phenomenal Memory® containing 25 different types of information.

In the process of studying in our school students are memorizing 5 pages of exact and unmemorizable data. All information has an order number. This way student at the end of the studying course can be tested to recall memorized information not only preserving the exact sequence but retrieve it selectively. Questions are not allowed during the exam.

How do we test them?

Our students have to write information on a blank sheet of paper in full amount in the exact sequence which is very long process (takes few hours) or they have to recall information selectively using teacher’s questions like: “What is located under number 3.2.1.?” Instead of questions, students get number of information. Using this exam we are testing our students how fast they can go through all memorized information looking for the correct answer.

Questions cannot be used in our school, because each element of the memorized information is a direct hint to the full information. For example: “What happened in year 1346?” If this number was memorized by a student, he instantly recalls the full answer: 26 of August, 1346 battle of Cracy.

But this is not all. Our students can do something that seems unbelievable for any person. It is enough just to name “176” and to choose a subject. Students will find all information in his memory related to this number. Answer will be something like this: “1,76 X 10-11 (coulomb/mass) – it’s a physical constant value, meaning specific charge (ratio of the charge to mass of electron) established by J. Thomson, English physics, who discovered electrons in 1897. Written in section 29 of the physics text book for the high school. Name of the section is: “Atomic Physics. Rutherford’s experiments.” Then it is possible to recall all other related information, for example all information from section 29.

If exams in most of the Universities seem extremely simple, exams in our school seem not only hard or complicated, but impossible. From our experience most of the teachers are not ready for Phenomenal Memory in their schools. When they see a student retelling entire paragraphs from the history book, they just freak out. I personally have seen their eyes many times. Teachers are so used to seeing zero memory from their students that phenomenal memory shocked them.

Well it’s understandable – it’s a huge difference. They were trained to believe that a normal person cannot memorize. It is written in all Psychology books. Phenomenal Memory looks like a disease to them. Is it normal to write on the exams text with the exact sequence of paragraphs, surnames, dates, terms and their exact interpretation, constant values? Perhaps not, but with Phenomenal Memory it is possible.

All students are welcome in our school. People who finish the entire course will be getting A’s only, because studying in the regular University with Phenomenal Memory is the same as a workout with a one pound dumbbell.

My advice would be – once you have mastered the techniques of Phenomenal Memory do not show off.  Do not utilize this tool to disrespect your teachers in front of others as it can cause a lot of trouble. You can read some articles about it here. Use it wisely. And enjoy while universities will not change the way they tests students! It is the best time to get your diplomas!

Ruslans Mescerjakovs is the Founder of the
School of Phenomenal Memory

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