Using Mnemonic Techniques

In my college class entitled Conquering College, we have been working on ways to remember for tests. Of course, mnemonic devices came up. Mnemonics connect new learning to prior knowledge through the use of visual and/or acoustic cues. Such strategies assist students in remembering and recalling larger pieces of information for tests. Included in mnemonics are acronyms, initialism, acrostics, rhyme, rhythm and song and association in addition to visualization using the loci and peg systems. Let's look at four of these categories.


1) Acronyms - A word formed from the first letters of each one of the words in a phrase.

• HOMES – The names of the 5 Great Lakes – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior 

• ROY G. BIV – The colors in a rainbow – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet 

• SCUBA - When you’re scuba diving, you’re using a “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.” 

2) Acrostics – Sentences created from the first letters of key words.

• Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally – for the order of operations 

Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction 

    **I personally prefer the phrase: Pale Elvis Meets Dracula After School. 

• My Very Earthly Mother Just Sliced Up Neptune.  – the planets in order from largest to smallest: 

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune 

   **I particularly like this one since Earthly gives you a clue that the third planet is earth and Neptune is listed last. This means you only have to know 6.

Free Resource

3) Rhyme, Rhythm, Song – poems, limericks or silly songs – These work well for auditory learners.

• I before E, except after C and in sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh.
• In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
• Twinkle, twinkle little star; circumference is 2 π r.       (I actually sing this for my students!)

4) Association – finding a common element. The association is usually coincidental.

• Litmus Paper: Blue = Base – both begin with “B”. 
• Arteries: Artery = Away – both begin with “A”. 
• The principal is my PAL. Helps to distinguish from principle. 
• Affect = Action (a verb) Helps to separate it from effect which is a noun.

These ideas plus many more are in a free resource called Mnemonic Techniques found on Teachers Pay Teachers. All you have to do is download it!