Memory training with the world champion

Get Oddbjørn By’s best tips for your exam preparations. 

Oddbjørn By is the world champion of memorizing. In Norway, we’ve seen him on TV shows such as Norway’s got talent, Puls, Schrödingers Katt, Newton and several others. Both the american memo master and other world champions have used By’s Memo book in their training, so he’s not just great at remembering – he’s a great teacher as well. 

Three top tips for your exams from Oddbjørn By:

• Oddbjørn knows several of the best memory athletes, and knows that it’s impossible to momorize everything (That would’ve made the World Championship quite unnecessary). So most importantly: Be realistic. Find the most important areas, focus on them. If everyting is important? Well, then try to find the most important of the important!
   
• Have a strategy for memorizing. Memo, thought maps or your preferred tool. Not just «read, read, read» with no strategy to remember it. 
   
• Use what you memorize with care. If you remember a LOT, it can be tempting to show all of it, trying to impress your teachers. But don’t become a robot. Think before you write. 

How to make out what's «most important» 

Oddbjørn gives us some additional tips on how to single out the important areas: - Your teachers have limited time when introducing the subjects, so he or she will usually focus on the most important information. That is one tip to find the essence. Otherwise, I’ll recommend the approach of thinking: «What was the most important information from today’s lecture?» or «What was the most important section of the material I just read through?»

Other smart moves 

• Keep a regular work space. If it’s hard to be disiplined at home, use work areas at the university or find a place were you sit regularly – as long as the infection control measures allows it, of course. 
   
• Work regular hours. For example from 9am to 3 pm. Stop at 3 pm regardless. Otherwise, you might end up with a bad consciousness all the time. And you will make a deadline if you set one.
   
• Make a plan! It’s easier to reach your goals if you plan ahead and sett hem. It’s hard to find motivation if you don’t have expectations. 

And remember: A good memory is not a guarantee for top grades. 

Get more tips on Oddbjørn’s home page!