Want to learn how to get good grades with the help of Indiana Jones? Whether you're studying for statistics or archeology, your favorite adventurer can help you ace any test.
Indy’s treasure-hunting skills can improve your studying skills!
Indiana Jones helped me through school while I was studying medicine. His wild adventures across the globe gave me a world of storage for important information.
The unforgettable scenes from any film can be used for memory improvement. In this article, I’ll discuss how to use movies as a mnemonic.
Indy's Adventures Are Unforgettable
I’ll never forget the first time I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a middle schooler, I loved every moment of Indy’s action-packed adventure, from rolling rocks to melting Nazis.
It was the first Indiana Jones film I ever saw and, instantly, I was hooked. The archeology professor’s reckless hunt for treasure inspired countless hours of daydreams throughout my youth.
Instead of paying attention in class, I would daydream about perilous adventure for priceless treasure or riding off into the sunset with Marion Ravenwood.
Flash Cards Aren't Enough
Although I could recall every detail of Dr. Jones’ international escapades, I regularly struggled with my schoolwork. Scores of boring facts slipped my mind. I relied on the same antiquated tool for most of my education: flash cards.
It wasn’t until much later in my schooling that I realized how outdated my study practices really were. For the majority of my life, I’d been bringing a sword to a gun fight. And as Indy taught me, it's never wise to be on the wrong side of that fight.
In Medical School I Discovered A Better System
It wasn’t until medical school that I began my own grail hunt, searching for a better learning system. Medical training required a massive amount of memorization. I couldn’t crank out flash cards fast enough, let alone make them stick. For quite some time, I hunted high and low, but no advice seemed to make any difference. I simply couldn’t keep up with the pace.
On the verge of failing out, about to get my heart metaphorically torn from my chest, I uncovered a priceless treasure at last. I stumbled across an ancient memory system that the Greeks created, a system that memory wizards continue to use today.
Turn Your Material Into Pictures
The Greeks figured out two important things. First, they realized the importance of pictures. Pictures stick in our mind far easier than words. For that reason, turning all my material into images became my first step. (For more info on creating memory pictures, check out Top Study Tips.
Store Picture Reminders Inside A Familiar Location
Second, the Greeks recognized that those memory pictures could be stored inside pre-existing memories of familiar locations. Each familiar location serves like a file on a computer to separate and organize information. For more tips on how to build a file, or what I refer to as a Memory File, check out 4 Simple Steps To Remember Anything.
It's as easy as that—think up pictures to represent the information, drop them into a familiar location (like your childhood home), and you’ve got a Memory File. The best part is that the familiar locations don’t even need to be from the real world. They can be virtual as well!
Movies Can Improve Your Grades
Most of my life I was told that my favorite entertainment was a waste of time—but I’ve proven that frame of mind to be outdated. I used my favorite movies, TV shows, and video games to pass my medical boards exams!
Movies inspire us and spark our imagination, implanting memories deep into our minds. Even decades after the film’s release, few people have forgotten the scene of Indiana Jones running from the boulder—and it continues to be spoofed to no end. And even if you don’t remember every bit of the movie, a quick re-watch will surely jog your memory.
Movies (if they are any good) leave us with loads of new memories to contemplate: secret headquarters, galactic battles, gripping treasure hunts, and epic battle scenes. These memories form easily and without any effort. Schoolwork, on the other hand, is often a different story. By putting our favorite movies, TV shows, and video games to good use, we can learn much more quickly and effectively.
Learning New Archaeology Vocabulary
Let’s say you are trying to learn new terms for an archaeology class. Although I’m not sure I ever saw Indiana Jones practice much actual archaeology, we can still use his adventures to remember any type of vocabulary we come across.
Lithic
Let’s begin with the word lithic. It simply means "made of rock." In my head, lithic breaks down into lit-thick, so I imagine a lit (on fire), thick book. To remember that lithic means "made of stone," we can simply picture a hefty stone, or even Geodude from Pokémon.
Then, we place those pictures inside one of the most memorable Indy moments of all time—the old treasure switcheroo scene.
But instead of Indy exchanging a sandbag for treasure, imagine him lighting a thick book on fire and switching it out for a jagged hunk of stone.
Stratum
Next, we can use Indy’s escape from the rolling boulder to remember that stratum is a layer of rock in the ground.
As previously mentioned, we first create a series of pictures to remind us of the word and definition. Let’s imagine Indy straddling a big container of Tums for stratum. Then we can picture the big rolling rock, layered like a layer cake to remind us that stratum is a layer of rock.
Debitage
Last, but not least, Jock—start the engine! We can picture Dr. Jones escape from the local tribesmen to remember our last archaeologic vocab word.
Debitage is the waste material left over from making stone tools. Picture Indy running from the locals as they chase him with stone tools—in one hand our hero holds a debit card smashed in aged cheddar (debit-age). In the other hand he hauls scraps of stone collected in a wastebasket (stone waste material).
Allow Indiana Jones to whip your brain into shape. The esteemed adventurer can help you memorize nearly any type of material!
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