5 Tips for Memorizing (the Mark's Gospel)

To be able to get the best grades in the Mark's Gospel exam, you must be able to retell passages, which can be a really time consuming and tedious process. From my experience, I know that it can be extremely frustrating.. so I am going to give you some tips as to how you can conquer this mighty challenge!!

1. Be motivated!

I know how boring learning the Gospel can be.. but you have to try and see the bright side of it all. Think to yourself, 'Why am I doing this?' and see what answers you can come up with. Is it because you want to strengthen your faith? Do you want to get good results so that you will have better opportunities in the future?

If you're feeling super unmotivated, write these reasons down on a piece of paper, and reflect on them any other time you feel so too.

Wanting to learn and wanting to memorize is what is going to help your memorization become a better experience.

2. Learn it over a longer period of time..

Often, I had relied on the 'leave it until the last day and then cram it in then' technique.

This is a trap! It is not the best way to learn, especially when trying to memorize the Mark's Gospel. You would be a superhero if you left it to the last day and did not fall asleep after your first passage.

Planning for your exam may mean learning each passage 4 - 5 times. The first time learning will be a long and not very enticing process.. It takes time for your brain to consume all of the content.. but bear with it! You will find that when the challenge comes the second time around, it will be easy! .. So don't leave it for the last day!

3. Use a more logical method..

Have you ever thought about how you learn your passages? Everyone for some reason seems to believe that reading the passage over and over will miraculously encode the sentences into their heads, but no.. things just don't work that way.

It's proven that if you try to remember; try to make connections in your brain you will remember things faster and more efficiently. 

So here is the method that I propose to you!..

..Let's try to memorize the first verse of Mark's Gospel which reads...

This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Now, we are going to take the first letter of every single word and write it down so that it will look like this...

T I T G N A J C T S O G. 

Try and read that without looking at the original verse (no cheating!). You want to try to prevent, as much as possible, yourself from looking back at what you are trying to remember. Can you feel your brain erupting with connections? Easy, right? Now try it with a whole passage..

4. Pay attention in lessons..

To be able to do the method specified in tip number 3, you will need to be familiar with the passages that you are trying to memorize. This requires you to listen in your lessons! It's not that hard, once you think about it.

However, if for some reason this doesn't seem to work, and every time you try to memorize, you just go blank.. then try recording the passage on your phone.. listen to it a few times.. and then try again!

5. Make memorizing fun!

I know it's boring. I know watching videos on YouTube is much more fun.. but look & find even more ways to learn them.
You like hanging out with friends? Make a revision group and test each other.
You like drawing? Draw a storyboard for the passage, then see how much you can remember it!

Good Luck!! :D