Karen

What is a Mnemonic?
A mnemonic, also known as a memory aid, is a tool that helps you remember an idea or phrase
with a pattern of letters, numbers, or relatable associations. Mnemonic devices include special
rhymes and poems, acronyms, images, songs, outlines, and other tools. Mnemonic (pronounced
ni-mon-ik) is derived from the Greek phrase mimnēskesthai meaning to “remember.”

The Importance of Using Mnemonics

Mnemonics are cheat codes for those who struggle with memorizing a certain complicated
subject, list, or concept. They allow us to use more memorable phrases that tie the concepts we
want to memorize to our minds. They allow us to quickly and successfully learn, and remember
key concepts in a variety of subjects from English to math. They work because our minds tend to
remember information to which we can relate or experience.

Mnemonics have been proven to work as tools of memory-forming for a variety of tasks. They
aid doctors, scientists, geologists, artists, and students. If you’re struggling to remember
something, consider making yourself a mnemonic.

What is mnemonic style in studying

• Mnemonics are strategies used to improve memory. They are often taught in school to help
students learn and recall information. Examples of mnemonics include: Setting the ABCs to
music to memorize the alphabet. Using rhymes to remember rules of spelling like "i before e
except after c"
Perlyn

A mnemonic is a tool that helps us remember certain facts or large amounts of information. They
can come in the form of a song, rhyme, acronym, image, phrase, or sentence. Mnemonics help us
remember facts and are particularly useful when the order of things is important. Below, we’ll
explore several examples of mnemonics that’ll help us remember everything from tricky spelling
words to U.S. presidents.

Examples of Mnemonics

Acronyms as a mnemonic device

How many times have you used the acronym HOMES to remember the names of the five
Great Lakes? So many times you probably do not even remember the exact number. Acronyms
are mnemonic devices used to remember these types of listings.

In some other cases, phrases like that can help remember things, even if the acronym does not
make a lot of sense per se. For example, younger students use PEMDAS (Please Excuse My
Dear Aunt Sally) to remember Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition,
Subtraction, which is the correct order of math operations. High school students dealing with
biology, on the other hand, use IPMAT to remember the various stages of cell division.

PEMDAS is a common mnemonic for remembering order of operations in pre-algebra

meaning: Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, adding, and subtraction.

Examples of Spelling Mnemonics

Are you a fan of spelling bees? Who doesn’t love a bright blue ribbon hanging proudly by their
desk? If you have some tricky words coming up on next week’s spelling bee or spelling test, see
if you can come up with any spelling mnemonics. All you have to do is construct a phrase or
sentence where the first letter of every word represents the difficult spelling word. Take a look:

​ ARITHMETIC: A rat in the house may eat the ice cream.

​ BECAUSE: Big elephants can always understand small elephants.
​ DOES: Daddy only eats sandwiches.
​ FRIEND: Fred rushed in eating nine doughnuts.
Laila

Examples of Order Mnemonics

Often, we need to remember the specific order of things. This can include scientific principles,
music-related teachings, mathematical equations, and more. Here’s a great list of mnemonics to
demonstrate just how handy they are.

The Order on a Music Staff

When reading music, the notes on the staff (the lines) with a treble clef are: E, G, B, D, F. To
help new students of music remember the order of the notes, the following sentence can be
memorized:

Every good boy deserves fun.

As for the spaces on the same staff, they read as follows: F, A, C, E. To remember that order,
there’s this wonderful mnemonic device:

Furry animals cook excellently.

Next, we have the lines on the staff with a bass clef, as read from the bottom: G, B, D, F, A. For
this, musical students often use this line:

Good boys do fine, always.

Order of the Planets

Let’s return to science. Do you know the order of the planets (from closest to furthest from the
sun)? They are:

​ Mercury
​ Venus
​ Earth
​ Mars
​ Jupiter
​ Saturn
​ Uranus
​ Neptune
​ Pluto
To help you remember the order, try this:

My very excited mother just served us nine pies.

Since Pluto has been removed from planet status, there’s a new mnemonic device in town that
doesn’t include it: My very educated mother just served us noodles.
Rosemarie

The Order of the Great Lakes

Mnemonics are also useful when studying geography. To remember the order of the Great Lakes
from west to east, try:

Super Man helps every one.

Technically, “Superman” and “everyone” should be one word each. But, mnemonics enjoy a
little bit of wiggle room if the shoe fits. This device will help you remember the order of the
lakes:

​ Superior
​ Michigan
​ Huron
​ Erie
​ Ontario
Just don’t forget to put the proper noun “Lake” before each title, as in “Lake Superior,” “Lake
Michigan,” and so on.

The Articles of the Constitution

The United States Constitution has seven articles, or sections, which detail how the government
works. They are:

​ Article I - The Legislative Branch

​ Article II - The Executive Branch
​ Article III - The Judicial Branch
​ Article IV - The States
​ Article V - Amendment
​ Article VI - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths
​ Article VII - Ratification
To remember each article, students often refer to this mnemonic:

Large elephants jump slowly and die rapidly.

Laurice

Examples of Rhyme or Poem Mnemonics

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Sometimes it’s the melody that sticks; sometimes
it’s the lyrics. There are some useful rhyming mnemonics that’ll help you remember essential life
facts.

Thirty Days Hath September

If you’ve ever tried to remember which months have 30 days and which have 31 days, there’s a
helpful rhyming mnemonic for that:

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November;

All the rest have thirty-one,

Save February, with twenty-eight days clear,

And twenty-nine each leap year

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

How can mnemonics help you study?

• The advantages of mnemonics are two-fold. First, they help students encode information in
long-term memory. And, second, and which is even more important, mnemonics help students
retrieve information from long-term memory. Mnemonics serve almost like a fishing line.

How can mnemonic devices be used to assist in learning?

Some say that what is important is the outcome, not the process. Every person learns
in differents way and if some people find it easy to memorize large chunks of
information, for others it is one of the most difficult things to do. In this case,
mnemonic devices can assist in learning because they allow to create a bridge
between things already known and new knowledge. Moreover, they can be used at any
age and school level, from preschoolers to university students.
Why do mnemonics work?

Memorizing lists of objects or numbers of complicated concepts, especially when they

have no apparent connection to things we already know, does not come easy to
everyone. Mnemonics help in creating that connection so that information can form
part of the long-term memory and can be accessed at any time.

Can mnemonic devices help with memorization?

Yes, that is exactly the reason why mnemonic devices are used. If you have any
trouble remembering what you are trying to learn, use one or more mnemonic devices
to memorize things quickly and recall them when needed.

Aren’t mnemonics fun? They can help you remember so many things in life. Whether it’s history,
math, science, spelling, or generally accepted truths about life, a good mnemonic device can help
you remember absolutely anything under the sun.