Free Up Your Score by Larry Berger & Michael Colton, Michael Colton, Manek Mistry, Paul Rossi, Workman Publishing Page B

mental images like this one. The more details you are able to dream up, the more likely you are to remember the word.)

    Move on to the other senses.
Hear
the chorus of castrati in the ballroom singing the word
opulence
over the gentle strains of Chopin played by an 80-piece symphony.
Feel
the silks the ladies and gentlemen wear sliding through your fingers as you trace the word
opulence
with champagne over your desktop.
Smell
the delicate and costly perfumes. And of course,
taste
the exquisitely fine wines enjoyed by
opulent
society.
    After you have seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted the word, you can open your eyes. You’re still not done, though. Research has also shown that the more you do with a word, the more likely it will stay in your brain. So first read the word and its definition, then write the word and its definition, then sing the word and its definition, then make up a story about the word, then use the word in a conversation, then tattoo the word and its definition on your elbow, then staple the word and its definition to your goldfish.
    Clinical tests have also proven that the pun is a very helpful memory technique. We have used puns to illustrate many of the words in the vocabulary list. (Note: Since we want to make sure that no one misses our subtlety, we have pun derlined each one.)
    If none of these techniques works, there is one foolproof method. Neurologists say that if the word and its definition are repeated over and over during sexual activity, they will never be forgotten. There is no scientific explanation for this, but it is a widely accepted fact. Of course, we wouldn’t know.
    Another phenomenon you should be aware of is the
serial position effect
. Suppose you have a long list of words to memorize and you spend the same amount of time studying each word. According to the serial position effect, you will remember the words at the beginning of the list best, the words at the end of the list next best, and the middle words the worst. Therefore, spend the most time on the middle of the list.
    Your chances of memorizing something improve if you study it right before you go to bed. While you sleep, your brainsorts out what occurred during the day. The last thought that goes into your brain right before you go to sleep gets special attention while your brain is doing its nightly sorting.
    Finally, nobody studies better with music. Experiments have been done with people who swear that they study better with Rihanna playing in the background. But chances are this will only lead to you daydreaming about her umbrella.
    Research has shown that the more you do with a word, the more likely it will stay in your brain. So read, write, sing, and say the word and its definition. Tattoo it onto your elbow and staple it onto your goldfish.
Two Essential Tools: Flash Cards and an Audio Recorder
    You must keep flash cards and an audio recorder by your side while you study. When you come to a word you don’t know, look it up and devote 12 seconds to thinking up a mnemonic device, be it a sentence, a quick drawing, or a bit of song lyric—whatever works for you. Then write the word on one side of a 3” × 5” card and its definition and your mnemonic device on the other.

    Carry your flash cards with you everywhere. Study them dur -ing the ride to school, while you wait at the dentist’s office, and during particularly boring classes. Every night before you go to sleep, test yourself on your words. Put the cards you know in one pile and the ones you don’t know in another pile. Every night you should be able to add five cards to the pile of cards you know.
    Do a similar thing with the recorder. When you come to a word that you want to remember, record the word, its definition, and either the example sentence that we give you or one that you make up. Then you can listen to the recording while you are in the shower or brushing your teeth. If you can rap or sing some of your words and definitions, it’s more