How can i remember important history dates for my exams?

kittu: How can i remember important history dates for my exams?
Well i have my board exams next month. Its really tough for me to remember important history dates. So, can anybody tell me how can i remember these dates without which i would do badly in my history exams and i obviously dont want that to happen.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Michael
flash cards.

Answer by Nina
when i was in college, i used to record my notes or things i needed to remember onto a tape recorder and listen to it all night…..it actually helped

Answer by joseph b
why if you don’t know them how the hell will you de rumba

Answer by History Writer
Remember, ” In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Everyone remembers that date from the rhyme. Try to make up a rhyme for your other dates. Here’s one “In fifteen hundred eighty-eight, the great Armada sailed the straits.” Something like that. You either have the knack for remembering dates or you don’t. They just appear to me like pictures in my mind. But, if you don’t have the knack, use a rhyme! Good Luck!

Answer by RM V
Memory is somewhat God gifted. But you can easily improve by using some methods. The 3 Principles:
Concentration – Concenrate on what you wish to remember.
Repetition, – Reapeat it as often as you can
Association – Associate it with something you know.
work fine. And lastly the desire, you must hve earnest desire to remember, Think, you easily forget that you do not want to remember. So have desire to remember.

Answer by bruhaha
How to remember important DATES

You did not specify whether you need just years, or something more precise.

There is no ONE trick that works for everyone. In fact, MOST of us are probably best off using several different tricks at the same time… whatever works!

A few suggestions (and responses to other suggestions):

1) a simple rhyme may SOMETIMES work, such as the famous 1492/”ocean blue”. But this will usually only help you get the FINAL digit/part of the number.. and you will likely find many years end with sounds you cannot use to get a workable rhyme for your specific fact.

Another danger of relying TOO heavily on gimmicks or unusual memory devices is that if you forget ONE key one, you may be totally at sea. Use them, but remember the best thing (and your goal in the end) is to learn the actual HISTORY… of how the events fit together, what led to what, etc.

That’s why I mainly suggest the following:

2) ORGANIZE and CONNECT dates to OTHER dates, esp. KEY ones

So often people try to remember dates “cold” or just using an unrelated device (such as a rhyme), but with no meaningful connection to THAT event, OTHER events and the overall flow of history. But when you have SEVERAL dates to remember, it seems you ought to be able to take advantage of the dates you ALREADY know to learn and remember OTHERS.

So I’d start by putting together a list of events — doesn’t need to be complete yet, but do your best to include MAJOR events, turning points and the dates that you either already know or that seem more memorable to you. Use them as a framework, and as you fill in the other dates you need, try to establish at least one clear, simple connection of each new date with one or more dates you already have.

In other words, establish a SKELETON TIMELINE that works for YOU.

Of course, dates that are “built into” the names of key events is a big help here. (Hmmm… let me think if I can remember what year the “Compromise of 1850” took place?! And the War of 1812 was when?)

Dates that follow a regular pattern of some sort can also be very helpful — for example, remembering that Presidential elections take place every four years (all but 1800 and 1900, so far, LEAP years) may be helpful in remembering an event during a particular President’s term, esp if you know, for example, that it happened JUST after he entered or before he left office. (DO note if you’re doing American History, that Presidential Inaugurations were on MARCH 4, up till FDR”s second term.)

Sometimes, you will find particular years during which a surprisingly high number of key events took place (which is how some authors end up writing books in which the year date is half or all of the title). All the better if there are some important, somewhat ‘logical’ connections amongst them.

EXAMPLE: 1831 (the name of one of those books, incidentally) was the year of the Nat Turner rebellion, the establishment of William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist magazine *The Liberator* (the beginning of a new phase of the abolitionist movement), and the year Virginia SERIOUSLY considered a plan for gradual emancipation (last time any Southern state did so).

In this case, it doesn’t matter if any of these are DIRECTLY related to the other — you can see that they all dealt with the same issue (which makes it a convenient “WATERSHED” year).

You may ALSO sometimes find it convenient to just PICK a year, almost arbitrarily, and learn a handful of key things about it… so you can connect other years an their events with it.

For example, in American History it helps to remember who was President at the time of various events (even for events not connected to him). So, you might start by making sure you know who was elected President every twenty years (1800, 1820, etc), then work from there.

Actually, in this case, if you are able to learn the order and terms of many to all, it’s a great help in remembering many other things. And there are many tricks folks have used for quickly learning this stuff. (This alone may make it a good idea to work on — the point, again, is to get some major pieces as EASILY and firmly as you can, as your framework.) My kids learned a lot of this from the Scholastic Book *Yo, Millard Filmore!*

3) Work on picking up more date-connections “as you go”. That is, WHENEVER you are studying a specific subject area and have to learn ABOUT some key events, remember to make a point of observing how that date is connected in time (and, if possible, logically) with OTHER events you’ve learned about.

You might hang a lot of other things on the LIFE of some key individual(s) or the story of some key movement…

Now I’m not sure how many EXACT dates (month and day) you need –and those are likely to be a bit harder– but assuming you have fewer of these, be sure to give them SPECIAL attention… DRILL them repeatedly and use ANY device you can to nail them. They will be keys to learning OTHER dates (even more approximate ones).

Sometimes there is a very convenient interval (whether planned or by happenstance) that may help. Thus, most can easily remember the Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on NEW YEAR’S DAY 1863 (which somehow seems an appropriate date for such an event… also note that it was the MIDDLE year of the war).

But when did he make the public ANNOUNCEMENT that he was planning to do so? Turns out it was exactly 100 days before that [September 22, which I remember for other reasons, but the 100 days will help if you cannot]. That gives you the rough timing for the Battle of Antietam (the Union “victory” he was waiting for the announce it). Also, co-incidentally, this was exactly two months after the day (July 22) he told his cabinet of his plan, and exactly one month after he wrote a famous public letter to Greeley suggesting he’d free all or none of the slaves, or any number in between, to save the Union (August 22).

Incidentally, Lincoln himself noted key co-incidences, esp. the fact that TWO pivotal battles were resolved (in the Union’s favor) on the same day — the FOURTH of July [Vicksburg fell to Grant, the Confederates left Gettysburg]. He even took special note of this appropriate date in remarks that very week…. which he later revised in the opening to his GETTYSBURG Address [‘four-score and seven years ago’ — the speech is referring esp. to July 4, 1776… and note that Lincoln ALSO here gives you the year for Gettysburg, just do the math!]

Again, some devices build on silly patterns and connections that work only for SOME folks, maybe JUST you. You might, then, look for key dates (during the year) in your life or that of your family that might be connected with some key historical event you need to know. Or some other piece of trivia you know.

EXAMPLE: exact date of the Boston Tea Party (Dec 16, 1773) — how do I remember that? Well, if you already knew that Beethoven’s Birthday is Dec 16 (maybe you’re a Peanuts fan, so Schroeder has taught you this), you might IMAGINE the scene of the Boston Tea Party with the famous opening of his fifth (“Victory”) symphony playing.

Here’s another – a pattern – for remembering the four major economic downturns in 19th century America:

Remember (the Panic of) 1837, add 20 years for the next one – the Panic of 1857.

Then REVERSE the end of the first for the Panic of 1873, and again add 20 years -1893.

(The first and last of all these were the WORST, but all were important.. and may help you understand and remember why certain OTHER things happened. For example, the financial hardships of the Panic of 1873, at the start of President Grant’s second term, contributed greatly to growing Northern unwillingness to continue funding troops in the South, thus to the collapse of Reconstruction.)

You might also check out a web site or two that lists “on this day in history”. Scan, and see what things catch your attention. (Again, the point is to find a variety of dates and specific events that you can ‘hang your hat on’ to learn the other ones you need.)

So now. . go play with these and your OWN ideas… and good luck!