National Memory Master Competition, Part 3: Studying

Becoming a National Memory Master finalist (read my post about becoming a finalist here) was super exciting, but it also meant I had a lot more work in store. I was already in the process of mastering most of the memory work (see the first post in this series about how I started studying here), but the actual competition had much more than just reciting a history sentence or some math facts. I had to memorize the timeline both forward and backward, draw the world freehand and fill it in with our geography memory work, and learn to recite all the presidents’ first and last names within a minute, as a few examples. 

Timeline 

For those not familiar with Classical Conversations, the timeline consists of 161 events in human history beginning with Creation and ending with the Age of Information and Globalization. I already knew the whole timeline by song. However, I would not be allowed to sing on stage (and I didn’t really want to either), so I had to learn it well enough to speak it without singing. I also had to memorize it backward as well as forward. In the competition, I could be asked to start with any card, and recite a certain number of cards either backward or forward. To aid with memorization, my family and I hung up the timeline cards around our house. We hung up each week (7 cards) together. For instance, my bedroom was in the back of the house, so we put the first week (hung vertically) by the doorway to my bedroom. Then, we wound our way around the house hanging each card by week. I would go throughout our house saying the timeline both backward and forward. Seeing the cards in our house and associating each week with a certain location helped me to be able to visualize each card in my head when asked to recite. Since then, I’ve moved and even now I can see some of the cards in their individual locations in my head and recite them.  

Map 

In fifth grade, I learned to draw the USA from memory. However, in sixth grade, I needed to know how to draw the whole world. Figuring out how to memorize this turned out to be a somewhat elaborate process. I first had to find out how much room we would have to draw; we would be given a standard poster board. Then, I found a basic world outline complete with the circles of latitude and longitude. We printed this map in a bigger size to match the poster board. I then measured the distance between circles on the map and used those measurements to figure out where the circles should be on the poster board. I memorized those measurements to use as a grid when I was drawing. Then, I would work on one continent at a time until I had the basic shape of it and the countries in it that I needed to know (this usually took about a week). I didn’t need to memorize every country, but I did need to know a good majority; whatever we had memorized in CC was something I needed to include. I practiced drawing at least two or three maps per day. Sometimes, I would practice on poster board, but when I started running out of that, I switched to paper on a roll. I drew maps up until the day we boarded the cruise.  

One of the maps I drew while practicing

 Presidents/Speed Round 

The first round of the competition would be a speed round. We had to recite something from six subjects in a minute or less each. One of the first things I started on was memorizing the first and last names of every president. I already knew all the last names, but adding the first names was a bit of a challenge. I did the same thing I did with the timeline cards, hanging up the president cards on one of our walls and going up and down the wall until I had them memorized. Then, I would practice saying the presidents as fast as I could. In the beginning, I could never quite do it in under a minute. After a while, though, I started getting faster until I could recite it in about 50 seconds. I also had to say the non-multiplication math facts in under a minute, which was also a bit difficult, as it was about 12 weeks’ worth of material. However, I already knew them all, so learning that required just practicing with a timer saying them quickly until I could recite them without stumbling. 

I studied every day for hours, drawing maps, reciting the timeline, timing myself while saying memory work, and using the paper bag that I mentioned in the first post in this series. The process was long and difficult, but the time spent was worth it. The other finalists and I would get together on Zoom meetings and practice and share study tips together. We were able to make friends over Zoom before we ever met in person and it was a wonderful experience. Next time I will conclude this series with a post about the competition itself!