When I've got something to memorize, and I don't think I have time to drill it into my head the old-fashioned way, a nice trick that I use is the acronym sentence mnemonic device. I found this device to work best when I have a list to memorize, like the planets in our solar system example given in the book.

For my Greek and Roman Architecture course, I had to memorize the architectural periods of the ancient Greeks: Mycenaean, Dark Ages, Geometric, Orientalizing, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic.

After I write out the letters, I start to think of words that start with the same letters that I can build a sentence out of. Maybe it's a little nerdy, but I actually enjoy doing this. I can come up with some pretty funny sentences and I've made myself laugh out loud on more than one occasion!

For this list, I settled on the sentence, "Many dead animals garnish Oliver's atrocious Christmas ham." Of all the different combinations I came up with, I liked this one the best because it actually makes sense. For this method to work best, the sentence you come up with ought to be cohesive and connected throughout. When you start to throw random words in that don't quite work, the sentence becomes difficult to memorize. Plus, mine made me laugh the hardest when I wrote it out, so I decided it was the best to use.

Another acronym sentence I came up with middle school and STILL use to this day is for the categories of binomial nomenclature. I use the sentence, "Kinky people crap on famous German singers" which stands for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. It's a bit crude, but I was young at the time, and it still makes me chuckle, so I know it's a good one.

So if I'm ever taking an exam, and I begin to laugh under my breath, then you'll know I'm just answering the questions correctly!