Most people, even those who grew up in the Electronic Age, will visualize a clock more like the one below left. It may have been a wrist watch, wall clock, or grandfather clock, but it’s natural to build a mental picture of a clock with visual and spatial elements: one with a "face" and "hands" that rotate clockwise (!) Though most of us have experiences with electronic clocks, there just aren’t the rich visual and spatial details to encourage us to visualize one like the lower right example.

Can you recall and imagine the taste of butterscotch? The smell and sound of bacon sizzling in a hot skillet? The prick of the needle when you get your annual flu shot? We learn and recall information through all of our senses, yet few students tap into the power of the senses when learning and studying.

Review and study time is often focused on relatively "non-sensory" experiences: the student sitting quietly at a table looking at words in his or her textbook or notebook. There is a place for such study habits, but don’t make them your only study habits. Get the senses involved by considering some of these tactics:

• Develop mind maps when preparing for major tests, especially those that have essay items. Mind maps encourage you to use color, space, and simple visuals or illustrations to make a more "rememberable" representation of the information.
• Review reading assignments and your class notes aloud. That’s right...shut yourself in a room and "talk your way" through the material. This practice is called recitation, and it is one of the most powerful strategies you can use. Putting the information in your own words forces you to think it through and process it more actively. Also, many people are auditory learners, and they can recall information more easily if they have heard it, even from their own voice.
• Build a simple model of a concept using Leggo blocks, tinkertoys, or some other simple building blocks. Let each part of the model represent a major subpoint regarding the topic. If you are a tactile learner, such a model can help you recall information at test time.