A Major Key: Organisation

The things we learn are not securely fixed in our memories and can disappear at any time. Each day that passes brings its crop of memories. They usually appear at random, in no special order and are totally disorganised. This is because our memories leave out numerous facts, events and aspects of our lives and knowledge, some more and some less important.

Example

With a shopping list that contains the following: butter, bread, dry cleaning, flour, shoe repairs, you can regroup it into just two categories:

  1. Food (butter, bread, flour), reminding yourself of the fact that flour is used in making bread and that to make a cake you need flour and butter.
  2. Services (dry cleaning, shoe repairs).

Now you have only two categories to remember, which take in all five elements. So your memory is not over-taxed and will retain the information better.

The more developed the organisation, the more you will remember.

In this section, different tests of varying difficulty highlight the need to structure your thoughts properly to memorise that much better. They rely essentially on your ability to classify, regroup and grade, and to work out categories, groups and sub-groups.

You will in time acquire the speed necessary to reason logically in order to learn to remember. It is a question of practice.

Each test includes an evaluation so that you can assess your performance and progress.

LOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

The memory requires order and organisation. It cannot manage anything muddled or jumbled. In this respect, it is alitde like a house, an office or a wardrobe. Its contents, the information it receives, must not be stored indiscriminately. You must never forget that the whole point of the memory is to be effective. And disorder is an open door for confusion and forgetting.

By being willing to structure your thoughts, you will hold all the trump cards in terms of learning how to remember. If you mix up what you are trying to memorise, your mind will be muddled and your memory will work less well.

The object of this test, as with the others in this section, is to measure your capacity for classifying, sorting and grading the information or categories into groups and subgroups.

Let us take an example. Here are ten words to remember:

poplar

nature

rat

bird

lapwing

tree

rodent

crow

oak

coypu

Trying to retain these names quickly and permanently in the order in which they appear is a task doomed to failure. To give yourself the best possible chance of remembering them all, you must adopt a logical classification, order and good sense. How should you do this?

  1. Look for the category: nature.
  2. Look for the groups: tree, bird, rodent.
  3. Look for the sub-groups: poplar & oak, lapwing & crow, rat & coypu.

This gives you the following chart or tree:

53.jpgWith the words thus grouped in a logical order, they can be memorised much more easily.

Organisation = effective memory

The test

Using similar principles to those in the example above, you have four minutes to put these ten words into three groups.

cenotaph

effigy

see-saw

quay

wharf

cemetery

park

pool

sand

barge

Your Answers

Note that there are three words in the first two groups and four words in the third group.

Answers for evaluation

1. Cemetery, effigy, cenotaph.

2. Quay, barge, wharf.

3. Park, pool, see-saw, sand.

Answer analysis

You can see that the classification of words – here into three groups – helps you to retain the ten words given. This is because one memorises things better when they are arranged in a logical fashion than when they are jumbled up.

The three places in the list give you three possible groups:

cemetery + effigy + cenotaph

quay + barge + wharf

park + pool + see-saw + sand

Logical classification allows for efficient memorising. As in a well-organised house the pans are not muddled up with the clothes; one is more likely to see a barge by the quayside than in a park!

THE THEME HUNT BEGINS

Here is a list often words. Study them carefully and decide on the two principal themes under which the words can be grouped in sets of five:

flower

match

scent

fire

rose

flame

carrot heat

herb

spark

This test is not difficult. It consists simply of regrouping the words in a logical way. To memorise them more easily, you are must classify the information.

You will see that there is space for just five answers. This represents one group and you are free to chose the theme you want and its corresponding five words.

You have one minute to list your five words. Score two points for each correct answer.

Make certain that you don’t look at the answers before you do the test!

A LITTLE ETYMOLOGY

Going back to origins, the Greek memnon means ‘who remembers’ and the element mnesia is connected with it and signifies ‘memory’. Still with Greek, mnemotikos means ‘which concerns the memory’.

The prefix a was used to form a negative in Greek, giving us the word amnesia, meaning ‘forgetfulness’. From another very similar Greek word, amnestia, meaning ‘forgetting (offences)’, we have the word amnesty.

So you can clearly see the connection of certain words used in this book, such as mnemonic.

‘Memory’ comes from the Latin word memon’a, which is linked with memor (who remembers) and memoris (who reminds).

Answers for evaluation

The two possible groups are:

1. Match, spark, flame, fire, heat.

2. Flower, rose, scent, herb, carrot.

Answer analysis

There are two themes:

Fire

Vegetation

To memorise the ‘fire’ group more easily, it is possible to work on a logical classification, as follows: with a match one creates a spark; the spark leads to a. flame; the flame produces a. fire; the fire gives off heat. As for the ‘vegetation’ group, there are two sub-groups, as follows:

Remember

To unravel the themes:

ONE THEME HIDES ANOTHER

Learning to structure your thinking involves a logical step requiring neither scholarship nor special knowledge. To achieve it you need to train yourself to classify, sort, arrange into categories and grade. It is the first indispensable stage before fine-tuning your analytical mind and exercising it to find the sub-themes, sub-groups and sub-sets. This work develops your logic and helps your mind to work more productively.

The following test differs from the previous ones. For a start, the list of words is a lot longer. And the aim is not to remember them but to extract from them the five principal themes, which will make up your answer – in any order. The words are:

divan

hare

may-bug

beetle

sock

jersey

armchair

kiwi

bracelet

elephant

blouse

necklace

slow-worm

wild boar

hat-stand

fig

mango

wardrobe

ring

skirt

grape

brooch

You have two minutes to identify and list the five themes. Score two points for each correct answer.

Answers for evaluation

1. furniture

2. animals

3. clothes

4. jewellery

5. fruit

Answer analysis

1. The list of furniture is made up of:

divan

armchair

hat-stand

wardrobe

2. The list of animals is made up of:

may-bug

slow-worm

hare

beetle

elephant

wild boar

3. The list of clothes is made up of:

sock

blouse

jersey

skirt

4. The list of jewellery is made up of:

bracelet

ring

necklace

brooch

5. The list of fruit is made up of:

mango

grape

kiwi

fig

6. In the list of animals, you can distinguish between three sub-groups or families:

reptiles (slow-worm)

insects (may-bug, beetle)

mammals (hare, elephant, wild boar)

Remember

To differentiate the themes:

SYLLABLES & WORDS

You should never miss the chance to put your sense of organisation to the test.

You will find below ten words broken up into syllables, which have been scattered. The test consists of rearranging the syllables in a logical order to restore the ten words – just like ajigsaw puzzle. Like the pieces of a jigsaw, each syllable can only be used once.

Example

ta

mo

ca

ni

har

ble

From these syllables, you can make up the words table and harmonica.

Study all the syllables in the following list carefully before starting to assemble words. This way you will hopefully avoid the risk of mistakes.

da

a

cha

clo

fai

sti

cla

ri

ve

che

ne

ling

tin

ti

li

sin

ge

sa

fy

cy

re

ous

ty

mor

You can consult this list of syllables while you are filling in the ten words, which can be in any order. Use a pencil so that you can rub out easily and change your words, if necessary. Remember, you can only use each syllable once.

You have ten minutes to make up the ten words. Score two points for each correct answer.

Answers for evaluation

1. dare

2. failing

3. live

4. satin

5. singe

6. ache

7. chastity

8. timorous

9. clarify

10. cyclone

Answer analysis

In such tests, there may well be alternative combinations of syllables. If you do find different words, on the same basis of using each syllable only once, then of course you should score the necessary points.

There are certain clues involving the above list which will help you assemble your words. For example, no word will end in fai and we were only able to find three obscure words in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary that began with fy, a syllable most commonly found at the end of a word, as is ous. Such clues should help you avoid going down any blind alleys in your search for words.

Remember

To reconstruct words with scattered syllables:

A WALK IN PARIS

Organisation very often implies a logical construction. Information thrown indiscriminately into a text only serves to confuse the reader.

Among the methods used, notably for description, deduction is the simplest. This consists in following a specific order of facts, starting with the most general and progressing to the more particular, from the broadest to the narrowest, from the overall to the detailed.

Inference works the other way round. It starts with the detail and leads through to the whole, a litde like the image of concentric circles or progressively larger rings forming on the surface of the water around the same point.

This test is more complicated than the previous one because its form is different. It consists of spotting ten stages of grading in the text that follows. These stages are organised on a decreasing scale – going from the general to the particular.

Make a note, from 1 to 10, of the various stages of the description, following the order of the text.

You have one minute to study the text and complete the list of stages. Score two points for each correct answer.

The text

Overlooking Paris and its hustle and bustle, Montreuil with its steep streets and poetically undisciplined greenery revives memories of a rural life not long passed.

If we take Rue du Cher, we arrive in the stylish and very pleasant little Place Emile Landrin, encircled by houses. It is named after a town councillor of the borough (1841-1914). Here there are trees, benches and a small fountain decorated with a cherub.

Exercise

This is a question of spotting the way in which presentation of the information goes from the general to the particular, rather like an approach shot homing in on its final target.

Answers for evaluation

  1. Paris
  2. Montreuil
  3. Streets
  4. Rue du Cher
  5. Place Emile Landrin
  6. Houses
  7. Trees
  8. Benches
  9. Small fountain
  10. Cherub

Answer analysis

In the first paragraph one passes from Paris to the district of Montreuil in order to arrive in the streets that characterise this part of the capital. In the second paragraph, one sets off from one street in particular to reach a small square (place), which is identified. Following this is a logically decreasing order of elements one can see, starting with the largest objects and ending with the smallest: houses, trees, benches, the small fountain and finally the cherub.

Remember

AN EXAMPLE OF INFERENCE

In a large house there is a man who no longer answers any calls. For several days his car has stood in front of the closed door. His shutters are also closed. Concerned by this, the neighbours warn the police who arrive to investigate. They force open the door, which is locked on the inside, enter a room with a very high ceiling and discover the man hanging from a rope attached to a beam, with his feet two metres from the floor. The room is completely empty: not a ladder or any sign of a support which would have enabled the victim to reach such a height in order to hang himself. The suspicion of a crime poorly disguised as suicide seems obvious.

A young policeman, more curious than his colleagues, bent down under the unfortunate man’s suspended body and put his hand on the floor. He found traces of damp which aroused his investigative senses. On looking more closely he found that a strip of floor about two metres long was significantly wet while everywhere else, all round the room, was completely dry. This anomaly led him to believe that the mystery of hanged man was to be found under his feet.

He went round the other rooms in the house in search of clues, and this initiative was rewarded when he discovered a delivery note on which was written in very clumsy handwriting: “12 blocks of ice”. He immediately called the company concerned to check on the size of the blocks they supplied. This information enabled him to reject the hypothesis of a faked suicide.

He convinced his colleagues by explaining to them that, in order to trick everybody – and perhaps his insurance company, the victim had built a staircase of ice in order to reach the rope and put it round his neck, in the hope of leaving no trace of what he had done.

This is an example of an investigation carried out by a process of inference, which involves starting with a detail to clarify the whole situation.

COMMUNICATION = ORGANISATION

A sentence only makes sense if it is organised. To ask someone for information, you organise the words in the proper order of our language because no communication is possible without organisation.

For example, what could anyone reply to a question that was worded as follows:

“How is nearest many the station it miles to railway?”

A logical organisation of the words not only helps us to understand them, but also to remember them. Obviously we understand – and remember – the words a lot more easily when they read:

“How many miles is it to the nearest railway station?”

Taking a sentence of ten words listed haphazardly, this test involves finding the original order. Here are the words:

more

is

the

tyrant

is

whoever

harsh

law

than

a

You have one minute to study this list of words and rearrange them in a logical order to make up a sentence. Write the words in the table in the correct sentence order. Score two points for each correct answer.

Answer for evaluation

“Whoever is more harsh than the law is a tyrant.”

Answer analysis

  1. This sentence comes from Vauvenargues (1715-1747).
  2. If you have written “Whoever is a tyrant is more harsh than the law”, you can regard this as also being correct. However, it is worth noting that although this sentence conveys the meaning of the original one and has a logical order, it is not as close to the normal style of language.

Remember

To communicate more easily:

COMPREHENSION CALLS FOR ORGANISATION

Disorganised writing defies comprehension because it is illogical. By reorganising it, you not only restore its sense and logic but you also develop your own reasoning power and a thought structure which helps you to memorise the text.

This test consists of of restoring the original construction of an extract from the novel The Red and the Black by Stendhal (1783-1842).

To restore a logical pattern, you first need to carefully read all the sentences, which make up a conversation between Julien Sorel and his father. Then, like a detective, you have to search for the clues, in particular those concerning time and place. Such clues reveal a logical link between the sentences.

You only have to reconstruct the dialogue. To help you, the last paragraph – K – of the extract is in its correct place at the very end of the extract. When you come to complete the test, write down your answers, from 1 to 10, in the order you believe to be correct, using the corresponding letters before each sentence.

You have five minutes to study the sentences and put them in the right order. Score two points for each correct answer.

The text

The text K is in the right place. You only need to rearrange the order of the dialogue before it.

Answers for evaluation

1. E

2. C

3. H

4. J

5. F

6. B

7. I

8. D

9. G

10. A

Answer analysis

Here is the original text:

“Answer me without lying, if you can, you lazy good-for-nothing; where do you know Madame de Renal from, when have you spoken to her?”

“I have never spoken to her, “Julien replied. “I have never seen this lady except in church.”

“But surely you would have seen her, you bare-faced liar?”

“Never! You know that in church I have eyes only for God,” added Julien slightly hypocritically, quite properly in his view, to avoid being clouted again.

“Yet there’s something behind that,” replied the cunning peasant, and he went quiet for a moment; “but I don’t want anything to do with you, you deceitful wretch. In fact, I am going to be rid of you and my saw will be all the better for it. You won over the priest, who has found you a good place. Go and get packed and I’ll take you to Monsieur de Renal’s house, where you are to be private tutor for the children.”

“What will I get for that?”

“Food, clothes and three hundred francs in wages.”

“I don’t want to be a servant.”

“You swine, who is talking to you about being a servant? Do I want my son to be a servant?”

“But who will I eat with?”

This question threw old Sorel, who felt that if he replied he would regret it; he lost his temper with Julien and showered him with insults, accusing him of greediness, and then went to consult his other sons.

Comment

Naturally, if you get the first sentence wrong it will throw out your entire list and you will score nothing for the test, even if the rest of your answers are in the correct order.

Remember

To reconstruct a text:

HUNT THE INTRUDERS

One word is out of place in each of the following five lists. Identify the ‘intruder’ and write it down.

In each list seven words have a logical link between them. The ‘odd one out’ is the word that, despite appearances, has no direct connection with the others.

You have two minutes to study the lists and find the five intruding words. Score two points for each correct answer.

List 1

List 2

List 3

List 4

List 5

gander

paprika

Walter Scott

geranium

dictionary

crow

tarragon

Thomas Hardy

fuchsia

encylopaedia

duck

clove

Charlotte Brontë

rhododendron

directory

chicken

cumin

Rudyard Kipling

philodendron

index

guinea-fowl

coriander

William Shakespeare

cyclamen

catalogue

cock

watercress

George Elliott

hibiscus

lexicon

turkey

saffron

Graham Greene

begonia

diary

goose

chervil

Kingsley Amis

rose

register

Answers for evaluation

  1. Crow
  2. Watercress
  3. William Shakespeare
  4. Philodendron
  5. Diary

Answer analysis

The lists cover different subjects, within each of which groupings there is a logical thread.

In List 1, all the creatures mentioned are birds. But the crow, unlike the others, is not part of a traditional farmyard environment.

List 2 is primarily made up of spices, which excludes watercress.

Finding the ‘intruder’ in List 3 may seem a litde more difficult, since all the names are of famous writers. However William Shakespeare gained his reputation as a playwright, while the others are all novelists. A slight catch here, since some may be tempted to put Charlotte Bronte down as the only woman. Wrong. George Elliott was also a woman.

In List 4, the philodendron is the only plant that does not flower.

The diary is the only one in List 5 where the information is organised chronologically. In all the other cases it is presented in alphabetical or similar order.

Remember

To hunt the intruders:

THE BRAIN AND ITS HEMISPHERES

The brain is without doubt a most complex organ. Moreover, it reveals its mysteries sparingly. The most significant discoveries as to how it functions have only been made in the last twenty years.

What does it look like?

The brain looks very much like a walnut. And, as with that nut, it is divided into two parts – the left and right hemispheres.

If you look at the contours of a walnut, you will see that they are made up of winding, irregular lines which resemble the convolutions of the brain. The two halves are identical in appearance and are linked by a base which seals them so well that you have to break the nut to separate them. In the same way the two hemispheres of the brain are joined together by numerous nerve fibres.

Different but complementary roles

For a long time scientists were persuaded that the two parts of the brain had strictly identical roles. What in reality does each do?

The motor functions

The two parts of the brain do effectively have the same functions. But, since there is a cross-over, the left hemisphere governs the right-hand side of the body and the right hemisphere the left.

Other functions

The two hemispheres share the work. The left one is notably the centre for speech, logical analysis and linear thought. The right handles intuition, emotion, associations and our artistic senses.

ORGANISING CLUES LOGICALLY

Here you are presented with two mysteries, the object being to train and develop the capabilities of the left hemisphere. You need to imagine that you are the police inspector or a detective charged with investigating each of the incidents.

What details are you going to note and use in your detection?

With the help of your powers of logic, you must resolve both mysteries. The first is easier than the second. However, both call for a logical approach.

Look carefully for the clues and organise them in order to reconstruct the actual events.

You have five minutes to resolve the first mystery, having familiarised yourself with all the facts. You might only need five minutes for the second, but as a precaution allow yourself 24 hours to find the solution!

This section – Organising clues logically – is not so much a test as a pleasandy amusing exercise to end the chapter on Organisation. There is, therefore, not an answer sheet.

Mystery One

A managing director, known for being honest and trustworthy, rings the police station.

“A man obviously up to no good has just forced his way into my office and threatened me. You know that my business involves valuable materials, which is why I keep a gun to hand. Faced with the obvious danger this individual presented, I took my revolver out of the desk drawer, aimed it at his heart, fired and killed him. I was acting in self defence.”

A few minutes later the police inspector arrived on the scene accompanied by two detectives. The dead man was known to the police, with whom he had already been in trouble. The body was stretched out on its back, facing the desk of the industrialist, who was a friend of the inspector. The dead man was large and wearing black trousers, a white shirt and a bulky grey jacket with a chequered pattern of darker grey stripes.

The industrialist explained:

“When he came into my office, his right hand was in the back pocket of his trousers. He told me to open the safe. It was at that moment that I grabbed my revolver. I only fired once. He fell dead on to the floor.”

The victim had a blood-stained hole in his jacket. The inspector knelt down and took a gun out of the man’s back trouser pocket. Then he turned towards the industrialist.

“There’s no need to worry old chap. The affair is quite clear. It’s a typical case of justified self-defence.”

It was then that one of the two detectives leant over the dead body, unbuttoned the jacket and lifted the left-hand side of it, which he let drop immediately and said:

“I am sorry for your friend, Inspector, but he must be arrested because the man stretched out on the floor has been murdered.”

What did the detective notice in order to arrive at this conclusion?

YOUR ANSWER

Do not look at the paragraph on the next page headed ‘Answer’ before replying. You have five minutes, having studied the facts contained in the enigma. Write down your answer:

Answer

At a glance the detective noticed that the impact of the bullet in the jacket did not correspond with that in the shirt. It was lower. In other words the intruder, who was supposed to have been threatening the industrialist, must have had his hands in the air when he received the bullet right in the middle of his heart. And this, of course, puts paid to the idea of self-defence.

Answer analysis

Here organisation, structured thinking and logic helped prevent a miscarriage of justice. Everything had appeared, however, to point to the fact that the well-respected industrialist was in the right.

Similar cases to this one happen every day, according to the records.

A logical progression, based on concrete facts, is often more valuable than a subjective judgement, a fortiori when you find yourself in a situation which on the surface seems cut-and-dried.

Mystery Two

The incident takes place one Friday evening in an isolated inn on the edge of a wood. Mr and Mrs Brown go inside. The old clock strikes eight. The large dining room on the ground floor is empty except for the landlord, who is standing behind the bar. He is awaiting his guests for the weekend. A brief conversation ensues:

“I am Mr Brown. I have booked a room for two.” “Fine. Here is the key. You are in Number Three on the first floor.” The Browns go upstairs, then come back down a few minutes later and settle themselves in one corner of the large deserted dining room.

A quarter of an hour later, another couple arrives. The Smiths are also expected for the weekend. The landlord gives them the key to Number Four. They also take their bags up to their room, then return and, giving the Browns a polite nod of the head, go to sit at the far end of the dining room and order their meal.

At this stage of the story, it is important to note that the Browns and the Smiths do not know each other, have never seen each other before and have nothing in common and equally nothing to fear from each other.

When the meal is finished, Mr Brown remarks casually to Mr Smith, who is smiling at him:

“At least it’s quiet here.”

Then he adds:

“Perhaps you would like to join us for coffee.”

For a while the Browns and the Smiths sit together at the same table, chatting away in a friendly fashion. However, the two women are tired and go up to their respective bedrooms while the husbands light up cigars and order drinks.

Here follows a scenario between the two men which you have to reconstruct to resolve the puzzle.

Suddenly Mr Smith gets up, walks across to the stairs and starts going up to his room. At this moment, Mr Brown also gets up, pulls a gun out of his pocket, fires at Mr Smith’s legs and then falls down dead.

What happened?

YOUR ANSWER

Do not even glance at the answer on the next page before replying.

You have up to 24 hours – that’s the maximum – to resolve this mystery. Write down your answer.

Answer

Answer analysis

PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES

You can regard parts of this chapter as recreation. However, it is completely centred round the idea that it is easier to remember what is organised. So if you have, for example, a lesson to learn, the best way is to extract the essentials using a very visual structure. Then it is just a matter of keeping this scheme in your memory, since the rest of the information will hang easily round it.

Imagine, for example, a lesson on colonial expansion. You can distribute the information on three pages, referring to the three main themes of interest: 1. CAUSES; 2. FACTS; 3. CONSEQUENCES.

Below is an example of how to visualise CAUSES, using a tree structure, which will enable you to keep all the relevant facts in your memory. You can work out for yourself how to tackle FACTS and CONSEQUENCES using the same method.

p89.jpg