Trying something new

I was thinking last night of how to improve my 5 minute numbers scores and came up with something I'm going to play around with over the next few days.

I seem to have pretty good recall after 2 reviews and great recall after 3, so, I'm going to play around with the idea of going through the first 80 digits (2 lines) three times and then going for the last line in a single sighting. My cunning part of the plan is on the recall sheet to write the last line FIRST as this should still be fresh in my memory and then go back to the start of line 1 where my longer term memory should have stored everything OK. This should ensure I get a fairly safe score of at least 80.

It's a bit controversial but I guess if it works, who cares! I'm not sure if anyone else does it this way but I think it's worth a crack to see if it makes any difference. Once I get faster I can use the same system with 3 lines, then 4 etc always seeing the last line only once and writing it down first.

I'll let you know memory fans

(Slightly) New 5 min numbers personal best

I got in from work and had 2 attempts at the 5 minute numbers round. First attempt wasn't too good. 104 digits with 6 errors but the second attempt was much better:
104 digits - 5 minutes - no errors

So it's an improvement of 4 digits on my previous best of 100, but an improvement all the same. I'm pleased with that, it took me a while to get past 100 digits and now I've done it 3 times with no errors on my last 4 attempts.

Don't tell anyone but.........

I've just spent the last 40 minutes at work looking at http://web.archive.org

It takes a snap shot of websites from years ago and when you put in the site you want, it goes all the way back to 1996!
I've been looking at www.andibell.net from every update he's ever done! Some great stuff on there, lots of tips etc. and I really hope he puts something back up there full time. The Java bits don't work but the text is more than enough to keep interested!

Good morning practice

Started with a 100 digit attempt in 5 minutes which I did without error. Only the second time I've done it but this time was a lot more comfortable. The recall was easy, had no gaps I had to come back to. I think I recalled the number back in 2.5 minutes.

Also, did a great, but slightly annoying deck of speed cards. Would have been a new personal best of 2:38 but I had one reversal. King of Clubs/Jack of Spades was the correct order, but I had them the other way around. Other than that, there was only 4 gaps that were quickly filled so very confident I can go under 2:30 in the next few attempts.

New personal best on speed cards

Did a really good speed cards practice tonight. First attempt was 2:20 but had lots of gaps, second attempt was 2:40, which has fewer gaps, but still got about 9 cards wrong, final attempt was a new personal best of 2:58 with no errors which I'm so pleased about! First time under 3 minutes!

The recall was very easy too. I think only 3 cards in the end weren't placed which were easy to track back to their locations. Very happy tonight :)

I attempted 104 digits in 5 mins too but had 6 errors on both the attempts I made. Not too fussed about that, I know I need to practice more so it's just down to hard work now.

Time for a curry I think.

Finally!

Had a practice today at the 5 minute numbers event and cracked the 100 digit barrier for the first time with no errors. It feels good to have finally done it! So the new personal best is 100 digits in 5 minutes with no mistakes.

Had a pretty good go with the cards too. Did a good time of 2mins 49 seconds but made 2 errors. Very encouraging though. I can see getting down to 2mins 30 seconds with no errors pretty soon. Hopefully by the time Cambridge comes around I should be somewhere around the 2:30 mark with the cards and 120ish digits on the random numbers.

Bahrain you say......

"Next years World Memory Championships will be held in London!" Hooray the crowd roared as these beautiful words rolled of the Buzan tongue!

Hmmmm, the last time I checked, and things might have moved a bit, but I'm sure Bahrain is not in London. In fact, I was shocked to hear it wasn't even in England! Hear my yells fellow memorisers, we have been mislead! They will tell you it's in London, put you on a plane, then fly you to a far off country and force you to memorise under lock and key....................It's the truth.

I for one am not a good flyer at all and will also not be able to afford to go so it looks like this years WMC is out for me. Damn them all!

I am gutted, but at least I get another years training in and a couple of Cambridge events.