Remembering information - Stage 1

kirstie

kirstie

Active Member
Dec 6, 2005
4,355
0
36
34
North East
Right i've decided to take my stage 1 exam in the beginning of April, i have a feeling i'll do ok, but tend to forgot information that maybe important due to nerves, riding i'm not that bothered about, i'm going to get a good few lessons.

But does anyone have tips to remember information?

and anything to take for nerves? do rescue remedy really work?

thanks

kirstie :) :)
 
I grit my teeth to get rid of nerves, which is weird but it tends to work for me. Think happy thoughts. Like Peter Pan.
Make it into a song! That's how I remember everything, putting the words to my favourite song's tune or something. It really works.

Hope that helps =)
 
everyone has a way of remembering infor the trick is to figure out how best your memory works.

For instance if i need to learnsomething by heart or very well i write it out-then when the time comes i can literally "see" the answer in front of me.

Another thing that works very well is to get some-one else to test you with questions likely to come up. if you cant remember it with a friend in a relatively unpressurised environment then you need to study!

Close the book after a page or chapter depending on how much info you've just read and try rememeber say 5 or 6 key things from that page or chapter. Then open the book see if you were right and really focuse on remembering the ones you missed

The best thing of all with hands on work though is to get practice esp with stage 1 stable management. I can answer all grooming questions etc from experience but have never done much feeding so apart from a few foods cannot "learn" it from a book
 
Kirstie

anyone else on your course doing it around the same time ? If you can make it "normal" and automatic to answer, that helps.... so set it up so you and your pals randomly ask questions ... or do it as forfeits e.g. if you fall off in a lesson, or something like that.

The other thing is not to get flustered. If you listen to politicians or people doing TV quizes (or even on the radio), you will often here them repeat the question, or part of it, before they answer.

So - probably not the best answer... but say the examiner has a bit in their hand and says "can you tell me when this bit might be used ?" you would say

"that bit is an X and it would be used...."

and that gives you 10 seconds or so to order your thoughts for what comes next.

Q: how would you muck out a straw bed in a stable
A: I would muck out a straw bed in a stable by.....

(rather than jumping straight to the guts of the answer)
 
Greeneyes, I am exactly the same :) I can "see" my revision notes in front of me as I do exams. I guess we're both visual learners :)

Kirstie - figure out how you learn best. If I told you that you would be doing a dressage test tomorrow, how would you learn it? Would you:

* Read the test several times over until it was fixed in your head, and you could close your eyes and "see" the bit of paper with the instructions on?

(For your exam, read the text books over and over. Make notes in the margins. Highlight important lines, write keywords at the top of each page, add bookmarks for new chapters, colour code your notes on different topics.)

* Get your mum to talk it through with you and ask you about each movement, discussing how you might ride them and getting her to question you on the order of movements?

(For your exam, get together with a friend. Pick a topic off the syllabus and discuss it together. Talk about the main Stage One info making, occasionally looking at the text book or checking with your RI to make sure you've covered all the vital info. Then start to talk around the topic - so for example, first list the different types of bedding together. Check you've remembered them all. The talk about the benefits and drawbacks of each type. Then go further, and talk about which types *you* would use, in which situations, and why. Have you got anything you can throw in from your personal experience? By the time you've talked about bedding for 30 mins, it'll be truly fixed in your head and you'll have plenty to say in your exam without getting stage fright!)

* Use chairs and coffee tables in your living room to mark out a mini dressage arena and actually do the movements yourself on foot until you had the test fixed in your head?

(For your exam, practise every area on the syllabus in real life, to exam standard, several times over. As you're doing something (eg adjusting stirrup leathers while mounted) say out loud what you're doing and why, or think it in your head. Focus on the feelings you get when you're doing something correctly. It's almost a kind of muscle memory!)

Most likely you'll use more than one learning style - but you will probably have a preferred learning style that you use most of the time. When you've identified it, do the bulk of your preparation in this way, and use bits and pieces of the other methods here and there to keep things fresh.

For nerves, rescue remedy is good and I've used it a lot of times :D but good preparation is even better ;) If you know you've done the work thoroughly as above, you'll feel really confident and that's a fantastic feeling to go in with!

Good luck :)
 
Oh I just passed my Stage 1 care in July Kirstie.

While it isn't quite fresh in my mind I would still really advise you to do the following............

1. Learn all the points of the horse and get friends to test you - when grooming your horse name the part you are at as you progress.

You are lucky as you have access to horses frequently and so this should come naturally.

2. Learn off all of the rules of feeding - i was in a group of 6 on my test and each one of us had to name a rule - so learning all of them was essential.

3. Learn off all the rules for watering - you must be able to recite them as for the same reason as no. 2.

4. Learn what to do in the case of an emergency - rider falling off horse.

5. Learn the weights of feed for the size of horse.

6. Familiarise yourself with types of feed.


OH and I used to test each other on the train on the way to work and in the car on the way to wherever.

When grooming Coops we would name whatever part we were at.

We went around the yard, guessed the height of the horses and worked out how much forage and how much hard feed the horse should be getting.

It soon sticks in your head and become natural without just rote learning.

Best of luck - I really enjoyed my test.
 
Wow dee, thanks for all the information :)

will definately get a start on the major areas and the ones i'll have most trouble with

Will use amba as my model for point of horse, tack e.c.t i'm sure so wont mind

Thank you for the good vibes hopefully i'll have a good time as well, will tell you all how i get on!

Thanks Katie will have a look at it! :)
 
Revision Notes Work...


I passed my stage one in December 06, i found the examiners were particularly hot on these elements:
* Haynets
* Shoeing (condition)
* Points of the horse/markings
* Rules of feeding/watering
* Effiency and safety throughout all tasks
* Plenty of common sense!!

When learning all elements required and brushing up on everything I know, I found Maxine Cave's 'Course Companion' books really useful, but you may as well get the stage two book, 'coz it means that you can learn/know stuff above and beyond the syllabus elements which is invaluable. The examiners don't like show-off's but they do like to see that someone knows exactly what they are talking about. I then used these books to make notes, and had a small notebook with me whenever I was at the yard so I could check what I was saying or doing against what the BHS promote - also my friends could ask me questions!

Most important on your exam is to enjoy it, I was nervous the night before but on the day and throughout I was buzzing with excitment!!! Plus all the people there are in exactly the same situ, when someone had a problem we just helped them out.

I've actually got a list of the questions they asked on my exam, so only if your interested I don't mind e-mailing them to you.

Good Luck, Enjoy It:) :) :)
Lolo-b
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back