How to Memorize the Thirteen Original Colonies

Any student faced with memorizing state capitols and the thirteen original colonies dreads spending weeks repeating a list over and over, only to have test day roll around and have their brain freeze up. Make easy work of memorizing the thirteen colonies and use the same techniques on other social studies assignments or just about anything that requires memorization.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Decide how your brain learns best. Some people respond well to organization and order while other people are visual learners.
2. Divide the thirteen colonies into groups that make most sense to you. Organized people may prefer to view the colonies by how they appear on a map, in different regions. Visual people may see the shape or size of the state, or may even think of something unique about each state to correlate it to another. Others may use the spelling of the states, grouping them alphabetically.
3. Visualize the colonies in their new smaller groups and focus only on the small group of three or four rather than the entire group of thirteen. Concentrate on how the small group is related and move on to the next one.
4. Imagine the phrase, or groups, in an extraordinary way. Create a situation in your mind for the small group that is so outrageous and silly that it sticks out like a sore thumb to help you memorize it. Repeat this for each small group of colonies, making one group crazier than the last to better memorize the information.
5. Use the first letter of each state and organize the letters in a way that makes an abbreviation of a phrase that hits home with you. This is a mnemonic technique like remembering the name Roy G. Biv and relating it to the colors of the rainbow. The phrase or name is completely up to you, and you can order the thirteen colonies in any way to help you memorize them with a mnemonic technique.