Can you remember how many houses you own? That’s not a problem for most of us.
I bet Obama and McCain would also have trouble remembering what those of us living with Parkinson’s try to cram into our shrinking brains.
When I read Terri Reinhart’s article, Cramming, about preparing for an upcoming neuropsych test, I chuckled and reminisced about my eight hours of neuropsych tests required as a candidate for deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. I knew they didn’t want a DBS candidate who was demented, deficient or depressed, so I did my best not to exhibit these characteristics.
A frequent question in neuropsych tests is counting back by 7 from 100. I easily solved this trick question on my blog post at Acing the Mini-Mental Status Exam (Hint: 100 minus 10 plus 3 = 93, etc.).
If you weren’t a math major in college and have difficulty with these mental calculations, another trick question is often proposed: list the US Presidents in reverse chronological order, from the most recent to the first.
I discovered a memory device that helps me remember the list of the US Presidents in chronological order. It is similar to “every good boy does fine,” used to remember the notes in the five main lines of the Treble Clef in Music, representing E, G, B, D, and F from bottom to top.
Here’s your cheat sheet for remembering the names of the US Presidents in chronological order (by the first letter in each name). You’ll need to create your own mnemonic for remembering the US Presidents in reverse chronological order. It’s trickier – like trying to remember the ABCs backwards.
Now what were the names of the prime ministers of Canada?
United States Presidents
Will a jolly man make a jolly visitor?
Washington
Adams
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
Adams
Jackson
Van Buren
How truly poor those fine paper boys look?
Harrison
Tyler
Polk
Taylor
Fillmore
Pierce
Buchanan
Lincoln
Just give him gold and cash his check.
Johnson
Grant
Hayes
Garfield
Arthur
Cleveland
Harrison
Cleveland
Mommy rushes to where her children hug relatives.
McKinley
Roosevelt
Taft
Wilson
Harding
Coolidge
Hoover
Roosevelt
Those eleven kids just nag for cranberries repeatedly.
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Buy chocolate bon-bons.
Bush, Sr.
Clinton
Bush, Jr.
Related Articles:
Cramming by Terri Reinhart at: http://studiofoxhoven.squarespace.com/articles/2008/8/17/cramming.html
Acing the Mini-Mental Status Exam at: http://katekelsall.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/acing-the-mini-.html
Imperfect Then, Imperfect Now at: http://katekelsall.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/10/imperfect_then_.html
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