To pass the test you get the book made to prepare you. So I did. There was a section that was just a list of vocabulary words you would need to know and their definitions. It was a very long list indeed. Without a memory this was a humongous task for me. I would need hundreds of repetitions to even begin to do it. Where was the time with little kids, a job, and tons of work to do. I thought about it and came up with a plan.
I bought two books. I took the pages of vocabulary and cut them into strips and pasted them together into a very very long running list. I had to have two books as I needed both sides of the pages for my list and cutting them destroyed one side. I rolled up the list. I then went to the leather shop and purchased enough leather and plastic string to make a pouch with two chambers and a lead from one to another, very much like the cartridges of film used in cameras, so that you could advance the film, in this case the list, from one chamber to the next and back again. I then made a leather string, attached it to the pouch so I could put this amulet around my neck.
At work as I filed I would glance down at the amulet and read the word and definition that was showing through the window in the lead. I would repeat the word and definition as I filed and then I would advance the list to the next word and repeat it as I continued to file. I went over the list countless times over the next months. It seemed to me that I was not remembering anything. But I also knew the brain works beyond what we are aware of. Needless to say the trick worked and I did pass the test. I now had permission to apply for graduate school. But when and where. It takes money and opportunity. How would that come about. I had no clue. I had to keep my spirits up, not feel depressed and give up. I had to learn how.
Comments