Mnemonics & Memory Tricks

the order of the planets

Each first letter is a planet: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

💡 Did you know? When Pluto still counted as a planet, the line ended „… Served Us Nine Pizzas“, with Pluto as the ninth. It was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

the compass points

Never Eat Soggy Waffles → North, East, South, West: reading clockwise from the top.

💡 Did you know? In German the same order is remembered as „Nie ohne Seife waschen“.

the length of the months

These four months have 30 days, most of the rest have 31: only February has 28, or 29 in a leap year.

💡 Did you know? There is also the „knuckle rule“: count the months across your knuckles: those on the raised knuckles are the long ones with 31 days.

stalactite

Trick: stalaCtite has a C for Ceiling, stalaGmite has a G for Ground.

💡 Did you know? When a stalactite from above and a stalagmite from below grow together, they form a single column.

E, A, D, G, B, E

Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie → E, A, D, G, B, E: from the thickest string to the thinnest.

💡 Did you know? In German musical notation the B string is called H, giving the tuning E A D G H E.

the order of sharp keys

Good Dogs Always Eat Big Fish → G, D, A, E, B, F#: each key has one more sharp than the last.

💡 Did you know? G major has one sharp, D major two, A major three: the circle of fifths arranges all keys in a ring.

sine, cosine and tangent

Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse, Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse, Tangent = Opposite/Adjacent.

💡 Did you know? In German the same rule is remembered as „GAGA: Hühnerhof“.

i comes before e, except after c

So it is beli-e-ve and fri-e-nd, but re-ce-i-ve and de-ce-i-ve after a c.

💡 Did you know? The rule has famous exceptions like „weird“, „seize“ and „science“: handy, not watertight.

the principal is your pal

„PrinciPAL“ ends in „pal“: a person or the main thing. A „principle“ is a basic truth or rule.

💡 Did you know? The same trick works for „stationery“ (with an e, as in Envelopes and papEr) versus „stationary“ (not moving).

the colours of the rainbow

R-O-Y-G-B-I-V: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

💡 Did you know? Some learn it as a person’s name, „Roy G. Biv“; others use „Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain“.

the lines of the treble clef

Every Good Boy Does Fine → E, G, B, D, F: the five lines from bottom to top.

💡 Did you know? The spaces spell „FACE“ from the bottom up: F, A, C, E.

port red, starboard green

„Port“ and „left“ both have four letters and port wine is red, so port is the red, left-hand side.

💡 Did you know? „Starboard“ comes from the „steer-board“, the steering oar once fixed to the right-hand side of ships.

the left hand makes an L

Hold out the thumb and index finger of both hands: only the left makes an „L“ the right way round.

💡 Did you know? It only works with the back of your hand facing you: from the other side the „L“ is mirrored.

the order of operations

Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, then Addition and Subtraction: „Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally“.

💡 Did you know? In Britain the same idea is „BODMAS“: Brackets, Orders, Division/Multiplication, Addition/Subtraction.

affect is a verb, effect is a noun

RAVEN: Remember, Affect is a Verb, Effect is a Noun. „The rain affects the roads; the effect is a flood.“

💡 Did you know? There are rare exceptions („to effect change“ (bring about) and „a flat affect“ (a mood term)) but the rule holds nearly always.

clockwise

Remember „righty tighty, lefty loosey“: almost all threads tighten clockwise.

💡 Did you know? Exceptions are left-hand threads, such as the left pedal on a bicycle, which tightens the other way.