Great work, onfire247! I love your process and tremendously respect your tackling of John. And your prayer is interesting. I am not sure faith is ever proven... but I have always felt like John's Gospel is a blessing to the skeptic - and really challenges the reader to come to grips with who Jesus really is.
Saintman, I think you have many valid points. Also, once you reach 100%, you are always prompted to repeat the verse on review, which becomes very tedious when you are covering chapters. The greatest point, however, is that these percentages and such are arbitrary and not real reflectors of your knowledge. The only problem is I am OCD about it, and I want to get 100%.
Excellent. I do try and keep track of my work, but I can't seem to crack the way to increase percentage. Volume doesn't do it. I have been going over and over some verses I have lost percentage on, and it is slow going. Plus, it is frustrating to have one mistake drop you 20% and then four times the work after that only recovers 5%.
Having said all of that, I really can't complain. I have really benefited from the memorization and the management through this site.
FinalAsgard, I am working my way through the Gospel of Mark, and I am just finishing up Chapter 14 (72 verses) and it is very difficult. In many ways, it is probably easier than something like Psalm 119 because it is narrative story telling, but it is still a challenge. Right now, Ch 1-6 are rock solid. Ch 7-8 are pretty good, Ch 9-14 are in my head, but more prompting is needed.
Thanks, onfire247! Slowly but surely. 90 verses and still chapter 1 eludes me. Honestly, I feel like chapters are more of a milestone over number of verses. But it is nice to see the number increasing.
Thanks, onfire247! Slowly but surely. 90 verses and still chapter 1 eludes me. Honestly, I feel like chapters are more of a milestone over number of verses. But it is nice to see the number increasing.
yeah, some chapters are way too big. I'm looking at you, Psalm 119! That's going to be like a 6 month project to tackle memorizing. My largest chapter so far is John 1, 51 verses.
FinalAsgard, I am working my way through the Gospel of Mark, and I am just finishing up Chapter 14 (72 verses) and it is very difficult. In many ways, it is probably easier than something like Psalm 119 because it is narrative story telling, but it is still a challenge. Right now, Ch 1-6 are rock solid. Ch 7-8 are pretty good, Ch 9-14 are in my head, but more prompting is needed.
Very nice. I created a binder for my review schedule, so that I keep reviewing things more often than this site has me do it, and then it tapers off to weekly/monthly/quarterly, and ultimately in the end I'll have an annual review of things just so I don't forget them. That in addition to this site have been really good tools for helping me. I'm currently working through Philippians, and then will be going back to work on a few more chapters of John.
Excellent. I do try and keep track of my work, but I can't seem to crack the way to increase percentage. Volume doesn't do it. I have been going over and over some verses I have lost percentage on, and it is slow going. Plus, it is frustrating to have one mistake drop you 20% and then four times the work after that only recovers 5%.
Having said all of that, I really can't complain. I have really benefited from the memorization and the management through this site.
I found that the intervals of the final 30% are too large to be of any practical benefit, so now any verse that reaches 50-70%, I reset so it doesn't disappear into the long review periods. I figured out early on that I don't need a computer to tell me if I have 'fully learned' something, and it's better to have more control over what verses I want to review.
Saintman, I think you have many valid points. Also, once you reach 100%, you are always prompted to repeat the verse on review, which becomes very tedious when you are covering chapters. The greatest point, however, is that these percentages and such are arbitrary and not real reflectors of your knowledge. The only problem is I am OCD about it, and I want to get 100%.
It is hard to believe that we can have so much fun through chatting. This is truly an awesome site. We should make a group for the LearnScipture poets. What say ye?
Hi Jappel. I'm fine. Praise the Lord. Please continue to pray for me. I provoked my brother into anger the other day. Unfortunately I can't hold my tongue and I haven't been a good witness to any of my siblings. I really need all your prayers.
Thanks, Online247. I am at this really weird place where I am so close on a lot of verses. They sort of tumble as I test and retest. Still haven't completed the first chapter of Mark which is only 45 verses... just to give some perspective.
Thanks, Online247. I am at this really weird place where I am so close on a lot of verses. They sort of tumble as I test and retest. Still haven't completed the first chapter of Mark which is only 45 verses... just to give some perspective.
Awesome! All of our kids are grown, married, and out of the house. But if we had had access to this site when they were younger, I would have certainly introduced it to them.
Thanks, PeterP. It is a very difficult challenge, but to me, the greater achievement is actually getting any verse to 100%. It takes a LONG time, and typos can set you back. I have been working on this site for a year and three months, exclusively on Mark, and I only have 70 verses at 100%. I have a lot that are close, but it is amazing to me that I have not met the threshold considering the time I have put in. That said, I trust that the threshold of 100% is a really solid standard, so I just keep on working.
Thanks, everyone! I don't think I'd still be memorizing if it weren't for all of the great encouragement and camaraderie on this site. It is kind of amazing how some many people taking so many different approaches to this one activity can connect so well. I know I tell you guys all the time, but you all keep me going. I hope that I keep you going. I love the shared ultimate goals we have, and I can't wait to see where we will be in another year. So, so encouraging.
Thanks, everyone! I don't think I'd still be memorizing if it weren't for all of the great encouragement and camaraderie on this site. It is kind of amazing how some many people taking so many different approaches to this one activity can connect so well. I know I tell you guys all the time, but you all keep me going. I hope that I keep you going. I love the shared ultimate goals we have, and I can't wait to see where we will be in another year. So, so encouraging.
Thanks, PeterP. It is a very difficult challenge, but to me, the greater achievement is actually getting any verse to 100%. It takes a LONG time, and typos can set you back. I have been working on this site for a year and three months, exclusively on Mark, and I only have 70 verses at 100%. I have a lot that are close, but it is amazing to me that I have not met the threshold considering the time I have put in. That said, I trust that the threshold of 100% is a really solid standard, so I just keep on working.
Total game changer for me. This is brilliant. I knew I could step back out on the first verse, but I never knew that refreshing at the individual verse in the middle of a long section would allow you to reenter. Again, I am just focusing on those times when small errors with short verses will kill your progress.
Onfire247, I don't sweat the minor errors. However, I wouldn't mind retrying the verse if it meant my completion percentage would go into free fall.
Super Big Thanks, Symota, for the tip. And thanks Onfire247. I feel like we are often right there on the same page, so your encouragement is invaluable.
Symota, if that works, it will be a game changer. I don't mind going over the whole verse again, having to slow down and repeat things, etc., so I hope this does work out. It will certainly help the process. Thanks for the tip. I will certainly give it a try.
I have not seen that, Online247, but your comparison between progress and leveling up made me smile. I never played Everquest, but I can relate. This is a crazy thing. Obviously, we all are working on memorization for different reasons, and in the end, points, percentages, etc., aren't that important. Additionally, it can feel a little funny to get emotional over stats. Knowing all that doesn't change the fact that completion percentages, points, averages, etc. all help keep me going despite having nothing to do with the purpose of being on this site and working so hard on memorizing.
Online247, I feel your pain. Even though I haven't noticed a declining percentage, that 90 something to 70 something drop is real. I have two verses from chapter 1 of Mark that triggered during test of the entire chapter: "The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness" and "And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once." Typos got me on both. Every other verse in chapter 1 is at 100 or in the high 90s. So even after starting chapter 1 over a year ago, I will not be at 100 percent for months. The good news is that I have able to recite chapter 1 perfectly for a little over a year.
So, I would say that my frustration is on a slightly less brutal level having achieved a significant degree of confidence in practice away from the site.
Just checking in, Saintman! Hope you're finding the energy you need and the doctors are making progress. Mostly, find rest and energy from the Lord. I am praying for you!
Thanks for the tip, Symota. I have dabbled in selecting the different options on when to see the verse in review, but haven't settled on a certain or specific strategy. I only learned a few days ago that you can make enough mistakes to undo the 100%. That was depressing on two levels. 1. Going back under 100% when it takes a lot to get there. 2. Losing because of typos and not because of real memory struggles. Like you, I am totally fine with struggling with particular wording. It is dealing with my typos and impatience that is a bigger problem.
TheMoviegoer, for some of my verses, I selected "see sooner - 12 months" instead of "Fully learnt" to help with the 'stickiness' (memory retention). Indeed, now those verses are coming due, and I have forgotten the specific wording for some of them, but I'm okay with that.
Thanks for the tip, Symota. I have dabbled in selecting the different options on when to see the verse in review, but haven't settled on a certain or specific strategy. I only learned a few days ago that you can make enough mistakes to undo the 100%. That was depressing on two levels. 1. Going back under 100% when it takes a lot to get there. 2. Losing because of typos and not because of real memory struggles. Like you, I am totally fine with struggling with particular wording. It is dealing with my typos and impatience that is a bigger problem.
That reminds me of an MMO I played when I was younger called Everquest. In Everquest, you lost experience when you died and you could de-level if you were unlucky enough to die right after a level up. Like most MMOs, the higher you got the longer it would take to level up. Unlike most games, there was a glitch that made level 45 take something like 10x the amount of experience of a normal level. Because of this glitch you would end up staying in level 45 for months. Once you got out, however, leveling went back to normal. When I hit level 46 for the first time, I was celebrating like crazy because level 45 took like 9 months to get out of it. When I died shortly afterward, I crossed back into level 45 and the glitch kicked in which magnified the already high death penalty of the game. It took me three months to get back to level 46. I was not amused. I get that same feeling every time I lose progress on a verse in the 90s. I think, "well there goes 6 months of work."
Has anyone else noticed that sometimes the progress on a verse seems to lower itself on its own without displaying the lowering on the screen? Each time I lose progress on a verse it is like a punch in the gut, so I tend to remember them. Lately, though, I've had at least three verses that I do not remember losing progress on that suddenly show up on my daily review list with a drastically lower percentage. I suspect that the system detected too many mistakes on my most recent review but did not indicate it on the screen. I've seen that happen on the other end where it will say in one area that I increased a verse by 1% but the actual overall percentage does not go up.
I have not seen that, Online247, but your comparison between progress and leveling up made me smile. I never played Everquest, but I can relate. This is a crazy thing. Obviously, we all are working on memorization for different reasons, and in the end, points, percentages, etc., aren't that important. Additionally, it can feel a little funny to get emotional over stats. Knowing all that doesn't change the fact that completion percentages, points, averages, etc. all help keep me going despite having nothing to do with the purpose of being on this site and working so hard on memorizing.
Online247, I feel your pain. Even though I haven't noticed a declining percentage, that 90 something to 70 something drop is real. I have two verses from chapter 1 of Mark that triggered during test of the entire chapter: "The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness" and "And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once." Typos got me on both. Every other verse in chapter 1 is at 100 or in the high 90s. So even after starting chapter 1 over a year ago, I will not be at 100 percent for months. The good news is that I have able to recite chapter 1 perfectly for a little over a year.
So, I would say that my frustration is on a slightly less brutal level having achieved a significant degree of confidence in practice away from the site.
TheMoviegoer, quite a while ago I remember reading someone's comment (I can't remember who posted it) about fixing typos by just hitting the refresh button (the clockwise circular arrow at the top of the screen). For me, since I'm using this site for memory work and not for improving my spelling or typing skills, I found that tip quite beneficial and have since been doing that when I make a typing error. Onfire247, being drastically penalized is not a nice feeling at all, and is one aspect of this site that I don't care for. I haven't noticed, though, that any verses have seemingly lowered themselves without it first being displayed on the screen.
Symota, if that works, it will be a game changer. I don't mind going over the whole verse again, having to slow down and repeat things, etc., so I hope this does work out. It will certainly help the process. Thanks for the tip. I will certainly give it a try.
Yes, refreshing the page will work. You can also pin the "Test instead of Read" check box to the screen for those verses you are reviewing but are not due yet. Then you can just uncheck and recheck to refresh the verse. I will refresh the verse if the typo is not far into the verse, but I'll usually just eat the mistake if it is past six words or so.
Total game changer for me. This is brilliant. I knew I could step back out on the first verse, but I never knew that refreshing at the individual verse in the middle of a long section would allow you to reenter. Again, I am just focusing on those times when small errors with short verses will kill your progress.
Onfire247, I don't sweat the minor errors. However, I wouldn't mind retrying the verse if it meant my completion percentage would go into free fall.
Super Big Thanks, Symota, for the tip. And thanks Onfire247. I feel like we are often right there on the same page, so your encouragement is invaluable.
That is a great point, FinalAsgard. I did not even address recitation, which I have down pretty good for the first 6 chapters. I often struggle in the later chapters as I try to recite in the wild with no helps. I usually give up. But with a quick letter chart to help get me back on track would help too. Also, because I am working on the ESV, I can use their app which has a built in audio version. This helps reinforce as well.
Unfortunately, I feel your pain. There are often moments where things become more tedious than others, and that weighty feeling of gutting it through passages that are more complicated (not as easy to recall) can be very challenging. I have to admit, I am pushing through, mostly because I can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel (being on Chapter 14 of 16). So keep at it… even if you can do as much.
Here is my system. I use the general thematic breaks you will find in most Bibles, for example, Mark 1 breaks down into 8 parts, “John the Baptist Prepares the Way,” “The Baptism of Jesus,” “The Temptation of Jesus,” etc. to organize my progress.
So, when I begin a chapter, I create a set based on the first thematic break. Mark 01 - 01 John the Baptist Prepares the way
I will literally type from reading the verses in that section 10 times in a row. Note, I am reading at this point, and not trying to memorize… just transcribing basically. I do this until I feel like I can get through without losing %, and from that point, I keep practicing 10 times in a row each day. I continue this process until I get my completion percentage up to 50%.
Once I am at 50%, I create a new set for the next section. Mark 01 - 02 The Baptism of Jesus
Then, I also create another new set called Incomplete - Mark 01 (01 to 01). At this point, it is only the first section of Mark 1
Then I work on transcribing Mark 01 -02 10 times each day until I have it down. Then I continue that section 10 times a day until it hits 50%. When that happens, I edit Incomplete - Mark 01 to include sections 1 & 2, and I create the next set Mark 01 - 03. And repeat the process.
As I keep adding sections, the Incomplete Mark chapter keeps growing. When I complete all the sections of the chapter, I edit Incomplete Mark to Complete - Mark 01 I begin the next chapter with the first section, and now the list looks like this:
Complete - Mark 01 Incomplete - Mark 02 (01 - 01) Mark 01 -01 Mark 01 - 02 Mark 01 - 03… Mark 02 - 01
So, at this point, my daily routine includes: 1. Working section 10 times (transcribing or from memory, depending on where I am in the process)
2. Chapter review
I have a particular goal I set for myself each day, but at a bare minimum, I try and work on the new section, and then I will do chapter reviews until I hit my goal. So today, I did Mark 14-07 (just started transcribing)
Complete - Mark 06 Complete - Mark 07 Complete - Mark 08…
Tomorrow, I will continue working on Mark 14 07 (at 18%…. It usually takes around 4 days to get a big section like this one into my brain, then another 4 days to hit 50 %)
I will then tackle my Complete Chapter reviews. Note, when I get to Incomplete Chapter 14, I will be covering chapter 14 sections 1-6, unless 7 is added by the time I get there. Then I just move back to chapter 1 and start over.
The only new wrinkle I have added is verse review. I have created individual sets for verses in chapter 1 that are not at 100%… mostly short verses that I have lost significant percentage due to errors. I just do a couple of those 10 times in a row.
Final note. I do not just follow the sites “Dashboard” reminders. I actually begin each day entering what the site prompts me to, but then I go to my system.
I don’t know if this is at all clear, but I feel like this system is working for me now. The main thing is getting the new section and chapter review done each day (include the incomplete chapter review only when it comes up in rotation.). Also, only the current working section and verse repair need to be done 10 times in a row. Chapter reviews are done once.
You are probably right on that point, and I am still trying to be as diligent as I can be. I finally have a system of progression that works well for me. I think the next book I set out to memorize will probably move a little more quickly just due to the fact that I have hit on a regular progression pattern. Still, it is hard to keep memorizing and keep up with what you have previously memorized.
Thanks for asking, Onfire247. I am currently in the 1st 3rd of Mark 14. It's funny, only my reviews of Chapter 01 show up in the news feed. Still grinding though. And loving it. Hope you're doing well, too. Keep up the good work!