David is a sophomore in high school and is studying for his united states history exam, in which he must recall all of the battles in the american revolutionary war. At first, he begins by just trying to group all of the facts associated with each battle into his memory. When he realizes he is forgetting some battles, he begins repeatedly associating the events that occurred in each battle with the place where the battle occurred. He finds he remembers the battles more readily this way, but he is still having a hard time remembering all the facts associated with each battle. Because he continues to think this is the best way to approach learning, he continues to study in this manner. After several bad grades, he realizes that his studying technique is not working, so he asks a friend who is doing better at remembering everything how she is studying. She said she is making up stories about each battle and how each battle is connected with other battles. David tries this method and finds it was much more effective for him.