How to memorize prefixes

[samanthaywu]

Does anyone have effective strategies for memorizing the prefixes for units? (like mega- kilo- deca- milli-, etc.)

[Charlie Russell 2L]

You just gotta Quizlet those out, I think that's the best way and it took me maybe 5 minutes/day for two days until I had them down.

[Charisma Arreola 2F]

For those, mini flash cards really helped me when I was learning them in AP chem. Our teacher actually suggested it and it turned out to be useful.

[Jaclyn Dang 3B]

As said before, used flash cards! I like to make my own using quizlet or I use somebody else's quizlet

[tholz11]

Lots of repetition and practice problems will help you over time. If you're still struggling approaching the final making a quizlet would be a great idea!

[Brett Lieuallen 2A]

Try associating the prefixes with things you remember. For example I associate deca with decade.

[JaylinWangDis1L]

I used to just memorize them by practice (repeating them out loud or through flashcards) or associating them with words that also contain that prefix. If worse comes to worst, the equation sheet will have a few conversion factors.

[AustinMcBrideDis3L]

I just use flashcards or just memorize them straight up because many of them are used so often in all STEM based classes.

[Serena Song 1A]

As others have said quizlet/flashcards are pretty helpful when trying to memorize the prefixes. Unit conversion problems help out a lot too. Good luck!

[TiffanyBrownfield 2I]

Before when I wasn't as confident with them, I would try to think of other words with the prefixes to help me (ex. decathlon, cent, millennium). If you can't come up with any, or if you have trouble memorizing them, I'm sure there are several mnemonics online that can make it easier.

[OwenSumter_2F]

I'd definitely suggest mnemonics for some of the less common ones but try to remember some of the more common ones.

[Carly_Lipschitz_3H]

I use the mnemonic King Henry Died by Drinking Chocolate Milk. K= kilo, H = hecto, D = deca, b = standard unit, D = deci, C = centi, M= milli. I hope this helps!!

[Lisa Seidl 3H]

Mine is pretty similar to the one mentioned before, but I use "Kings Hate Dragons Because Dragons Can’t Make Money" for Kilo, Hecto, Deca, Base, Deci, Centi, Milli, Micro.

[Yashvi Reddy 1H]

I've heard the above mnemonics as well! But I think what is most helpful is to do as many practice problems as possible and review often. I hope this helps! Good luck.

[Ravdeep Warar 2G]

When I took psychology in high school, my teacher said the best way to prefixes and other words is to come up with a goofy term for it, and studies have shown that mnemonics are greatly beneficial and actually work.

[Jasraj Parmar 3H]

I like what others have mentioned about using quizlet. I think it is a great tool with memorizing prefixes.

[Katie Nye 2F]

For me, a table was actually the most helpful for me! I used the table for every problem I completed until I was naturally doing it without checking the table because it became a force of habit! Maybe try to memorize them in order so you don't have to match them up individually, but you know the listing order!

[Jeremy Wei 2C]

Hi, mnemonics are definitely a great way to memorize these prefixes and constant repetition (although takes time) works well too!

[Bai Rong Lin 2K]

Does anyone have effective strategies for memorizing the prefixes for units? (like mega- kilo- deca- milli-, etc.)

I think quizlet is a good way to learn it and a good alternative to actual flashcards.

[Michelle Magana 2B]

Hi, you can use flashcards, quizlets, or even mnemonics to help remember the prefixes.

[ShinwooKim_3E]

I memorized it in high school through flash cards/quizlet, if that helps!

[Brian Acevedo 2E]

This may not be overly specific, but whenever looking at a prefix I'm unsure of, then I try to think of another word I know already that effectively contains the same prefix. For example, I know that a CENTury is a period of 100 years, so I can assume that a unit with the prefix centi- will relate to the base unit by a factor of 100, or 10^2. Unfortunately, learning which prefixes are larger or smaller than the base unit (i.e. a centimeter is smaller than a meter) came down to rote memorization for me, but the aforementioned strategy made the task of comprehending the prefixes' meanings far less daunting for sure. I hope this helps!

[Brian Acevedo 2E]

On a separate note, if you're worried about prefix memorization for the sake of doing well on one of the exams, I wouldn't worry to much. On the constants and equations sheet on Dr. Lavelle's website, all of the units that are likely to appear on an exam are listed as a measure of the base unit, albeit in the abbreviated form. For example, 1 nm = 10^-9 m. The only exception is that 1 liter is described in cubic decimeters. As long as you remember that 1 dm = 10^-1 m, everything else you might need is given to you.

[oliviahelou]

I advise you to write it all down on a paper in form of a table and read it every day until it is stuck in your head

[Zara Okeiyi 3C]

Hi! Whenever I’m working on memorizing prefixes I just try to think of words that already have those prefixes in them. For example, kilometer means 1,000 meters which must mean that kilo means 1,000.

[Polo Morales 3C]

One useful one that I learned in 5th grade was King Henry Died Unusually Drinking Chocolate Milk. (Kilo-, Hecto-, Deca-, *Unit Base*, Deci-, Centi-, Milli-). Hope this helps!

[Jesse Amaya]

One useful one that I learned in 5th grade was King Henry Died Unusually Drinking Chocolate Milk. (Kilo-, Hecto-, Deca-, *Unit Base*, Deci-, Centi-, Milli-). Hope this helps!

I learned the same mnemonic device! Thank you for reminding me. To the original poster, this does help but everyone learns it in their own ways so creating a quizlet could help.

[Abigail Tran 14a]

I think of mega as really big like a million and kilo as like times a thousand just because we have seen it so many times and deca as times 10 because a decade is 10 years.

[Abigail Tran 14a]

I think of mega as really big like a million and kilo as like times a thousand just because we have seen it so many times and deca as times 10 because a decade is 10 years.

[noahbehrendt2L]

If you make a quizlet you can easily learn and memorize the prefixes.

[Sean Basu 2B]

Like others are saying, flashcards help a lot! I've also found that knowing the root word really helps (ex: cent is 100 in french, so it makes sense that a centi(unit) is one 100th of the original unit)

[Mahima Manoj 1F]

I remember my high school chem teacher gave us a mnemonic for them and it really helped once you had it memorized!

[Shannon Clark 1F]

My chemistry teacher had us memorize it with a fun little sentence:

King Henry Doesn't Usually Drink Chocolate Milk (Kilo- ,Hecto- ,Deca-, Unit, Deci-, Centi-, Milli-)

It's helped a lot in remembering how far to move the decimal to the right or left for unit conversions too!

[Daljit Takher 1B]

Quizlet helps, but for me it works better to just grab a piece of paper and just write out all the ones I remember. Then refer back to the list and see the ones i missed and say them out loud a few times and then write them out at least twice. After that I would take a break and repeat the same process after a while.

[Emaad Sohail 3F]

A few prefixes you can get just by common things- for example, a *cent* is one hundredth of a dollar, so centi- means one hundredth. Mostly, you just need to memorize them, though- they come easier with practice.

[Giselle Simmons 2D]

These are so smart thank you all! :)

[Nova Akhavan 2F]

You can use the acronym "The Great Man king henry's daughter Beth drinks cold milk μntil nine pm" which represents:
Tera – The
Giga – Great
Mega – Man
kilo – king
hecto – henry’s
deca – daughter
BASE – Beth
deci – drinks
centi – cold
mili – milk
micro – μntil
nano – nine
pico – pm