Counting Days for Closing Adjustments—Use a Rhyme

The typical Humber Course 2 and Course 3 exams includes at least one question on either closing adjustments or pro-rated rent. The number of days in a month may be needed to calculate the correct answer. Here’s a well-known rhyme to help remember the days in each month (not provided in the Humber exam):

Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excluding February, once in four,
Which gives February one day more.

(Don’t worry, the Humber exam question will state if it’s a leap year.)

This is known as a mnemonic (pronounced ne-mon-ik)—a written, verbal, visual or other easy to remember association that helps you learn complex materials, particularly when preparing for an exam. Think how difficult it would be to remember the seven months that have 31 days, the four that are exceptions and the one that varies every four years. A simple rhyme makes all the difference.

Don’t ignore mnemonics when studying for the Humber exam. Another type of mnemonic involves acronyms (abbreviations typically but not always using the first letter of each word). For example, if you want to remember the four parts of an effective ad (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action), just remember AIDA. Most brains thrive on word associations.