How to name all the countries in the world

This summer I learned how to name all 197 countries in the world. Now I will help you do the same. So we're on the same page here: Scotland/England/etc - not countries. Greenland - a part of Denmark. Puerto Rico - part of the US. Palestine - debatable, I guess, but counted as a country here. South Sudan, Kosovo - recently became countries. I go by Sporcle standards if you need more information.

Step one: Get a good map of the world in your head.

The only way you can do this, on the spot, without a blank map to look at and not in alphabetical order (which is my next goal, by the way), is to have an accurate map in your head that you can conjure up when needed. So, look at a lot of maps. Know exactly where every country is.

Step two: Divide by continents.

North America (including Central America and the Caribbean) has 23 countries. South America has 12. Europe has 47 (including Russia and Turkey because they can go either way and this makes Europe and Asia equal in number of countries). Asia also  has 47, as I said, if we don't include Russia or Turkey. Africa has the most at 54. And Australia/Oceania has 14. Knowing these numbers will make everything go so much more smoothly.

Step three: Go as systematically as possible.

Do not shout out random countries as they come to your head - you will never be able to do it that way. Go geographically and try to go in about the same order every time. Find what works for you. I do Africa really weirdly... I start at Egypt, go across to Morocco, back down through Sudan then down to Tanzania then back to Senegal and sweep through the coastal countries down to the Congos before jumping down to South Africa and going north to meet in the middle. Divide continents into regions or little groups of countries. Such as Scandinavian countries for Europe, or the Stans for Asia.

Step four: Keep a tally by continent.

It's hard to figure out what you're missing if you get up to only 195 or 196 (most frustrating thing in the world). It's much easier to figure out what you're missing if you know which continent it's on. So, keep a tally mark or have someone else do it for you. If you only have, let's say, 53 for Africa, just do it again. Don't hurt yourself trying to think of which one you missed.

Step five: Develop tricks to help on hard ones - or steal mine!

The islands of the Caribbean - this is the best way I've found. Remember "The Big Five" (Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bahamas), "Two Doubles" (Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago), "Three Saints" (Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), and "Three Singles" (Dominica, Grenada, Barbados). Works like a charm.

Oceania - this trick transforms one of the hardest regions into one of the easiest. "Four Odd Ones Out" (Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu), and then two each for "MNPST" (Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Zealand, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga). See? Piece of cake.

African Islands - just remember that there are six and that they are Mauritius, Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe, Madagascar, Comoros and Cape Verde. Going geographically is probably easiest, but I just do them right away when I start Africa.

Four Forgettables - Asian Islands. Sri Lanka and Maldives (name them when you name India or else you're screwed), and Taiwan and the Philippines (name them when you name China). Not so forgettable now, huh? Islands can be hard to remember when you're using a mental map.

AND FREAKING MALAWI. Don't forget Malawi. Learn from my pain. It's hard because on most maps (including my mental map) it just looks like a lake, but when you're doing landlocked sub-Saharan African countries (Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, etc) DON'T FORGET MALAWI.

So there you go. Practice with the Countries of the World quiz on Sporcle (pretty easy since it's got a map) and once you've got it down, feel free to show off. I really want someone to play Concentration 64 with me... The category is... (clap, clap, clap)... countries of the world :) It'd be epic.