You might remember the meaning of the character 洲 with this easy mnemonic:
A ship was in search of a new continent when it became shipwrecked. A crew woke up feeling droplets (氵) of blood dripping from her slashed (丿) hands. No one in her line (丨) of sight.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.