Boron, which comes from the mineral borax, sits just to the left of carbon on the periodic table. It is a common ingredient found in composite materials and in fertilizers. It's also an essential nutrient of plants, and recent research from NASA's Curiosity rover showed that it is present on Mars, a sign of possible habitable conditions.
The periodic table consists of elements, all of which multi-electron atoms (except hydrogen of course). Electron configuration tells us how these electrons are distributed among the various atomic orbitals. They show up on general chemistry exams without fail.
I have a chemistry test coming up and I might need to know the charge that goes with the different ions like $\ceSO4$ has $-2$, $\ceNO2$ is $-1$ and $\cePO4$ is $-3$. Is there an easy way to remember this by looking at the periodic table or something like remembering that the second row elements are all going to be $\cesomething-O3$ and the next row is all $\cesomething-O4$ for the -ate endings (except $\ceCl$ which is the odd man out). It will make writing out the different acid combos easier, if I can remember the charge difference that needs offsetting by the hydrogen.
You can see that 'ate' has one more oxygen, and that I have listed them in charge order. Sometimes looking at the trends in oxygen and charge will help you memorize. I have had to remember them by writing them down several times and now I am comfortable.