While memory learning may not be an efficient way of learning, memorizing is a big part of any learning process. It is still, however, a difficult thing to do. But there are many methods that have been tested and proven to be helpful for memorization. Here are the 6 best memorization techniques.
6 Best Memorization Techniques
Use Acronyms
Studying topics that consist of longer material can be painful and time-consuming. A simple way to make this task easy is to break it down into smaller parts or subtopics, and then memorize the content. These subtopics should be labelled and given a heading. Then, an acronym with all of the headings can be made by jumbling up the letters. The acronym can be anything that can help you remember all the subjects, thus, helping you with your studies. A popular acronym used to remember things is BODMAS or PEMDAS. These stand for Brackets Off Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction and Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. These formulas are used in solving mathematical equations.
Pretend to teach someone
The first step into memorizing anything is to know and understand the content better yourself. Once you understand the concept, memorization is not very far away from that. And the best way to understand any concept or theory is to read it, and then teach it to yourself. This is known as the protégé effect. It is a psychological phenomenon that says that pretending to teach or explain a concept to yourself makes learning and remembering it easier. While teaching yourself, you can notice any doubts or questions you have about the topic.
Study over the course of 4 days
It is a common mistake made by students of cramming all of the information into their heads in the span of one evening, right after the lesson is taught or the day before an exam. Instead, it is important to space out your studies for maximum retention of the information. It is recommended that you study over the span of a few days so that you can study the same piece of information repeatedly and firmly ingrain it into your memory. You should also not attempt to study a large amount of information in one evening but study it piece by piece. You should draw out a proper schedule that includes time slots for studying new information and revision of old information so that you do not simply study all of the information within one day and forget it by the next evening.
Write notes
Writing is a very effective tool when it comes to improving the retention of information. There is an old folk saying that states that if you write anything 21 times you will remember it for the rest of your life. While not entirely true, it is not completely baseless either. Writing notes is an effective way of active learning. You take a mass of information that is given to you and pare it down to the information that is necessary to you. This helps you identify and prioritize the information that you need to memorize rather than getting intimidated and confused by all of the information that you can ignore instead. Writing will also help you memorize the information that you need to know as dedicated, repetitive writing of anything will ingrain this information into your head.
Read notes before sleeping
This step is important in more than one way as sleep is important for your mind and body to rest, but it is also important in another secretive way. It might not be obvious in the beginning but it has been scientifically proven that consuming information right before you lay your mind to rest helps you retain information better. This is because as you sleep the information that your mind has received throughout the day is processed, sorted, and understood by you. Studying right before you sleep will ensure that this information that is of utmost importance to you is processed first, which will improve retention of it. Getting a proper amount of sleep will also ensure that you are energetic and ready for the next day, thereby helping you retain information better.
Find out what works for you
Combining all of the above tips will help you create an ideal structure for your study hours. But what is most important is that you take your time to understand and put into practice what is best for you. Every individual is unique and there are as many study techniques out there as there are people. Every individual has a different time when they are productive and every individual has different practices that help their memorization. Although the idea of trying to find your perfect technique can be daunting, the method is actually quite simple. All you have to do is employ the trusty old technique of trial and error. Try out the above tips, see what works for you, discard or modify what doesn’t, and continue trying new methods to create the perfect study method for you.
