“15 tips and tricks to memorize things faster” Do you ever find yourself complaining about
how poor your memory is?
Did you ever have difficulty with remembering even the simplest things like a grocery list
or a phone number?
Or are you having trouble with more challenging tasks such as grad level course materials?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions,
Here are “15 tips and tricks to memorize things faster”
No1: Try to understand what you are memorizing.
Understanding the material you are trying to memorize is one of the simplest yet very
effective tips.
Information that you understand and that is organized and makes sense to you is easier
to memorize.
Research shows that things you make sense of are memorized 9 times faster than those
you simply try to remember by heart, without thinking it through.
Understanding is vital to quick learning because people come across a lot of information all
the time, and not all of them are equally important to us.
If we pay attention to something long enough for it to make sense to us, chances are much
higher that we are going to remember it.
No2: Teach what you learned to someone else.
It takes true mastery in something for you to teach it to someone else.
By explaining something to another person, you are forced to think it through and to
elaborate it which enhances retention significantly.
Sharing your recently learned knowledge is an efficient way to further solidify the new
information in your brain.
You can even do this by making a test for someone else.
Take the material you have and make several types of questions: multiple-choice, matching
questions, essay questions as if you are testing someone’s knowledge.
This is also an effective way because it requires more involvement with the information.
No3: Try the spaced repetition technique.
Spaced repetition technique is well-documented way to improve retention.
It is based on the fact that in order to remember something for a longer time, you need to transfer
it from your short-term memory (where it is while you are actively working on it) to your
long-term memory (where it can stay for a long time, even if you are not currently thinking
about it).
A good way to do this is repeating what you have to learn several times across different
time periods.
For example, you repeat it right after learning, then after 30 minutes, then after 1 day and
after 2 weeks…
This is how you ensure maximum retention.
No4: Learn about the serial position effect and how to use it.
The serial position effect is a well-established psychological principle of learning, and it
can be very useful, especially when learning lists (like a grocery list, for example).
Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus explained it.
This effect represents the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series
best, and the middle items worst.
You can use this effect with remembering lists.
You can create a list in a way that the most important stuff is put either in the beginning
or at the end of your list.
That way you are ensuring that you remember important things best.
It is a simple trick but it can work wonders if you learn how to use it.
No5: Write down what needs to be memorized multiple times.
People are more likely to remember notes you write by hand than those you type, for example.
This fact has physiological explanations.
The act of writing is a physical act that requires certain movements (of your hand and
fingers) and it stimulates cells at the base of your brain.
This stimulation means paying more attention to what you are doing because your brain is
more active when writing.
Also, we usually write information in our words, which requires cognitive processing
which in return improves understanding, and we have already shown that better understanding
leads to better memorizing.
No6: Relate new things to what you already know
Things that you already know have a marked space in your brain.
By relating new information to well-known things, you are sort of “sticking” new
info to the old one and ensuring better retention of the new material.
It becomes less unknown to your brain and you recall it more easily.
Connecting new information to prior knowledge in your long-term memory gives your brain
more than one way to trace this new information when you need it, which makes it easier to
retrieve when needed.
No7: Try some of the mnemonic tricks Specific memory techniques can help you improve
your memorizing of anything you're learning.
Mnemonic technique is a way to aid memory, which consists of referring the information
we want to remember to an image or a word.
We connect things we want to memorize to certain images or often a rhyme and then, by remembering
the image or the rhyme, we recall the thing we aimed to memorize.
Some of the most common mnemonics include making acronyms.
For example, it is useful to know how to treat a sprain.
You should: Rest the injured area.
Ice the sprain.
Compress with a wrap or bandage.
Elevate the injured area.
But, it is easier to remember this as RICE, isn’t it?
No8: Use the benefits of chunking information.
Chunking refers to the process of taking individual pieces of information and grouping them into
larger units.
By grouping each data point into a larger whole, you can improve the amount of information
you can remember.
Chunking helps us overcome the natural limitations of our memory, and is therefore a very powerful
trick for helping you to learn all kinds of information.
Next time you are trying to remember your grocery list, don’t try to recall all of
it at once; try chunking it into smaller groups based on, for example, the type of food they
represent.
No9: Try out the power of visualization You may have heard that someone says he or
she is a “visual type” of a learner.
This usually means that person remembers pictures better than words.
It is a well-known psychological fact: some people are so much better in remembering visual
material that they use this advantage in learning any kind of content by transferring it or
linking it to images.
Images are important because they connect directly to your brain’s visuospatial centers.
If you need to remember your hotel room number is 421, you can visualize 4 kids playing with
2 dogs and one ball, for example.
No10: Know when to take a break or even a nap.
Being well-rested has a great impact on your ability to memorize.
For your brain to function properly, it needs to be rested.
You need to have a good night’s sleep for your brain’s chemical processes to function
as they should.
Also, when you are memorizing something, you should take well-timed breaks in order to
let your brain retain what you have just learned.
Some researchers suggest taking a 15-minute break for every 30-45 minutes of learning
for best results.
Research also shows that the rate of forgetting is slower when sleeping so it is good advice
for you to learn something important right before you go to sleep.
No11: Give the memory palace a try A memory palace is a specific memory-enhancing
technique that may sound difficult, but when properly applied, it can make wonders.
This technique requires visualizing a familiar place (your house, for example) and using
it as a visual space where you can “deposit” images of things that you want to remember.
This technique can help with remembering unrelated items, like a grocery list.
To use the memory palace technique, visualize your place and then imagine items from your
grocery list in different areas around the place.
This technique needs practicing, but when mastered, it will allow you to memorize virtually
unlimited amounts of information.
No12: Avoid distraction and multitasking when memorizing
In this technical era we live in, we multitask as a way of living.
We are on our phones and answering an email while eating at our desk.
But, it is proven that, while multitasking is a handy ability, it means that our limited
capacities are stretched across several tasks, which means we are not doing any of them the
best we can.
It may pass if those tasks are something we are well-versed in, but if it is something
like memorizing new info, it is best that you stick with one task at a time.
No13: Read out loud what you want to remember It may sound strange, but reading out loud
the material you are trying to memorize can be an effective memory-booster.
When you study by reading aloud, your sense of hearing aids the memorization process,
because when you hear yourself talk it improves your cognitive abilities, attention and comprehension.
All of these have a great influence on improving the memorization process.
Research published in the journal Memory finds that the act of reading and speaking text
aloud is a more effective way to remember information than reading it silently or just
hearing it read aloud.
The authors of the study, from the University of Waterloo in Canada, report that the “dual
action” of speaking and hearing yourself speak helps the brain to store the information
so that it becomes long-term memory.
No14: Make flashcards and study them often Making flashcards while learning is often
used especially in the student population.
This is a useful technique because it requires active recall from you.
You are not passively reading a chapter in a book without engaging.
Rather, you are actively searching for the answer in your brain when you see the front
side of your flashcard.
Every time you search and successfully find the answer in your brain, you make a better
path to it, which makes it easier to trace it the next time.
No15: Don’t forget the importance of preparing your brain for memorizing!
It is important that you maintain certain habits that help you keep your brain at its
maximum level of functioning so that you can memorize faster.
For example, working out and drinking green tea are excellent memory boosters.
Also, there are some factors of the environment that can help your brain do its magic.
You should create an environment free of distractions like TV or your phone, because they interfere
with the memorizing process greatly.
These were some of the tips and techniques that can improve your memory and help you
memorize information fast.
Some of them require some practice and others are simple yet still effective.
Whatever your troubles with memorization are, of whatever you want to memorize fast, all
of these tricks are worth trying out and could make a real difference in your memory.
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