Study faster, better, and more efficiently with these simple memorization techniques.
Most students find themselves in a mental gridlock when it comes time to prepare for an exam. If you are a student, you are probably asking yourself, “How can I study and remember what I learned?”
There are probably dozens of memorization techniques for students you could try. In this article, we will break down four noteworthy practices that have been tried and tested over the years, promising results no matter what type of learner you are.
As an asterisk to this information, we want to emphasize that cramming the night before an exam will only take you so far. To truly retain the information, you must give yourself enough time to develop a meaningful understanding of whatever it is you are studying.
However, if you can improve your memorization, you can better remember what you learned and make the most of your study sessions.
The mnemonics learning technique is a classic. Some examples that you may be familiar with are “Roy G Biv,” which refers to the colors of the rainbow, and “Please excuse my dear aunt sally,” which refers to the order of operations in math, Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. You can practice mnemonics in your study sessions by assigning a piece of information with any word, phrase, or acronym that will stick out in your memory.
Humans are natural storytellers, and we are more prone to remembering what we learn when a story is attached to the information. So, create a story in your head. Perhaps your story is infused with metaphors that offer clues to unlock sub pieces of information in your memory. Studying the human body in anatomy class? Maybe your story is about faraway lands named after each bone.
Visualization is another powerful memorization technique for students. Commonly called the method of loci, this technique involves imagining a house or building in your mind’s eye. Each room in the house is associated with bits of information you want to remember. Any time you learn new information, it goes into a new room. As you are trying to recall what you memorized, imagine yourself walking through the house and navigating to the closet, drawer, or whole room where you stored that information.
For auditory learners, music can be a powerful memorization aid. Songs use your brain’s right hemisphere, making learning information more likely to stick in your memory. You could listen to a single song on repeat through your entire study session, or you can make up your own jingle.
Some of these memorization techniques may feel strange at first if you have never practiced them but give it time. No matter what method you use, it always takes some time to develop the skills for memorization, and while you are developing those skills, you are also training your memory to be better and stronger.