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How to remember things quickly and for a long time: Memorization Techniques.

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In every field, remembering information is imperative, but how to memorize it quickly and for a long time is still challenging to attain. Obviously, you need to understand it all first and how it sticks to your brain is all up to you.

Well, everybody’s brain functions differently. And that is where the essentiality comes from to understand the uniqueness and functioning of memorizing information. If you understand how your own brain works, you can figure out the learning techniques that fit the best to remember things for the long term.

We learn so many things throughout our lives, but even after learning so much, we still don’t remember everything. Do you know why? Simply because we forget information.

But when we learn a lot and study too, how is it possible to forget the information? Why does this happen, and how to memorize things for a longer time. Let us get answers to these questions.

Why do we forget things after learning?

It is a universal truth that we usually forget things we learned a few hours ago. For instance, if we talk about a piece of information we have studied now and learned. For now, the memorization of the piece of information is 100%, but a few hours later, you won’t be able to recall it all as, after a few hours, only forty-five per cent of the information is stored, and the rest is all out of your mind. But why?

We will tell you. The reason is that your brain protects you from overloading it with useless information, and that is why all the information you study or learn is stored in the short-term memory, not in the longer one. If you do not repeat it, revise it, or memorize it well, you will forget it all quickly.

Well, complicated? Right! But it has solutions too. Let us first get familiar with a universal formula that helps memorize things quickly and for a longer term.

Universal formula for good memorization!

German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered the universal formula. According to the psychologist, the information you have learned well, you will be able to memorize only half of the learned information after one hour. You would be astonished to know that you will be able to remember 20% a week later.

Horrible right? You will forget around 80% of the information in a week only for the concepts you have spent so much time learning.

But don’t worry, he has suggested a universal formula that when followed accurately, can be an escape for you.

How to remember everything?

The universal formula of learning uses the spaced repetition technique. This includes

To memorize the information quickly!

If your focus is to memorize the information quickly, follow the below-mentioned spaced repetition technique.

1st Repetition ———–> Right after learning

2nd Repetition ———–> After 15-20 minutes

3rd Repetition ———–> After six to 8 hours

4th Repetition ———–> After 24 Hours

To memorize information for a longer time!

If your goal is to memorize the information for a longer time, follow the below-mentioned spaced technique

1st Repetition ———–> Right after learning

2nd Repetition ———–> After 20 to 30 minutes

3rd Repetition ———–> After 1 day

4th Repetition ———–> After 2 to 3 weeks

5th Repetition ———–> After 2 to 3 months.

But before applying this, don’t forget to study and understand the concepts well.

Learning is not a one-time procedure. It requires a lot of hard work and intelligent work. Apart from the above-mentioned universal formula of learning, several other methods can help you efficiently. Don’t worry; we have compiled that too. Here’s all you need to know.

How to memorize information?

There are several ways to remember things quickly and for a long time. Let us get familiar with a few of them.

Visual Memorizations

How boring is it to keep reading books with no pictures? Argh, too intricate. But what if you can visualize it all and remember it all well? Undoubtedly

We never forget what we see. Try making some memorable visual images to represent the study material you are struggling to remember. Images are essential as they connect directly to the brain’s visuospatial centres.

Images and visuals help you remember complicated and challenging to memorize concepts by clicking into the visual areas. The more you will use your five senses, the easier it will be to learn concepts.

Record what you are memorizing

This can be a useful memorizing trick if applied. All you need to do is record what you are studying, including all the information and actual facts. This way, you can speak out loudly about the stuff you are learning. Whenever you revise, you can listen to it and remember all the accurate facts and information—a straightforward way to get two benefits simultaneously.

This method can be a saviour for the ones that are auditory learners, and you can also keep it handy. Access the information and learn more smartly.

Section your notes

Have you written everything well for your revision purposes? Don’t forget to segregate it. Keeping all the stuff in the same place can be confusing and messy. You can refine your notes by partitioning them on a category basis.

Using colour codings to differentiate between the subjects and partition the study material into smaller ones will help you recall the information better. This way, while revising the stuff, you don’t have to struggle with finding a topic, and also your brain will be able to function better.

Exercise

Exercise? Seriously? But yeah, you heard it right. Research studies indicate that exercising can boost memory and enhance learning capabilities. But you know how? Exercising helps create neurons in the areas relating to memory. Exercising has powerful effects and will keep you fit as well—double benefits.

Make rhymes

Have you ever thought that the rhymes that sound so good to the ears can also help remember things? Yes, you heard it right. If you can memorize the song lyrics, you can also not forget the study material. If you find your study material boring, then trying this trick can be an escape for you.

Try inventing some rhymes for the concepts of different subjects. The way you can remember the song lyrics, the same way you can memorize your subject’s concepts. So, you got an idea, right? Try implementing it and thank us later.

Use acronyms

Here comes another excellent way of memorizing tricky concepts. Yes, you heard it right. You can use some handy acronyms to remember things better, like one famous acronym in learning the structure for essays. It usually starts with mentioning the appropriate point that attracts the audience and convinces them to know more about it.

The second part of the structure comes with the evidence mentioned in quotes of what you said earlier, and the last comes to the explanation where you will talk about the point mentioned. Conclude it with a reasonable conclusion.

Now you must be wondering how the acronym helps in this case. Well, PEE generally refers to, oh, you know that, but we are not talking about that PEE. Here, PEE refers to Point, Evidence, and Explanation that refers to the structure of an essay. So, no more getting confused with it.

Make a story

Do you remember the stories you used to listen to from your grandparents? Well, who forgets those? After all, these are lifetime memories. Even during adulthood, when we still remember the whole story, we think studying story patterns can impact the entire memorization.

Invent a story to sum up complicated material or series of facts that you are trying to remember. This way, you will be able to deal with the complex concept effortlessly.

Copy things

Chill, we are not talking about copying in exams, but here we refer to note down whatever you study. Note down and copy everything you study, write it in your notebook, and you will find a new reliable way of memorizing study material for a longer time.

Teach someone else

Teaching someone else is one of the best ways. Explain the concepts to someone else, whether it be your classmate, family member, or yourself only. It is indeed an excellent way to fend off the isolations and also augments the learning.

With the technological advancements, you can also choose video chat to share your concepts with your friends.

Try to understand the information first.

Do not try to memorize the whole data, but try to understand the valuable information first that will be more like a stepping stone to remembering it all. Spend some time understanding the information before beginning with the memorization. Act smartly.

Connect it

Try to connect the information you are studying to something you already know. Learning in isolation is more challenging to remember than the study material linked to other concepts or day-to-day activities. This connected to the already existing things, but what if there’s nothing you can associate it to?

Create a crazy yet informative connection on your own that can help you memorize the concept. A fantastic idea indeed to remember well.

Self-test

Quiz yourself every concept frequently, and you will be able to recall the information you are studying actively. Do not simply re-read the notes you have generated but self quiz yourself, and you will notice a drastic change in your memorization activity.

Commonly, students think they remember everything well, but the reality is entirely different. They all do re-read their notes and think that they have remembered everything, but while giving an examination, they get confused or unable to recall what they have studied.

Here the self-tests are the saviour. When you already self-test your study material and try to recall it after studying, you will notice that you will perform well in the examinations.

Use flashcards

Using flashcards, you can also be a visual learner. Wondering how? Well, if you tend to remember how things look or place them as visuals, make little diagrams to illustrate the piece of information you want to remember. Visuals can be an effective way to memorize things well. You can create visual flashcards to remember things and add pictures to them, which will help you remember them for a long time.

Talk to yourself

Talk to yourself- sometimes you need an expert’s advice too!! It might sound strange but believe us, it actually helps. Talking to yourself can be an effective memory tool for you. Instead of doing it silently, try speaking aloud. Simply re-reading the information and highlighting it won’t help the way talking to yourself will.

Use the Memory Palace technique.

The memory palace technique is a fantastic way to section off the information. This method can be a good escape for visual learners and auditory learners. The application of this method is simple. All you need to do is start by choosing a place that you know well and identify its distinctive features.

Once you are done with this much now, you need to store the bits of information you need to remember using those bits. The distinctive features will help you memorize it all well. The method might sound bizarre for now, but if it works well for you, you can learn things well and for a longer time.

Apply Repetition to cumulative memorization

Pick up a particular line of the concept, repeat it a few times, and then try to recall it, but this time without looking at it. Keep performing the same for each set of text but be cumulative by adding the new information with the one that you have learned.

Perform the same for the whole concept, and by the end, you will be able to memorize the entire concept in one- go. But remember, do not move to another section until you have learned one section thoroughly.

Set targets and take breaks

Let your mind breathe! With this method all you need to do is set targets to complete. No, we are not talking about the targets for the whole day but the short goals so that you can take out some time to rest as well.

While the break doesn’t keep thinking about your studies but lets your mind relax only, you will notice the real change in your efficiency when you get back to study. You will be able to learn more and, most importantly, you without any stress.

So many tricks; which one is for you?

Yes, you got the right question popped out of your mind. You have already read a lot about the memorization methods but discovering which one works well for you is intricate and challenging. Initiate your learning journey with a universal learning technique. The technique works well for almost everyone, and if it does, then you got your pick.

Apart from it, you don’t need to apply all the memorization tricks to your learning process; you can try a few and decide which one provides you with the desired outcomes. Use the same memorization trick to every subject, do not get confused in applying all and wasting your time with experiments only.

Bottom Line!

Though many of the techniques might sound strange at first, don’t forget that the ones that sound strange can help you in some clever ways to memorize complicated concepts well. The more you practice, the more natural the techniques will become, and you will recall it all well.

Once you have learned how to memorize the information quickly and more efficiently, you will find yourself ahead of a bunch of those kids who are still struggling to remember the information and recall it all during examinations or revisions. If you are still in doubt about figuring out the best one for you, reach out to TEL Gurus and explore the real learner in you.