How To Memorize Things Quickly & Effectively

TIPS HOW TO LEARN EFFECTIVELY

Understand memory

What makes something easy or hard to memorize? If you can identify why something is hard, you can adapt your approach to compensate.

These are the 11 properties that determine how difficult something is to memorize.

• Familiarity – How much exposure you have had to it• Size – How much there is• Order – How logically structured it is• Salience – How interesting it is• Complexity – How difficult it is• Relevance – How useful it is to you• Importance – How it will impact your life• Immediacy – How soon it is required• Abstractness – How conceptual it is• Humanness – How relatable it is to the human experience• Sensuous – How you perceive it with your senses

These are the ways to improve the effectiveness of your memorization

strategy based on each property.

• Familiarity – Review it more frequently• Size – Break it down into smaller chunks• Order – Restructure it in a way that makes more sense to you• Salience – Create a whacky or funny story about it• Complexity – Break it down into smaller, simpler steps• Relevance – Find how it could be useful in your life• Importance – Set a goal/objective• Immediacy – Set a deadline• Abstractness – Relate it to something that exists around you• Humanness – Include it in a story with you as the main character• Sensuous – Associate it with another sense (smell, taste, touch, etc.)

Preparation for memorizing

Don’t underestimate how much proper preparation can influence your ability to memorize.

Don’t listen to music (with lyrics)

How well can you listen to another person speak while you listen to music? Music, especially music with lyrics, interferes with your language processing center. By listening to lyric-heavy music like rap, hip-hop, country or pop, you’re sabotaging your ability to memorize.

Disconnect from all social media

Don’t let a Facebook or Twitter notification disrupt your concentration 5 minutes after you start. Turn off notifications on your phone and computer by either turning the wi-fi off, putting it on silent, turning off notifications or turning the power off. Set a timer for 20 minutes and dedicate the next to one thing and one thing only, memorizing.

Optimal time for memorizing

An optimal memorization time is when you have energy, your mind is clear and when you’re least likely to be interrupted. For most people, studying early in the morning or late at night, when everyone else is asleep, works best.

Move around

Standing and walking promotes blood flow and engages your muscles, keeping you alert and engaged, while sitting results in reduced blood flow and oxygen to the brain. If possible, pick up the material you want to memorize and review it while leaning against a wall, pacing back-and-forth in your room

Preview…

One of the simplest and most effective techniques to improve memorization is to preview it. By previewing the material, you give yourself a better understanding of the context and meaning

• Read the relevant Wikipedia article • Search for a video summary or explanation on

YouTube • Quickly skim the chapter/book/material,

paying special attention to the headers, emphasized content, bold text and chapter summaries

• Search for summaries/explanations on Google• Search for relevant graphics on Google Images

Chunking & Spaced Repetition

Some theory and little practice

Did you know that there is an optimal size of information for memorization? In fact, there are

countless examples of it all around you.

• Scientists and marketers have long known that the ideal information chunk size is approximately 3 to 4 units, and have used this knowledge to design everything around us to be easier to memorize.

• Whether it’s a vocabulary list or set of concepts, break them down into chunks of 3 to 4 units for optimal memorization.

Categorization

A powerful complementary technique to chunking is categorization. This entails re-ordering the items into groups based on common traits. This could be anything from color, alphabetical, physical size, type, cost, age, difficulty, etc.

Let’s say you have to memorize this list of 15 animal types.

• Rabbit• Cat• Elephant• Tuna• Pigeon• Octopus• Salmon• Dolphin• Peacock• Hippo• Crow• Dog• Platypus• Giraffe• Crocodile

Instead of just chunking the list into smaller groups, you could categorize them into groups,

like this:

By doing this, you create a strong sense of order and connection between seemingly random items. Now, the word “Rabbit” will help you recall the other “Pets” items, “Cat” and “Dog.”

In the case of memorizing speeches and text, chunk sizes should vary so that you don’t break sentences up in unnatural ways that would make it more difficult to memorize.

For example, if you wanted to memorize this sentence, you shouldn’t set a fixed chunk size to 4 words.

The Chunking System builds | on top of Chunking | and Categorization and adds | a process that ensures | maximum retention.

Instead, you should take into consider the natural flow of the language.

The Chunking System | builds on top of |

Chunking and Categorization | and adds a process | that ensures maximum retention.

ChunkingThis is a technique generally used when remembering numbers. A common rule is that a person can remember 7 (plus or minus 2) "items" in short-term memory. In other words, people can remember between 5 and 9 things at one time. When you use "chunking" to remember, you decrease the number of items you are holding in memory by increasing the size of each item.

Example of chunking

Try to remember the number string of 64831996. You could try to remember each number individually, or you could try thinking about the string as 64 83 19 96 (creating "chunks" of numbers). This breaks the group into a smaller number of "chunks."

Instead of remembering 8 individual numbers, you are remembering four larger numbers. This is particularly helpful when you form "chunks" that are meaningful or familiar to you (in this case, the last four numbers in the series are "1996," which can easily be remembered as one chunk of information).

I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing....

When using mentioned children’s game as each new object is added, the old objects are repeated. Once you are able to remember 5 items on your list without looking, add a 6th, repeat the whole list from the start, add a 7th, and so on.

Break up the information into small bits that you can learn, one step at a time, and you may be surprised at how easy it can be.

Paraphrase

Paraphrase the information. There are many ways to do this, including:

• Summarize It – Re-write it into a concise format in your own words.• Make A Cheat Sheet – List all the important information in a bullet

point or tabled format• Teach It – Explain the concepts to another person.• Visualize It – Convert the information into diagram, chart, picture,

mind-map, etc.• Discuss It – By conversing about it with a classmate, you force

yourself to summarize it into your own words• ELI5 (Explain It Like I’m 5) – Imagine explaining the material to a 5

year old. This forces you to re-word things into simpler terms.

Visualization & StorytellingBasic visualization and storytelling simply requires you to be creative and

convert raw information into vivid pictures and memorable stories. This can be done using one or a combination of the following:

• Exaggerate Characteristics – Identify something that sticks out to you (such as the color, shape, size, pattern, effect, etc.), then exaggerate it to make it more memorable. F.e. Giraffe – pink, Elephant – big yellow ears

• Tell A Story – Visualize the information in a movie scene like situation, with actors and a story. The wackier and stranger the story, the better.

• Use Analogies – Compare the new information to something already known. F.e. castle – palace, dog – your own pet.

Build Memory Castles

Plant images in your spatial memory, and walk around it to retrieve information.

Let’s start with the basics by having you remember the following shopping list:• Banana• 2 pairs of socks• 3 salmon• Garlic• Strawberry• Wall clock• Backpack• Mlekołaki Cereal• BBQ pit• Goggles

Step 1

Choose a place that you remember very well to be your memory castle. It can be your room, wherever. It doesn’t matter where you choose, as long as you’re very familiar with the place and where everything goes.

Step 2

Plant the objects in the room in the form of images as you walk around it in your head. Close your eyes and visualize yourself in that place. Open the door, start walking around the place, and make an effort to notice and remember where everything is the last time you saw it.

Then imagine yourself at the door again, only this time, you have the things in the shopping list in your hand. Start walking slowly around the place, placing the items around the room in order. The more bizarre you make the images out to be, the better!

Example of Memory Castles

If my place is my room, I would start by imagining a banana wearing a pair of socks on his feet, and another pair on his hands, lying on my bed. Then, walking further in, I would imagine the three salmon talking at my study table, their mouth stinking of garlic breath. Looking at the wall above them, I’d see a wall clock in the shape of a strawberry. Then turning to my right, I would imagine hanging my backpack in my cupboard, filled with delicious Mlekołaki cereal. And lastly, as I make my way back to the door, I bump into a BBQ pit sitting happily in the middle of the room, and hanging behind the door is my goggles.

Play Around with WordsOne of the most common technique is by making acronyms from the key

points that you need to remember.

The Acronym MethodLet’s say you have to remember the below key words:• Changes in Media – Concentration of media ownership– Conglomeration– Globalization– Audience Fragmentation– Hyper-Commercialization– Convergence

The acronyms are the first letters in the beginning of each word, so as reflected in the underlined letters, my acronyms are “C, C, G, A, H, C”.

But that’s hard to remember isn’t it? The successful way to memorize it is to create sentences from the acronym. So in the above sentence, a sentence would be something like “Charlie the Cat Go And Hug Chickens.”

METHOD OF LOCI

1. Before using the technique, you must identify a common path that you walk. This can be the walk around your house, whatever is familiar. What is essential is that you have a vivid visual memory of the path and objects along it.

2. Once you have determined your path, imagine yourself walking along it, and identify specific landmarks that you will pass. The number of landmarks you choose will depend on the number of things you want to remember.

3. Once you have determined your path and visualized the landmarks, you are ready to use the path to remember your material. This is done by mentally associating each piece of information that you need to remember with one of these landmarks.

EXERCISE: METHOD OF LOCI1. If someone reads a list of unrelated words to you, just once, how many do you

think you could remember? Give it a try. Have someone read a list of 10 words to you at a slow but steady pace (about 1 word per second). How many words did you remember?

2. Now take a few minutes to identify a path or object that you can use in the method of loci. Familiarize yourself with each of sections of your path or object. Mentally go through each of the loci (locations) and visualize them as best you can. Remember, it is important to be able to visualize and recall each location readily. Once you have done this, have your friend read you a different list of words. This time, try to create visual images of the words associated with one of the locations.

3. This may not come easy at first, but with practice you should be able to create these visual images more readily. If you find that you are having difficulty coming up with the images quickly, practice on some more lists until you have improved. Chances are, when you become familiar with using this technique, you will be able to remember many more words (maybe all 10 items).

4. Practice the technique to sharpen your skills.

VIVID ASSOCIATIONS

When learning something new and unfamiliar, try pairing it with something you know very well, such as images, puns, music, whatever. The association does not have to make logical sense.

For example, they may remember the name "Robert Green" by picturing Robert playing golf (on the green), wearing green clothes, or covered in green paint

VIVID ASSOCIATIONS: LEARNING THE NAMES OF CLASSMATES

1. Pick names of classmates with whom you are unfamiliar.2. For each name, brainstorm some words or ideas that you can

associate with the name. For example, if one student's name is Teresa Pszczoła, you might think of Mother Teresa, and a pszczoła (a bee - type of insect).

3. Once you have brainstormed several ideas, you can begin to think of ways that some of the associations can be combined to remember the name. In the above example, you could create a visual association by picturing Mother Teresa standing near the hive.

4. Do this for each person, and you will have a great way to remember the names of your new classmates!

Remembering datesThe system works as follows: months are assigned the numbers

1 to 12 and given the appropriate Key Word from the Major System.

• January - tea• February - Noah• March - Ma• April - ray• May - law• June - jaw• July - key• August - foe• September - Pa• October - daze• November - Dad• December - Dan

To remember a birthday, anniversary or historical date, all that is necessary is to form a linked image between the month- and day-words and the date you wish to remember. For example, your girlfriend's birthday falls on 1 November. The Key Word from the Major System for November is Dad; and the Key Word for 1 is tea. Imagine your girlfriend giving a gigantic cup of tea to your Dad.

Memory Systems forVocabulary and Language

One of the better ways of accomplishing this aim is to learn the prefixes (letters, syllables or words recurring before root words), the suffixes (letters, syllables or words recurring at the end of root words) and the roots (words from which other words are derived) that occur most frequently in the language you are attempting to learn.

As with other memory systems, the key word is association.

In English, you want to remember the word vertigo, which means 'dizziness' or 'giddiness', and in which a person feels as if surrounding objects were turning around. To imprint this word on the memory you associate the sound of it with the phrase where to go? which is the kind of question you would ask if you felt that all surrounding objects were rotating about you.

Two words that many people confuse in the English language are acrophobia, which is a morbid fear of heights, and agoraphobia, a morbid fear of open spaces. The distinction can be firmly established if you associate the aero in acrophobia with acrobat (a person who performs at great height) and the agora in agoraphobia with agriculture, bringing to mind images of open fields (though the Greek word agora actually means 'marketplace').