There is no one rule or a set of strategies that apply to all alike for memory management. The basic thing to start with is the understanding of your own individual memory behavior and profile. It means that you have to brainstorm to find what are your memory strengths and weaknesses. For this, people take a lot of memory self-tests.
Memory questions
The easiest way is to ask yourself certain questions related to your memory like:
(a) If you can remember each and everything said in the last 24 hours?
(b) Can you remember any information for a long-term or short-term?
(c) So you have any problem in remembering numbers for long?
You can form a chain of questions and their answers will help you a great deal in identifying your powers and weaknesses. Score yourself to know yourself.
Tips to improve memory for students
If you feel that you are not comfortable evaluating your memory power in such a way, and you are unable to develop a memory strategy based on these self-evaluation results, follow some general principles to enhance your memory.
Some of the exceptional memory management tricks: memorization techniques for students
Separate understanding from remembering:
We feel that if we can understand a concept well, we will be able to remember it for long, but it is not so. This will not help the students to score well in traditional exams. The students need to develop some kind of activity for enabling the remembrance of what was their understanding of the long term. Revision, for example, reinforces the understanding and helps to remember the concept for a longer time.
Activate Prior Knowledge:
While learning new knowledge, students should activate prior knowledge. Ask yourself questions like What do you know about… ? Why was it like this? etc. Activating prior knowledge is like a ‘hook’ to hang on the new information on it.
Elaborative Rehearsal:
Maintenance rehearsal transfers the information to short-term memory. Remembering a telephone no. till it is dialed is an example of maintenance rehearsal. But remembering it for a lifetime requires elaborative rehearsal.
For example, reciting the telephone no. in front of the mirror or in mind to remember it for long is an example of elaborative rehearsal. Similarly, in vocabulary learning, we use index cards in which we write the word on one side of the card and its meaning and use on the other side. Then we repeat it over and over again. This repetition over and over again is an example of elaborative learning. Elaborative learning transfers the information from short-term to long-term memory and keeps that information stored in long-term memory.
Multiple Sensory Learning:
While learning, we must use multiple sensors (touch, smell, taste, hear, and watch) for understanding the concept. Together with multiple-sensors, we must apply multiple-format learning. Multiple format learning comes in two ways – linear and spatial. The e.g. of this type of learning is learning through a computer software ‘Inspiration’. This software boosts visual thinking patterns in students. With the help of this software students related their ideas, words, and concepts with an image of some sort. That image may be a graph, picture, linear presentation, or anything like that. This software supports the graphic organization, mind mapping, diagramming, outlining, etc. All of these tools enforce multiple sensory and multiple format learning.
Following Mnemonic Methods:
This is a well-known way of memory training. Mnemonic methods make use of patterns of letters, numbers, ideas, etc. or their association. Memorizing with acronyms, acrostics, rhymes, detailing, etc. are of all examples of mnemonic methods applied in studies. Mnemonics apply visual imagery or verbal elaboration to the concepts to help recall the information quickly. Students should develop their own mnemonics methods or they can master the existing mnemonic methods and apply them in their studies.
Metamemory:
Are you aware of your own memory? Well, metamemory is a branch of knowledge that deals with the self-assessment of one’s own memory. This makes you aware of the processes and content of your own memory. For e.g. it lets you know about how confident you are about the accuracy of your memories? If a student can identify weakness related to the working of his/her memory, he/she will be able to rectify that weakness by developing a certain specific strategy of memory enhancement. For e.g., if a student recognizes at some point that he/she is good at developing visual short-term memory but is unable to keep up with the auditory memory, he/she can develop a specific strategy to rectify that part.
The elaborated ways are the best ways of managing memory for high school students. From all the points, the metamemory part needs more research. Once a student is able to identify his/her memory patterns, a special strategy can be developed to deal with it. But the difficult part is how to develop a special strategy.
How to improve memory for studying in 27 ways?
There are some popular memory hacks that are frequently discussed all over the world that help to improve memory for studying. Here, I am discussing 27 of them. Let’s go through them quickly:
1.) Keep the aim to store every information in long-term memory. I will discuss the best ways to do this later.
2.) Create a space and ambiance for study by removing all the distractions and equipping it with all the learning tools that you may need.
3.) Try to keep yourself calm consciously throughout the learning process.
4.) Do anything with full concentration. Half-heart to the task is not admissible.
5.) Do some routine exercise for effective blood circulation in the brain.
6.) Take proper and sound sleep of at least 8 hours a day.
7.) Try to train your brain to note the most important things. Keep other things at bay.
8.) Use Acronyms for learning.
9.) Focus on the process of learning. Use quick memorization processes and techniques.
10.) Make use of the Acrostics technique to learn longer concepts and phrases.
11.) Listen to the content again and again. You may recite it yourself or watch a YouTube or audiobook again and again.
12.) Write the content again and again.
13.) Read the content again and again.
14.) If learning is related to some activity. Repeat the activity again and again.
15.) Learn by establishing connections and association of the thing to be learned with the real-world situations or other things, to remember it for long.
16.) Try to use rhyme-keys and fit it in a story form.
17.) Try to learn by making a story. For e.g., if you are unable to learn any equation try to give it a story that once Carbon dioxide met oxygen and suddenly the power of carbon dioxide got double.
18.) Try to identify the smell that helps to stimulate your mind to work better.
19.) Use the method of Loci. Make associations with the place you already know very well.
20.) Break down the information in small bits to make it remember for long.
21.) Associate an Image with a name. This method works best to learn about historical figures.
22.) Chain the events in a story that can be silly to any extent. This helps to remember the things that you want to remember in a sequence.
23.) Try to do timely studies. Studying before going to bed is highly suggested as it helps to process the information gathered in the brain just before the sleep.
24.) Associate yourself with the problem emotionally. When you make a mistake, it is not bad to feel frustrated. The bad thing is when the same thing leads to depression. Actually, the frustration that you feel helps you to remember the mistake for long and the possibility of committing the same mistake is reduced manifolds.
25.) If you need to learn a lot of names, try to read them in alphabetical order. It is because, if you skip something you will get an idea or cue for that. In this way, skipping gets difficult.
26.) Don't stick to the table. Take a temporary walk or perform a mild exercise. This activates the mind in many ways.
27.) Practice, practice, and practice.
11 methods for improving your memory:
The above methods for memory improvement are really helpful and there is no doubt about that. But if you want to reduce the ways in a minimum number of tips, I am doing it here. I am discussing 11 methods which are indispensable if you want to improve your memory.
1. Keep on changing your study routine occasionally. It refreshes the mind, and a refreshed mind is able to remember quickly.
2. If you are reading something, read it out loud. This practice makes use of the sense of listening together with the mind that has a special effect on the mind.
3. Make it a habit to ponder more over the difficult problems rather than avoiding it. Give some extra time to rehearsing it.
4. Taking a nap or short sleep after learning something new is said to help you learn faster and better.
5. Try to make associations of new information with already known things.
6. Elaborative rehearsal is one of the best encoding techniques for storing information in long-term memory.
7. Try to visualize each and every information.
8. Focus your attention. Remove all distractions present nearby.
9. Structure and organize each and every information. Information is always organized in clusters inside the memory.
10. Use Mnemonic Devices.
11. Make the learning process easy by learning it in sessions. If you learn all the information in a single sitting, the probability of forgetting is higher.
8 memory techniques for a better study session
As a student or a learner, we always try to memorize things and try to transfer it to our long-term memory. Due to lengthier course material, we sometimes are just capable to memorize only a few parts and not the full course. This sometimes becomes a major reason for not scoring best in exams.
There are some memorization techniques that are used by professionals all over the world that speeds up the memorization speed. Here, I am discussing the top 8 of them:
1. Mnemonics:
Acronyms, memorable sentences, music, rhyme, etc. are all the mnemonic techniques of learning. This speeds up the process of memorization and helps us to remember the learned content for long.
2. Chunking:
This is the technique in which the information is divided into a group for the ease of learning. Most people use this technique to remember bank account numbers and phone numbers. They divide the big number in small chunks and remember them all in this way.
3. Mind Maps:
Mind maps organize the information in a coherent way. This helps to learn new information quickly. The distinguishable visual categories are easy to recall when needed.
4. Loci Technique:
This technique is also known by the name of ‘The Memory Palace’ technique. In this method, one needs to associate the information, idea, or item with some specific place with which you are familiar. It may be your bedroom or a museum that you visit. This association makes the process of recall very quick. The method is not useful if one needs to recall and process the information at the same time.
5. The Storytelling Technique:
Do you know that storytelling is so powerful that it can even cause the release of hormones, especially oxytocin? Oxytocin is known to increase empathy in people. Stories enhance the quality of information which ultimately helps the brain to remember it.
6. Building Technique:
This technique, unlike others, does not just help you to recall the information but helps to develop a sense of understanding and meaning. In this technique, the facts and concepts are related to each other in the way of a building. Each thing is correlated with each other. This relation helps to recall and understand all the concepts better. The relation between different elements increases the recall value.
7. Revise and repeat:
All know this fact that revision and recall are the best things to learn the concepts for long, but only a few practices this and succeed. All the ways to memorize better can only achieve results if practiced and repeated again and again. This is the best way to study and memorize. It is said that one needs to repeat the new words learned for at least 30 times to help it stick to the memory.
8. Lifestyle Improvement:
This is the longest way to improve memory. The improvement in lifestyle has a positive long-term effect. The three areas of lifestyle that need improvement are eating habits, exercise, and sleep.