How Can You Learn Without Forgetting? Tips From an Educationist

Are you someone who struggles with remembering stuff?

If you are a student, it’s an added disadvantage because you cannot remember your coursework. 

It gets really annoying when you are taking an exam, and you cannot remember the things you prepared for the whole year like they have been erased from your brain completely. 

Due to the advancement of technology and growing use of social media, our attention spans have drastically reduced. It used to be common in adults, but now teenagers and children are equally affected by it. 

Cramming is not an effective way of learning, but most of the things need active memorization. Like facts, figures, names and technicalities of certain subjects. Even understanding conceptual topics needs memorization abilities.

So, stick around because we will discuss some of the tricks to retain information in your memory below.

Effective Memorization Strategies To Follow

Here are some of the best research-backed memorization strategies for you to follow in order to effectively memorize new information:

The Pomodoro Method

The Pomodoro method has helped thousands of students plan their study time efficiently. 

With the Pomodoro technique, you study at set times, with 5-minute breaks in between 25-minute bursts of focused study. Repeat this process 4 times and then take an extended break to unwind for 15 to 30 minutes. 

This process helps you memorize in a better way because you are resting and giving time to the information to retain in your memory. 

When you are entirely focused on a job, the Pomodoro technique can help you clear your mind. Reading continuously for 2-3 hours can be hard, especially when you are studying for a test or a work presentation because you have to work for the whole day. 

So, it's important to take breaks to help your brain process the new information and get ready for the next round. 

Applying the Pomodoro method will help you be more productive and focus better.

Mnemonics

There are tricks and methods called mnemonics that can help you remember things easily. The method involves recalling information by using patterns, connections, or alternate approaches. 

In school, we learned to remember the order of the planets in our solar system by saying: 

My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas 

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, in that order.

Another example of a mnemonic device that can be used to remember dividing fractions is KCF. It stands for:

Keep the first fraction 

Change the sign from division to multiplication

Flip the last fraction

These mnemonics are a great way to memorize information faster. You can make your own according to the subject and course you are studying.

The Memory Palace Technique

The idea for this memory technique came about about 2,500 years ago and it has helped people remember a lot of information in a certain way. 

Using the Memory Palace method, you imagine a familiar place, like your home's layout, and then put the things you need to remember in different spots within that picture.

To use the memory palace method, which is also known as the Method of Loci, picture your surroundings. Your home is a good choice because it is a place that most people are familiar with. Then picture the things on your shopping list spread out in different parts of the room. 

You could link the first thing to your front door, the second to your coat rack, and so on. The pictures in your mind that are clear and different from the rest will help you remember them better. 

If you want to remember the word "apple," for example, you could picture a big apple jumping down the stairs.

For a biology test, let's say you need to remember a list of scientific words. Now, link each word to a specific spot in your house. 

"DNA" would go with the study table, "cell membrane" would go with the front door, and "mitochondria" would go with the bedroom. If you forget those words, just picture your home, and you'll remember them right away.

It may take some time to get good at this method, but once you do, you will learn faster and get more done with your studies. 

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Active Retrieval

Active retrieval is a process where you do not mindlessly read and try to remember things; instead, you effectively recall and try ways where you test yourself more often. 

For active recall to work, you have to be interested in what you're learning, like putting yourself through challenges and drills that test your memory. When we test our memory, we make it more likely that the knowledge will stay with us for a long time.

Prepare quizzes for yourself, make your own assessments, flashcards, and notes, and solve practice questions. It's not meant to be a simple or smooth process, but you can do it because learning again makes an answer stick in your mind for a long time.

The important thing is to keep your standards low and don't expect yourself to always get it right.

Self-testing often with low expectations is a good way to start. You can solidify what you already know and learn again what you may have missed by making mistakes along the way. Having the right attitude can help you get through these and gives a more realistic picture of how much you remember.

Finding something familiar while reading doesn't mean you'll be able to remember it, so try active recall method to work.

Spaced repetition

To memorize your coursework quickly, stop revising stuff you already know. 

Spaced repetition is a process where you take intervals between your revision plans and mix them up over time.

All you have to do is take intentional breaks from absorbing information so that you have enough time to forget it. These breaks can be short when you are first learning something: 15 minutes, 2 hours, and 1 day. And as you get better at the subject, the breaks may grow longer, up to days, weeks, or even months. 

What you learn will stick in your long-term memory better the more time you give it to rest between reviews.

But you shouldn't go from short intervals to longer ones right away; build up to them over time and be ready to shorten them again if you forget something.

Interleaving

Don't mix things up; instead, focus on learning one thing at a time.

It's better to switch up what and how you practice or study rather than doing the same thing in the same way over and over again until you think you understand it. 

Interleaving means you make your learning process diverse and practice different kinds of subjects, topics, and exercises. Plan to study more than one subject at a time, or make sure your study plan includes a variety of tasks and problems.

Yes, adding more details could make things a little harder but this small extra task is a good thing for retaining information in your mind for a longer time period. 

Retrieving different pieces of information from our memories makes us more likely to remember them. 

Instead of focusing on one thing over and over again, switching things up can help us stay interested and involved in the difficult tasks we want to cover.

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Connection Building

To keep things in your memory for the long term, one thing you need to master is connection building. 

Making connections between new information and existing knowledge is a useful strategy for enhancing memory retention. This process can help you retain the new information easily and make it simpler to remember later.

Recalling information unrelated to other topics you’re studying is harder than remembering information that is well-connected to the concepts you revise every day. If you are unable to connect information to anything you already know, think outside the box and come up with an odd association. 

Making funny or weird connections is sometimes the best method for helping you recall what you have studied.

For example, let's say you are trying to memorize the temperature at which water boils at sea level, that is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, what you can do to recall it is that the number 212 is the first three digits of your friend’s phone number. Imagine your friend tossing her phone into boiling water to make a visual connection between the two. Though strange, the connection can help you remember the figure for a longer time. 

Jot Down The Details

Since our hands and brains are directly related, writing aids are the most efficient memorization technique. 

Writing on paper causes stronger brain activity than writing on a tablet or smartphone, according to research by corresponding author and neuroscientist Kuniyoshi L. Sakai of the University of Tokyo in Japan.

During a lecture, try taking handwritten notes. Then, afterwards, organize and rewrite your notes manually when you’re revising them. Writing about the subject matter encourages you to interact with it and commit it to memory. 

Additionally, when noting down a topic, make sure you visualize it as well as pronounce it aloud. 

This activity will combine, three of your senses together (listening, visualizing, and writing) and make the learning process smoother.

Self-assessment Tests

It's also beneficial to test yourself in environments comparable to your exams. 

This technique, called context-dependent memory, is predicated on the idea that the setting in which you learn and retain knowledge may have an impact on your ability to remember that information in the future.

If you study in a quiet library, for instance, you will retain the material better if you take the exam in a peaceful setting.

Use this method by trying to replicate the exam environment as much as you can throughout your study sessions. This can mean finding a quiet place to study, setting a timer to match the length of the test, and staying away from distractions like social media and music. 

Studying in an environment that resembles an exam increases the chances that you will recall the material you have learned since the context offers helpful cues. 

It is also possible to take practice exams in settings like classrooms or testing centers, which are comparable to the real exam experience. A certified tutor can also help you achieve your learning goals.

The Bottom Line

You might have found some ways to reduce the frustration that comes with not remembering stuff just when you want to. But are those effective?

Our strategies are scientifically proven to help keep information in your brain for longer periods. 

Keep in mind that the more actively you retrieve the information you have studied, the more likely you are to remember it. Humans forget many things on a routine basis because we do not come across them later and do not retrieve them after a certain period. 

But when you consciously decide to engage in the information after a set time, it will not slip out of your mind anytime soon!