Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 5: Cramming Method
• Method 2 of 5: Learning in parts
• Method 3 of 5: Combining items or concepts into one sentence or concept
• Method 4 of 5: Mnemonics
• Method 5 of 5: Remembering Through Associations

The ability to memorize quickly is a very important skill. Training your memory, whether for school or work, will give you an edge over others and help keep your brain alert and healthy. The art of memorization has its origins in the distant past, and history is full of interesting ways to write any information in your head. Using the developments of modern psychology, all approaches to memorizing information can be divided into five key methods.

Steps

Method 1 of 5: Cramming Method

1. 1 Imagine that you need to memorize several regions and their capitals from west to east. We'll use the following method to remember regions and their capitals:
   • From the point of view of the cramming method, we constantly repeat information until it settles in our memory. This repetition helps the brain form new connections and patterns that allow you to reproduce what you have memorized. As psychologists say: "The opposing neurons interact."
2. 2 In some cases, the cramming method is more effective than all others. Learning through repetition allows the brain to form the connections necessary to reproduce learned information.
   • Cramming is effective for manual tasks or memorizing short lists, such as a shopping list, a car engine sequence, or ironing a shirt.
   • The cramming method is not very effective for memorizing a large amount of heterogeneous information or single complex components, for example, elements of the periodic table from left to right, the essence of dialectical materialism or the components of a car engine.
3. 3 Make a list of what you need to remember. Make sure the list is complete and consistent with the sequence you need.
4. 4 Start your workout by reading what you need to learn. Just read and re-read the list. In the case of our example, just read the names of the regions and their capitals a few times.
5. 5 Practice reproducing what you read without peeping into the recording. Try to close the list with a piece of paper and list everything that is in it. Try enumerating in parts or in whole - can you remember the last few points?
   • You may have a lot of mistakes at first - don't be discouraged about that! Your brain is just getting used to this type of work. Keep practicing and in a few minutes you will be able to remember everything you have learned.

Method 2 of 5: Learning in parts

1. 1 Suppose you need to remember which countries are members of the UN Security Council. These 10 countries can be classified in several ways.
2. 2 When is memorization in parts effective? Learning in parts helps in cases where you need to remember objects or concepts, consisting of smaller parts in a certain order. In our example, you can divide countries by continent; the elements of the periodic table can be categorized by type; and if you need to memorize what a car engine is made of, you can divide it into subsystems (fuel supply, engine, exhaust system, and electrical).
   • If you've ever tried to remember a phone number, you may have noticed how we write them down - numbers are combined in such a way that the number is easier to remember in parts. For example, the White House telephone number (202) 456-1111 is easier to remember as a sequence of three digits - 202, 456 and 1111 - rather than as one complex number - 2,024 561 111.
   • Learning in parts is not very effective for large and complex things and concepts that are not easy to break into parts. For example, it is difficult to imagine how this method can be used in order to learn the concept of "civil law", the definition of statehood, or a list of similar phone numbers.
3. 3 Break what you want to learn into several smaller and easier to remember parts. Since you need to isolate smaller parts from large ones, this strategy works best for objects or concepts that can be easily classified or divided according to a certain pattern.
4. 4 Practice retrieving individual smaller pieces of information from memory. In the case of our example of the UN Security Council, you can try to list the continents, and then the countries that belong to them.
5. 5 Practice putting all the pieces together. Working out every single part is just the beginning. In order to fully learn the information using this method, you need to go through the entire list. Try to list the entire list without peeking at the entries. How much of this list have you already memorized?

Method 3 of 5: Combining items or concepts into one sentence or concept

1. 1 Let's say you need to memorize a shopping list. Your list includes a lot of dissimilar objects, little interconnected with each other.
2. 2 In what cases is it effective to combine concepts? If you need to memorize a large number of objects, this technique will be simply overwhelming. That is why the method of combining concepts is most effective in the case of a small list of difficult to remember items or concepts.
   • Concatenation works well in the case of a limited number of list objects that have a weak relationship with each other (for example, a list tree, bird, keyboard, bottle). It is difficult to apply the strategy of memorization in parts in this case, since it is impossible to single out specific categories into which the list could be broken down.
3. 3 Make up a sentence or visualization of all the items or concepts that you need to remember. This is the funniest part of this method: the more ridiculous or crazy your sentence or image is, the easier it will be for you to remember it. For example,
   • The peanut butter and coffee bean sandwich are wrapped with an internet cable and secured with a screwdriver.
     
4. 4 Review and memorize a sentence or description of an image, and then practice extracting from that sentence or image what you need to remember. This sentence or image is used as key to remember all the necessary items.
   • Walnut butter and coffee bean sandwich wrapped with internet cable and secured with a screwdriver
     =
     Nut butter, coffee beans, bread, internet cable, screwdriver
   
   

Method 4 of 5: Mnemonics

1. 1 Imagine you need to learn the basics of trigonometry. Suppose that as part of this task, we need to learn how to calculate sine, cosine and tangent using the angle at the base of an equal triangle.
2. 2 Learn the mnemonic method.Mnemonics is just a funny word that you may have been familiar with since junior high. If you've ever used "Every Hunter Wants to Know ..." to memorize the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, and so on), then you were using mnemonic methods.
3. 3 When is an effective mnemonic. If you need to memorize more subjects than can fit into a simple sentence or phrase, this method will be difficult to apply. That is why, mnemonics is used in cases where you have a limited set of items or concepts to memorize. Mnemonics are most effective at memorizing a list of words, but not very effective at memorizing long, organized lists, such as phone numbers or the numbers that make up pi.
4. 4 Create a mnemonic diagram. A mnemonic diagram is simply a "key" sentence or phrase that helps you remember the necessary objects or concepts. For example, you can invent a simple and meaningless word.
5. 5 Train in memorizing the mnemonic scheme and those objects that are encrypted in it. Your mnemonic is the key to your memory. Close the list with a sheet - can you remember what exactly is encrypted in the mnemonic?

Method 5 of 5: Remembering Through Associations

1. 1 Let's say you need to memorize the bolt components of a 1911 Colt. From the front to the back, the memorize list looks like this:
   • gate
   • guide bush
   • sleeve
   • firing pin
   • sleeve extractor
   • trigger stop
2. 2 Learn how the associative method works. The human mind is very receptive to associations. And this ability is so developed that its action extends to the memorization of objects and concepts. To this end, you need to take an imaginary journey or walk and create a series of associations for all items or concepts that require memorization. This imaginary walk will allow you to consolidate these associations in your memory.
3. 3 When is the associative method effective? The associative method is very effective, especially if you have a developed imagination. Throughout the history of mankind, people have used the associative method in its various versions to refer to memory (for example, walking around an imaginary house or describing an imaginary room, or reading an imaginary book).
   • The best information for associations is information that can be easily divided and organized in space - for example, the stanzas of a poem, parts of a mechanism, or the process of making scrambled eggs.
   • What is difficult to divide into parts is less suitable for the application of this method - for example, the main idea of ​​such a direction in art as abstract expressionism, the history of the war of the Scarlet and White Roses, or the sequence of steps when courting someone.
4. 4 Imagine a set of secondary memories and make an association between them and what you need to remember. You will use your secondary memories as a "key" to what you need to remember.
   • That is why if you have a list of disparate objects or concepts in front of you, it will be more difficult for you to associate yourself with "key" secondary memories. From the point of view of our example, we can simply imagine a tiny man walking around the 1911 shutter from all sides.
5. 5 Practice walking around your mental map and referring to whatever objects and concepts you need to remember. It can be as exciting and fun, or as easy to remember as you want it to be. For example, in our case, a tiny man can walk through the shutter 1911 with the words:
   
   • "First, we meet a guide bush on the way, and inside it we see a peeking bushing. Behind the bushing peeps out the chamber, and after going a little further I see a tiny hole through which you can see the firing pin. To the left of it, on the edge of the bolt, there will be a sleeve extractor; and going to the very depths, I get to the trigger stop. "
6. 6 Practice walking on your mind map. Concentrate on this picture several times a day and go all the way from start to finish. The more you practice, the better you will remember.
7. 7 Practice replaying everything you remember with this mind map. As you work on this information visualization exercise, your brain will get better and better at forming the "key" visualization, but this is not enough - you need to remember the individual components of this clue. Try to practice in reverse - start with the list and see if you can reproduce your mind map, or "key".