I have trouble remembering words, lists, concepts, and problem solving strategies.
Have you ever been stuck on an exam question, certain you know the answer but just can’t remember it? Memorization, both short and long term, can be difficult. There are, however, strategies you can use to improve your memory - increasing understanding and decreasing the frustrating “it’s on the tip of my tongue” feeling.
STEP 2: SELECT THE REASON that best describes your situation, keeping in mind there may be multiple relevant reasons.
I DON’T KNOW METHODS TO IMPROVE MY MEMORY.
There are many different tricks or techniques out there to help improve memory. But which ones are the most useful – using mnemonic devices, repeating words over and over, or creating associations and relationships? Keep reading for our suggestions.
STEP 3: Explore potential STRATEGIES to address the problem.
- Make the intention to remember; think positively and decide that you want to and will remember the information at hand.
- Make sure that you have the necessary background information; memory builds upon prior memory.
- Distribute practice. When attempting to learn and remember new material, break it down into portions that can be covered in short study sessions. For every hour of concentrated effort, take a 10 to 15-minute break.
- Be selective and ask questions; you cannot expect to remember everything. Decide what is most important to remember by setting priorities and asking about the purpose and value of the material. Ask additional questions to test retrieval and to gain further insight about the information.
- Understand what you are trying to remember; perform recitation. Information is more easily remembered if it makes sense.
- Organize the information you want to remember by breaking down the material into grouped segments. Learn each segment and then piece them together again to form a whole body of information.
- Group, cluster, and categorize information to reduce memorization, instead promoting a natural understanding of the material.
- Associate and relate the material. If the material has no inherent connections, use mnemonic devices, such as the key-peg method or method of loci. The key-peg method is a technique for memorizing lists of words that are easy to associate with the numbers they represent (1 to 10, 1 to 100, 1 to 1000, etc.) These objects form the “pegs” of the system. The method of loci is a method of memory enhancement, which uses visualization to organize and recall information. The items to be remembered are mentally associated with specific physical locations; for example, visualizing each item in a room within your house. The method of loci relies on memorized spatial relationships to establish, order, and recollect memorial content.
- Overlearn: in your efforts to remember, incorporate as many of the principles as possible listed above. The more approaches you employ, the stronger the memory.