How do you memorize things very quickly?

Answer 1

Memorizing means learning something so that your brain will remember it - to "learn it by heart."

• You can write it down a couple of times - writing helps you to memorize it.
• Repetition is a good way of memorizing something. Repeating it over and over until it sticks in your mind is one of the most basic ways to memorize.
• You can use word association to help. Think of something that you already understand that is similar to the new word or term. When you think of the new term, remember the familiar one and "associate" or link them together in your mind.

If you have a list to memorize, write the list out, and take the first letter of each word. Using those letters in order, make up a sentence of words that start with the same word, but are funny enough or familiar enough that you can remember them better than the list of terms. For example, if you want to learn the names of the planets in order from the sun outward, here is how you would do it:

• to list the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
  • Make a new sentence with each word beginning with the same letter as the words in the first list: My Very Eager Mailman Just Showed Us Newspapers, or Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly Perfectly (or Neatly, since Pluto isn't a planet!)
• You can also make one word or term by using just the first letters if you can make something that you will remember. You can memorize the colors of the rainbow by remembering ROY G. BIV, the imaginary student: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet!
• For complicated explanations, you can write just the facts, and use the first letters of those to make a sentence or word: remember the Krebs Cycle in Biology by memorizing "OIL RIG" - Oxidation Is Loss; Reduction Is Gain!
• If you want to memorize left and right hold out your hands with palms facing outwards, and thumbs out, left hand should appear like an L

You can also remember a list of anything in order by imagining a picture for each number of your list, and imagining the word or term along with that picture. You imagine that:

• One (1) is a Bun (like a hotdog or hamburger bun) - see the term between the ends of a bun, like it was a hotdog or hamburger!
• Two (2) is a Shoe - imagine your favorite shoe with the term inside of it!
• Three (3) is a Tree - imagine the term growing on a tree!
• Four (4) is a Door - imagine opening the door to see the term, or having the term posted on the door like a decoration!
• Five (5) is a Hive (a beehive) - imagine the term inside the hive, covered with bees or honey!
• Six (6) is a Fix - imagine fixing your parents car! OR a Stick - imagine beating the item with a big stick!
• Seven (7) is in Heaven - imagine the term flying around with wings and a halo!
• Eight (8) is a Gate - imagine the term hanging off of the top of a gate, or stuck between the gate and the fence!
• Nine (9) is a Vine- imagine the term covered up with a huge vine!
• Ten (10) is a Hen- imagine the item on a hen, or the hen sitting on the item!

The above method is called Pegwords - you are "hooking" a new term onto a "peg" that you already have in your memory. You can also use a variation of this called Loci - the word locus (plural: loci) is Latin for place. For the Loci Method, have a vivid mental image of a place you like - this can be rooms or sections in a building, or sights along a drive or walk. Now, see each item on your list in one spot in your mental place - in order to recall the items, just take a mental walk or drive.

Here are other ideas from our WikiReaders:

• make flashcards
• write it in your note book
• write it on paper and put it where it will be seen a lot.
• Read the material out loud often.
• Practice , practice, practice.
• If a long passage, break into smaller portions, then practice speaking each portion separately. If you don't have the privacy to read out loud, then whisper to yourself as loudly as possible. It is important for your auditory nervous system to hear your words spoken. It will speed up your memorizing if the auditory system ( connecting your ears to your brain ) is also working. Thus two nervous systems are teaming up to help you to remember ( commit to memory ), your speaking system and your listening system. Actually three nervous systems -- your eyes are reading which means your visual nervous system is also working as part of the learning team. Also, pacing up and down in your room while practicing saying your material will help by using your physical system as a fourth member of the learning team. In addition, I recommend using your lips in a very exaggerated fashion when pronouncing, for the same reason.
• I have always found it easier to make a story with it. Like, if you are memorizing a list of words make a story with it. I made one for science and it helped a lot.
• Keep a small pocket journal. Write stuff down. Practice remembering what you just wrote, then look and see how many items you remembered (e.g. such as on a grocery shopping list).

There are several things you can do. Make an anagram. This is taking the first letter of each word in a list and making a new word. I had to learn a theory of learning that was 4 different things, so I made the word RICE. R= Recall I=Invention C= compherension E= evaluation. Make a timeline. This works well for history. Pick particular dates that are major dates and then you can fill in with what you need to know. Associate with something else. I had to know an poet for a lit class his name was Pope so I used catholic as my associated key word. Link funny pictures with your data. If I have a list of words I think of funny things that link them together.

Answer 2

If you use a thesaurus, you can find synonyms and antonyms for common words that you can use. You could also scan a dictionary for word meanings (you need to know what a word means before you try to use it). Good luck on your venture.

Make a Study Deck - see the link to find out how to do that - for your words, and practice until you know them.

Answer 3

There are a small number of people who can remember everything they have ever seen or heard. If you are not one of those people, you will have to use a memory technique. Here are some good techniques for fast memorization:

• Associate it with something that you know well in your life...that helps me to remember things
• Make a vivid mental image. See as much detail in your mind as you can. This can either be a picture of the actual thing you are memorizing, or something funny that helps you remember. For example, if you want to remember that Pasteur invented the smallpox vaccine, you might imagine a scientist standing in a pasture with a syringe.
• Use a memory trick. One I like to use when I have a list of words to remember is to have a specific mental image for each number from one to ten, and then imagine the new term with that image. The images I use are #1 is a bun (imagine the term you are memorizing inside a hotdog or hamburger bun), #2 is a shoe, #3 is a tree, #4 is a door, #5 is a hive (a beehive), #6 is a stick, #7 is in heaven, #8 is a gate, #9 is a vine, and #10 is a hen.
• Rhyme it. You know all those rhymes you learn - "I before E except after C," "thirty days hath September," "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue"? You remember them because they are catchy rhymes. Make a short rhyme about your subject - it doesn't have to be award-winning poetry! - it's the rhyming part that helps you remember.
• Sing it. Remember your ABC's? Singing them to the tune of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" is what got you started. Singing helps even more than rhyming.

To memorize quickly is a little different from just memorizing. If you are trying to improve your speed, you will need to learn how to use one or more memory tricks.

• Pegwords: these are a set of words that make a mental image in your mind of a numerical list. Here are the ones I use as my pegwords - ONE is a BUN (think of whatever is first on your list sitting in a hotdog or hamburger bun), TWO is a SHOE (imagine the second item wearing a shoe or sitting in a shoe, etc), THREE is a TREE, FOUR is a DOOR, FIVE is a HIVE (that's a beehive), SIX is STICKS, SEVEN is in HEAVEN, EIGHT is a GATE, NINE is a VINE, TEN is a HEN. You can use different pegwords - the point is to have an easy mental image to "peg" a new item into your memory, like hanging something onto a peg. Having a set of mental images makes memorizing faster because visualization is more powerful than just repeating things over and over.
• Loci: this is a fancy term for a place, and this trick is another variation of pegwords. Instead of a rhyme, have a vivid mental image of a place you know very well - make it somewhere you like. You can either use different rooms in a building, different spots along a walk or drive, or anything that will allow you to "hook" a new image onto the image of a well-known place. In your mind, see each item you are memorizing in one spot, then just "walk" through your spot and "see" each thing when you are trying to recall it.
• Vivid Images: if you can associate an especially vivid mental image with something, you will remember it better and faster. Often, humor helps here. For example, if you are trying to remember that Francis Scott Key wrote the American national anthem, imagine a US flag with a key tied to one corner, or a giant key wrapped in a flag - or anything to tie Key and USA together! Whatever you come up with to associate items in your mind, it is going to help you memorize that thing much faster.
• Acronyms and Silly Sentences: if you are trying to remember a list of seemingly unrelated words or terms, one good way to do that is to make an Acronym or Silly Sentence. For an acronym, take the first letter of each term (or each line of your script) - scramble the letters to make a new word that you can remember - each letter of that new word will now remind you of one part of what you are memorizing (example: Scuba stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus). For a Silly Sentence, take the first letter of each word (or each line on your script) and write that letter on one line of a sheet of paper. Now, make up a new word that starts with the same letter and will fit into a sentence that makes sense but sounds silly enough so that you will remember it (example: you can remember the planets in order from the sun by remembering My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Noodles - M = Mercury, V = Venus, E = Earth, M = Mars, J = Jupiter, S = Saturn, U = Uranus, N = Neptune)
• Grouping: I have also seen this called "Chunking" - whatever you call it, the idea is to break down large chunks of information into smaller bits that are easier to memorize. Your short term memory can handle anything less than nine items easily - this is why most telephone and ID numbers are nine digits or less - so break down any large set of numbers or words (or whatever you are learning) into something much smaller than nine!
• Index or Flash Cards: write one part of whatever you are trying to memorize on each card. Write whatever goes with that part on the back of the card. For example, if you are memorizing terms, write the term on one side and the definition on the back; if you are memorizing script lines, write the line on one side and the cue on the back. Take your stack of cards with you everywhere, and practice any time you have even a couple of minutes free. Look at the top card - if you can recite it perfectly, then turn it over and put it at the back of the stack. If you cannot recite it yet, read over it once more and study the correct response for a few seconds - then put that card back into the middle of the stack so that you will see it again later. Once all your cards are turned over, then you have learned whatever you were trying to memorize. The Index Card method works especially well for studying, and most successful students use this when studying for exams or memorizing lines.

Make sure you have quiet place and are focused enough to concentrate. Also make sure you are not hungry, thirsty or anything that would distract you. Sit at a clean clutter free table and sit upright in you chair. Normal chairs that are on 4 legs are more helpful to keep you from spinning around in a chair. Make sure you take your time. The more you worry the less you will remember.

make a song to a popular or catchy tune

Example

heres 1 for the water cycle

(to the tune of she'll be comin around the mountain)

it goes up as evaporation

then forms clouds as condensation

then falls down as precipitation

Answer 4

Learning a poem or a song is like memorizing any other fact - you start with just a little bit and work up until you have the whole thing memorized. Here are some tips from some of our WikiAnswer contributors:

* Write out a few lines onto a flash card until you have written out the whole poem or song. Then, take a few at a time. Study one card and see if you can repeat those lines. Try not to get frustrated cause that will mess you up tons...

* Read it a few million times before you start trying to actually memorize it, its like a song for musicians-more you practice, more you memorize.

* Learn it slowly. You can't honestly expect to learn a two or three page poem in a few days. My suggestion to learn a few lines at a time and keep adding on it to it. Do this over a period of time.

* Listen to the song and try to get a hold of the tune and music. Then look up the lyrics and sing along with the music..and then try to see if you can sing the song by just looking at the lyrics with no music.

* Keep at it. If you memorize a couple of lines every time, you will soon have the whole thing learned!

Answer 5

Make a song, rhyme, or silly sentence. Songs - sing the terms, words, dates, or whatever you have to learn to the tune of a song you know. It works even better if you can ... Rhyme - make a poem that tells you the information you need to learn. Silly Sentence - take the first letter of each term you need to learn, and make up a new word that starts with that letter. String them into a sentence - you make it a silly one because funny things are easier to remember. Don't see how that helps? How did you learn you ABC's? You sang them to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," didn't you? Do you know all the words to the "Free credit report Dot Com" advert songs? Do you remember that "Thirty days hath September..." and "In Fourteen-Hundred-and-Ninety-Two, Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue"? How about that new student in your class, ROY G. BIV - he tells you that the colours of the rainbow are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. And you can remember the notes on a music scale by remembering Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Answer 6

Write it as many times as possible

People usually need to repeat something 20 times or more to memorize it. You can write the words, say them aloud, or make a study deck -- see the related question -- to help you memorize words and definitions. You can also use the words in conversations and ask a friend or family member to quiz you.

Answer 7

The fastest way to memorize is to use a mnemonic devise to help you. Click on the related questions below to learn some of the most common Mnemonic Devices!

Answer 8

I memorize difficult words by repeating them several times