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.