Good ways to memorize?

[Elites]

Okay so I've always had some trouble memorizing things for an exam, I'll read it once and think I have it all in my head and then the next day my mind goes blank. Seriously how do people memorize shit for an exam and I'm talking about 4 chapters worth of shit (Science related so its never easy to make it common sense when reading the chapters).

[The Stig]

Teach/explain it to others.

Do a presentation to others, explain to others, for example in a study group.

Doesn't matter if the people in the room can't remember it. If they understand it or thinks you're correct, you're gold.

[SephYuyX]

The way I study:
Get to class 2hrs before hand, and read over everything again and again and again untill its time to take the test.


And then forget it all 5 minutes after.

[Senoska]

White board.....

[Kobb]

Write your own flash cards

[Nystul]

If you want to get a C, memorize.

If you want to get an A, learn it.

[Shade]

The way I study:
Get to class 2hrs before hand, and read over everything again and again and again untill its time to take the test.


And then forget it all 5 minutes after.

Me too.
You only need to retain it for the length of the test!

[viperlasson]

Write your own flash cards

This. Helped me alot in 101 classes where its just vocab, vocab, vocab, and concepts.

[guartz]

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

repeat yourself

[Lbelle]

I find that pneumonic (sp) devices always help me with memorization. Also, write it down over and over and over. That way, when you get to the test you remember what you wrote and can just rewrite it right when you get the test and use it as help.

[CuddableKae]

If it's just straight memorization, for example like words and their meanings, you really can't beat flashcards.

[Klutz]

If you want to get a C, memorize.

If you want to get an A, learn it.

This is fucking Century Long Quote worthy.

I love this.

I wrote it in Microsoft Word and printed it out on a piece of paper and put it in a frame, no joke, lol.

Kudos to you, seriously.

[Talus]

Read for understanding, don't read for rote memorization. Like other people have said, try to teach it or explain it to someone else, that will cement your understanding. If you just remember buzz words/vocabulary, but not how the relate to the topics & concepts, you won't do that well.

I think a reason why some people do poorly in classes is they don't study to understand, they study to memorize. Don't memorize (well, try to memorize), but really try to learn the underlying concepts... some things you definitely have to memorize (formulas, rates, etc).

[Rammses]

As others have said... Read the important parts of the text carefully (and slowly if needed), and make sure you're understanding the text and not just "reading words". You can do that by picturing the content in your head, discussing it with others, reasoning with yourself about it, putting it into context etc.

[Abandon]

When I was in nuclear propulsion school, what a friend and I learned, was that if you studied the night before for a solid 3,4 hours (flash cards, repetition, etc.), then went out and got drunk... we always seemed to remember everything before the drinking, especially the study materials. The nights I got wasted always seemed to be the nights before my best test scores.

But on a serious note, repeat, repeat, repeat. And go for learning, not memorization.

[Ddz]

I remember things when I write them down. I visually remember what it looks like written on paper, and I retain the information that way.

[Mojo]

I'll vouch for the whole 'write your own flash cards' thing. Writing helps me immensely, as do flash cards, so it's a double whammy.

[Heian]

If you want to get a C, memorize.

If you want to get an A, learn it.

Haha oh how I have missed your Wit Nystul.

Not only hilarious, but brutally true.

[Kaelia]

+1 to the people who say to write things down. That always helps me. It's really easy to kind of "overlook" information when you're reading it, just letting it go in one eye and out the other (lol). It's harder to do that when you have to rewrite the concepts yourself.

[Norelco]

Write your own flash cards

That's what I did. I think the process of writing down the cards more so than looking at the cards afterwards is what did it for me.