Memorizing is sometimes an essential way to succeed in studies or exams.
This is especially needed for subjects like biology, social studies, language terminology, or other subjects that have less space for understanding.
Even in mathematics, physics, and chemistry one may require memorizing a few terms, formulas, properties, derivations, etc.
But many find it hard to memorize things of study.
Methods to Memorize
Develop Interest
You might find memorizing study-related matters hard but it is quite easy to remember telephone numbers, names of movie actors, and song lyrics.
Similarly, you could memorize languages well but not subjects well and vice-versa.
This is because you like them and hence your mind tries to remember them with ease.
So, curiosity and love for the subject will lead to better memory.
Memory is a consolidated form of information in the brain’s Hippocampus.
So memory depends to a lot extent on the healthy brain.
Dwelling deep
To memorize subjects while studying, it is better to dwell deep into the topic so one can memorize the thing better.
For example:
If the term ‘Synergy’ is mentioned, it is SYN+ERGY which means SYN= together and ERGY=energy.
If there is a term ‘telomere’ it is TELEO+MER, which means Teleo=end and Mer=Piece or part.
Not only for words or terms but even for subjects, similarly if one dwells deep into anything the memory for it gets better.
In Physics one comes across Potential energy, kinetic energy which means potential i.e. energy within or self, and kinesis means motion or energy in motion.
Seeing and Visual memory technique
You might have noticed that you remember seeing a person before but do not remember his name.
In this case, the sense of sight has better memory than hearing.
Applying the same technique, one can use diagrams or pictures to see and remember for long time.
If it is not possible to memorize by any of the above methods due to complexity like formula or chemical reaction then the tip is to go for visual memory.
When one wants to recall the memory he has to just close his eyes to see the image in his mind.
The technique is that make a list of all the formulas or chemical structures on a piece of white paper and stick them on a wall in the room.
Try to see that paper for formulas and structure daily early in the morning and before going to bed.
If one does it for a week, anything can be memorized in the form of an image.
Use clues
This method is suited for dates of history or names of some historic persons. Try to have some clues to memorize the names of people or dates
For example:
If you have to memorize dates of revolution movements then assign dates of the year to each of your classmates or friends.
So whenever you see them you can recall them with that date. It is quite funny but effective.
Similarly, in anatomy, one has to study the peripheral nervous system’s function as a sympathetic and parasympathetic system and its role in all the individual parts of the body.
It is quite lengthy and confusing to remember.
So the clue here is to understand the terminology as a clue
Sympathetic means= Sympathy for the body
Parasympathetic =Para+sympathetic, where para= besides or other than. So now it is easy to describe or remember what the sympathetic system does to an organ.
Body part | Sympathetic system | Parasympathetic system |
---|---|---|
Respiration | Inspiration | Expiration |
Saliva in mouth | No secretion | Secretion |
Urine in bladder | Relaxation | Contraction |
Heartbeat | Contraction | Relaxation |
So from the above functions, one can notice that sympathetic is smooth, favorable, and pleasant to the body.
Taking air by inspiration is better and not producing saliva the whole day is better, if not imagine everyone’s mouth watering the whole day.
The urinary bladder is relaxed most of the day and only constricts with an urge for urination only at some times of the day parasympathetic.
Heart contraction pumps blood while relaxation does not. So contraction is favorable to the body.
This way one can write all the functions of the two types of the nervous system with a simple clue that sympathetic means sympathy for the body and vice versa.
So using clues helps memorize lengthy things in an easy manner.
The spelling or sound technique
This involves trying to spell something loud while studying or spelling awkwardly to memorize like stressing the word or phrase etc.
Multiple Revisions
This is reading the subject again and again.
This is a type of training the brain to memorize the entire subject.
The more time you revise the faster the process happens, i.e. if you revise the first time it takes a long time to complete if you revise the fourth time you will notice that the time span to complete or read the subject has shortened drastically.
Writing pathways, derivations, or Problems
Writing derivations or problems is a great way to remember them.
It is said that one-time writing is equal to ten times studying.
But my advice is to understand the pathway or derivations and then practice by writing for better memory and performance.
Using the same books or notes
This is a way to enhance memory. If one is reading from a book and repeats reading again and again from the same book, then his memory for the subject will be high. You can notice this effect easily.