The Ultimate List of Memory Techniques

If you have begun looking for ways to improve your memory with memory techniques, you have already taken a crucial first step. Give yourself a pat on the back for that!

Many believe it is beyond their ability to affect their memory – it is something they were born with and can’t do much about.

The good news, on the contrary, is that your memory isn’t a fixed size. It’s a skill, and like any skill, it can be improved, trained, and honed.

Welcome to our one-stop resource – “The Ultimate List of Memory Techniques.” This guide will pull back the curtain on an array of powerful, practical, and actionable techniques to supercharge your memory.

In the end, it’s all about turning the chore of learning into something that you have fun doing.

Memory Techniques

In this article, we will discuss fourteen tried and tested memory techniques. Not all techniques will work for everyone the same way. In fact some techniques may be specifically suited to your natural memory. It is upon you to try and recognize which techniques get you the desired results.

Identifying the right memory technique can have a profound impact on your academic and professional career. So choose well!

Let’s begin.

1. The ‘Chunk it up’ Technique

Remembering information is easier when it’s presented to you in smaller, manageable chunks.

When studying, first skim through the topic and write down sub-topics and concepts. For example, if you’re studying about “Matter & its properties” – you could chunk the concepts under it this way –

Definition
Physical properties of matter
Chemical properties of matter
States of matter
Changes of state
Temperature and heat, and so on.

Then, write all the points and answers separately for each section.

This method of “chunking” information makes it easier for your brain to take in and remember new information, which ultimately helps you remember more in the long run. Plus, it can make studying a lot less overwhelming.

If you have to prepare for a longer answer, just combine multiple chunks together! This will make revision easier too.

2. The ‘Acronym-tastic’ Technique

Remember PEMDAS, ROYGBIV, or if you’ve studied French then DR MRS VANDERTRAMP that you probably encountered in school?

They might seem silly now but imagine how powerful these made-up acronyms are to still be etched in your memory.

Acronyms are powerful tools to condense and smartly retain a large volume of information.

You could create acronyms for lists of items, words, certain properties of elements or machines that you need to remember. You could even create an acronym for how to toast bread.

TOAST.
T – Take out the bread

O – Open the toaster slots

A – Adjust the toaster settings

S – Set the bread in the toaster slots

T – Toast the bread to desired doneness

Fantas…wait, Acronym-tastic, isn’t it?

3. The ‘Memory Linking’ Technique

Imagine you’re at the supermarket. You came to buy some food items but now you can’t seem to recollect them. You wanted to make a sandwich and a Mojito. You try to recall the recipes and slowly, the ingredients come back to you: cheese, bread, soda, and more.

So, this mental journey of revisiting the recipes to recall the ingredients is a demonstration of “Memory Linking”.

Memory linking makes use of your “associative memory” to associate or “link” related or unrelated things together in our memory. It’s an exceptional tool that enhances your recall abilities!

4. The ‘Memory Palace’ Technique

An odd name for a memory technique, isn’t it? But, “Memory Palace”, also called “The Method of Loci”, is an ancient Greek technique that makes use of your visual and spatial memory to remember anything at all. Yes, anything.

In this technique, you virtually “place” concepts or facts you want to remember in a real or imagined location.

For example, if you want to remember certain important periods in history, you could use your house as the location, and in each room place a specific era. To place the era, identify things from that era or “cues” that would remind you of it.

And, make it absurd. Imagine your messed up bedroom as a battlefield and visualize a cavalry charge in uniform. (Did someone say, Jumanji? )

Ancient Greece celebrated good oratory. In the absence of a written medium, orators and senators would employ this method to remember their speeches and dazzle audiences.

It is said that they would walk for hours in the city, memorizing places and layouts, where they would later “place” their speech.

If the method was good enough for Cicero, it should be good enough for us!

5. The ‘Make a Story’ Technique

Storytelling has been a part of our lives since ancient times.

People across the world used stories to transfer knowledge, traditions, rules, and history from one generation to the next.

Today, we see it in the form of movies, books, anecdotes in our textbooks, and more. It’s a memory technique used to create a narrative around what we’re trying to memorize and provide a framework to remember that information.

For example, if you’re trying to memorize new vocabulary, you could create a short story where each word is being used in the correct context.

Or, you could create a story around Carbon where you talk about Carbon as a person with different “properties” & how it has some friends he “bonds” well with while with others it doesn’t.

Storytelling is also proven to be extremely effective because it removes monotony or boredom from the process of studying and makes it fun.

6. The ‘Flash-Flip’ Technique

I’m sure many of you have come across flashcards at least once in your life.

They’re effective when you’re trying to memorize words from a new language, build your vocabulary, learn what each part of the brain is called, and much more.

They’re extremely easy to build & use – you write the prompt on one side and the answer on the other. They’re also effective in helping you sort what information you remember well and what you don’t. You could just keep the flashcards that you didn’t do well on aside and revise them.

Flashcards are incredibly popular & effective because they’re versatile, easily customisable as per our need or subject area, interactive, and engaging.

7. The ‘Spaced Repetition’ Technique

Do you revise the same chapter for hours on end but still forget it the very next morning? Are you tired of starting from scratch again and again?

There’s a better, scientifically proven way.

When you strategically introduce timed intervals between periods of study, it helps you remember more. This is called “spaced repetition”.

These intervals may change depending upon the day of your test.

Initially, the intervals are closer together – later in the day or the next day – when you’re trying to learn new information. This repetition or revision helps develop a strong familiarity with the concept. However, after that, the repetitions should be done after longer intervals. For example, you might revise 3 days, a week, or perhaps even two weeks later.

The core of the technique is this – as you become more and more familiar with the subject matter, the intervals must be increased because the harder we try to recollect the information in the next study session, the better we remember it. Our retrieval rate becomes better as intervals increase.

This technique is best applied with other techniques such as ‘Self-examination’ or ‘Teach and Learn’ (coming ahead!).

8. The ‘Mind mapping’ Technique

Mind maps are almost like flow-charts where multiple ideas, keywords, or subtopics are linked to a central idea, keyword, or topic. They can also make use of different colors or images to make the mind map easier for the brain to scan and remember.

Remember the diagram for “Water Cycle” taught in school? It was an extremely easy way of memorizing something that otherwise may have been hours of rote learning.

So, mind maps are like visual maps for your brain to remember processes, topics and subtopics, branches of a common subject, and much more.

9. The ‘Active Recall’ Technique

Active recall happens when you’re actively or consciously trying to recall information that you had previously learnt. You can do this by using flashcards, self-examination, or practice tests.

The idea is to try and remember information you had learnt without referring to ‘hints’ and trying to come up with the answer all on your own.

This technique is proven to be extremely effective when trying to retain information long term. Active recall can be paired with multiple other memory techniques like flashcards, mnemonics, or the spacing out technique where you can test yourselves at timed intervals and strengthen your memory power.

10. The ‘Teach and learn’ Technique

It’s said that you always remember what you teach. So, if you teach a concept that you’re trying to learn, it’s going to become easier for you to remember if you just spend time explaining it to a friend or a family member.

As you try to conceptualize and explain it to other people, you try hard to make it as simple as possible for them to understand. And, in that process, you also encode it into your brain so strongly that forgetting it – at least for a while – becomes close to impossible!

11. The Feynman Technique

Similar to the Teach and Learn Technique however, this one’s one step ahead. The Feynman Technique forces you to do the following –

Learn
Teach or pretend to teach a young child.
Go back to identify what information you missed or mentioned incorrectly. Fill the gaps.
Simplify the information and make it a part of your previous explanation.
Teach again (this is optional).

This technique doesn’t just allow you to simplify concepts and remember them better, but also gets you to recognise gaps and fill them with the right information.

12. The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It’s a time management method used to boost productivity, avoid burnout caused by studying for long hours on end, enhance focus, and help one focus on quality of learning while maintaining the quantity of time one must spend on learning.

Here’s a fun fact: The Pomodoro technique is actually named after a tomato-shaped timer that Francesco used for his experiment. “Pomodoro” is actually Italian for “Tomato”.

Here’s how you can implement it –

Pick a task: It could be one that’s just come up or one that you’ve wanted to do for a million years. Just pick one task that needs your undivided attention.
Set the Pomodoro for 25 minutes: You’re promising yourself that for the next 25 minutes, your focus will remain on this task.
Work on the task until the Pomodoro goes off: You are to be fully immersed in the task at hand. If any other task or idea comes to mind, document it on another sheet of paper so you can revisit it later. Once the timer goes off – congratulations! Time for your break!
Take a short break: This should be just a 5-10 minute break. Once over, get back to another 25 minute study session.
Every 4 study sessions, take a longer break: Now this break could be about 20-30 minutes. Your brain will rest and subconsciously absorb the new information during this break and ready itself for another round of study sessions!

13. The ‘Self-examination’ Technique

This technique is also known as ‘self-testing’ or ‘retrieval practice’.

After you’ve studied new material, you should test yourself to make sure that you remember it well.

You can do this in a number of ways – flashcards, practice tests, teaching the material, using spaced repetition and revising/testing the material.

But, just testing yourself isn’t sufficient. You must also check your answers, grade yourself, and then plan the next course of action on how you will fill in the gaps or ensure that you do not forget any answers the next time.

Self-examination can be a tad bit scary because it shows you how much you may not know. However, that’s precisely what also makes it a solid study technique before a big test. The active process of trying to retrieve information you’ve learnt through different methods has a lasting impact on your memory.

14. The ‘Homigram’ Technique

Homigrams allow us to utilize our strong visual, spatial, and associative memories in combination with some other memory techniques to create a highly effective memory aid. In fact, the effectiveness of this technique has been tested in a classroom setting.

During a study we conducted in India, 19 grade 10 students were provided with 4 lessons from CBSE Class 10 Social Sciences to study for 20 minutes. Two of these lessons were presented as traditional text-based content, while the other two were presented as Homigrams. The test contained 2 questions to test the text-based content and 2 to test students’ learning from Homigrams. Results showed that students scored 97% more marks on the questions based on Homigrams compared to the text-based content. Homigrams helped students retain large amounts of information for longer!

How can you create Homigrams? Imagine you’re learning French – and you want to remember the names of different fruits and vegetables in French.

Traditionally, you would go about memorizing a word list from a piece of paper or a device. It takes a lot of time and effort to look at lists of new vocabulary – especially in another language – and memorize them.

If you were to create a Homigram for this – you could create a story of a Potato (La pomme de terre) and her journey to winning the Idole des légumes!

Wondering what that would look like? See here for yourself.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Conclusion

As a student in school or college, your memory can become your greatest ally. These techniques can help you do your best and achieve more.

Moreover, they can make learning less stressful, more fun, engaging, and an immersive experience.

You can use them for any subject area you’re struggling with – Language Learning, Physics, Chemistry, History, English Literature, Psychology, or even memorizing vocabulary for GRE/GMAT/SAT.

Unlock the true potential of your memory with these techniques so that the right things stay in your mind rent-free.