The first strategy is to get your mind to understand and absorb the information you are about to read. The goal is to improve your memory and have a general idea of the subject or topic and explore just enough to become curious and excited about it.
How to Memorize or Remember What You Study or Read Instantly?
To best way to summarize or consolidate what you have just read after completion of the assigned chapter or topic, do what is, we often call a 3 R’s Strategy i.e; Recap, Review and Reinforce.
Underlining or highlighting
The concept is simple, underline or highlight the main ideas and any information you like or find valuable. Underlining forces you to stop and focus on what you are underlining; this extra attention works as a boost for your memory.
Learn Visually
Information on pictures, charts, or diagrams is much easier to remember than the same information presented to you verbally. You visualize things as you learn them, often by looking.
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Frequently write and rewrite the notes
Remember that “Writing Once Equals Reading Thrice”. Try writing out whatever you need to memorize. After writing it out, read it aloud a couple of times. This works especially well for memorizing paragraphs of writing in another language. Rather than memorizing it from flashcards, consider replacing the lyrics of your favorite song with what you’re trying to memorize.
If you are having particular difficulty with one of the existing notes, take the old note and put it somewhere else, where you will see it more often.
Always read with a pacer
It can be your finger or a pencil or a fine-tip marker pen, so as to control the visual sweep of the saccadic movement of your eyeballs; all fast readers attest to this method.
Take a short break
It’s important to keep your mind fresh, so once you think you have something roughly memorized, take a 20- to 30-minute break. Do something you enjoy that’s easy to accomplish (i.e., something that doesn’t involve a lot of learning) during that time.
Improve your memory
After your break, test yourself again to see if you’ve still memorized everything. If you get it all right, you probably have it. If not, work on the sections you’re having trouble with.
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Place a Post
Place it at a location you frequently visit, such as your locker or your bedroom door, your study table. Read it every time you pass by. Align your notes by color, vertically, and horizontally. This note will not only help cement this association in your mind, it will help with the next step too.
Jotting Notes
Taking notes and writing on the margin will help you reinforce and improve your memory . Sometimes you transcribe or summarize what you just read, other times you write questions, observations, ideas, and even have discussions with the author. Writing notes at the margin of the book they are called “Marginalia”.
Rest and sleep
A brief rest after learning something can help you remember it a week later. A full night’s sleep helps you learn new skills or retain information. Even napping can help consolidate your memories, and maybe even make you more creative. This is great news for those of us who like to nap during the day, and is a signal to all of us that staying up all night to revise probably isn’t a good idea.
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Remember
Last but not least, most trusted way to improve your memory is by reading the paragraph or short note article repeatedly couple of times. Say them aloud until you’re able to remember them. Repeat this process until you can say all the materials without the paper. This is something you can do to get an overview of what you have learnt. It is useful to retain the knowledge for shorter span of time, but not suitable for important topics.
More Tips
- Turn the facts into a song and make up a beat to remember because most people can remember it by hearing it in a certain way like in the music version.
- Go to a place with no distractions or gadgets to disturb or distract you.
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