6 Tips to Help with Memorization

Memorizing involves taking information and committing it to memory. In school and in many other aspects of life, memorization is important. But, many of us are just not cut out for it. So here are just some tips to help you remember things easily.

1. Write and Rewrite everything
Writing and rewriting the information again and again allows you to familiarize the words and understand what you are trying to memorize. After writing them down, try to say the words out loud. While doing this, don’t forget that you should think about what you’re saying and are not just blurting words out.

2. Record
When you are trying to memorize a speech, record yourself reading it. Then, listen to the recording continuously. Although this can be something most beneficial for auditory learners, it is still a very good method to use especially if you combine it with the first tip of writing and rewriting. Some even say that listening to a recording while sleeping can help you remember the piece better.

3. Choose a good place
When looking for a place to memorize, try to emulate the scenario when you need to use the information you’ve memorized. When taking an exam in a classroom, it should be very quiet. When you are trying to memorize some things for this exam, try to do it in a place where you can capture that classroom environment. Doing this prompts the subconscious to help, making memorization easier.

4. Use your senses
This one is directly connected to the third tip. When you are memorizing something, try to use a your sense of smell and apply perfume. For example, if you’re memorizing a speech wear a certain scent. When the time comes that you present that speech, wear and have a whiff of the same scent while you were still practicing.

5. Use repetition
Continuous repetition is probably one of the most important ways to learn and remember things. You could connect this idea to why athletes do drills repeatedly and that it’s simply because it enhances muscle memory. Repetition over a long period helps our brain to gain new information, get used to it, and retrieve that information by the time we need to use it.

6. Build a “memory palace”
The idea of building a memory palace involves associating what you memorize with a certain place. For example, you want to memorize the first ten digits of pi which is 3.1415926535. Imagine you’re walking around your house, or any place really. Associate the digits with certain things found around your memory palace. You’re outside the house and you see a tree- associate with number three. As you walk, you notice there’s a stick- number one, on the ground. When you get inside the house, you see the wall clock and it reads four o’clock. So on and so forth.