Want to Remember EVERYTHING that you Study? Know How the Brain Works!

Meritnation|Jun 8th, 2015 12:47pm

Have you ever wondered why sometimes we keep going over and over things and still can’t get our brain to retain that information? On the other hand, sometimes we come across something just once and can remember it for life.

This is the mystery of memory! 🙂

Our brain follows certain rules which determine what we remember and how efficiently we do so. Based on extensive research by scientists and psychologists, we now have the tools to use our memory to our best advantage.

What this means for you?

You too can remember maximum possible with minimum time and effort!

cone of learning best study tips for students

 

The following techniques are those recommended by top researchers and will help you both with your studies and revision.

1. Retrieval Practice – The art of recalling information from memory

Repeating Information is one of the best ways to remember it. We have all used this simple technique the most while sitting down to revise. Here are some interesting ways to go about it:

CREATE CONCEPT MAPS

concept maps study tips These represent relationships between concepts and ideas by using a graphic representation, and help you remember better.

CREATE A LIST OF QUESTIONS

list of questions study tips
Get into the role of your teacher and create a list of questions for the topic alongside when you are studying. This helps breakdown into points and works best for memory.

SPEAK OUT LOUD

speak out loud study tips You can also record your own speech for later. This way you are 50% more likely to remember what you studied.

TIP: You can use Meritnation’s chapter wise detailed study material for help in creating concept maps and diagrams

 

2. Distributed Practice

The art of spreading out small revision sessions over time rather than trying to pack it all into a single session. For example, if you want to commit to memory the atomic weights of elements, then it would be more effective to go through the table once every day for 5 days, rather than revise it 5 times in a day.

distributed practice study tips

The most important point to here is the need to start revisions early rather than waiting to finish the entire syllabus and then starting revisions.

TIP: MeritNation’s Practice Questions feature can come in very handy here to help you stay in touch with the topic over time.

 

3. Using Mnemonics

Mnemonics are tools used by students to help recall information. The most common example that everyone has used is the term VIBGYOR to remember the colors of a rainbow. Most mnemonics can be used to remember specific things like dates. Some interesting ways to make mnemonics are:

history study tips

Associate Ideas with Images

You can associate topics with images, best done by browsing on Google images. For example, While studying history, you can Google and view images depicting that period. The visual representation will help you remember lots of information.

Wordplay Techniques

Acronyms (Eg from Trigonometry) Anagrams (LISTEN SILENT) Backronyms

trigonometry example
create poems study tips

Songs and Poems

If you are the musical types, you can put information you want to learn in the form of a song or poem. They do tend to stick! 🙂

create stories study tip

Creating Stories

You can try and make up stories or incidents involving the material you want to memorise. It is a creative process and once you do create small or elaborate story, there is no way you will be forgetting it! 🙂

TIP: Make your mnemonics as funny, offensive or shocking as you want and you’re guaranteed to remember them. No one else will know, so you can exercise your creativity and cook up anything weird!

 

4. Teach What You Learn

Research has shown that we rarely ever forget what we teach others, as teaching goes beyond just learning and gets embedded in our memory in the form of an experience. Here are some thing you can do:

> Teach a friend or study partner.

> Use Facebook groups and other online groups to discuss ideas with peers and answer each others questions.

> Create study groups on Whatsapp and similar chatting apps

> By replying to questions asked by others on Meritnation’s Ask & Answer forum, you can further strengthen your concepts.

 

You can experiment with these learning methods and soon you will be able to identify plenty that suit your personal style of learning. Once you identify those, stick to them and see how the magic works!

 

If you like this article, we are sure you will like the below resources on how students can best use the digital edge for their life and study:

 

Want to cut your homework time to half? 3 Free Apps will do it for you!

 

5 Apps to make your Summer Vacations ‘Happy’!

 

Share these helpful techniques with your friends and spread happiness!

 

Add Comment Total Comments (144)

  • 1. Anoop  |  February 9th, 2019 at 8:47 pm

    Thanks meritnation you are very helpful for me and other students too.

  • 2. kavya  |  February 1st, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    WOW#ITHELPED

  • 3. Reena  |  April 4th, 2017 at 10:29 am

    Amazing and very useful. Thanks a lot

  • 4. sila  |  March 8th, 2017 at 8:57 pm

    Its amazing

  • 5. Silviya  |  January 17th, 2017 at 11:21 am

    Its really useful

  • 6. nasiha  |  December 24th, 2016 at 9:19 pm

    students too should be allowed to write such articles for the meritnation blog, very helpful

  • 7. meenakshi  |  December 14th, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    it is very usefull
    thank u

  • 8. ananya  |  September 18th, 2016 at 4:30 pm

    this was very helpful..thankyou 🙂

  • 9. Divya  |  July 31st, 2016 at 12:26 am

    Nce and intersecting.thanks for encouragement

  • 10. saloni singh  |  April 4th, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    Awesome! , interesting and helpful article!
    Thank you experts ,for providing these type of article……!

  • 11. Rishita agnihotri  |  February 27th, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    awesome tips but plzz also tell how to memorize the chemical reactions and equations in chemistry

  • 12. AMRITA ANAND  |  February 26th, 2016 at 10:15 pm

    #thank you meritnation for these useful tips I am sure that it will help me in my exams and further…………..

  • 13. Parvathy  |  February 9th, 2016 at 8:54 pm

    Nice tips!
    Thanks @experts!
    Very helpful to students who are gonna attend board exams…:)

  • 14. Sri nithi  |  January 24th, 2016 at 9:19 pm

    very very helpful tips……. thankyou so much

  • 15. juveria  |  January 19th, 2016 at 8:48 pm

    thanks meritnation u have helped a lot…

  • 16. Ritesh Malhan  |  January 5th, 2016 at 5:22 pm

    very nice

  • 17. Shwetha J.M  |  December 29th, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    It is very useful blog. Thanks Meritnation for the support of the students. I will share this to all my friends.

  • 18. sreelakshmi  |  December 3rd, 2015 at 5:38 pm

    wow…so gud nd powrful ideas.!! rlly helpfull..
    thnq meritnation..

  • 19. Prarthana Chandak  |  November 18th, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    Awesome tips….really very helpful…thanks meritnation

  • 20. ANGITHA SATHEESH  |  November 6th, 2015 at 6:45 pm

    thanxxx…meritnation…
    this article is so helpful…
    you are providing such an awesome service..

  • 21. Aardra  |  November 2nd, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    it helped.. 😛 🙂

  • 22. Bipasha B. Ghosh  |  October 30th, 2015 at 9:55 pm

    GOT THE TIPS LATE BUT HAVE NO WORDS TO APPRECIATE THE TEAM!! HANDS DOWN AND REALLY HELPFUL TIPS FOR ALL THE STUDENTS!!
    LOADS OF THANKS, RESPECT, LOVE AND FAITH!!
    WILL APPLY THESE TIPS IN REALITY FOR SURE!! THUMBS UP!!!!

  • 23. Vaishnavee  |  October 28th, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    This method has literally worked for me. Now in this way I can do my study systematically and interestingly. Thank you so much #meritnation

  • 24. anup  |  October 27th, 2015 at 11:27 pm

    THANKUUUUU meritnation <3
    reeaaalllly helpful
    (^-^)

  • 25. tannu  |  October 27th, 2015 at 6:46 pm

    awesome technique

  • 26. tannu  |  October 27th, 2015 at 6:46 pm

    it really works an awesome technique

  • 27. BHARATHI  |  October 26th, 2015 at 10:51 pm

    tank x for sharing with us, meritnation
    these are very helpful and useful

  • 28. prathiksha  |  October 24th, 2015 at 10:54 am

    thanks and from now on i’ll start to work on this

  • 29. arasha  |  October 23rd, 2015 at 9:50 pm

    its really an osm….thxx for providing us

  • 30. Moses  |  October 22nd, 2015 at 11:46 am

    Thanx Meritnation for this information.. really helpful ☺ 。◕‿◕。

  • 31. sanjievy  |  October 19th, 2015 at 11:06 pm

    Awesome……

  • 32. Jeslin alex  |  October 19th, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    its really nyc thanks to meritnation:):)
    love u meritnation:*:*:*

  • 33. Jeslin alex  |  October 19th, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    its really nyc thanks to meritnation:):)

  • 34. Nitin Rana  |  October 18th, 2015 at 7:46 am

    It’s nice and very helpful. Good Work!

  • 35. SHRIYA  |  October 15th, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    thankyou so much…..i got to know something new nd i will surely implement it

  • 36. meritnation*  |  October 15th, 2015 at 4:13 pm

    thanx a lot!!!! These tips have helped a lot!

  • 37. shankar  |  October 13th, 2015 at 6:13 pm

    thank you meritnation

  • 38. ashish  |  October 11th, 2015 at 12:28 pm

    a huge thanks for the information

  • 39. Angelina Valerie  |  October 10th, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    thks for the tips meritnation

  • 40. lekshmi  |  October 10th, 2015 at 12:57 pm

    Thank u meritnation

  • 41. Nida Hanif  |  October 9th, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    thanku…its much helpfull and evn intersting

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