A good memory is a matter of pride. AT modern age We take in tons of information every day. It's just that not everything can be remembered. Needless to say, lately people have become accustomed to entering everything into telephone memos. But still, the most powerful and reliable hard drive that cannot be hacked is our brain. However, in order to remember information, you need a good memory and following some tricks. However, first things first.
Memory usage
How to memorize information faster? It is impossible to find the answer to this question without understanding your abilities given by nature. The thing is that almost all of us have developed several types of memory. But one of them is the strongest. So, here are all its types:
- visual (visual);
- auditory (auditory);
- tactile (kinesthetic);
- gustatory and olfactory.
The latter type of memory is considered the least practical, because taste and smell are the least likely to act as leading analyzers. However, all of these types are combined into one type of memory - figurative. Image, sound, sensation, smell and taste - all this contributes to the creation of a certain picture in our imagination.
There is also verbal-logical memory, motor (motor), emotional, voluntary, involuntary, short-term, long-term and operational. But remembering contributes, of course, the first of this list.
figurative method
If we talk about how to memorize information faster, then this method should be noted with attention in the first place. Because it is the most efficient.
Memorization is the process of finding connections. Or their creation in an array of images. If you want to put something in memory, you need to find or create a new visual connection. Information, especially abstract information (ideas, thoughts), cannot be memorized.
Here is a simple example. Word sleeve, which is translated from English as “sleeve”, you can try to drive into your head for an hour, repeating it ad nauseam. But why, if it's really memorized in 5 seconds? Everything is simple! It is enough to imagine the sleeve of a jacket, filled to the brim with plums. Weird? May be. But now you don’t even have to remember what the word means sleeve. And all thanks to the creation of a connection between him and the image.
Even in teaching this method is used. Recall at least the lessons of mathematics in school. Yes, any person who completed it 10, 20 and 30 years ago, to the question of what a bisector is, will answer - this is a ray that divides one angle into two. And all why? Because the bisector is a rat that runs around the corners and bisects the corner. This simple rhyme was used by all teachers to make life easier for students.
Associations
This method is similar to the previous one. How to memorize information faster? Think of associations! These are groups of images that encode information. They always have a base and superimposed elements.
You don't even need to look for associations, because they surround us. Phone numbers have birthdays to remember. In memorable dates - house numbers, addresses of friends. And, of course, words are the main assistant of each of us.
How to quickly memorize the spectral classes of stars? They are denoted by letters, and far from being in alphabetical order - O, B, A, F, G, K, M. If you think a little, you can come up with a funny association by writing a word for each letter and combining them into a semantic sentence: "One White-haired American Chewed Dates Like Carrots". And according to this scheme, you can remember almost everything - starting with dates, ending with formulas.
In the process of learning
Most often, schoolchildren and students are interested in the answer to the question of how to memorize information faster. Those who need to learn something, and preferably quickly. The above methods are worth using, but they will this case auxiliary.
The most important thing is to set a certain mode. The best time to absorb information is from 8:00 to 11:00 and from 20:00 to 23:00. However, it all depends on what time a person goes to bed and gets up. After analyzing your activity, it is not so difficult to find the best time for yourself.
Having chosen the time, you need to turn off the Internet and all electronic gadgets, ensure silence or not distracting music background, and then concentrate, removing from sight everything that may seem more interesting than studying. For many, this is the problem. But you can concentrate if you break the material you are learning into several parts and learn a little.
For example, a student needs to prepare for the exam, which will be in 5 days, 40 tickets. This means that he will need to do 10 pieces every day. Five in the morning, and the same number in the evening, and you can rest during the day. On the fifth day, repeat everything. This will help. The main thing is to set yourself a goal and follow a clear plan.
self-hypnosis
How to quickly remember "big" information? The question posed in this way worries all students on the eve of the exam or test. The amount of information (besides not the most interesting) is great, but there is no time. What to do? The answer is simple. Gotta get excited.
After all, everyone noticed how imperceptibly time flies during walks, travels, entertainment! And then we remember everything in amazing detail. All because it was interesting. Preparing for tomorrow's exam, you need to get carried away with the subject. “But why do I need it!”, “I will forget everything in a day!”, “There is nothing more boring in the world!” - all these excuses are familiar to students. But you need to teach, so you have to convince yourself that the subject and information are of unprecedented interest. You need to try to find something catchy or maybe useful in it. Or to convince yourself that today nothing from the classes, except for the teaching of this subject, is available. And be sure to find motivation. You can promise yourself to arrange a holiday after successful delivery exam. In anticipation, information is remembered really better.
A solid approach
There are people who are not interested in how to quickly remember a large amount of information. It is important for them that certain data be stored for a long time on their internal “hard drive”.
To do this, you need to use a combined technique of fast and detailed reading. So, first - a detailed acquaintance with the material. Someone reads 2-3 pages to understand what he is dealing with. Others snatch the text from different parts of the book (summary or other source of information). However, this is an individual question. The meaning of surface reading is not to memorize the text, but to get acquainted with it.
And then comes the time for a detailed method. It involves a slow, thoughtful reading of all available information and its parallel analysis. You can highlight complex words or interesting phrases re-read what you couldn't understand the first time.
In parallel, it is desirable to take notes and even sketches. And also talk to yourself. Thinking aloud is very useful because auditory, verbal and visual memory is involved. In addition, mindfulness is activated more strongly, because reading aloud is impossible without concentration.
Useful Tricks
How to learn to quickly memorize information? You have to learn one simple rule. You need to scream! It has been proven that information fits into the brain faster if a person shouts it out.
Emotions help too. Especially expression. Gestures, phrases, facial expressions - and everything that can express it. You can even act out a scene in front of a mirror.
Also, you can't sit still. If you learn something by turning circles around the room, you will be able to activate the work of the brain and, accordingly, your ability to remember information.
By the way, if there is an opportunity to change the situation, you need to use it. And it is desirable to exchange the room for nature. Fresh air and the absence of concrete four walls will contribute to more active memorization.
Active repetition
This is another good way to quickly remember information and transfer it from temporary memory to long-term memory.
At the very beginning, it was about images and connections. With their help, you can really remember information faster. But! If a person does not use these connections, they will simply collapse over time. This is the reason why we forget what we used to remember. And the weaker, more indistinct was the connection - the faster it will collapse.
That's why you need to use this method. Repeat connections, update visual images and make them more vivid. And here is the conclusion: memorization is not constant cramming and browsing external sources, but regular retrieval of ever created images from memory. And it’s better to spend a little time thinking about them, and then remember the information for the rest of your life, than to memorize it for hours and forget it in a day.
Habit formation
There are people for whom to quickly remember the necessary information - just spit. And all because they constantly follow the above recommendations (and some more that they come up with themselves). These people train their memory and improve the ability given by nature. And for them, the question of how to quickly remember information before the exam or what they saw in passing is not relevant. And this is the main secret.
It is necessary to develop the habit of memorizing or learning something every day. And with the help of the above methods. They are effective, tested by many. In addition, they contribute to the development of thinking and verbal-logical memory.
The ability to keep in mind the key details of a future performance is a useful skill for any person. To memorize material quickly, you need to exclude all external stimuli and create a working environment. For effective memorization, it is better to use several channels of perception and adhere to the following algorithm:
- Read the whole text several times, delve into its meaning.
- Use associations (memorize a picture drawn by the imagination while reading or listening).
- Divide the material into logical parts and make a plan.
- Write down key words or quotes for the paragraphs.
- Retell each part separately, then connect the story.
If you want to learn the text verbatim:
- If possible, listen to the audio version based on the printed version.
- Rewrite each paragraph of the text several times.
- Fill in the end of the sentences with a proofreader and fill in the missing words from memory. Reproduce the material orally or in writing.
If a child remembers the text, you need to make the process as exciting as possible using game techniques:
- Replace some of the words with pictures and recreate the story. Gradually paint over all the new words and draw pictures in their place, retelling the material each time.
- Make a copy of the text and cut it into small pieces. Now you can assemble it like a puzzle, while reading the resulting sentences in parallel. The brighter and funnier the font, the better.
- Complicate the task: skip an essential point or add unnecessary facts.
To quickly learn a large text, it is advisable:
- Divide it into parts and work with each of them separately.
- Make a story plan or enter the main data in a table.
- Repeat material regularly with short breaks.
- Use multiple channels of perception (for example, visual and auditory).
Information interesting to the reader is deposited in memory automatically. Text written plain language, is better for memorization. Complex material should be simplified as much as possible and all incomprehensible points should be clarified.
Pictogram method
Pictograms are a way of replacing words and sentences with pictures. You don't have to be an artist to do this. The easier and funnier pictures, all the better. Visualization and interest, involvement in the process is important for children. In this case, these aspects are best combined.
Methodology:
- Divide large text into parts. Work with the short story as a whole.
- Divide the board or piece of paper into two parts. On the left, write numbered sentences, each on a new line.
- Read the sentences, make out new words.
- Read each sentence separately, depicting it as a picture on the right. You can start by replacing individual words, gradually complicating the work.
- Close the left side. Retell the text from the pictures an unlimited number of times.
- Try retelling without relying on pictures.
While getting acquainted with the game - draw pictures yourself. Then, gradually, you can involve children. This method is also suitable for adults if the material is presented in more or less simple language.
Using Notes and Exercises
This method is especially suitable for visuals (those who perceive information better through vision), but anyone can use it. The result will be in any case, just someone will need more time to achieve it.
Methodology:
- Divide the text into several parts. Work with each part separately.
- Read the first part, make out unfamiliar words and expressions.
- Rewrite part of the text 1-2 times.
- Use a clerical proofreader to paint over individual phrases. Write them down from memory. Test yourself.
- Rewrite the text again. Color in twice as many fragments. Fill in the blanks.
- Repeat until you can complete the paragraph.
- Connect all the parts together, retell the text orally.
This work can be combined with listening (the method described above), then the result will be of high quality and long.
Repetition Method
If there is very little time to study, but you need to quickly learn the text in English, you can use the method of constant repetition.
Methodology:
- Write short passages of the story on the sheets. It is better to use bright markers of flashy colors.
- Hang them around the house: over the kitchen table, in the bathroom, on the mirror in the hallway, on the balcony.
- When you visit these places or just pass by, you will see: your eyes will “hook” on sentences, and what you read will be stored in your memory.
Of course, the technique itself will not work, but as an addition to other methods, it will give a good result and speed up memorization.
Planning
If there is no task to learn the English text by heart, but you can convey everything in your own words, it will help detailed plan future story. It is important to understand the meaning of the text and understand what you are going to talk about, and the task must necessarily correspond to the level of language proficiency.
Methodology:
- Read the text carefully and write down the unfamiliar words.
- Break the material into logical parts (introduction, key thoughts and facts, ending).
- Select anchor points. Make a detailed plan for each part. State it in the form of short abstracts, quotes or questions.
- Retell the text according to the plan several times, looking at the original if necessary.
- Retell the text without looking at the original, and then without using the plan.
Supporting points in the form of quotations can be highlighted directly in the original text, underlining them with a pencil. And take notes in the margins.
Associative map (mind map)
This is a mind map that allows you to structure even very difficult material to perceive. In an arbitrary style, a map of what has been read is depicted, on the basis of which the material is retold. This technique will be useful for those who need to quickly learn the text, but not necessarily reproduce it verbatim. A bright plan, where everything is laid out on the shelves, will be well imprinted in the memory.
Methodology:
- Highlight the key issue. Write or draw it, circle it.
- Depict secondary thoughts as branches in any direction. Someone draws to the right and to the left, someone from top to bottom. There are no restrictions.
You will get a detailed plan in a convenient format, based on which it is easy to retell the material in your own words. For those who like to draw, you can replace sentences with pictures. This will make the process more interesting and even help to memorize information better.
How to learn a text in English and remember it for a long time
Learning your native language happens naturally. We remember what we hear in childhood, gradually accumulating knowledge and expanding vocabulary. When learning a foreign language, the approach changes and one has to consciously memorize words, phrases and texts. Consider several methods that can be modified and combined with each other.
Listening to an audio recording of a text
The reception consists in the simultaneous listening and reading of the text and is very effective. The fact is that two channels of perception are involved at once: visual and auditory, which means that information is absorbed better. In modern English textbooks, almost every text can be listened to. If an excerpt from a work is given, an audiobook will help.
Methodology:
- Read the text and write down all unfamiliar words and phrases.
- Listen to the story in parts and at the same time follow the text with your eyes.
- Pause after each sentence and repeat after the speaker. This will help not only to remember each of them well, but also to work out the pronunciation.
- Listen to the audio version at any free time: in transport, while walking, before going to bed. You will not even notice how everything is deposited in memory.
- Repeat listening as many times as you need to remember.
The more you listen to audio, the better. It all depends on the length of the text, its complexity and the time available. The method is also useful for correcting pronunciation. If you're not sure how to pronounce a word, listening to well-read sentences can be very helpful.
Ekaterina Dodonova
Business coach, blogger, memory and speed reading instructor. Founder educational project iq230
1. Understand
Very often people try to memorize unfamiliar words and phrases without even understanding their meaning. Perhaps this is enough for a few days, say, to pass an exam. Unless, of course, the lecturer asks to explain what you mean by ablation and what are the signs of those same chromosomal aberrations from the first ticket.
The brain perfectly remembers words connected associatively. He discards incomprehensible letter combinations like garbage, not wanting to waste time on them.
For this reason, most people have difficulty learning. A strange-sounding word does not evoke native and understandable pictures to the heart.
Therefore, for better memorization, you must first parse and understand all new terms. Try to feel the word and associate it in your imagination with familiar concepts.
2. Come up with an association
The presence of fantasy is one of the most powerful tools for remembering information. Mnemonics greatly facilitate the process of memorizing important reports, presentations, texts, including in foreign languages, due to artificial associations.
Take the word "Monday". What frames are running on your internal screen? It could be a morning, a terrible traffic jam, a thought pulsing in your head, a day on your calendar, a page in your childhood diary, or a buzzing office anthill. What do you see?
To make associative connections strong and durable, you can use the five-finger rule. Each finger has its own association, filled with one or another content.
| Fingers | Association |
| Big | "Raisin". Original, absurd, absurd |
| Pointing | "Emotions". Use only positive |
| Average | "About yourself beloved." Feel free to associate the object of memorization with yourself |
| Nameless | "Feel". Connect the senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, tactile sensations |
| Little finger | "In move". Make your subject move. The brain remembers information faster in dynamics |
In this way, necessary information will be imprinted in your memory at once at all levels of feelings, which will allow you to use it for a long time.
3. Fool the magic number 7 ± 2
The famous American psychologist George Miller found that short-term human memory cannot remember and repeat more than 7 ± 2 elements. The mode of constant information overload reduces this number to 5 ± 2.
Nevertheless, there is a simple way to deceive the laws of short-term memory: the use of the method of stories, which involves the logical linking of disparate memory objects into one chain. You can have a funny, incredible and completely impossible story in real life. The main thing is that with it you can remember more than 15 elements at a time.
As conceived by the director in the next scene, you should swim in a pool filled to the brim with semolina. Yes, just imagine this madness in bright colors. Feel with your skin how semolina sticks to your skin. How hard it is to swim in this warm liquid, although the porridge is not too thick. As in the air it smells of milk, butter and childhood.
4. Repeat correctly
Our brain can be programmed - it's a scientific fact. It requires awareness and daily work in the chosen direction. Therefore, if you have firmly decided that it is extremely important for you to learn English in six months, then the brain has already tuned in to intensive memorization. But in addition to regular training, regular repetition of the material covered is also important.
Use certain time intervals for the best memorization: repeat the material immediately after learning, then after 15-20 minutes, after 6-8 hours (preferably before bedtime) and the last time after a week.
5. Tune in
Perhaps there is nothing worse when a person thinks about himself in negative terms: “I will never cope with this”, “It is impossible for me to remember this”, “I will not be able to learn such a difficult report”. Use only positive affirmations when programming your brain for work and results.
Tune in correctly, tell yourself: “I remember!”, “I have a good memory. I will remember”, “I will remember and easily retell in my own words in two hours”. Customize yourself. The resource state of the brain is your area of responsibility.
Knowing the five secrets of memory, you can easily learn to memorize really complex and versatile materials. In addition, there are many interesting and natural ways for a person to train memory and consolidate the necessary memory objects, which Ekaterina Dodonova also talks about in detail in her book.
Happy reading and have a great memory!
Probably, many students (current and former) are familiar with this situation: there is only one night before the exam, during which you need to learn everything that should be mastered throughout the semester. Unfortunately, as a rule, the results of the “heavy activity” undertaken on the eve of the “H” hour are far from the cherished “excellent” rating, but we will not lecture here about the need to remember about studying regularly, and not just in a session, it’s better to suggest a few tricks, how to quickly learn a large amount of information, whether it is the text of a report or materials training course. Moreover, the question of how to quickly learn a lot is relevant not only for students, but also for schoolchildren, as well as for those who have long left their native alma mater.
How to quickly learn the desired text?
There are many ways to remember a large amount of information, here I would like to give one of the most effective ones, which will allow you to quickly learn the text, both by heart and for free retelling, as well as a couple of interesting auxiliary techniques that may come in handy.
Method one - "Classic"
Suitable for memorizing a variety of text information. It consists in performing several successive steps:
- First you need to tune in to the process of memorizing information. For this, a short run in the park is ideal. After all, it has long been known that they improve cerebral circulation, and, consequently, memory, in addition, according to recent studies by scientists at the University of Michigan, contemplation of nature increases cognitive function by 20% of the norm. Just do not need to arrange a marathon race, 10-15 minutes will be enough.
- Create a favorable environment for memorization. Where you will learn the material should be quiet so that you can concentrate.
- When the preparatory conditions are met, we proceed to the process of memorizing information. To do this, read the entire text that you need to learn as carefully as possible, if there are incomprehensible words, quickly write them out and find out what they mean (if the text is on foreign language– we translate it qualitatively, without skipping words).
- When the meaning of what is read is finally understood, we draw up the so-called citation plan. To do this, we divide the text into several logical parts - no more than 5-9, for some reason, just so many fragments are able, on average, to retain a person's short-term memory. It is best to head each part with a quote from the text to be learned. Let's write down these suggestions. Let's read a few times, aloud, the resulting plan. You can rewrite it 2-3 times for reliability.
- We carefully read each fragment of the text, and try to tell or retell it (if you do not need to reproduce it verbatim).
- When each logical part of the text begins to “bounce off the teeth”, we try to assemble the whole picture. If some words do not want to be remembered in any way (usually this happens at the junction of two fragments), we write out the words separately on a piece of paper, into which we peep until the text is more or less settled in the head.
- We arrange a break during which we try not to think about the text that needs to be learned.
- After 20-30 minutes, repeat the text again, and go to bed.
This is the basic way of memorizing text.
Method two - "Antique"
Better known as the method of places, it was first described by Cicero, but is still widely used today. Helps to remember the sequence of words in the list (for example, paragraphs of a citation plan) in right order. In order to apply this method, you need:
- Imagine a place, or a path, necessarily good friends - for example, your house, or the way home from work (study).
- Select several objects or places where the path between them is obvious (for example, the front door, corridor, room, kitchen, etc.).
- Make sure you can mentally walk this path.
- Now we start visualization, we take the words from the list, and, as it were, put them in the selected places, for example, we represent the list of words eye - apple - stars as follows: on front door, instead of the usual peephole, there is an eye, a huge apple lies in the middle of the corridor, and stars shine on the ceiling in the room. Do not be afraid if the images are completely absurd, the main thing is that they be bright, so they are easier to remember.
Method three - "Victorian"
It was first described by the Reverend Brayshaw, director of a Yorkshire school in 1849. It consists in encoding numbers with consonant letters, and composing phrases from these letters. It is necessary when you need to remember digital information in the text (for example, dates for a history exam). In the original, Brayshaw's code looks like this:
Code usage example:
1945 - BHKM
It was a Good Cool May Day when the German Reichstag was taken.
Trying to learn a ton of information or learn a history paragraph before the next lesson? Reading a passage three times before bed, putting a book under your pillow, dancing with a tambourine - all these methods are as popular as they are useless.
How our memory works
Let's start with this very question.
The process of memorizing any information goes through three stages.
- First - short term memory. Any data is delayed there for no more than a few minutes.
- The data then moves to the second stage - intermediate memory. Here she can linger for a few days or a month.
- The third and last stage is long-term memory. The information is always stored there. Even the things we think we have forgotten.
Therefore, in order to use the capabilities of your memory as efficiently as possible, you need to take this into account. Try to immediately translate everything you learn into intermediate memory. And to keep the information with you as long as possible, from time to time revision it and shift it to the departments of long-term memory.
10 ways to remember text
- Tell someone else.
Retell what you read - and remember it 4 times faster. The likelihood that you will master a large text much faster if you read and retell it to another person is much higher. When you tell something, the neurons in your brain work much more efficiently, and you instantly transfer everything that you have learned to the intermediate department.
- Work on the principle of 20/5 or 45/15.
Your brain cannot learn something indefinitely - it needs to be given breaks. Try on yourself the practice of teaching for 20 minutes and resting for 5 minutes; or study for 45 minutes and rest for 15. Your brain will get used to such uniform loads and will work as productively as possible, and you can easily learn even the most complex information.
- Use associative thinking.
What you already know is your best weapon in learning. Draw associations and analogies with the knowledge that is already stored on the shelves of your brain. This will help you not only remember everything quickly, but also then, if necessary, remember much faster.
- Highlight key points in the text with a marker.
Of course, if the text is in a textbook, this is not necessary. But often, these are printouts, photocopies, with which this method will be just great! I did it myself when I was at university - it helped a lot! Believe me, as soon as you do this, everything unnecessary will disappear and will not interfere, and everything you need will "stick" to your memory and will glow in it as brightly as the marker you worked with! Of course, for this you need to have the skill of finding important supporting thoughts in the text. Practice and you will succeed!
- Read the text with expression or using different pitches of voice.
In other words, you can just play around pretending to be an actor (unless you're really an actor :-)). Read the text in a whisper, then in a low voice, then in a thin mouse voice ... Change intonations - from joyful tones to sad and melancholy. In general, feel what you are reading! Believe me, sometimes this becomes the only sure way to quick memorization text.
- Don't sit in one place.
Scientists have proven that if, when trying to learn something, you do not just sit at the table over a book, but, for example, walk around the room, then you can learn a text or a poem much faster.
Once we discussed this issue with my student. Her biology teacher noted more than once that during memorization it is best to clean the house, put something in place, or just walk around. But in very rare cases, sit still.
The person who never ceases to amaze me in terms of memory development is Stanislav Matveev. He got into the Guinness Book of Records thanks to his methods and perseverance. And now Stanislav shares his knowledge with people, helping them achieve their goals.
- Learn in the morning.
It doesn't matter if you are the most "lark" of all larks or a seasoned owl, your brain still remembers information best in the morning or when you just woke up. Of course, there are rare exceptions when human biological rhythms are most active at night. But, nevertheless, trying to remember something before going to bed can not only have no effect, but also ruin your sleep.
- Tired - change the situation.
The main mistake of many is to try to teach without any rest. I remember myself during the sessions. I allocated myself two hours to study in the morning, then I went to training. She returned home and taught for another 2 hours. I constantly diluted my study hours with other classes. And I have always been surprised by the people who, during session did not see friends, did not go anywhere for a walk, but simply closed in the house. Therefore, my friendly advice to you is to change the situation and give yourself a rest.
- Use the possibilities of your brain.
You probably know how you get the best memory. If it’s enough for you to listen to a lecture so that you can retell everything without hesitation, you definitely have a type of memorization based on perception audio information.
For example, I absorb information best if I write it down. It's hard for me to remember something. When I was studying at the university, I wrote notes, and I made all important notes in writing. When I had to remember something during the exam, my notes instantly popped up before my eyes.
So use your strong side in memorization. Let it sometimes take a little longer, but you will be sure of the result.
- In any incomprehensible situation - go to bed.
If nothing comes to mind, go to bed. When you sleep, all the information that enters your brain, let's say, is laid out on the shelves of the long-term department. And in general, never try to learn anything without getting enough sleep. At this moment, your brain is busy only keeping you awake, and there simply aren’t enough resources to remember something.
On the this moment there are many methods, techniques and a wide variety of books to develop your memory and be able to remember tons of information. You can watch videos or read books to develop your memory skills. Memory is like a muscle - you just need to practice a lot.
A great way for regular memory training, which I recently discovered for myself - online service « Brain Fitness". I spoke in detail about him and our successes with my daughter.
Here, my dear, are the main ways you can easily memorize large text. But I can say one thing: all this works individually for each person. I advise you to try and analyze what you do best.
Share in the comments which learning methods you use and how they help you. And for the curious, there is my mailing list, where I constantly share interesting and useful information about any aspect of the English language.
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