Anyone have any suggestions on how to memorize? I have been finding it more difficult to memorize texts.

The inability to visualize something, such as the periodic table, means I need to look to better ways. I am a big list maker. But I can’t visualize a list if I can’t find it.

Memorization

July 21, 20221 min readByDavid Dively

Learning

Anyone have any suggestions on how to memorize? I have been finding it more difficult to memorize texts.

The inability to visualize something, such as the periodic table, means I need to look to better ways. I am a big list maker. But I can’t visualize a list if I can’t find it.

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Michael Peele•recently•edited

Albert Einstein: "Never memorize something that you can look up." Why would anyone want to memorize the periodic table? I know where Hydrogen and Helium are. Carbon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen are in the air and are somewhere in the top right. Iron, Gold, Silver, Lead - they are in the middle somewhere. Iron is Fe, Gold and Silver are Au and Ag (which is which, I don't remember nor care), and Lead is Pb. I remember these cause they aren't based on English. Atomic weights, number of protons, isotopes - all stuff to look up. If you become a jeweler, you might want to memorize the properties of the metals used in jewelry - which will only be a dozen or so.

Kristin Warry•recently•edited

https://youtu.be/rz4Dd1I_fX0If you find rhymes and songs best like many of us, there are several periodic table songs like this one 😆

Christine Jarvis•recently•edited

I cannot visualize at all so when I was in college I used singing to memorize. For example if you need to learn the periodic table I would take a popular melody or song and insert the elements. By using the melody you memorize it differently. You can then sing it back quietly (lol) when needed for a test. Look up Schoolhouse Rock songs in youtube to find examples of this same process for kids in the 1970's.

Roland P•recently•edited

In most cases, I agree with Annika, continuous repetition is the way to go. But, as Isabel states, it can help to find a rhythm or a melody. Reading out loud, talking to yourself - I have memorized whole plays just by the sound. People don't forget earworms that quickly ;) Still, it is only another form of repetition.

Christine Jarvis•recently•edited

Hey, I just said to use songs too, lol. I mentioned Schoolhouse Rock songs for kids in the 70's was a great example of doing this.

Nick Schwankl•recently•edited

For sure the way it works for me. I've got a couple poems, lots of digits of pi, and some other random stuff automatized through practice. I don't exactly "remember" them, but if I can start speaking them I can run through the whole thing perfectly after. The hard part is the practice and the reliable trigger to start the remembrance.

Gemma Wood•recently•edited

I just obsessively write things down. Like you, I make lists. They don't help with memorizing because like you say, I can't "see" the list but it help tremendously with the word association. I try to pick key words to associate with whatever the subject is. Doesn't always work but it has helped

Isabel Storey•recently•edited

Instead of attempting to visualise, have you tried using hearing? Record that which you need to remember - that uses voice then ear - after which play recording while walking/ running and sync item with each step. (As a child, had skipping games to remember complex spellings. List maker? Put list close to where it will be needed. Full use of calendar which syncs between devices.

Cheryl McCrary•recently•edited

postIt took me years to accept that it’s almost all purely rote memorization. I use flash cards with words/questions on one side and the answers on the other. I read them Out-loud to myself over and over and over again. It always takes hours upon hours over many days. Through that I usually learned it well enough to pass a test no matter how large or small it was.

Annika Brandt•recently•edited

I cannot memorize lists as a visual image. I have to learn the items on the list like vocabulary. Repeat, repeat, repeat. There is no other way for me. But I rather keep the list with me instead of memorizing it. Too exhausting otherwise.

Michael Peele•recently•edited

I can't remember much. I don't memorize much. However, I did get an Engineering degree and an Engineering License. Engineering programs do not rely much on memorization. It is about how to memorize a process, and how to research. Eventually, I start remembering some things, mostly random tidbits of stuff... I just re-read, talk out loud, listen, and re-read in order to try to memorize. But, I've focused on education and career paths that are focused on learning, research, and process.

Nick Schwankl•recently•edited

Same thing I've found. I can remember an absurd amount of random stuff, just not really "forced" memorization. I have to connect it to something (experience, interest, etc.) to remember it long-term, and even then it requires some kind of trigger to reappear. Process based stuff on the other hand (engineering, design, etc.) is super natural and I don't have to study it at all really. My brain can kind of just "rebuild" the information at any time.

Jamie Cook•recently•edited

Binging on acronyms before a test is a go to for short term memory

Jon Macro•recently•edited

I was basically unable to memorise poetry. I was good at languages because I had a good memory for facts. I amassed a French teacher by reciting the days of the week but not in the normal sequence!

Natalie Melissa•recently•edited

Are you sure it's due to lack of visualisation? I find I had great memorisation abilities when I was younger - as I've gotten older (and I mean 30s), my memory has gotten quite bad. Just wanted to mention, because it might not be just the visual aspect. Anyway, what I used to do when I was young was lots of mnemonics, I could get some really complex ones going. For text I really just think it was route drilling over and over again. Luckily I never had to remember so many verbatim texts, I'm not really sure what's the need for that unless your an actor?

Tillman Eddy•recently•edited

K-12 education is mostly memorizing! Despite a measured IQ of over 150, I was a C student-drove my teachers and counselors crazy. The only memorization that took was multiplication tables! Still do not know why. I describe my memory as two parts - the conscious that I use daily and the archival that resides in the background, providing the conscious with data (most of the time) as needed. Sadly, despite the data residing in archival that knows everything, it is not accessible on demand. So, if I need to consider a topic, I think about it before sleeping, essentially asking archival to enlighten; the next morning, Voila - the answer… but not always!