Memorization Techniques to Help You Remember Anything

By Brittany Hawes on February 15, 2018

Just how good is your memory? Do you find yourself forgetting about things a lot of the time, such as assignment due dates, birthdays, and other important dates? Do you often misplace your keys with no idea as to where they might be? Do you sit down in front of a test on exam day and promptly forget nearly everything that you studied?

If you want to test your memory, try this fun quiz hosted over on Dr. Oz’s website. Dr. Oz, for those of you who may not know the name, is a doctor and host of the popular “Dr. Oz” TV show. The website states that the quiz is based on a Department of Veterans Affairs mental examination and is to be used for entertainment and informational purposes only.

As a student, a lot of memory problems can be associated with the fact that you are doing so much right now. You’re a student and that puts you smack dab in the busiest times of your lives. Along with juggling homework, projects, exams, and studying, you might also be doing an internship, working a full-time or part-time job, and learning how to take care of yourself for maybe the first time in your life. It’s a lot to handle at one time so forgetting some things every now and then is almost to be expected.

But what can you do if there’s something that you really don’t want to forget? What if you just want to improve your memory? Say goodbye to forgotten assignments, last-minute birthday gifts, and (my personal favorite) forgotten names – here are three memorization techniques that will help you to remember anything.

memorization techniques

Image via Pixabay.com

1. The Name Game

Picture this: you’re at a small coffee shop. You’re sitting in a booth with your homework spread out on the table when someone plops down in seat that’s in front of you. You look up and smile but your smile quickly falters. You recognize the person’s face—you might even realize that you both share the same afternoon English class. But their name refuses to make itself known to you.

Friend: Hey, Reader!

Reader: Oh, hey… um… You!           

You do whatever it takes NOT to say their name for the entirety of the conversation which, to your dismay, seems to last for hours. You dodge the need to say their name like it’s a snake trying to bite at your ankles. And at the end of this high-stakes conversation, you say your goodbyes with a gigantic grin on your face that quickly vanishes once they’ve gone. Just who had you been talking to?

We’ve all had something like this to happen to us before. You’re talking to someone and their name seems to just float away into the clouds.

The memorization technique you can use to never forget a name again is to play what I like to call the Name Game. The Name Game all starts when you first here someone’s name. You have to make an effort to remember that name. Don’t just let it go in one ear and out the other. If you plan on associating with this person in the future, repeat that name in your head a couple of times. That’s the first step.

The next step in the Name Game is to associate that name with something that you find interesting. Does their name have a curious or unique spelling? Make a note of it in your head. If they share the same name as one of your favorite celebrities, use that association to help you memorize their name.

The final step in the name game is to use their name. Say hi to this person every now and then and make sure you say their name. It will help you to memorize their name if you’re hearing it said aloud.

2. Keep a Planner

Planners don’t just have to be for school assignments! A planner will help you keep all the events in your life in one spot.

The important thing about having a planner is remembering what you have to put in there. That’s why you should always put an event in your planner as soon as you think of it.  This is the best way to avoid forgetting to mark a date on your calendar.

Any important date, such as a birthday, graduation, baby shower, or party that’s going on should be put into a planner. If you don’t want your planner to get cluttered and unorganized, consider implementing a color-coded system. For example, you could write all school-related reminders in a bright blue color, work-related reminders in red, and club activities in green. You could also draw pictures, use stickers, or use highlighters. Whichever technique that works best for you is the one you should use.

If you’re not a big fan of the traditional paper planner, you could always use a planner app. The Play Store and App Store both offer free planner apps that will help you to organize your life and reduce the number of events you miss.

3. The Roman Room Technique

The Roman Room technique is a memorization technique that stimulates your visualization skills and helps improve your memory. It’s particularly useful for memorizing lists of things, such as vocabulary terms for exams.

The Roman Room memorization technique begins with you creating, in your mind, a room. It can be a purely fictional room or a room that really exists. In this visualized room, you will add objects that will help you to memorize whatever it may be that you wish to memorize. For example, if you want to memorize a list of famous female African-American poets, you could picture a grandmother, smiling and warm, in your visualized room. She might represent “Our Grandmothers”, a poem by Maya Angelou. This same grandmother could be watching a documentary on television in your room, a documentary on Neptune. This you would associate with “Ode to Neptune”, a poem by Phillis Wheatley.

This memorization technique is going to test your imagination skills. Be sure to hold each picture in your head for at least ten seconds before moving on to the next object. If you’re successful, you’ll be able to memorize scores of information.

Remembering things can be hard to do but necessary as a college student. If you want to boost your memory, these three techniques will help you!

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