Improving Your Memory for Information

Remember information is essential to your ability to excel in school and later in your career. If you are unable to remember what you’ve learned then you won’t be able perform well on tests and you will be unable to apply what you’ve learned in the real world. Remembering information is an essential skill.

The following are a few proven tips and strategies for improving your ability to remember information.

• Make the information meaningful
  One of the most common reasons that students don't remember is because material is presented in a way that is confusing or doesn't make sense. Students who try to memorize information they don't fully understand struggle to remember what they've read or heard. Don't try and memorize the author's words. First, put the information you're reading or hearing into your words as your own words are going to be meaningful and easy to understand. If you can't put information, a concept or idea in your own words its very unlikely that you're going to be able to remember the material for very long.
  
  
• Organize the information
  Organizing material into to logical categories will help you learn, memorize and recall information more effectively. For example, if you have several dates you need to remember for a history test putting the dates in chronological order according to a sequential storyline can make recalling each date much easier. Instead of memorizing random dates you associate each date with specific event that lead to another event. Information that is well organized is much easier to learn and remember than information that is unorganized.
  
  
• Use pictures to improve memory
  More often than not a person's memory for pictures or images is far better than their memory for words. Creating a mental picture can enhance a person's memory of verbal and written information. Mental pictures are especially helpful when attempting to learn and remember abstract words and concepts. Try to create vivid mental pictures that represent the concept or term. When you employ pictures to learn verbal and written information you are encoding the information in your memory system in two ways instead of just one. Consequently, your ability to remember the information is greatly enhanced.
  
  
• Active Studying
  You can not passively study material and expect to remember it. Remembering material requires active studying. The best way to ensure active studying is to think abou the information you're learning by explaining it out loud to yourself or other people in your own words. Another way to actively study and improve your memory is to think critically about the material you're studying by comparing and contrasting, asking "how" and "why", determining its significance, etc. Active studying will improve comprehension and enhance retention of the material study.
  
  
• Frequent Reviewing
  Ever waited to start studying until the night before a final exam? I think we all have at least once. While cramming is a solution it is not a good solution if you want to accurately and effectively remember information. The way to remember information is by frequently reviewing the information. You should review class notes after each lecture and reading assignment. Review your notes and highlight key points. As you review your notes you can also make additional notes in the left hand margin that indicate important information including vocabulary terms, major concepts and possible questions that would appear on an exam. After reading text book assignments you should go back and reread chapter headings and section subheadings. Review the portions of the text that you highlighted or marked. By reviewing frequently you'll greatly improve your ability to remember information both in the short term and long term.
  
  
• Mnemonic devices
  Mnemonic devices are memory tricks that can be used to remember factual information such as a list of words or phrases, and they often produce a visual image in the learner's mind. Some common mnemonic devices include acronyms (the most common), nonsense words, nonsense sentences, and rhymes.
  
  Creating an acronym is a good strategy to use to remember information in any order. An acronym is a word that is formed from the first letter of each fact to be remembered. It can be a real word or a nonsense word you are able to pronounce. For example, MADD is an acronym for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.