How to remember more in less time?

1. Spaced Repetition

The spaced repetition technique spreads information in specific time intervals and repeats that information in specific points in time so you’ll remember more indefinitely. How can that possibly work?

When our brain is exposed to information over a long period of time, it tends to remember that information due to the Spacing Effect. It is a psychological phenomenon that ensures we remember information which is presented to us through repeated long termed spaced studying. 

How the method works:

•You memorize a piece of information and then after a few minutes you repeat; exposing yourself again to the same information in increased intervals.

•The intervals begin with few minutes, than increase to hours, days, weeks, and eventually months.

•An example to such an interval can be seen in Pimsleur’s graduated-interval recall – 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 5 days, 25 days, 4 months, and 2 years. 

Spaced repetition works so well because it uses your long-term memory instead of your short-term memory to process information. 

2. Mnemonic Techniques 

The mnemonic technique translates information you’re trying to memorize into a pattern your brain remembers better than the original form. There are many types of mnemonic applications including remembering sets of numbers (numeric), remembering lists and I also found it’s extremely effective when trying to remember new words in a foreign language. An example of mnemonic application can be learning the names of the stars in our solar system:

•My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos

•Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (source). 

A foreign language mnemonic I use is associating words I find hard to remember to “link words” in my mother tongue, for instance:

•In Russian, the word cow (pronounced roughly “karova”) can be associated to “I ran my car over a cow.” 

Linkwords work in the following way:

First, you create the linkword > then you associate it with a story> the story leads to the meaning and there you have it.

Linkword > Story > Meaning 

After a while you’re able to remember the link word and meaning without the story, and eventually you remember the meaning, without the help of the link word or the story.