How to memorize text: recommendations, methods, effective ways and practical tips

There are people who easily remember information. It is enough for them to hear or read it once, then to reproduce it in their own words. Others are forced to memorize phrases from the textbook, re-read the paragraph dozens of times, trying to grasp its meaning. Perhaps the latter simply do not know how to memorize the text? Indeed, modern scientists have discovered many secrets of human memory that can greatly facilitate the life of schoolchildren and students.

What is stopping us?

Thousands of people all over the world would like to know how to memorize the text. When you spent the whole night on books and cannot remember the answer to the question, and someone spent 20 minutes memorizing and now shines at the blackboard, you involuntarily think about the injustice of life. Experts name 5 reasons for poor memory. These include:

  • Lack of interest. A person who is passionate about physics, effortlessly remembers complex formulas and laws, unlike a humanities student.
  • Inability to concentrate. Often we do not want to delve into the essence of the text, think about extraneous things, constantly distracted by other things. Some students manage to prepare lessons by listening to the radio or watching TV.
  • Undeveloped memory. In fact, it can and should be trained, just like weak muscles.
  • Lack of vitamins and oxygen. In order for the brain to work well, you need to eat properly, regularly go to the fresh air, and exercise.
  • Bad feeling. Depression and illness take away a lot of energy from the body, and there is simply not enough energy to memorize it.

Memory and physiology

If you are wondering how to memorize text, start with the correct daily routine. Sleepless nights, convenience foods, a sedentary lifestyle negatively affect the work of the brain.

man is reading a book

Scientists have found that it is best to memorize material in the morning or afternoon, while the body is at the peak of its activity. Alternate mental and physical stress. After 45 minutes, spend 15 minutes charging or actively cleaning the room. The text will be remembered faster if you get out of the chair and walk around the apartment with the textbook.

If you are preparing for exams in nature, your efficiency is up 20%. Therefore, do not forget to walk. To keep the information firmly in your head, read the text before going to bed. Having woken up the next day, repeat it and boldly go to classes.

Visual Tips

People receive information through different channels of perception. If you find it easier to remember what you saw or read, then you are a visual. Their features should be considered when memorizing information.

sticky memorization

Here are some helpful tips:

  • When listening to a lecture, make a summary of it. Reading the textbook, write out the main theses, draw diagrams, graphs, tables. Highlight the most important with colorful pens. Purple and orange colors activate the brain.
  • Write down dates, formulas, difficult definitions on stickers and hang them all over the apartment.
  • A person remembers a visual picture better than text. Therefore, close your eyes and try to imagine the described events in colors. It is useful to watch films on the topic under study.
  • If the phrase is not remembered in any way, rewrite it until you can do it on the machine.
  • Itโ€™s better to tell the text in front of the mirror, imagining that the teacher is nearby.

If you are an audio

There are people who find it difficult to understand what they read, but they easily reproduce the lecture they heard. They have a predominant auditory canal of perception. What is the best way to memorize text when reading audials?

girl in headphones

There are several secrets:

  • Engage in complete silence.
  • Read the textbook and lectures while recording yourself on the recorder. Listen to the information later. It is especially effective to do this before bedtime.
  • Team up with a friend. Discuss the material, retell it to each other. In a pinch, engage your mom, two-year-old sister, or beloved cat as a listener.
  • If the phrase is not memorized, pronounce it with different intonations: in a whisper, loudly, joyfully, squeakily, rudely, with tears in your voice. Try to feel the emotions. Learn poems, sing, composing your own melody.

Tips for kinesthetics

The hardest thing at school and institute is for students who absorb information through movements and sensations (smells, tastes, touches). What is the best way to remember readable text if monotonous cramming does not produce the desired results?

children are jumping

Follow these guidelines:

  • Prepare a place to practice. Turn on quiet music without words, lay out a beautiful stationery, buy a board for important notes. Try to sit less at the table. Walk around the room, sit on the floor or in an armchair.
  • Every 25-30 minutes do gymnastic exercises.
  • Reading the text, move your finger along the lines, rotate a pencil in your hands, dangle your feet. Write the main ideas in a notebook in your own words.
  • As well as audio, you can dictate information on the recorder. It is recommended to listen to the recording while walking or jogging.
  • If the phrase is not remembered, you must close your eyes and register it in the air or on some surface. A person at this time mentally sees and hears the information being learned.

Getting ready for retelling

You can mechanically remember even the text that you do not understand. The student reads the first sentence, tries to accurately reproduce it, then adds a second, third. Another thing is if you need to convey the contents of a book or paragraph in your own words. What is the best way to memorize text for retelling?

girl is reading a book

Stick to the following algorithm:

  • The material must be understood. Read the text, find out the meaning of all unfamiliar words and terms. Find someone who can answer your questions.
  • Divide the text into semantic parts. Read each of them and write down the main idea of โ€‹โ€‹the passage on paper. The result is a plan for retelling.
  • After a short break, read the text slowly and with expression. Try to imagine the described pictures, events, facts, think of associations for them.
  • Close the book and try to retell what you read as planned. If that doesn't work, try to recall your associations. Pry into the textbook as a last resort. If the text is large, retell it piecemeal. After 2-3 attempts, set the book aside.
  • Repeat the material before bedtime. In the morning, tell the learned information without using the plan.

What is the best way to remember English text?

Learning a topic in a foreign language is not an easy task. To get started, look for his audio version. Listen to her, following your eyes through the text. Underline all unfamiliar words, find their meaning, write in the dictionary. Read the text for the announcer yourself. It is recommended to rewrite it with bright felt-tip pens and cut it into sentences. Now assemble and sound the resulting puzzle.

work with a dictionary

Circular repetition is well established when the student reads the first paragraph. Then it returns to the beginning and reads two paragraphs. So the volume gradually increases, and the text is remembered faster. It is better to tell the learned in paragraphs. Audiences can record text on the recorder, taking breaks between sentences, and listening throughout the day. Each phrase must be repeated out loud or silently during pauses.

Getting ready for the exam

Learning one paragraph is much easier than memorizing the entire textbook. What is the best way to remember texts before an exam so that nothing fades from my head? Start with a list of questions. Find answers to them in summaries and textbooks. Spread the topics by day so that there is time for repetition.

students take an exam

Stick to the following algorithm:

  • First, read the answers to all questions, emphasize the main thoughts in the texts in a different color, retell them.
  • Look through the textbooks a second time. Now read only the highlighted provisions and answer the questions for the exam. Use a color marker to write out dates, numbers, and terms.
  • The third time, review the list of questions, answer them. It is allowed to run a run through the eyes on the written terms and dates.
  • The day before the exam, you need to again review the list of questions, understand what associations are associated with each of them, and repeat the most complex information.

Everyone decides for himself how best to memorize the text. But in any case, tune in to success in advance by programming the brain for fruitful work. Then things will go much faster.


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