i don’t want to be a memory champ and so i assume most of us don’t want it too . we are students but here’s this thing most of these memory techniques are efficient for learning lists or bunch of facts in order but in real life for example biology we have a lot to memorise but it’s not linear information is branched … but i really need help because i have a lot of sallaybus left and it’s just 3 months away from my exam for med school
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Yes works but are a single item of study. You need a lot more things. Research read understand etc. Memory techniques are for remember only.
Hi, it is also my experience that memory techniques are VERY good for memory competition disciplines and doing stuff people with no memory training cannot but not too much of an advantage for school stuf. You can imagine my disappointment when I found this out
(I thought I had found a way to procrastinate and still perform exceptionally).
In school work, there are some problems memorization alone will not fix. Example: memorizing physics formulas may be useless if you don’t know how to apply them. There is also the issue of ‘setup’ time (tome spent developing and practising the systems which could have been spent actually studying).
Boris Konrad in one of his talks, says that the advantage comes from the less reviews you will need to do (remember you still need to review when you use memory techniques). There is also the advantage of easily getting down the material at first compared to studying without memory techniques (my memory of school stuff seems quite bad without memory techniques). Also if you time your review intervals well enough, you can review only in your head without needing to consult the source documents (which can be super fast if you only review the images without translating to the information).
So I will say they are useful but not magical (sadly).
PS: For your Biology example, a memory palace will work quite nicely. Isn’t there a part where the information gets linear? (at the most basic level), maybe give an example and I will talk about how I’d do it. Memorize linearly then layer on connections. At the end, for school stuff, a lot of work will go into adapting the methods to suit your needs and thinking style.
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Non linear memory can be worked on nicely by using links and stories.
I looked at trivia cards on the weekend as fast as I could and just made links between the question and the answer - I randomly then tested myself on 8 of the cards afterwards. With a quick working number system you will be surprised what you can quickly absorb.
The ability to make connections between unrelated topics does not require memory palace.
If i dont review those cards I will forget them - but its still fun to know I can be competitive in trivial pursuit against my family and friends 
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It does work—and very well—but likely not in the way you are intending to do it. Here is an example:
- Take an amorphous or “chaotic” subject—such as the category of “Arithmetic.”
- You need to create a schema or tree structure; however, note that this isn’t just about placing keywords here and there. It involves defining the subject, the subject’s qualities, and so on.
Arithmetic example:
Subject: Number or quantity
In the tree:
Trunk: Discrete quantity
Major branch: Set of numbers
Minor branch: Complex / Real, Rational / Irrational, Integer / Fractional / Decimal
Now, that minor branch represents your subject—the element that must be transformed into a character that will consistently represent that topic.
- Place these scenarios in real or fictional locations; it doesn’t matter which. However, if you choose a fictional location, you must review it using “interleaved practice” (you can use AI to look up what this is if you don’t know) about six times. You also need to know how to look for patterns in your material—for instance, in number theory or higher arithmetic. Regarding divisibility rules, there are patterns where I group types of division because they are very similar; I remember exactly how to perform them simply because of the dramatic persona I assign to integers (the subject of number theory). For example, numbers divisible by 2 must end in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8; for 4, they must end in 00 or be a multiple of 4; for 8, they must end in 000 or be a multiple of 8. If you find patterns—which you can do by reading the material, and nowadays with AI acting as a sharp assistant—group and memorize them. When you review and notice you’ve forgotten a part, just add more details; for instance, if you can’t remember that the rule for 8 requires ending in 000, add a striking color, a texture, or something similar to that mental scene—what I call “cue reinforcement.”
I’ll leave it at that for now; there are many ways to do things, and I learned most of them from Bruno, but it’s too much material, and explaining it all would be a massive undertaking.
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I don’t know who says it’s good for list only and not for others. I say mnemonics grow with the mnemonists like an art and eventually you will feel leveraged in any kind of information.
It would however be determined by one’s awareness of memory principles, smart use cases and curios experimentation.
Obviously it feels laking if you are searching for a shortcut.
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Please provide a specific example.
You don’t memroise information as it’s in the book. You have to first decide which memory techniques to use and in which way to use them.This is primary based on:
- How the information is arranged
- How you are required to recall it in test
Again, provide an example first, theory is gibberish unless it proves itself through application
Also, something very important to note:
Memory is easy!
You must first feel and accept this. Don’t overcomplicate things. Go with the first thing you find which works. Don’t create complex schema for information.
Keep It Stupid Simple (KISS) is the philosophy one must adhere to in order to enjoy memory.
A person who does a thing, can never be as good as a person who loves doing it. And you can only love simple things–things you can understand, and feel confident in.
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They do but you have to change the focus. You aren’t supposed to memorize a definition word for word with a memory palaces, you can but it’s very inefficient.
The point of studying is to understand the material. Once you understand it you only need key words to recall it. I’m sure you’ve been in the situation where someone asks you a question about a subject and you can’t answer, then they start giving the answer and you immediately recall it. That’s what mnemonics are good for in exams, you learn it and store the key words that will remind you of the information you already know.
You are in med school, I would advice you to search for Alex Mullen’s page, Mullen’s Memory, as he is a 3x memory World Champion who went through med school using memory techniques and shared his methods online.
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I like the thing of keep it simple. The world is very complex to make it even more complex.
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Great explanation. How do you use mnemonics to study?
The issue is that when studying with mnemonics, people often think they have to use them literally—like reading a book—but mnemonics (artificial memory) are meant to aid natural memory. For instance, to remember properties of real numbers, I used a “queen” character to act out the mathematical examples; I didn’t memorize the formulas word-for-word (though I could have). Instead, I used images that easily triggered the concepts: for me, the associative property is a jar of butterflies, the commutative property is a boomerang, and the distributive property is a street vendor. I wove these into a unique story that dramatized everything and conveyed the meaning. The biggest problem is that some people don’t want to study; they expect that simply opening a book will download the material into their memory—but that’s not how it works. To memorize easily, you have to understand what you’re memorizing, though you can do it the hard way if you choose.
For example, regarding prime numbers between 1 and 100 (25 in total), I used the Major System. For divisibility rules, the patterns are a bit wild, but I could easily deduce them using analogies (or visual examples); deducing operations involving grouping symbols was also straightforward, and so on. Sometimes, spaced repetition is the best approach for certain information. For math exercises or similar tasks, it is better to use interleaved practice and “fading cues” (gradually removing hints), among other techniques. With the advent of AI, we are making huge strides; it is simply up to students to use these tools to their advantage. It is also worth noting that mnemonic techniques have not really been demonstrated or illustrated for the retention of complex material; the only person who did so—Bruno—was addressing the scholars of his time. Of course, Bruno drew all his material from other authors such as Llull, Camillo, Ravenna, and Romberch. Llull’s method is the best for breaking down and learning a subject—it works superbly when combined with mnemonic techniques—yet I haven’t seen anyone write about it; one author did so once, but there wasn’t much public interest, so he stopped.
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Yep, mnemonics do not replace studying, they enhance it.
Like eating well is necessary to help your brain retain things better. Does eating well works for students? Not without studying too!
(Not sure the comparison works completely but… 
)
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Yes, there are techniques to improve retention, but one must distinguish between different approaches; for instance, memorizing a formula is not the same as memorizing the solution to that formula—the former is efficient, while the latter is not. The same applies to programming: it depends on what you are memorizing. Memorizing concepts and how things work is beneficial, but memorizing raw code is less so—let’s look at why:
In mathematics, it is necessary to break down the material: exercises should not be memorized (interleaved practice should be used instead), whereas equations can be memorized. Concepts should be memorized as well; it is wise to create conceptual trees and distinguish between elements like subjects, qualities, etc. You can easily use characters to encompass an entire topic, as they can dramatize the material—adding details like the character’s clothing, friends, and backstory makes the power of using characters evident.
When working on math problems, I don’t do twenty exercises of the same type; instead, I do two or four and move on. In the next session, I pick two exercises from the current topic and one or two from the previous one, continuing this pattern. This approach is better than massive review sessions and allows you to grasp solution algorithms more quickly.
I think I’ll leave it there; there are plenty of methods available that can make studying easier, more enjoyable, and less abstract.
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Sleeping well is better comparision 
thanks for introducing me to mullen memory now i understand where to use memory techniques and where i shouldn’t
we have diseases and other bunch of facts to remember + names a lot of names and you might understand that yes there is a valve vessel and heart but might forget the exact name for it and in taxonomy we got examples from each phylums and facts related to them
i don’t think we should memorize anything in maths , physics and coding and i mean nothing everything gets sticked with practise
my question is how… how can i apply mnemonics
here’s an question from my book … white rust disease is caused by ? 1. claviceps 2. alternaria 3. phytophthora 4. albugo candida … to solve these type of questions from my book i need to remember every single group’s examples which we have 13 groups in this chapter and 3-6 examples of species in those groups and facts related to them which inclue diseases they cause and because i am not native english speaker very hard for me to memorize these of names
I’ve met people that study medicine and they complain a lot. Sometimes they use packed mnemonics like acronims. Mnemonics don’t replace study. You have to understand all and takes a lot of time. Then you can use mnemonics. I think helps a lot anyway. You can symbolise strange names and create stories or other methods.
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