I’m studying for an exam and I’ve noticed that it requires me to memorize many different dosages. There are so many numbers that I’m having trouble connecting them to the memory palace technique.
I’ve been using flashcards and I’m actually enjoying them, but is there anything else I can do to improve my retention?
I mainly need to memorize numbers. For example:
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Calcium requirement for adolescents: 1,300 mg/day
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Zinc requirement for ages 9–13: 8 mg/day for both boys and girls
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Zinc requirement for ages 14–18: 15 mg/day for boys and 11 mg/day for girls
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Vitamin A: 600 mcg/day
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Vitamin D: 5 mcg/day
What is the best way to memorize these numbers?
I would put all of these numbers on a spectrum from small to large, and then memorize this spectrum outright. For instance, the smallest amount is Vitamin D at 5 micrograms/day, followed by Vitamin A, etc. with the largest being Calcium for adolescents at 1.3g/day. You can think of the spatial location of each requirement on the entire spectrum, and the number should pop out at you once you order them. Having different colors, fonts, etc. will help you distinguish between numbers/nutrients.
An alternative method is to imagine different loci on this spectrum, and then associate something about the number and nutrient with that locus. For Vitamin D, I’d use a grain of rice (tiny) as my location, and Vitamin D reminds me of the sun, while 5 reminds me of Hong Kong’s flag with the five petals. So that image is sunbeams penetrating a grain of rice sitting on a tiny five-petal flower.