Everything previously mentioned I back it up.
I add: visualize. Indeed, I made myself the compromise of using my imagination to understand concepts, if I’m not using it or if I found it difficult to visualize, I did not understood it, so what’s the point of remembering the words? So, whenever you use your imagination for memorization distinguish that, these images not always reflect your understanding.
Consider this definition of a cognitive bias:
“The Forer or Barnum effect: the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.”
You could memorize it with a set of images that can be not related to the idea, images simply to attach a series of words or the paragraph:
Image > chunk of text
Magnifying glass: > the observation that
User icon: > individuals
Target range: > will give high accuracy ratings
Stack of papers with faces: > to descriptions of their personality
Magician hat: > that supposedly are tailored specifically for them
Soup of letters with figurines dancing on: > but are in fact vague and general enough
A hand throwing figurines (people): > to apply to a wide range of people
With these images, either in a link system or memory palace, you’d have the text memorized. Does this means that you understood? No. But you, however, instead of memorizing the text, visualize your understanding of the idea, even look up for more information and create more accurate images for the idea itself (this is more necessary for sciences and where accuracy is needed).
Also, when learning anything about anything, we live in a world where paper and pencils are cheap. Get them. Write what’s important. Enrich or not the concept with another resource. Visualize or imagine however you can your understanding and then memorize.