# Using Memory Techniques to remember highly condensed material for competitive exams **URL:** \ **Category:** Homework and Study Help\ **Created:** [October 14, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138 "2025-10-14T15:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Magno](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/magno/32/21908_2.png) [@Magno](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Magno)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/63 "2025-10-25T18:14:32Z")
Just place the images at each point, then review them mentally. You don’t need to see the place clearly, just remember the information. Sometimes I don’t even look at the whole set and I remember what I placed, even minutes after placing it. 1. In long-term palaces, you don’t have to review the places much, just place the information. 2. After placing the information, just review it mentally. If you forget something, go back to the point where you placed it. That’s why I prefer to place a general image in the middle, so I know where I put an image quickly. 3. Review anywhere you feel you can, for example while preparing breakfast, commuting, walking, etc., anywhere… Reviewing in the palace, even if they are new places, is usually tedious, but with training you will be faster. 4. Vary your sessions. In other words, if you memorize planets one moment and formulas the next, etc., it has been proven to be more efficient than staying with a single topic for an entire session. You can divide your time into 30- or 90-minute sessions and take breaks between sessions. Breaks help to consolidate your memory. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2025, 3:29am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/64 "2025-10-26T03:29:52Z")
I use walking tour video from youtube. I generally use video of swizerland because I love the beauty of there and can somewhat relate to Alpine climate there. I choose videos which contains less people in it so to beat distraction. This idea of using walking tour was revealed by magno in other post which totally resonated with me. Yes people use movies, games, songs, maps, street view etc. These ideas actually worked with me after I got fluent with the technique.It was way harder when I was intermediate to be honest. But some people use them on the very first go and grasp the idea pretty effectively. ---
**Author:** ![prncpndy256](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/prncpndy256/32/30480_2.png) [@prncpndy256](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/prncpndy256)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/65 "2025-10-26T03:41:43Z")
Cool! I will try it.Good past time for when I’m dining. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/67 "2025-10-27T11:47:50Z")
@Rajadodve786 Thanks. This seems to be better virtual tour. It might be refinement on my system. I shall try it. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/68 "2025-10-27T13:32:08Z")
@Rajadodve786 Mother of Jesus. Too many loci and in a good way. I chose this “ancient greek city of korkyra”. very clear and immersive. Worked very good. @Unknown this I find very useful for our purpose. Everything is getting way easier day by day, ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 3:50am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/69 "2025-11-12T03:50:20Z")
Hello Strangers, I am so happy how authentic this thread turned out to be. I also want to add some of the findings. I am providing tips to someone who feels that they have consistency problem in using memory techniques in their life. First one is that you need to see the utility of the technique itself. It does not matter if someone in forum says that it makes memorizing effortless, quick and helps in longterm retention. YOU need to see what about the technique was more effective and enjoyable to you. Even this tip is layered one so the total beginner may not get it. How to see it by yourself? It is my experience that with enough practice and certain ease of execution of the technique, the brain activity is freed and you SEE the utility of it. For me it was when I was remembering certain dates of conferences that led to the birth of United Nations. I quickly chose 8 locations and made visual representation just enough to give me hint of the information I was reading(for example just a piece of wood for bretton woods conference). It was just like half of the work was done by me studying like I always used to do and only a quarter by Method Of Loci. I clearly saw that I could remember precisely with MOL and for longer. People generally get wrong impression of “consistency” meaning to do it every day whether you like it or not. This creates a cognitive dissonance(contrast between my belief that I want to work everyday and reality of me studying discretely). This creates great sense of confusion to amateaurs. “Consistency” just means that you have this continuous sense of willingness to participate. If you practiced memory techniques in the morning and want to practice it even after 2 days, you are consistent in it. Brain is searching for better neural pathway during your rest. Remember the feeling when you met your buddies a year ago and it just stays in your brain and are always open to new meeting. You are ‘consistent’ in your sense of friendship. Many of us who learn these memory techniques have good natural memory in a sense it reliably has served it’s purpose in everyday use. We just come here out of curiosity. This also hampers our capability to see the need of these techniques. Even for me psychological narratives would be, " I want to remember general timeline of second-world war and how Hitler rose to power, I know for sure that I can just use the texts and read like I used to and get most of these in my memory in second or 3rd repetition but now want to learn them just by using MOL. I then fail miserably because I see that MOL has become more work than my regular studies and even feel that retrieval of informations to be very hard(because I have not developed context by general study of material). This hampers consistency. At this point I want your participation to provide opinions on these findings of mine and your experience in it. I see that people here are too keen to provide with solutions but rarely provide with general overview of why these problems have occured which enables questioner himself to solve the problem. So please share your experience and opinions about my findings. ---
**Author:** ![prncpndy256](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/prncpndy256/32/30480_2.png) [@prncpndy256](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/prncpndy256)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 4:55am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/70 "2025-11-12T04:55:01Z")
> [@Arun512](#): > > “Consistency” just means that you have this continuous sense of willingness to participate. If you practiced memory techniques in the morning and want to practice it even after 2 days, you are consistent in it. Brain is searching for better neural pathway during your rest. Remember the feeling when you met your buddies a year ago and it just stays in your brain and are always open to new meeting. You are ‘consistent’ in your sense of friendship. Interesting bit on consistency. I always thought that until I don’t feel good about something,I can never be consistent with it.I think of all the things I have been ever consistent with,I have always had a particular instance in the day when I reminisced about the activity or wanting to do it. Thanks! Yes,I have also suffered from using memory techniques without acquiring enough context on the information. Simply reading and analysing,followed by a second pass of memorisation using memory techniques serves me the best. Oh also,what’s your approach for memorising current affairs? Do you place the facts in a memory palace? ---
**Author:** ![Magno](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/magno/32/21908_2.png) [@Magno](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Magno)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/71 "2025-11-12T16:16:43Z")
As a practitioner of the art of memory, I can tell you that I use creative methods in combination with logical ones. I call the process of using mnemonic devices and images “creative,” and “logical” refers to anything that requires analysis. With that clarified, I’d say it depends on what you want to do. Sometimes you memorize a text where the meaning is self-evident, and other times you memorize something more abstract that requires analysis, and therefore takes more time. For me, memorizing dates or historical facts is simpler. If I tell you that Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont River in 334 BC, thus beginning a campaign to conquer the Persian Empire, the meaning is clear. But if you have to talk about something more mathematical, like formulas, you’ll have to combine logic and creativity, learn the process and its variations through practical exercises, and memorize the formula (not memorize the solution process itself; that comes with practice). Also, memorizing concepts without understanding them isn’t a good practice. You should dedicate time to understanding the concept and then memorize it, so you can retrieve it when needed. Analyzing a topic involves breaking it down and working through it piece by piece, understanding each part separately before putting it all together, like a jigsaw puzzle. If you read a text, analyze it, extract keywords (or create your own), and memorize what you understand, you’ll need to conduct research to clarify the concept or topic. I usually use the “statue method” described by Bruno in _30 Statues_ to understand a concept through metaphors and imagery. The tricky thing about these creative methods is that there are so many of them. Eventually, you reach a level where you can improvise and make remembering easier. But it’s not just creativity you should exercise; logic is essential too. Logical memory can’t process information the same way as creative memory. Creative memory takes in much more information, while logical memory processes it in parts. For example, if you’re using a recipe guide, you have to go step by step. This is logical memory. It can be trained to capture or process more information, but it consumes more resources than creative memory in terms of performance, so it’s best to use them in combination. Statues, for example, are figures that can signify and help us understand many things. For instance, a figure catches a fish, exchanges it for gold, its eyes shine with joy, and so on. Now, with that in mind, create a list of questions about a topic and describe it with images. This will greatly help you understand a complex concept. It’s also important to keep in mind that you should save the source or reference for the concept. If time passes and you have a certain visual logic there that you later don’t understand, because you’ll have, so to speak, other images that seem more logical. Without the reference, you won’t understand your own mental images, since you’ve changed your preferences or other images seem more logical at that moment. That’s why review is important when it comes to mnemonics. I have 27 mnemonic methods that mostly cover the entire spectrum of techniques for creating mental images. Places are orders, and there are also many ways to organize them. For this, I use various methods depending on what I need to remember. For example, for places, I can use a 3x3 grid, which is essentially a matrix. I place it in areas, that is, on walls within a space (a square room). I can use the squares to create loci for speed, which are different from loci for long-term information. I use these for memorizing temporary information on the spot. There should be many, but not too many; around 750 or 1,500 is enough. Long-term loci are many more places, and I can create them without stress since I search for them online and build the mental images little by little. In short, each section has a theme. If it’s for speed memorization, I look for lists of themed images, like Dragon Ball, God of War, actors, etc., and I place iconic images in each section. For longer-term memorization, like information on a subject such as biology, I use figures like Hollywood actors or adult film stars, using their initials as an index. For arithmetic, it might be Anthony Robles, for example, and so on for other subjects. I differentiate by images and other means… it’s easier to remember than to forget. I also take notes, and I can recall the material more easily and with fewer reviews. For a beginner, the methods will be easy; the problem is the limited knowledge of techniques and how to apply them in a logical and creative way. ---
**Author:** ![Hari-P](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/hari-p/32/20048_2.png) [@Hari-P](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Hari-P)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/72 "2025-11-12T18:54:12Z")
> [@Arun512](#): > > Many of us who learn these memory techniques have good natural memory in a sense it reliably has served it’s purpose in everyday use. We just come here out of curiosity. This also hampers our capability to see the need of these techniques. I’m a bit surprised at this conclusion to be honest. If I list the people I know are into memory training, lots of them do have trouble with memory (or anticipate it), whether to study or well… in everyday life (which is certainly my case), and that why they got interested in memory in the first place (even if curiosity certainly also play a role). I mean I cannot make any strong affirmation one way or another because I didn’t make a survey to find out people’s reasons or anything, but my feeling is that most people get into memory training because they don’t feel satisfied/confident about how things are and want something better. After all if you are perfectly happy with how things are (if you don’t have anything to solve), there is no incentive to search for something else. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:00am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/73 "2025-11-13T03:00:18Z")
@prncpndy256 I just read current affairs like I used to and nothing fancy. It becomes a habit when you do not pressurize yourself on memorizing stuffs and you begin to relate as well as retain after certain time. It is like a snowball effect. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:11am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/74 "2025-11-13T03:11:02Z")
@Hari-P You are right. I might have been biased there. I do have good memory and tried MOL out of curiousity. I do not have stats on that one. So maybe my thread may be more tailoured to persons who have approached MOL even with a good memory. Thank you for pointing out. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/75 "2025-11-13T03:22:39Z")
@Magno Very elaborate indeed. One thing what you are referring to ‘logical’ memory fits description of procedural memory. My experience has also been consistent with your findings of ‘logical’ memory. Did you also notice that we skip many of these steps as we get fluient in the technique. I think I need further guidance on your idea of “statues”. I could not get it. Any findings from your long term projects? I would love to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Magno](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/magno/32/21908_2.png) [@Magno](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Magno)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/76 "2025-11-13T12:47:03Z")
The thing about logical memory is that it looks for shortcuts, since it can’t process a lot of information at once, like sensory memory itself. In addition to the following, since it occurs in both logical and creative memory, there are two general types of mental processing: conscious and unconscious. The former requires attention and practice to become automatic; this is a topic I’ve researched. However, it’s necessary to be creative-logical in any field to solve problems. Characteristics like these include being curious, creative, reflective, analytical, a critical thinker, systematic (step-by-step), and perfectionistic (this means being obsessive about the task at hand, although not everyone can handle this trait, so a lower level of obsession can be healthy). Adaptability is also crucial, as without it you can stagnate if you don’t adapt to difficult situations. Connectivity, which is like searching for patterns or connecting one thing to another, is another important quality; you can always see one thing reflected in another. This will help you develop a creative-logical thinking system. If you ask yourself questions like the following, I am being… Are you creative in this task? Have I analyzed this? etc., so logic is used here to access a state of thought that will help you. Now, to explain the statues, they are somewhat complicated to explain, but easy to use. Furthermore, you shouldn’t be rigid with any of these systems; adapting them to your situation is what matters. For example, create a list of characters in alphabetical order. These have multiple associated things, such as wife, children, uncles, grandparents, etc. You can create these; for example, the father has red hair and fiery eyes, and the mother has blue hair and cold breath, etc. Now, after what’s been explained, you take a concept and associate it with a character. For example, darkness could be represented by a dark character, evil by a character with horns, and so on. You should adapt this to more complex concepts, so you’ll explain a concept using your own images. This helps you remember the concept better because to describe it this way with these statues, you must know the concept or understand a part of it. Remember, you don’t have to understand the entire concept; the sculpture can be formed little by little, telling a story. Another example: to represent beginnings, I observe the character’s right hand touching a rock, and water springs forth. With the left hand, I observe it touching a tree and burning it to ashes to represent nothingness. This is done by asking specific questions about the topic. You can use AI to generate questions, and you clarify them with images, which are harder to forget than the abstract itself. These statues can be divided in two to represent opposing concepts, since a character has a right and a left side of their body. Final note: Some readers of Giordano Bruno and other Renaissance authors want to extract the techniques from their books perfectly, but they don’t realize they should only extract the ideas. If you try to understand everything completely, you’ll waste your time. So I recommend their books, but don’t try to understand them perfectly, just the ideas and adapt them. I recommend _Song of Circe_ and _30 Seals_ by Scott Gosnell. I got another method from Giordano Bruno’s _30 Statues_, but you shouldn’t try to understand it perfectly. Just keep in mind that he talks about memory palaces and different ways of creating mental images and generating orders in places and mental images. He uses other logical systems like Llull’s diagrams, but this is off-topic, and I don’t recommend them except for creating combinations of images, since Llull’s diagrams don’t work for every subject, only those with combinatorial characteristics. All memory methods can be applied. Combine them, so don’t worry. For example, he has a method called the table, which is a memory matrix. I can place it on a wall and multiply a single location, as I explained earlier. This can also be a tree, where you place the themed object in the center. Let’s say I give it a comic book theme, where I place Thanos in the center and the characters around him, or just the objects I’ll use as loci, like the Infinity Gauntlet and other objects, making the place like a museum of objects. This way I can have up to 50 loci in one place or 24 loci per location. As I said before, it all depends on what you need; just adapt it. Another book I recommend, which I hadn’t mentioned, is Douglas Hoff’s _Memory Tool_. It has most of the methods described like a dictionary, at least to give you a good overview of everything. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/77 "2025-11-13T14:46:21Z")
@Magno Great innovator but terrible mentor. Everything flew over my head. Could you just dissect what you have just said so that we mortals could understand. Maybe an example and above explanation’s correlation to that example. First 10 presidents of United states? ---
**Author:** ![Hari-P](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/hari-p/32/20048_2.png) [@Hari-P](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Hari-P)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/78 "2025-11-13T19:35:49Z")
> [@Arun512](#): > > I see that people here are too keen to provide with solutions but rarely provide with general overview of why these problems have occured which enables questioner himself to solve the problem. And yet most of the posts on this forum are people asking “tell me how to memorise this” or some variation of “give me instructions (or step by step, or more examples)”. (Yourself included by the way). The problem is, memorisation is always personal. You have to get the gist, think about how it can be interesting for you and your situation, and then use it for yourself and adapt things. It’s great to get ideas and inspiration from others, but very quickly examples become useless. When you have been using a system for a long time, you have build it little by little, adding things here and there, tweaking again and again so that it works great exactly for you. And then when you explain it to others it’s overwhelming for them because there are too many elements to learn them all at once, no matter how well you explain it. That’s why I’ll never be able to use Magno’s system as is. And it’s normal, it would be a fool’s errand to try. But it’s quite interesting to see which elements could fit in my own practice, which things could I use to solve some problems I still have in my own system. If you want to speak about generalities, I’d say the most useful thing memory techniques brought me is not the techniques themselves, but the thinking I had to do to get them to work for me. Because acquiring metacognition and self awareness are what allows you to essentially coach yourself and learn, whatever techniques you use for it. The reverse is also true: if you can’t reflect on your own practice, even the best technique is not going to be very useful in the long run. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/79 "2025-11-14T00:21:56Z")
> [@Hari-P](#): > > Because acquiring metacognition and self awareness are what allows you to essentially coach yourself and learn, whatever techniques you use for it. Very resonant with me. I wanted to hear this from others just for the confirmity. My findings even from other creative activities: singing, rhythm, music and sports have been consistent with this findings. The metacognition seem to be refined ‘gold’ dynamic and useful all the way. Whats fascinating is that this metacognition can be used in totally different domain. ---
**Author:** ![Reddragron](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@Reddragron](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Reddragron)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 4:18am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/80 "2025-11-14T04:18:25Z")
U were asking for steps U need to make big memory palaces at least 250+ loci each.Make at least 10 before u memorize anything. ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 3:35am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/81 "2025-11-17T03:35:30Z")
Allright, I had this problem of mine. I believe many of us do face it at the beginning atleast. It is related to behaviour relating to memory techniques. Please note that I have put this lovely word “behaviour” but I am no psychologist and do not have research to back it up. The opinion may not hold its grounds if you begin questioning too much. I prefer readers take a gist out of it and work on it as they see fit. Now, the problem is related to ‘frequency’ of use of MOL. Many people are initially struggling with retention of facts, they try very deliberately to overcome the problem, they see MOL solving their problem and utilize it. They see it as very valuable tool, develop very high enthusiasm about it and integrate seemlessly in their daily life. This scenario is picture perfect to guarentee frequency of utilization of the technique or even becoming proactive in memory related business. This is a behavioural shift. Second is someone like me. The natural memory(untrained) has served me well. I see MOL as extra work and the frequency of it’s use is not satisfactory. I do it out of curiosity. This clearly hints a ‘behavioural’ problem rather than ability to execute the technique fluently. How to integrate the technique seemlessly in daily life? At this point you will hear many tips “Make a schedule, do it everyday, make a journal, teach others, do it early in the morning etc.”. You see even these tips are work for you. The frustration with distraction is another problem. You will constantly watch yt, fb, talk to a friend, go for a walk, maybe talk to your partner on other topics and so on but never try the technique. The distraction is as viscious as it can be. The solution for me was the realization that Context was always there. The context is always attended by the brain naturally without training. What do I mean by that. For example, I want to learn about ‘geography of Europe’ than this fact that me wanting to learn about ‘geography of Europe’ is context. This is very firmly backtracked by memory and pretty much easily. I may forgot the details regarding geography of Europe but I remember the context of it. At this point I utilized MOL to encode some facts about Europe like Mt Elbrus 5643m is the highest mountain of that continent. Since the context(me wanting to learn geography of Europe) is attended by the brain, I try to retrieve some of the details from MOL. The details are there just to strengthern the context itself. Now you see here what behavioural psychologists call ‘self renforcing loop’. You see you remember the context easily–the context leads you to learn details-- the details strengtherns context. This is the basis for obsessive behavour. Now you do it naturally, no sense of exta work in there. The distraction that I discussed also goes away. You may be talking to your family, people might be there, you may be having a meal but even then the context is easily tracked by the brain and you start to pull out the details from your memory palace. The desirable byproduct of this whole process is that it becomes easier to retrieve associated information from Memory Palace. You having context is you making better sense of the mnemonic image that you make. In a way it also makes you more efficient in Method Of Loci. This is the pinnacle of my findings for behavioural shift and cesation of distraction. I hope this serves purpose for someone having same problem like mine. ---
**Author:** ![Unknown](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@Unknown](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Unknown)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 5:52am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/82 "2025-11-17T05:52:20Z")
So you mean ‘why’ is important I mean to know why you want to remember a particular thing is impt, like in your case you wanted to remember geography of Europe which led you to use memory palace. one needs to find their ‘why’ of why they are trying to memorise something hope it makes sense Am i right? ---
**Author:** ![Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@Arun512](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Arun512)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 6:55am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138/83 "2025-11-17T06:55:35Z")
It’s a little bit trickier partner. You do know why you want to remember things. You also do know how to remember things. Even then you do not study. Isn’t it? Same with me. It’s more of a why you are doing what you are doing? Kind of question. You wanted to crack UPSC. Did that go away from your memory? Did you try to remember it with memory techniques? Did you forget it when you did not study for 15 days? NO.So it is self evident that context is captured(attended) by our natural memory without any effort. Everything that you are doing makes sense only in context of your desire to crack UPSC. What you are doing now( reading polity, G.K, optional) does make sense only if you see yourself preparing for UPSC. If the context was you preparing for IPL would it make sense? No. So in a way being aware of context is like making sense of what you are doing. That is why it influences your behavior. The thing you are doing becomes meaningful. We do things meaningful to us. Self enforcing loop is hard to develop for your question because you have to be specific to topic for that. [Previous page](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138.md?page=3) [Next page](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-memory-techniques-to-remember-highly-condensed-material-for-competitive-exams/106138.md?page=5)