Which approaches help you more when memorizing new material?

[Vesta]

For example, do textual associations work better for you, or do you prefer structured tables?”

 

[fattymeatysardine]

Associations are definitely one of the most powerful ways of memorizing. Personally, my secret is to take a picture or screenshot of some material such as a page from a book and load it in a jigsaw puzzle program. 100-150 pieces works just fine. Works like a charm

 

[TBRS1]

I make a web that ties new stuff to old stuff in a relational manner (i.e.: how do all these things relate to things I already understand?).

If it's just some junk I have to remember long enough to take a test, I use mnemonics - turn it into a song that can be sung to the tune of "Mary had a little lamb".

 

[Masked Man]

I have different ways of remembering things.

When I was taking my medical classes, I would remember the names and locations of bones and muscles by being familiar with their Latin names. Example: vastus lateralis (the largest muscle of the quadriceps) basically translates into "big side." So it's the big side muscle of your thigh.

And other things I just try to associate it with something else. I can't think of a good example at the moment but when I do I'll post it.

 

[Jumpinbare]

Repetition, repetition, repetition. I write down what I want to memorize over and over. And over.

 

[vergil96]

I make notes aiming to fully understand the material and organise it. Writing the notes by hand helps with learning. When learning for a test, I repeat the process of note taking several times

Vocabulary is a but different - in addition to the above and writing the words with meanings many times, I try to repeat series of words while not looking at them