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.

EDIT: This is not a great example of remembering through association but this is the only thing I have been able to think of. So I have a lot of trouble remembering left from right. I will often misname them. It's embarrassing. The way I remember which is which is that I "write" with my "right" hand.

 

[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

 

[Crabcore]

Doing anything hands-on seals the deal for me. Anything that can be turned into a project or activity helps me to solidify things. Likewise, if we don't continue to use something, we tend to just kind of 'lose it' over time anyway, so being able to put something into ongoing practice tends to keep it fresh.

 

[AspieChris]

Visual and textural in conjunction with the information. 2+2 goes best with the teaching AND a bag of oranges to count by hand.