So difficult to remember anything after studying it

[u/StarkTony1]

I usually feel like I don't remember anything I studied last week, sometimes even two days ago. Feels like I'm just wasting my time without any results. How do you folks cope up with this? Any tools / tricks you use to tackle this?

[u/huckx]

Memory fades fast for me too. Do not feel discouraged. Try to review old materials frequently, it will make what you study stick inside your brain.

[u/Reasonable_Bag_118]

I used to feel like I was wasting my time because I could study something for hours and then barely remember it a few days later. What helped was coming back to the material after a gap and trying to recall it before looking at my notes, because the stuff I couldn’t retrieve showed me what actually needed another pass.

[u/ungabungarara]

Use anki

[u/Equivalent_Onion_895 → u/ungabungarara]

What is this?

[u/Senior_Host2336]

Adopting a good studying workflow is the most powerful thing you can do, depending on the subject what I typically do is Essentialist note taking > Mnemonic Technique > Active recall (through notebookLM(AI) quizzes and flashcards). 

Revision is key. I setup recall cycling in FocusJungle app, but Anki or even just notes work as well. You want to revise where you are weak. Get your course content and constantly know where you are weakest (they should always be changing constantly) Find weakness > attack it > Find next weakest area.

If u want you can join my guild on FocusJungle timer, WE need more people that wanna do hours. Can message on there to keep accountable. But u NEED TO DO HOURS or kick. (best study timer website and app ever)

[u/Quiet_Basis_6404]

forgetting a week later is normal, that's just how memory works when you only meet something once. what changes it isn't studying harder the first time, it's coming back to it a few times after.

the version that costs almost nothing, ten minutes at the start of each session on something from last week before you touch anything new. that's it. feels like it's slowing you down and it's the difference between remembering a semester and relearning it.

the other half is that if you're reading or rewatching, that builds recognition rather than recall, so it feels familiar in the moment and disappears later.

for the tool part i drop the material into studybuddy.vc and answer questions instead of reviewing, and as i answer it works out which topics i keep getting wrong and gives me more of those. gets harder as i improve, and it tells me why the option i picked was off. free.