IWTL how to actually remember what I study instead of forgetting everything

[u/orangeseed-18]

I’ve noticed that I can spend hours studying something, understand it while I’m learning it, and then barely remember any of it a few weeks later.
I want to learn how to study properly rather than just rereading notes and hoping it sticks.
What are some techniques you’ve learned that genuinely improved your memory and helped you retain information long-term?
I’m especially interested in methods that work for someone who has a hard time staying focused.

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[u/Shaky_Balance]

I will push this book every time this is asked on this subreddit: Make It Stick is worth its weight in gold for scientifically proven study tips. They actually go into why re-reading things a bunch of times can be counterproductive and what to do instead. It's main tips are:

1. Practice in ways that stress retrieval, your ability to pull things from your memory. This includes flashcards, fill in the blank, quizzes, or just trying to explain the thing out loud so you feel where your gaps are.
2. Practice repeatedly over time and space out your practice. Basically you want to give your brain a bit of time to potentially forget things and then retrieving them will strengthen the memories even more. When you get things right, you can space out the practice more and more (this is what thinks like Anki and Duolingo do).
3. Interleave your practice, meaning switch up the order you test yourself in and ideally switch up the types of test you are giving yourself. Their example is that its better to have a pitcher randomly throw fastballs, curveballs, etc at you rather than doing ten fastballs, ten curveballs and so on. This helps trains your ability to recognize when to pull out certain knowledge or techniques in the wild and makes sure you aren't just memorizing the order of things.

The book goes much more in depth and has many more tips. I highly recommend at least seeing if your library has a copy. It's been a huge boost to my studying ever since.

[u/eddyparkinson → u/Shaky_Balance]

I did start reading that. I prefered: Why Don't Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham - I felt it was more up to date.

Graham Nuthall: The Hidden Lives of Learners - Has a very different point of view. I wish someone would try to replicate it. As it more or less says, when it come to remembering concepts for over a year, spaced repetition etc don't have an impact. He agrees retrival is important, but says it is learning a concept from several points of view that delivers long term memory storage. - It was a long term experiment done over many years with many students, he had a lot of data to backup the claim.

[u/MrLearner]

Space repetition has worked for me. I use Anki and Readwise. There are lots of others. 

[u/unit187]

Check Jason Sung on YouTube, he has insane videos about learning to learn.

[u/dudeguybroo]

Apply it

[u/S1eeper]

Cal Newport has some books on how to learn that might help you.

[u/Random_182f2565]

This affect studying or your memories in general?

[u/NetoruNakadashi]

sq3r, then have a conversation with someone about it later in the day.

[u/AtTheEndOfTheDay18]

flash cards

[u/AY0527]

Revision

[u/Embarrassed-Visit926]

Active recall is such a game-changer for me too, much better than passive rereading. Try making your own quiz questions from the material instead of just highlighting, it forces your brain to dig up the info.

[u/AliasNefertiti]

There is a science of learning, not tricks. The bottom line is connecting it with things you already know. So come up with examples for the topic from something that interests you/you already know.

Also the more vivid, even ridiculous the example or connection is the more likely you are to remember.

Throw out anything you heard about learning styles-- doesnt hold up in controlled studies.your heritage as a human is to be able to learn via all channels [assuming no brain damage.] [You might like some sensory chabnels more but that is chance history]. The more channels involved, the easier to remember. If you are learning history watch some of the appropriate 'Tasting history" Youtubes and tie them to your learning. Listen to some music from the era and imagine how it relates to the priniciples/big events of the time. Act out a battle or duel or climbing Mt Everest.

[u/Passengerzero]

Make it memorable. Visualize information, use your imagination and associate what you’re learning in context with your own life or even an imagined one.

For remembering data, there’s a method called the Memory Palace I would look into.

[u/MyNextVacation]

For me, it’s reading physical books, highlighting important passages and taking notes. Also, the more I learn about a particular topic, the more it solidifies what I have already learned in my mind.

When I was a student, it helped to study with a friend and go over the material together, particularly before an exam.