How to Memorize Fast for a Quiz or Test

Improve your test scores by enhancing your memorization skills.

While thumbing through your world history course syllabus, you discover that you have a quiz scheduled for tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, you haven't even begun to study or prepare for the quiz. For the multiple choice components of most quizzes and tests, memory recall is a highly useful skill to have. With a bit of practice and some last-minute cramming, you can memorize important statistics, facts and other details in time for your upcoming exam.

Instructions

1. Ensure that you're well-nourished. Eating a nutritious, balanced meal an hour or two before you begin committing information to memory will help you stay alert and focused. You will also be less likely to split up the study session for a lunch or dinner break.

2. Study information according to category. For example, if you're studying for a history quiz about the Civil War, you might break up the information into subcategories such as "People," "Battles," or "Dates." Placing the information under a defined heading will help you recall it easier during the test or quiz.

3. Form audio or visual cues for your information. Read aloud and repeat important names, dates or locations, paying special attention to the sound and cadence of each word. If you are a visual learner, make small sketches or diagrams and review them along with the information.

4. Link new ideas with those previously discussed or studied. Simplify complex math equations by approaching them as you would a more elementary problem, or connect a historical event with one that you've already learned and mastered.

5. Use rhyme, mnemonic devices or acronyms to help you memorize a series of names or a long word. For example, the mnemonic device "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" is commonly used to help students recall the order of operations in arithmetic: parentheses, exponent, multiply, divide, add and subtract.

6. Repeat the information and techniques as often as you can. Review briefly with friends before the test to jog your memory.

Tips & Warnings

• Get a good night's sleep and eat a nutritious breakfast the day of the test.

References

• Help Guide: How to Improve Your Memory
• Psychology For All: Five Simple Techniques to Improve Your Memory
• Cal Poly: Memorization