Stop blaming your bad memory; rereading your notes is the least effective way to learn. Instead, use active recall and spaced repetition to force information to stick.
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Get it on Play StoreMost study advice seems written for people with good memories. The "just review it" method is great, assuming the information sticks. But what if you read a chapter and it feels like vapor an hour later?
You're not broken. You just need different strategies.
Forget trying to magically get a "good memory." The real goal is to learn how to learn with the memory you have. It’s about using tricks that don't rely on your brain's default settings, forcing the information to stay put.
The biggest change you can make is this: Stop passively rereading your notes. It’s the least effective way to study. Your brain gets a false sense of familiarity, but that’s not the same as actually recalling the information.
Instead, you have to practice pulling the information out of your brain. It's called active recall, and it’s the mental workout that actually strengthens a memory.
A few ways to do it:
Back in the 1880s, a German guy named Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered the "forgetting curve." It basically shows that we forget most new information almost immediately unless we try to remember it. Sounds bad, but you can use this.
The trick is called spaced repetition. Instead of cramming, you review information at increasing intervals, right before you're about to forget it. Every time you do this, the memory gets stronger and lasts longer.
Apps like Anki are built for this and automate the whole schedule. But you can do it manually. Just set a reminder to review your notes in a day, then three days later, then a week after that.
Abstract information is boring, and your brain knows it. What it really pays attention to are stories, images, and strange connections. That's the whole idea behind mnemonics.
You can't ignore your body. Your brain is a physical part of it, and it suffers if you treat it poorly.