r/memorization

Hi guys, I’m in my first year (med student) and I saw a video on YT about active recall and spaced repetitions. I’m currently trying to create a solid study method and I wanted to ask you some tips.

Is studying with flashcards still the best active recall method and what tool do you use?

Thanks in advance!

What are
your best ways of training brain that you use?

Como puedo hacer para estudiar cosas que no tengan logica detras. Me cuesta muchísimo poder memorizar cosas que no pueda entender simplemente por que no se puede, siempre estudio entendiendo y de ahí puedo memorizar. Pero por ejemplo como hago para memorizar vocabulario en ingles? Me cuesta mucho memorizarlo, y me parece muy aburrido y malo el estar repitiendo a cada rato.

For just over two months I've been memorizing The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. It's 433 lines long and I finished about a week ago. Since then I've been reciting it every morning to keep it in my head, it takes about 20 minutes.

I'd like to move on so I can learn something else but I don't want to forget The Waste Land, how often do you think I should be revisiting it to retain the poem? Once a week? Once a month? Every other day?

I’ve been deep-diving into cognitive science lately because, frankly, my memory used to be a sieve. I’d read a book, feel like I understood it, and three days later I couldn't tell you more than the general "vibe."

It turns out, the way most of us were taught to learn in school - rote memorization and highlighting - is basically the least efficient way to use the human brain.

There’s this fascinating Soviet-era book called The Mind of a Mnemonist by Alexander Luria. It’s a case study of a man named Solomon Shereshevsky who literally could not forget. Luria would give him lists of 70 random numbers or complex scientific formulas, and Shereshevsky could recite them back perfectly—even 15 years later. He didn't have a "computer brain." He just had a very intense form of synesthesia. Every time he heard a word or saw a number, his brain automatically turned it into a vivid, colorful mental image or a story. He wasn't memorizing "numbers"; he was walking through a "mental street" where those numbers were giant, shouting characters. The human brain is an evolutionary mess. We aren't designed to remember abstract data like "Table 4.2" or "Foreign Vocabulary." We are, however, incredibly good at remembering spatial locations and weird, multisensory stories. This is called Elaborative Encoding. When you take a dry fact and "hook" it to a weird image (a mnemonic), you’re moving that info from your fragile short-term memory into your long-term "hardware." You're giving your brain a "pathway" to find the data again. But even a great mnemonic fades. That’s where the Forgetting Curve comes in. If you don't review that image right as you're about to forget it, the connection dies. I got tired of trying to manually come up with weird stories for everything I was learning, so I actually ended up building a tool to automate the process. It’s a Spaced Repetition (SRS) app, but with a twist that I haven't seen elsewhere. Instead of just showing you a flashcard and hoping it sticks, it uses AI to generate a custom mnemonic for you on the spot. Here’s the workflow:

1. You put in a difficult concept or word.

2. The app uses the one of the method to create a vivid, weird mental image/story for you.

3. The Spaced Repetition algorithm then schedules that card to pop up right before your brain is about to let it go.

If you’re struggling with exams or just trying to actually retain the 500 podcasts you listen to, stop just "reading" and start encoding. I’m calling the app Mnemonia Lab. If anyone wants to try it out and see if they can beat the forgetting curve, I’d love to hear what you think.

TL;DR: Your brain hates facts but loves weird stories. Use mnemonics to "encode" info and Spaced Repetition to "keep" it.

mnemonialab.com

Learn 10 different memory systems to memorize information. Free as pdf on Amazon for the next 2 days. Grab your copy right now! You have everything to gain :

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTJLDLQF

Career changed from accounting to nursing not too long ago, used flashcard apps heavily through both. Different subject matter (regulations and tax codes vs anatomy and pharmacology) but the same underlying skill, memorising tons of stuff long-term. Here's my ranking of the apps that survived both phases.

anki: top of the list bc nothing else matches the spaced repetition algorithm, fsrs update made it even better. setup is brutal but if you're going to memorise content you'll use for years (cpa exams, board exams, etc), anki is the right tool. cards I made for accounting four years ago I can still review and recognise 80% of.

remnote: best one imo, note taking and spaced repetition live in the same place, so pharmacology readings become review cards without app switching.It also has a pdf annotator built in.

brainscape: tried it during cpa prep, confidence rating system is interesting but the paywall scope killed my interest. wouldn't recommend unless you have specific reasons to want confidence based scheduling.

quizlet: only used it for early career vocab stuff like accounting terminology. useful for surface level memorisation, weak for the kind of integrated knowledge you need on professional exams.

mochi: clean and minimalist, smaller deck library. used it briefly during a weird interim phase but came back to anki bc the algorithm just works better.

If you're starting from scratch and want a recommendation, anki for serious memorisation work, remnote if your studying is mostly note driven and you want both jobs in one app.

Ive made an application to practice GRE Words daily , no cost absolutely free please do try and let me know how it is

https://word-mastery-21.emergent.host

Scans, highlighted text, textbook chapters, notes written at 3am that even you can't read or just a prompt — smart flashcards come out the other side. Doing the responsible founder thing and asking humans first. What would you love? Drop your wishlists and your roasts. I'll read everything and only cry a little.

https://preview.redd.it/3addvjwj1v0h1.png?width=1672&format=png&auto=webp&s=40edc4a79b7185fd33e78858160dfe9dacc280a4

After my second delivery , I think I lost my memory in daily chores.

Like move to a different room and forget what I came for.

Most of the things just slip out of my mind.

How can I not forget things

Hey everyone!

A few months ago, I finished rushing out my flashcard learning app—and then... I actually started using it to learn flashcards myself.

A few other people have joined me as well and started learning cards, too. For instance, our entire German conversation club uses it: we maintain one large shared collection, add to it after our club meetings, and try to keep the vocabulary up to date.

I’ve expanded my vocabulary by over 100 words. While I haven't *perfectly* mastered all of them yet in terms of spaced repetition, I’m already using them in real-life conversations—and that is exactly what I set out to achieve.

https://preview.redd.it/vpjt8wenzi0h1.jpg?width=591&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0dd1c116ab03c8081fde2da0f03ca0809e4cbbc2

Alongside this, I’ve rolled out several major updates to my app, Memor More:

1. You can now share decks—either with private groups (access granted via a link) or publicly (making them available to everyone on the platform).

2. Integration with Google Sheets, plus an import feature for Anki decks. A couple of users migrated over from Anki, so I built this feature specifically for them.

3. The ability to generate new flashcards based on existing ones. This has proven quite useful when you’re studying a niche subject area and want to quickly generate a set of related vocabulary.

4. The Quiz Mode. To be honest, I didn't really need it myself, but one of the users mentioned that they prefer studying in the quiz mode rather than using flashcards.

The app still retains its cozy, indie vibe and is primarily used by people I know personally—but if you’ve been looking for a sign from above to start learning some terms, vocabulary, or just about anything else... come join us!
https://memormore.app/

PS

Quite a lot is available in the app without a subscription, and for Reddit, I’ve gathered a few promo codes that will grant you an additional two weeks of free access:
REDDITTWOWEEKS

That's it, I need to learn mostly from books, it's all very strict, everything by heart, that's how I'm evaluated and I'd like to learn a technique other than active recall or flashcards.I try to apply it, but I only remember some phrases, and I don't remember the ones that don't have a visual anchor.And it's complicated to create a locus that is associated with an entire paragraph.

I've tried it with short data sets like 20 random numbers or words; it's fast and works on the first or second recall. But I don't remember, recall with entire paragraphs.

One thing I’ve been struggling with lately is not just memorizing new surahs, but actually keeping them in my memory long term.

Sometimes I spend days learning a few verses and everything feels fine, then after a week of not revising properly I suddenly forget parts of it again. It honestly gets discouraging because it feels like I’m starting over every time.

I’ve been thinking maybe my revision system is the problem. Right now I mostly memorize whenever I feel motivated, but I’m realizing consistency and repetition probably matter more than motivation itself.

For people who are serious about Hifz, what helped you remember surahs long term?

Did you create a strict revision schedule, use an app/tool, or practice with someone daily?