MEMORIZING WITH THE CURVE OF FORGETTING

Memorizing lots of content can be difficult, but this method has been shown useful for it!

Image credit: https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/content-development/forgetting-curve/

What is the Curve of Forgetting?

The Curve of Forgetting shows how we retain or forget information that we've learned, or the decline of our memory over time. According to this source, you forget 50-80% of what you learn in an hour of class within a day, and only remember 2-3% of what you learned by the end of one week if you don't review. Of course, this varies based on a number of factors.

How to Use It

This information can be used to your advantage. While everyone knows that review is necessary if you really want to do well, this helps with creating more concrete plans to do so. The material I use is from here. Using this source, I review content I've learned at a fixed time from when I first learned something (1 hour later, 1 day later, 2 days later, etc.). When you review material, you have a much easier time recalling it later, and don't have to struggle through super long study sessions that feel more like relearning than reviewing when it's too close to exams and quizzes. I've found this method especially useful when learning language vocabulary, and apps like Memrise (a site/app for language + vocab learning) use similar methods to help you retain what you've learned. This helps your brain to retain what you learned; using this cycle, you're less likely to forget.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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