Brief Summary
This video provides six techniques to improve memory retention when reading or studying. It emphasises the importance of attention, visualisation, active recall, teaching others, and spaced repetition to combat the forgetting curve. The key takeaway is that passive reading is insufficient for long-term retention; active engagement and regular review are essential.
- Pay attention and eliminate distractions.
- Visualise the content like watching a movie.
- Write down key points to internalise information.
- Use active recall instead of highlighting.
- Teach the material to others to reinforce learning.
- Employ spaced repetition to combat the forgetting curve.
The initial step to enhance memory is to focus. To improve attention, eliminate distractions such as phones and lyrical music. Instead, listen to instrumental music to maintain focus. While reading, consistently ask yourself, "How can I use this in my life?" This question helps to identify and concentrate on important, memorable information. When studying for an exam, reframe the question to "How could this be asked on the exam?" This approach encourages thinking like the examiner, pinpointing key points likely to appear on the test.
To improve memory, visualise what you read as if you're watching a movie. Envision the general idea of the text in your mind. Visualising information transforms it into a more memorable format, similar to an actual memory. By imagining the content playing out on a movie screen, you leverage your brain's ability to remember visual information more effectively.
Writing down information significantly improves retention. Beethoven used sketchbooks to jot down musical ideas, which helped him remember them without needing to review the notes. Handwriting notes forces you to synthesise information and differentiate between important and unimportant details. This process enhances understanding and memory, even if you never reread the notes.
Avoid highlighting or underlining key passages. Instead, read a section, close the book, and actively recall what you've read by writing down your thoughts and memories. This process, known as active recall, instantiates the information into your memory more effectively. Active recall is a game-changer for memory retention.
The learning pyramid suggests that teaching information to someone else significantly improves retention. By explaining the material in your own words, you reinforce the key points and remember them better. Teaching forces your brain to learn the information more thoroughly. Reading alone has a low retention rate (10%), so discussing or teaching what you've read is crucial for truly retaining the information.
The forgetting curve illustrates that most newly acquired information is forgotten within 24 hours unless reviewed. To combat this, use spaced repetition. Review the information at regular intervals. A recommended strategy is the "rule of five": review the information five times on the first day, once a day for five days, and then once a week for five weeks. This reinforces the information into your long-term memory.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “GENIUS METHOD for Studying (Remember EVERYTHING YOU STUDY)”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 it happens all the time describe what marcelus Wallace looks like what you read an amazing book but then when you try to have a conversation about the book with someone you can't seem to remember anything about it say what one more goddamn time or maybe you've spent hours studying for an exam only to find your mind goes totally empty the second you sit down to take the test the truth is forgetting what you read or studied isn't a personal flaw the real issue is how your approach it your reading and studying methods are what's holding you back so if you want to stop forgetting everything you read then here are six easy techniques to help you remember everything you read and honestly the last technique by itself will help you remember 80% of everything you read yes
0:47 one the game of attention have you ever heard of Nelson delis if you've never heard of him Nelson delis is an absolute legend in the memory competitor World he's memorized 339 digits in 5 minutes he's memorized an entire deck of cards in less than 30 seconds he's even won the USA memory Championship a bunch of times so how did he do it according to Nelson it starts with the obvious pay attention makes sense I mean how else are you supposed to remember something you read if you aren't even paying attention to it in the first place unfortunately paying attention is a skill many of us struggle with luckily there are two tricks you can use to set your mind up so that you're more likely to pay attention while you read one get rid of any distractions when you read
1:33 put your phone in your pocket close your laptop and listen to Lyricist music don't try to pay attention halfast this means not singing along to music while you're reading and not checking your phone every 2 minutes commit to paying attention to whatever it is you're reading it's not that hard two while you're reading constantly ask yourself the following question how can I use this in my life asking yourself this question will help keep you focused on looking for those important lines in a book that are going to stick with you long term and when you're studying for an exam the question changes ask yourself how could this be asked on the exam this mindset helps you think like the examiner focusing on key points that are likely to appear in the test and preparing you to tackle those questions with confidence nine times out of 10
2:20 you'll find that these two tips will do the trick two pretend you're watching a movie have you ever read an amazing book but then afterwards could it remember anything about it if so then here's what you should do the next time you're reading as you read pretend you're watching a movie essentially try to visualize what's happening in your mind obviously you can't visualize everything you're reading but you can Envision the general idea of what's being said personally when I'm reading a book I like to imagine what I'm reading is being played out on a big movie theater screen and I'm in the audience sitting down just watching it all happen why does this help because it turns out that our brains are far better equipped to remember certain types of information better than others so whatever it is you're reading try to visualize it as if
3:06 it were an actual memory of your own three right like beatoven as humans we're terrible at retaining information godamn P you we forget almost all of the things we read about however when we write things down we're far more likely to retain it this is exactly what bethoven used to do when he composed music in the book managing on self Peter Ducker says Beethoven left behind an enormous number of sketchbooks yet he said he never actually looked at them when he composed asked why he kept them he is reported to have replied if I don't write it down immediately I forget it right away if I put it into a Sketchbook I never forget it and I never have to look it up again according to multiple studies when you
3:51 handwrite your notes you retain more information why because when you handw write notes you're not going to write down every single word you read instead you're going to write down only the necessary words this helps you differentiate between what's important from what's not important this helps you synthesize the information better this is why whenever I learn about an interesting idea I write it down immediately I write it down so that I can better understand internalize and remember it better even if you don't ever reread what it is you wrote down the simple Act of writing it down will increase your ability to retain information better four don't pick up that highlighter you've probably heard this advice before highlight or underline key passages in a book to
4:37 remember the important parts seems like a solid approach right well here's the truth don't highlight don't underline like that I think that that's just rubbish I think it's pseudo work read a couple of paragraphs or maybe an essay something like that depending on the density of the book close the book think about it write down what you're thinking write down what you remember in the context of what you're thinking about because that instantiates it into your memory and give and puts it at half this process is called active recall and it's a GameChanger for your memory five the learning pyramid unfortunately when it comes to learning people just keep on filling their bucket and never think about the leaks because of this almost everybody wastes 90% of their learning simply because they don't understand
5:22 what's known as the learning pyramid essentially the learning pyramid says that you'll retain 90% of the information you read about if you simply decide to teach it to someone else why because similarly to handwriting notes you find interesting when you try to teach something you've read you're not going to be using the author's words verbatim instead you're going to be using your own words this forces your brain to learn the information better so the next time you come across an interesting idea while reading make an effort to share it with someone else explain the material to someone or even to yourself as if you're teaching it this will reinforce the key points and help you remember them for the exam remember a concept is never fully learned through Reading Alone reading has only a 10% retention rate which is
6:09 terrible that's why it's crucial to talk about what you've read or studied in order to truly retain the information six the forgetting curve there are some people who can read a book once and retain every single piece of information in that book perfect play but for 99% of us the majority of information we read in a book will be easily for sh this is what's known as the forgetting curve which states we forget almost every newly acquired piece of information within the first 24 hours exactly how much you forget in the first 24 hours is different for each person but here's the thing unless you review the information you just learned much of it will slip out of your brain after the first day with more slipping out in the days after leaving you with just a fraction of what
6:55 you originally learned this is interesting because when we read a book we feel like we're retaining what we're reading the information is flowing in we're understanding it and it's all piecing together but it actually doesn't stick in our heads unless we review what we actually read unfortunately there's no way around this you have to review but what type of review should you be doing it's called spaced repetition review essentially you review what you've learned at regular intervals after you learn something there are many strategies you can use to do this but the one strategy that I recommend you use is what's known as the rule of five the rule of five says that after you learn something you want to remember long term you should ideally review the piece of information you're trying to memorize at the following intervals five
7:42 times the first day once a day for 5 days once a week for 5 weeks then after that you're good to go remember information only gets reinforced into your long-term memory by reviewing it want to stay ahead hit subscribe on the right and check out the latest mustat video on the left don't don't miss out your growth is just one click away [Music]
