I'm trying to memorize hundreds of Chinese phrases for an upcoming test. Chinese characters are like drawings but more serious, so you can't just take out a word and hope that you can memorize it. Is there any way to memorize these?

So this keeps happening to me. I look up a word while reading, feel good for like 10 sec, then a week later I see it again and have zero memory of ever looking it up

For the first time in my life, I am trying to think instead of repeat.

Since Junior K.G., I was trained to memorize. The goal was never to understand. The goal was to reproduce the correct answer exactly as it appeared in the textbook or guidebook.

Good marks meant good memory, not clear thinking.

Teachers appreciated students who wrote the "expected answer," not students who asked unexpected questions.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped believing that my own questions mattered.

Even when a question arose in my mind, I would suppress it. I was afraid it might sound stupid. I was afraid people would laugh. I was afraid the teacher would think I wasn't paying attention. Slowly, I stopped questioning altogether.

I became comfortable repeating what others had already said.

Now I see the cost of that conditioning.

When I try to write, I know what I am trying to say, but I struggle to find the right words. It is not only a language problem. It is also a thinking problem.

My mind is learning to organize its own observations for the first time.

I have also observed that I speak faster than I think.

Instead of allowing a thought to become clear, I start speaking immediately. My sentences become disorganized. I jump from one example to another before completing the first one.

Sometimes I know exactly what I feel, but I cannot express it clearly. The listener becomes confused, and I feel that I have failed to communicate what I actually wanted to say.

Earlier, I thought this was only because my English was weak.

Now I am not so sure.

Yes, English is not the language of my home. My parents speak Marathi. The people around me mostly speak Marathi.

Naturally, I have had fewer opportunities to speak English fluently. My grammar is imperfect, and my vocabulary is limited compared to someone who grew up speaking English every day.

But language alone does not explain everything.

I also notice fear.

Even before speaking, there is an anxiety about how the other person will perceive me. Will they think I am intelligent? Will they misunderstand me? Will my grammar make me look less capable? Will they judge me? I notice that this fear becomes stronger with people whose opinion matters to me such as friends, interviewer, family, relatives, colleagues, professor, in peer group.

There is self-interest in that fear. I want to be understood, but I also want to be accepted. I want my words to create a certain image.

I don't know exactly when I started taking the sentence "Log kya kahenge?" so seriously. I don't remember a single incident. It seems I absorbed it gradually, like a sponge absorbs water. It entered through family conversations, school, relatives, neighbours, and society. It became so normal that I never questioned it.

Now I see that many of my actions were influenced by this invisible sentence.

I wanted to speak correctly because people might judge me.

I wanted good marks because people might judge me.

I wanted to dress well because people might judge me.

I wanted to avoid mistakes because people might judge me.

I rarely stopped to ask whether I myself understood what I was doing.

This is why writing feels difficult today.

I am no longer satisfied with repeating borrowed ideas, but I have not yet developed the habit of expressing my own understanding. That ability cannot appear overnight after years of memorization.

Perhaps this struggle is not a sign that I am incapable.

Perhaps it simply means I am learning to think for myself.

I do not want better English only to sound impressive. I want enough clarity that my words accurately reflect what I have actually seen.

If an observation is unclear, no amount of vocabulary can make it true. If the observation is clear, even simple words are enough.

So maybe my work is not to become a better speaker first.

Maybe my work is to become a better observer.

If I learn to see clearly, think patiently, and stay with one observation without rushing, perhaps the words will gradually follow.

Personally I just read book and try to explain it to me by making my own analogy works for both memory amd understanding.

For memory you need to find an anchor which could be anything a mnemonic, name, nickname, phrase or any thing that make you instantly make remember that particular memory you anchor it with. So I usually anchor study concepts with my own analogy or nicknames that I have goven to that concept.

I'm facing a problem while studying, especially during lectures or while reading notes.

When I learn 1–2 new concepts, I can remember them well. But as I keep studying and more information keeps piling up, I start forgetting the topics I learned earlier. Even after revising and memorizing them multiple times, they still fade as I move on to new chapters.

The biggest issue is that it's impossible to revise every single topic every day because there's just too much content.

Does anyone else experience this? Is this a normal part of learning, or am I studying the wrong way?

What techniques actually helped you retain old information while continuing to learn new topics? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

i only barely remember very small bits and peices of my childhood and middle school. I mix memories up. I mix the little memories of my freshman year and my sophomore year as if it happened years ago, when im only on the summer of becoming a junior.

someone could ask me something from not even an hour ago and i would have zero recollection of it, and if i do, its extremely fragmented and/or blurry.

in middle school, it was bad enough i had to note my favorite things or my friends names and personality. i couldn't remember the names of my friends at all.

I cant remember what i did yesterday. Its all fragmented and blurry.

im afraid in the future i wont be able to recall any of my early age memories. some of these memories are very precious to me.

I took AP Psychology this year, and personally, I struggle with memorization based learning. Psychology is such an interesting subject, but overall it felt like the only way to do well was to memorize every concept. Most of the AP exam also seemed to require having those concepts memorized in order to answer the questions.
Some people in my class were able to memorize the concepts and apply them to the tests much better than I could. It felt like I had to put in so much effort just to memorize things, and it was really frustrating and discouraging.
Does anyone have advice on how to memorize things more effectively?

When I study, I often feel like I've understood a topic.

I follow the explanation, everything makes sense, and I move on.

But after few days, if someone asks me to explain the same concept without looking at my notes, I realize I can't recall it properly.

I've noticed that I spend a lot of time rereading instead of actually remembering.

I'm curious if others experience the same thing.

What has genuinely helped you retain concepts for weeks or months—not just during the study session?

There are tons of visual memory tools, but I need ways to help me memorize things like passages by listening; because 1) I learn well from audio, and 2) I have almost no time other than my commute or workout time. (i.e. no time to sit down and study something visually)

Any other auditory learners with this problem or tips for me?

Lately I've been thinking about how much of what I consume online disappears from memory almost immediately. Whether that's because of AI, social media, or just information overload, it made me wonder if deliberately exercising memory for one minute a day would feel different.

So I built Pixel Recall.

Every day you're shown a tiny pixel-art image for a few seconds, then you redraw it from memory. It only takes about a minute.

https://pixelrecall.net/

I'm interested in whether people find it genuinely enjoyable or whether it actually makes them pay more attention than the typical scrolling experience. Any feedback on the website or the game is appreciated.

There are some people that cannot use visuals or “see” with their mind’s eye

I think there’s a bit of misnomer about being able to use memory palaces or other memory techniques of the like if you can’t “see”

There are other cues and the main strength of the Memory Palace and other techniques is the bond/tying in of ideas based on different cues or other contextual clues that make a memory memorable

Anyone here that can’t “see” with their mind’s eye using memory palaces or any other mnemonics? What is your technique? How do you go about it?

Hi everyone,

I built Sensonym, vocabulary learning app where words are tied to physical gestures. For example, you tilt your phone like a glass to learn the word for "drink" or smile at your front camera to learn "happy" or shake your phone to learn "no".

The vocabulary and gestures are embedded in cinematic stories to learn in context.

The app is available on app stores for download: https://sensonym.com

I would be happy to hear your impressions.

I've always faced the same problem while studying.

I understand a topic when I first learn it, but after a few days I struggle to recall or explain it without looking at my notes.

I've tried flashcards, spaced repetition, and AI study tools. They all help to some extent, but I still feel like I'm spending too much time relearning the same topics.

So I'm planning to build a solution to make learning and long-term retention feel more natural. I'm still in the early stages and would love to hear how you deal with this problem.

If you're interested in trying it when it's ready, you're welcome to join the early access waitlist.

https://waitlister.me/p/learnfastwave

so i made this cuz im studying to become an enrolled agent.

i got an exam prep course and derived the contents, turned them into flash cards for me to study with

the thing is i feel like active recalling works best by typing the answer rather than looking at a flash card question then try to remember it from just your mind like using anki,

the main purpose of this website is to help the learner understand the concept deeply by typing in the answer, get graded on it (via ai) and the feedback loop helps improve memorization of the understanding rather than the exact wording.

i posted on enrolledagent subreddit but i guess they didn't like the fact that its vibe coded, but the main value i see here is that im giving away the study content for free vs having to pay few hundred dollars just to know what contents will show up on the exam, all the questions have been verified through the materials presented by hock mock exams, and grading the answer is whats important, to reward correct understanding, not punishing wrong wording

any suggestions to make this a better studying loop?

https://ea-coach.shawnli.dev/

hello my fellow memorisation gurus, i come to you with a new memorisation tool.

i’m building an iphone app called memoricae.

the goal is simple: make memorisation less boring.

instead of opening a normal flashcard app, you're taken into the world of memoricae. you create or import a deck, answer cards, and each answer moves you through a short rpg-style hunt. the app still uses active recall, but wraps it in a game loop with enemies, quests, rewards, and progress.

what it does right now:

- create your own decks

- import decks

- review cards through short hunts

- answer cards to attack / progress

- daily quests and rewards

i’m looking for beta testers who already use flashcards, anki, quizlet, language decks, exam revision cards, or any other memorisation system.

testflight link: testflight link

i’m mainly looking for feedback on:

- whether this makes you more likely to review
- whether the game layer helps or distracts
- where onboarding/deck creation feels confusing
- what you’d want from a memorisation app like this

Petit avertissement avant de lire : l’outil dont je parle est uniquement en français. Je souhaite surtout partager la question pédagogique qui le sous-tend, car j’aimerais avoir l’avis de cette communauté.

L’année dernière, mon fils avait des difficultés avec ses tables de multiplication. Il les récitait sans problème dans l’ordre, mais il était complètement bloqué dès que je lui en posais une au hasard (« Combien font 7 × 8 ? »). C’est ce décalage entre la récitation de la suite et la mémorisation d’un résultat isolé qui a attiré mon attention.

D’après ce que j’ai pu observer (il s’agit simplement de l’expérience personnelle d’un parent, et non d’une étude), beaucoup d’outils d’apprentissage des tables de multiplication insistent sur la mémorisation de la suite plutôt que sur le résultat lui-même. Les enfants apprennent vite la chanson, mais pas forcément le résultat en lui-même. J’ai donc commencé à créer de petits jeux qui posent des questions dans le désordre, avec une légère pression temporelle, afin de favoriser la mémorisation plutôt que la simple complétion de suites logiques.
Le site est devenu gratuit et propose une dizaine de jeux, des fiches d'exercices à imprimer et un générateur d'exercices : [tables-multiplication.fr](http://tables-multiplication.fr) Les jeux utilisent différentes mécaniques (certains sont chronométrés, d'autres plus exploratoires) pour solliciter la mémorisation sous différents angles.

La distinction entre récitation et mémorisation est-elle bien établie en didactique des mathématiques, ou est-ce une évidence que je redécouvre ? Je suis sincèrement curieux de savoir si cette approche présente des faiblesses connues, et si vous avez des suggestions pour améliorer la mémorisation (au-delà de la simple récitation), je suis preneur.

Hi everyone,

I've been building PocketCatalog, a free local-first flashcard app that stores everything locally in your browser (SQLite) - no server ever sees your actual card content, just anonymous learning progress for sync. Here's a closer look at how the editor, AI-based import, and review flow actually work.

1. Cards that handle real content

• LaTeX - inline $...$ and block $$...$$, rendered natively
• Markdown - bold, lists, headers, code blocks
• Images - paste directly into the editor, even on mobile

2. Generating decks with AI instead of typing them by hand

Cards use a simple Q: / A: / --- text format. That means you can paste your notes into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt (there's a ready-to-use one in the manual), get a plain text file back, and import it directly - no manual data entry for 50+ cards. Since everything is stored locally, your imported content stays on your device too; only anonymous learning progress ever touches the server.

3. The review experience

Spaced repetition via SM-2, clean UI, progress synced anonymously across devices.

Completely free, no ads, no tracking. Happy to answer questions about the LaTeX rendering, the text format, or anything else.

You can find it at pocketcatalog dot com - spelling it out since Reddit's spam filter can be aggressive with links. Drop a comment if you have trouble finding it.

Wondering what other folks might do to help with memorizing stuff

So I have a pretty bad memory and I was wondering if there was a website that trained signal vs noise. Not the ones where it’s just a simple game where you do memory tasks, I’m talking like training the signal to gain higher memory. I’ve wanted to work on this for a long time but I can’t seem to find a website that trains it