We rely on our ability to remember what we read in many different areas of our lives. Memorization is usually important for people that need to study and recall a lot of information within a short span of time.
Students, during the exam period, have little time to learn everything and hence often times rely on memorization of some material which doesn’t always prove to be effective.
In this post I’ll walk you through how many pages of a book you can memorize in a day and possibly be able to recall.
With that said; the average person can memorize 50 pages per day with 100 pages being the upper limit. This is just the average, people in med school can study and memorize a lot more pages in a day but the average person may even find 50 pages challenging, but it is doable.
There are many tactics that you can employ to memorize a lot of information and be able to retain it and I’ll discuss some of these below.
MEMORIZATION STRATEGIES
There are several ways in which you can memorize information that you can later use. Therefore, I’m going to expand on some memorization tactics you can use to memorize a bulk of information.
Read through first
Before you even start thinking of memorizing the first step is to read through everything to understand what you’re up against. The first reading will expose you to the complexity of the information and from here you’ll be able to figure out whether or not memorization will be effective.
At this stage, you’ll understand two things; the first thing is that memorization will have to be paired with some general understanding to make recollection as accurate as possible, the second thing is that you’ll need to read the text a number of times.
Read to understand the foundation
So, you get through the first reading, but then what? Well, now you have to read and understand the basis or foundation of what you’re reading.
Reading this time will be more intentional and you’ll have to put in some effort to understand and come to terms with information you’re feeding your brain.
At this stage you can use additional resources when you get stuck at any point in the text. Other resources can give you context as well as make understanding the primary text easier.
Remember, the foundation of any writing is the conceptual framework from which all points are raised.
Take down the points on a separate sheet
Once you read to see the foundation of whatever, take down the points or concepts on a separate sheet because you’ll need them later on. Make sure you take down points that provide the basis for all other explanation.
For example, consider the following text from a personal development book: “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles.”
The point in the above statement is that good things and actions produce good things and bad action can only bear bad action.
Granted, text may not always be this easy to break down but aim to take note of the basic idea on which other things sprout from.
Link the points to key information
Once you have the points written out, you now have a map or a skeleton that represents the basis of everything you read. At this point you can then start linking points to the key information that they represent on a separate sheet.
This will allow you to have points and key information on separate sheets of paper that you can use when it’s time to review everything you’ve read.
Read for the second time
Once you link the points to key information, it’s time to read through everything again. This reading is important because it will help you fill in the gaps. Most of the time, when you read the second or third time you’ll catch and hook on to key things that may have slipped your memory.
It’s also not uncommon to find points that you may have overlooked.
Take note of what you missed in the first reading
So during your second reading it’s very important that you take down any information that you may have missed and any other info that seems too hard to remember. Remember you’re making it easy for yourself to remember so take down everything that will help your recollection.
Use the points you wrote down to recall
After you’re done taking note of everything you missed on a separate sheet it’s time to get the sheet you created and start recalling everything that the points connect to. At this time you need to use your memory to recall and write down as much as you can remember about all the points you noted down. This will help assess how much you remember and how well you can explain the points you noted down.
Go back to the points that are difficult to remember
Once you recall some information, take note of it, go over it and take note of any points that you had trouble fully remembering and explaining.
This will naturally show you the information you need to revisit.
Read for the 3rd time to pair points
After you take note of everything, it’s time to re-read and develop connections between all the points that you have written down [the foundation]. Developing or looking for ways to connect points is a great way to create a mental map.
This mental map will help you string information together with much ease when it’s time to recall it because the most important goal in memorization is to remember the information, this is why I’m not only talking about memorizing but I’m more of offering you system to actually know and understand the stuff that needs memorizing.
Take a break
At this point it’s important to take a break because you need to let your mind reset a bit, so take a 30 minute or 1 hour break. This is the time that you might want to go for a walk or just relax and try to keep your mind clear.
Write down everything you can remember
After your break, it’s time to get to work. At this stage don’t jump into the notes, just get a clean sheet of paper and write down as much as you can remember. You should be able to recall more than half the information you’ve studied.
Read for the 4th time
After writing as much as you can remember, it’s time to re-read some of the information that you feel you need to look over. The information that you found difficult to recall in the previous point should be your focus at this stage.
Make sure you cram it as hard as you can.
Take a break
After cramming, take a 30 minute break to lets your mind rest with the new information you’ve given it. You might want to take a shorter break at this stage.
Read for the 5th time
After taking a break, it’s time to go over all the information you’ve gathered. Grab all your notes and points then go ahead and study them to cement your knowledge. The secret to effective memorization is repetition and that is the goal with reading and re-reading the same information. So don’t give up.
Take a break
After reading, take a longer break. Possibly a 2 hour break to rest up and get ready for the last step.
Recite everything
The last step is reciting everything to make sure the knowledge is stuck in your mind. Don’t use any of the notes you took, just recite everything from memory.
If you find any gaps in your memory, re-read, break, recall. Repeat this until you can recall more than 90% of what you’ve memorized.
Conclusion
Memorizing 50 pages a day is perfectly possible but it pays to utilize the right book strategies such as the number of times you need to read a book to memorize it.
For those that have trouble remembering things after studying, its worth looking into the reasons why you cant remember what you study.
