To learn faster and remember more what you have learned, you must break out of the rut of rereading your notes and practice learning techniques that are more in line with your brain’s way of working. Everyone is spending hours and hours highlighting in books and studying the same stuff over and over again, and the next time they need to know it, they won’t even remember. This maddening cycle comes to an end today.

The reality is that your brain is not like a filing cabinet that stores information in files or folders forever. This is more of a garden. The more watered the information, the stronger it becomes. What is not learned is forgotten. The good news? Science has uncovered specific strategies that can help you learn faster, remember more, and feel confident heading into any test or presentation.

So, let’s get into the most effective, backed-by-research ways that will change the way you learn.

7 Strategies to Learn Faster and Remember More

Here are some scientifically proven ways to learn faster and remember more. Boost memory with active recall, spaced repetition, and the Feynman method.

Active Recall: Stop Rereading, Start Retrieving

Active Recall is the one most powerful technique to learn faster and remember more. You don’t visually read your notes; you must retrieve it from your memory.

Here’s why it works: Rereading generates familiarity. The words are familiar and you feel like you know the material because they are on the page. However, at a test or a practical someone will not tell you what to do. Answers must be created from scratch. Active recall does just that!

How to practice active recall:

• Cover your notes and quiz yourself on key concepts
• Use flashcards and actually try to recall the answer before flipping the card
• Write down everything you remember about a topic on a blank page, then check your notes for what you missed
• Teach the material to someone else or explain it out loud to an imaginary audience

The more you can’t remember, the stronger the memory will be. If you can’t remember something exactly, the effort to remember helps consolidate the ‘memory connection’. One active recall session can be as effective as multiple hours of re-reading.

Spaced Repetition: Beat the Forgetting Curve

Did you know? 70% of new information will be lost within 24 hours of learning. If you don’t do anything with the information, you will remember less than 10% in a week. This is not due to lack of ability to learn. That’s the nature of human memory.

The cure is spaced repetition. A method of studying material at longer and longer intervals, in order to maintain the memory of the material before it falls out of mind. Your brain reinforces the memory trail every time when you review the information at intervals such as 1 day, 3 days, 1 week and 2 weeks.

A simple system to get started:

• Review new material within 24 hours
• Revisit it again after 3 days
• Review it again after 1 week
• Do a monthly deep dive on older material

Consider it exercise, like physical exercise. Regular exercise does not make you fit, but one marathon doesn’t. Your brain requires the same type of spaced repetition. There are apps such as Anki or Quizlet that can do this for you.

Interleaving: Mix Up Your Subjects

You could be studying one topic for hours and hours and thinking you’re doing something productive, but you aren’t. You may feel you are learning if you spend hours on one topic but that is one of the least effective learning strategies. It’s also called blocked practice, and this can be deceiving since things seem so easy in the moment.

Interleaving is the inverse situation. Multiple and related topics are mixed in a single study session. This makes your brain constantly change gears, learn to see patterns, and to make more connections between ideas.

How to implement interleaving:

• Rotate between related subjects in one study session
• Solve different types of problems rather than doing the same type repeatedly
• Alternate between formats: watch a video, read a chapter, then quiz yourself

In the moment you may think that interleaving will be more difficult, because your brain will have to go back to memory and then apply this information to the other type. That’s the hard part that makes it more effective for retention.

The Feynman Technique: Teach to Learn

Popularized by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, the question goes, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. The Feynman Technique is founded on this principle.

The process is this: Select a topic and discuss it like you’re trying to teach it to a child or a beginner. Avoid complex terms and metaphors. When you don’t know how to do something, or don’t really know why, you’ve discovered a learning gap. Return to the materials, fill in that part and repeat your explanation.

This is because when you are preparing a lesson you have to arrange information in a logical and coherent manner. You cannot teach what you don’t know. This approach will turn your passive learning into active learning and building of knowledge.

This can be done even more effectively by filming or audiotaping yourself. Play it back to identify mistakes and improves your explanation.

Dual Coding: Combine Words and Visuals

Images and text are processed in different ways by your brain. Dual coding is the process of giving information both verbally and visually. This allows two separate memory traces for the same information, thus making it easier to remember.

Practical ways to use dual coding:

• Turn your notes into diagrams, flowcharts, or mind maps
• Sketch key concepts or create timelines
• Use color-coded notes to organize information visually
• Pair text with relevant images or infographics

Visual and verbal are the two types of representation which, when joined together, produce richer and more connected memories. This will be particularly useful for abstract concepts that are challenging to understand verbally.

Chunking: Break Information into Bite-Sized Pieces

There is only a limited amount of information that can fit into your working memory. Trying to take on too much information at once will overwhelm it. Chunking is the solution to this problem that is used to organize information into smaller, more manageable groups.

You don’t have to recite a series of unrelated items, you categorize them. For instance, if you have a 10 digit phone number, you break it down into area code, prefix and line number.

How to chunk effectively:

• Group vocabulary words by category or theme
• Break complex processes into smaller, logical steps
• Use acronyms or memory cues for lists
• Create stories that link items together

Chunking is a strategy for decreasing information overload and thus the difficulty to process, store and retrieve information.

Sleep and Exercise: The Biological Foundations of Learning

The world’s most effective study techniques can only help if you take care of the basic needs of your brain. Sleep and exercise are a must for learning faster and remembering more.

• Sleep consolidates memory.Your brain stores and sorts through the information you’ve just taken in during the day while you are sleeping. The effects of sleep deprivation have been demonstrated to affect attention span, logical reasoning and memory formation. Get 7-9 hours of good sleep per night. It helps to quickly scan through material just before sleep time so the material will ‘stick’ while you sleep.
• Exercise boosts brain function.Exercise works to boost blood circulation to the brain, stimulating the production of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), a protein that helps to grow newer brain cells and reinforce memory. Walking for just 20 minutes can help enhance your attention span and working memory when studying. Get 120-150 minutes of moderate activity each week.

Bonus: The Pomodoro Technique for Focus

The Pomodoro Technique is not a learning strategy in and of itself, but rather a way to ensure that you are focused enough to follow all the above strategies. Divide work into 25-minute blocks (pomodoros) and then take a 5-minute break. Now take a longer break (15-30 minutes) after 4 pomodoros.

This technique will help you to concentrate for short periods of time. Your brain can’t focus on something for an extended period without getting tired, just as your biceps can’t do endless reps at the gym.

Build Your Own Brain-Friendly Study Plan

The ultimate goal of studying is to find the strategy that works for you. Combine these strategies in any way that works for you, learning style and your goals.

A sample weekly plan might look like this:

• Monday: Learn new material using active recall and dual coding
• Tuesday: Review Monday’s material (spaced repetition, day 1)
• Wednesday: Introduce a related topic using interleaving
• Thursday: Review Monday’s material again (spaced repetition, day 3)
• Friday: Use the Feynman Technique to teach both topics
• Weekend: Do a comprehensive review and identify weak areas

Stop cramming. Start learning. With the proper environment, your brain can do amazing things! These scientifically proven methods will assist you to learn faster, remember more, and finally escape the vicious circle of forgetfulness.