How to Prevent Memory Fade

Memory fade

Even though you may have absorbed and retained information from your revision you will often find that after a few days the memory has faded or disappeared completely when it is most needed - in the exam!

Why does it happen?

Information fades because of what is called the Ebbinghaus memory decay curve. If you lose up to 80% of the information you have just revised your brain will say why bother? Therefore, you need to stop this from happening.

The solution to memory fade

The solution to memory fade is to review the information. You can do this using four different techniques:

Transforming
Verbalising
Reducing
Snowballing

Transforming

Transforming is the process of turning existing material into something else. One way of doing this is to use a different sense from the one you would usually use. For example, explaining to someone how to tie shoe laces without using your hands.

Verbalising

This is where you describe the information to somebody else. By doing this you are forcing to make connections in all kinds of new ways. The more people you explain it to the better. You remember 10% of what you see, 20% of what you hear and a 95% of what you teach someone else!

Reducing

This is where you review your work by setting yourself crazy time limits in which to complete a particular task. For example, retell the plot of Macbeth in less than one minute.
These strategies help you to working to time limits which you will need to do in exams.

Snowballing

This is where you write down individual words you can remember from what you have learned rather than whole chunks of information. You can do it in groups where one person says two words then the next person and play it as a knockout competition so the person who can't list two words is knocked out! This works because single words are easier to remember than long sentences and doing it this way can be less threatening, more fun and quietly effective (as the words will carry a string of information in your head)

Which technique works best?

This is down to the individual. Like all of the strategies you will need to trial them and see what works for you. However, you must review information at certain intervals if you are going to retain the information.