Memory techniques for beginners

Start with something you want to remember, give it a cue, then see if that cue brings it back.

Your first exercise, no account needed

Remember 10 groceries with one connected story.

Try recalling a list in your usual way, then learn a story linking each grocery to the next, hide it, and try recall again. You can change the scenes and use your own list afterward.

Try remembering 10 groceries

Read a worked grocery example first

Go at your own pace: the challenge saves progress in this browser when storage is available.

Want to practise straight away? Choose a free memory exercise

What would you like to remember?

Numbers

Turn digits into an image.

The Major System assigns consonant sounds to digits, and vowel sounds carry none: with t = 1 and s = 0, “toes” can cue 10.

Learn how number mnemonics work

Already know the sounds? Use the peg chart

Test how many digits you can hold now

Lists and sequences

Give each image a familiar place.

A memory palace uses an ordered route through places you know: imagine bread blocking your doorway and an apple bouncing on your sofa, then revisit those places to look for their items.

Learn how memory palaces work

A familiar room is enough for a first route; you don’t need to construct a 3D palace.

Studying and reading

Remember what you are revising.

Closed-book recall beats rereading, and a mnemonic is what you reach for when a fact refuses to stick on its own.

Memory techniques for studying and exams

How to remember what you read

Vocabulary in another language

Keeping it

Review before you forget, not after.

A chain you built once fades in days, so the people who keep lists for months walk them again the next day, then a week later, then a month later.

When to review what you have memorised

Not sure which technique you need? Start with the types

Browse all 24 technique guides: cards, names, pi, presidents, speeches, peg lists and more

Make recall part of the practice.

  1. Create a cue. Connect the item to a scene, word, or place you can describe.
  2. Hide the answer. Try finding the item from its cue, then check and repair the connection if it was missing.
  3. Try after a break. Tomorrow, test before rereading, since a better immediate second score can also reflect seeing the list twice.

Keep a backup for anything you need in daily life. Treat the exercise as practice and compare what you remember with your actual list.