Free memory exercises for beginners
Practise remembering a grocery list, a list of words, a number, or five items along a familiar route. Choose an exercise below, hide the answers, and see what you can recall. All are free and need no account.
Pick something to practise.
New to mnemonics? Begin with groceries.
A list, at your own pace
Remember 10 groceries
Study a grocery list, hide it, and type what you remember, then build a story connecting the items and recall them again. The challenge checks which groceries you found, in any order.
A word list, timed
Word list memory test
Study 10, 15 or 20 words for three seconds each, then type back every word you remember, in any order. Plurals and capitals still count.
Numbers, any time
Number memory test
Watch a number appear, then type it after it disappears. You start with three digits and each correct round adds one until a mistake ends the run; your score is the longest number you recalled correctly.
Numbers, once a day
Daily Digits
Try today's sequence of growing numbers, the same for everyone. Type each number from memory; one mistake ends the day's attempt. Come back tomorrow for a fresh challenge.
Any number, for fun
Turn a number into a sentence
Type a birthday or the digits of pi and get a silly sentence that hides it, one picture for every two digits. Send it to a friend as a puzzle and see if they can find the number.
The grocery challenge uses the same list twice, so a higher second score can also reflect seeing it again. These scores describe these exercises; they are not a medical assessment or a measure of your overall cognitive ability.
Try it right here
A five-stop memory palace
Give each item a place, and when you mentally revisit the route, each place becomes a cue for its item. A room you know is enough.
- Choose a route. Pick five distinct places in a familiar room and keep their order fixed. This example uses door, mat, chair, table and window, but you can substitute your own.
- Picture the scenes. Open the example below and imagine each item interacting with its place, then walk through the five scenes in your mind.
Show the five scenes to learn
- Door: an umbrella springs open and wedges the door shut.
- Mat: a giant lemon rolls across it, squeezing out juice.
- Chair: a notebook sits down, flapping its pages like wings.
- Table: a candle drips a pool of wax over the edge.
- Window: a key swings against the glass with a sharp tap.
Close this panel before recalling the items.
- Hide and recall. Close the scenes, look away from the page, and mentally walk your route. Write down the five items in order before checking.
- Check the connection. Reopen the scenes and, for any item you missed, make its action at that place more specific. After a break, walk the route again before looking.