How to Quickly Memorize Large Amounts of Information: One Technique That Actually Works. If you want to improve your memory or remember several important things, try chunking — a memorization method. Image source: wishescards.ru. Photo.

If you want to improve your memory or remember several important things, try chunking — a memorization method. Image source: wishescards.ru

Sometimes it feels like the brain simply refuses to memorize long lists, complex terms, or sets of numbers. You read, repeat, try to learn — and a minute later half of it is already forgotten. The problem is that the brain doesn’t like chaos and works poorly with long chains of unrelated data. There is one simple method — chunking — that allows you to memorize more information without overload, because you’re working with your brain, not against it. The good news is that this method doesn’t require memory training, pills, or special abilities. And most likely you’re already using it without even realizing.

Why It’s Easier for the Brain to Memorize Information in Parts and How Memory Works

Human short-term memory is very limited, and that’s exactly why we sometimes literally forget what we were just thinking about. For a long time it was believed that we can hold 7 ± 2 items, but more recent research shows — most often it’s about 4.

This means the brain handles long lists poorly, but excels at memorizing groups united by meaning. This is exactly what the chunking method is based on — combining small elements into larger, familiar, and logical blocks.

Chunking is a method of improving short-term memory in which individual pieces of information are grouped into larger, familiar (and therefore easier to remember) blocks.

Here’s a simple example. Try to memorize: 8 1 9 4 2 7 5 3 6. Difficult.

Now try this: 819 — 427 — 536. It’s easier because the brain sees three blocks instead of nine digits.

Neuroscientist Daniel Bor wrote that the ability to see connections between elements is not only the foundation of memory but also a source of creativity. And when you combine facts into groups, the brain perceives them as one unit, meaning it can hold more.

In general, the brain finds it easier to memorize and learn when new knowledge builds on already familiar images.

Why It's Easier for the Brain to Memorize Information in Parts and How Memory Works. Grouping small pieces of information into a whole leverages the brain's natural tendency to better remember large blocks than individual fragments. Image source: disshelp.ru. Photo.

Grouping small pieces of information into a whole leverages the brain’s natural tendency to better remember large blocks than individual fragments. Image source: disshelp.ru

How We Already Use the Chunking Memorization Method in Daily Life

Most people apply this method without even noticing. For example:

  • we already automatically split phone numbers into groups. Not like this: 89991234567, but like this: 8-999-123-45-67;
  • bank cards — it’s not 16 digits in a row, but 4 blocks of 4 digits: 1234 5678 9012 3456, otherwise memorizing them is nearly impossible;
  • paired items: knife and fork, phone and charger, glasses and case — if you remember one, the other comes automatically (and that’s chunking too);
  • abbreviations, acrostics, and mnemonic devices: if you use a sentence or set of letters to remember something, you’re using the chunking method. For example: the order of actions for first aid — SBW: Stop the bleeding, Bandage, Wait for the doctor; or the planets of the Solar System — My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).

In each case, the brain memorizes not individual elements, but ready-made sets.

How to Use the Chunking Method to Memorize More

In short, here are the main tips:

  • combine small elements into larger blocks;
  • divide information into groups by meaning;
  • use abbreviations and associations;
  • look for connections between elements;
  • the more logical the structure, the easier the memorization.

But let’s break it down in more detail.

1. Divide Everything into Groups
Break your shopping list into categories:

  1. milk
  2. cheese
  3. apples
  4. bananas
  5. buckwheat
  6. rice

Divide:

  1. dairy → milk, cheese
  2. fruits → apples, bananas
  3. grains → buckwheat, rice

Now there are 3 blocks instead of 6 words — this is easier to remember than the entire list.

Group words:

  • by topic;
  • by root;
  • by meaning.

Associate dates:

  • by era;
  • by event;
  • by person.

The more logical the groups, the easier the memorization, because memories are held together by connections and context.

2. Look for Connections Between Elements
It’s easier for the brain to remember when there’s a pattern. You can group by:

  • same first letter;
  • similar meaning;
  • shared function;
  • same place;
  • same time.

Even an artificial connection is better than no connection at all.

3. Use Abbreviations and Mnemonics
For example, a shopping list:

  • bananas;
  • eggs;
  • nectarines;
  • tea.

You can remember it as one word — BENT. This way the brain stores not 4 words, but one.
The same approach works for memorizing:

  • planets;
  • chemical elements;
  • rules;
  • formulas;
  • historical dates.

4. Link Groups to Familiar Images
Associations work very powerfully. For example:

  • eggs + flour + chocolate → cookies
  • notebook + pen + book → school
  • passport + ticket + suitcase → trip

When there’s an image, memory works better.

5. Train Your Memory Gradually
In one experiment, a participant could only remember 7 digits in a row. After 20 months of training using chunking, he could memorize up to 80 elements.

He didn’t become a genius. He simply learned to group information correctly. Even without training, you can significantly improve your memory if you start working with your brain, not against it.

The most important thing — memory improves not when you try to remember more, but when you properly organize information. Otherwise, the brain easily gets confused even with everyday small things — for example, when we forget why we walked into a room.