Memory6 min read·

The Memory Palace and Other Mnemonics That Actually Work

Memory champions remember the order of a shuffled deck of cards in under a minute. Their main trick is over 2,000 years old, and you can use it for exams.

The Method of Loci

The memory palace, also called the method of loci, goes back to ancient Greece and Rome. You picture a place you know well, like your home or your route to school, and place the things you want to remember at specific spots along a path through it. To recall them, you walk the path in your mind.

It works because human memory is extremely good at places and vivid images, and much weaker at abstract lists.

Building Your First Palace

  • Choose a familiar place and fix a route through it: front door, shoe rack, sofa, TV, kitchen sink, and so on.
  • Pick 10 spots along the route, always in the same order.
  • Turn each item into a vivid image. Exaggerated, funny, strange or gross images stick best.
  • Place each image at a spot. To remember that mitochondria produce energy, picture a tiny power station humming on your shoe rack.
  • Walk the route a few times in your head to lock it in.

    • Other Mnemonics Worth Knowing

  • Acronyms — the first letters spell a word. ROYGBIV for the colours of the rainbow.
  • Acrostics — a sentence whose words start with the letters you need. "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles" for the planets.
  • Chunking — group long strings into small pieces. A 10-digit number is easier as 3-3-4.
  • Rhymes and songs — rhythm makes sequences easier to hold.
  • The link method — connect each item to the next in a crazy story.

    • Where Mnemonics Help Most

  • Ordered lists (stages, steps, sequences)
  • Vocabulary in another language
  • Names, dates and numbers
  • Formulas and their parts

    • Where They Do Not

    Mnemonics help you remember, not understand. Knowing the order of the planets is not the same as understanding orbits. Use mnemonics for the facts, then active recall and explanation for the ideas.

    Make It Stick

    A memory palace still needs review. Walk through each palace again the next day and a week later, just as you would with flashcards.

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