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Every exam has a layer of pure memory: the order of the electromagnetic spectrum, a list of hormones and their glands, new terms in a biology chapter. Rhymes and acronyms are the usual fix, but two older techniques have been tested in controlled studies. This post explains how the method of loci and the keyword method work, what the evidence says about each, and where they stop helping.
What is the method of loci, and does it work?
The method of loci, often called a memory palace, means picturing a route you know well, such as the walk from your front door to your classroom, and placing each item you need to remember at a fixed spot along it. To recall the list, you walk the route in your head and look at each spot.
The strongest summary of the evidence is a 2021 meta-analysis by Twomey and Kroneisen in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. It pooled 13 randomised controlled trials, mostly with university students, and found a medium effect on recall (g = 0.65). The authors also flagged a high risk of bias, because most studies did not report how they randomised people, so treat the size of the effect as a rough guide.
Training helps too. In a study in Neuron, Dresler and colleagues (2017) had people with no memory training practise the method of loci for 30 minutes a day over 40 days. During training, their scores on memorising random words in five minutes rose from about 17 to about 42. Their gains on a 72-word recall test were larger than those of groups who did working-memory training or no training, and the benefit was still there four months later.
How to build a route for a science list
Take the electromagnetic spectrum in order of increasing frequency: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays.
Pick seven spots you pass every day: the gate, the front door, the shoe rack, the sofa, the dining table, the kitchen sink, your desk.
Make each image odd and specific. A radio blaring on the gate. A microwave oven jammed in the doorway. A glowing red heater (infrared) on the shoe rack. A rainbow (visible light) across the sofa. Sunscreen (ultraviolet) spilled on the dining table. A skeleton (X-rays) in the sink. A glowing green monster made of gamma rays sitting at your desk.
Walk it twice in your head, then write the list from memory.
Use one route per list so that they do not blur together.
What is the keyword method?
The keyword method is for pairing a new word with its meaning. You pick a familiar word that sounds like part of the new one (the keyword), then picture the keyword interacting with the meaning. For "pinna", the outer flap of the ear, you could imagine a giant safety pin through an ear.
The classic test is Atkinson and Raugh (1975). Students learning Russian vocabulary with the keyword method scored 72% on the most important test, against 46% for students who studied the same words their own way.
Why do researchers rate the keyword method low?
In their review of ten study techniques, Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) gave the keyword mnemonic a low utility rating. Their reasons matter to you: it is hard to use for many kinds of material, it helps with a limited set of things such as vocabulary, and its benefits were shown mostly over short retention intervals. The same review rated practice testing and spaced practice as high utility.
That points to the right role for both tricks. A mnemonic gets an item into memory. It does not keep it there, and it does not build understanding. You still need to recall it later, at spaced intervals, to make it last.
When should you not use a mnemonic?
When the idea has a reason. If you can learn why the reactivity series runs the way it does, the reason is the better memory aid.
When the list is long and changes. Building images for 60 items you will only need once costs more time than flashcards.
When you need to use the fact in a problem. Recall from a route is slower than knowing a fact cold. Use the mnemonic to learn it, then practise until you no longer need the route.
A two-week routine for one list
Day 1: Choose one list or set of terms you keep forgetting. Build the route or keyword images. Recall it once from memory.
Day 2 and Day 4: Write the list from memory before looking. Fix any spot that failed by making its image stranger.
Day 7: Recall it, then use each item in a sentence or a question, such as "which has the shortest wavelength?"
Day 14: Recall again. If you get it right without walking the route, the mnemonic has done its job.
Our guide to flashcards that work covers the testing side, and the spaced revision schedule shows how to set the gaps.
What if the list will not stick because it makes no sense?
Sometimes a list refuses to stay because you do not understand what connects its items. Then a better image will not help. The Fermi Concept Library covers every concept in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics with its own lesson, so you can learn the idea behind a list and remember fewer items by rote.
Pick one list you keep getting wrong and build a seven-spot route for it tonight.
