Chapter 11

Revision: Using this Old Process as a Memory Technique

Forget about whatever you might have heard before, if you want to remember a piece of information for a long time, you just have to revise it. There is no shortcut – None!

We all love the concept of reading a piece of information once and remembering it for life. Unfortunately, the possibility of this is closer to fantasy than reality. The vast majority of us will just not be able to remember a piece of information for life after a single reading, even with the use of memory techniques.

Even for those who can remember a piece of information for life after a single reading, they may not be able to remember everything (word-for-word) after a single reading. In a nutshell, it is only people with a super-memory (perhaps superhumans) that can read a piece of content once and remember it for life. Unfortunately, this website cannot teach you how to become a superhuman with a super-memory.

That said, to remember a piece of information for long or for life, you need to revise it multiple times.

Knowing how and when to revise a piece of information is among those characteristics that differentiate a memory expert from a novice.

For us at Infovore Secrets, we see revision as a sound memory technique.

In fact, it might be the most important memory technique that determines how long you remember a piece of information. Forget about whatever you might have heard before, if you want to remember a piece of information for a long time, you just have to revise it. There is no shortcut – None!

In this chapter, we are going to be examining how paced-revision can greatly improve how you remember things.

What are Revision and Paced-Revision?

A revision is the process of reviewing a piece of information in order to make it stick to your brain. When a revision is done at a predetermined time, then it becomes a paced-revision.

In other words, a paced revision is a process of revisiting a piece of information at a predetermined time for the purpose of remembering the information for a long time or for life.

Who Can Benefit from Revision or Paced-Revision?

Below is the list of people that can benefit immensely from revision.

1. Students

For those of us who have gone through schools, we will know how necessary a revision is. Many times, what spells the difference between a brilliant student and an average one is revision.

If you are a student, the art of revision is something you must master to excel in your studies.

2. An Expert

An expert is defined by his or her ability to recall a fact about his or her field fast. An expert possesses much knowledge about his or her field, and he or she is able to use it at will.

Being able to recall any fact at will is made possible when the fact is adequately imprinted in one’s memory. This is usually achieved when a piece of information is revisited multiple times.

Paced-revision (i.e., a revision that is properly spaced) makes it easy to remember a piece of information for a long time or for life.

If you are an expert or planning to be one, you need to know how to schedule revision to excel above your contemporaries. You will learn how to do this before you finish this chapter.

 3. A Kid

You might be surprised to find “a kid” under this list. We have included it because of a reason we will mention below.

It is wise to teach your children specific good traits that you will want them to be known for or that you want them to live with. This is because young kids are still growing and can easily take in traits you introduce to them.

Paced-revision is a good trait to teach your children when they’re young so that they may grow with it and know that it takes effort and revision for a piece of information to be permanently imprinted in one’s brain.

Teach your kids the art of revision when they are young and see how it helps them remember information for a long time.

4. An Adult Struggling with Remembering Information

Another set of people that can benefit immensely from revision are adults experiencing difficulties remembering a piece of information for a long time.

Many adults complain bitterly that they are not able to recall things after some time when they have not taken time to revise the information as needed. Many people consciously or unconsciously believe that they should remember a piece of information for a long time or for life after reading it once or twice.

Adults struggling with recollection should be told that they need to revise a piece of information for up to five or six times (or more) over time before they can expect to remember it for a very long time.

We will discuss how to properly space your revision work over time before we conclude this article.

5. An Infovore

Finally, the groups of people that need revision are people (any person) that love to consume information and remember them for a very long time or for life.

When Should You Consider Revising a Piece of Information?

Generally, you should consider doing a revision whenever you encounter a piece of information, and you will like to remember a large part of it (or a whole of it) for a very long time or for life.

Remember that you may not need a revision if all you want to remember in a piece of information is just the headline or a topic sentence. For many, the main headline of a piece of information will easily come to mind even without revision if the information is captivating.

However, if you want to remember a large part or the whole part of a story for a very long time, then consider doing a paced revision of the information in question. We will discuss how to carry out a paced-revision shortly.

How to Do a Revision Properly

Based on experience and research, we will now discuss how we believe you should revise.

When you come across a piece of new information that you believe you should remember for a very long time or for life, the first thing to do is to make sure you consciously attempt to put the information in your memory in the first place.

Make sure you put all your attention into the information you want to remember as you read it. Proper attention helps recall and memory.

Using memory techniques is another way to make the information (you are trying to remember) sink in.

After you get the information into your memory, the next thing is to revise it after 24 hours.

You may do this (revision) mentally without looking at the source of information, or you may do the revision by looking at the material (book) containing the information.

Then, do another revision after three days. As we have said before, you may simply revise the information mentally. Then do another revision after a week. Then another one after a month.

We will recommend you do another review after three months. Finally, to even remember the information in question for a very long time or for life, we will recommend you do another revision after a year or several months.

The revision process mentioned above is based on experts’ opinions on the subject and our thoughts about it.

Please note that for some types of information, more revision schedule may be needed.

Finally, when trying to revise a large piece of information, it may be useful first to try to summarize the information and then revise this summary whenever you want to quickly bring the main idea of the information in question to mind.

When you have more time, you can try to revise the whole information. Creating a summary of a piece of information makes it easier to perform revisions within a short time. Please read Chapter 10 to learn how to create a summary.

Common Mistakes People Make When Doing Revision

Many people make mistakes when revising a subject, and below are some of these mistakes:

1. Doing the First Revision After Many Days (or weeks) have Gone

Some people only revise a piece of information after many days have gone. Usually, by the time these sets of people do their first revision, they would have forgotten a substantial part of the information. By the time these types of people are revising the subject in question, It may be as if they are coming across the information for the first time.

As a rule, make sure you do the first revision of a piece of information within 24-48 hours of reading it. If possible, you may simply revise a piece of information by reliving it mentally. Then when you get the time, you can consult the book containing the information in question for a more thorough revision.

2. Not Reliving the Information During Revision

Some people tend to simply read over the information they are revising instead of trying to remember it again during the revision. As a rule, always make sure you relive the information in question whenever you do a revision.

3. Doing Revision Only Once or Twice

As we have said before, you need to do a revision a couple of times before you can remember it for a very long time. You need to discipline yourself to follow-through your revision plan to be able to put a piece of information into your memory for a long period of time or for life.

4. Not having a Clear Plan to Do a Revision on a Subject When You First Encounter It

Many people don’t have a clear plan on how to go about revision when taking in a piece of information for the first time. We recommend that whenever you come across a new piece of information that you consider essential and will like to remember for a long time, then have a clear plan on how to revise it. Please see the preceding section to learn how to revise.

Final Thoughts on Memory Techniques

Memory technique is a powerful tool that you can use to turn your memory around. We believe that you will change your memory for the better if you follow the tips and recommendations presented in Chapters 1 to 11 of this comprehensive guide. To access and read other chapters of this guide (if you have not done so before), please go here.