Yes. One of the easiest ways to increase how much you remember without any additional effort is to carefully time when you study. Numerous experiments have found that sleep shortly after learning new facts or skills helps the brain reinforce its memory traces 鈥� whether that sleep is a good night鈥檚 heavy slumber or just a well-timed afternoon nap.
You might also want to consider the timing between different study sessions. It is well known that we learn much better if we revisit material after an interval rather than hammering it home during a single session. Surprisingly, the length of this interval determines how much you remember 鈥� to the extent that it could easily bump you up a grade or two. Hal Pashler at the University of California, San Diego, has noticed a peculiar 鈥渟weet spot鈥� in revision times. According to his studies, you should revisit your subject at a time equivalent to between 10 and 20 per cent of the interval between learning the material and subsequently taking the exam. If you are learning for a class test in 24 hours, for example, you should revise again roughly 2 to 4 hours after your initial revision. Do this, and exactly the same amount of study time will give you at least a 10 per cent higher test score ().
Read more: The other six secrets of memory mastery
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Memory sticks: Seven ways to remember anything
Want to remember pi to 67,890 digits? Learn Swahili? Or just ace that midterm exam? David Robson reveals the secrets of the memory masters
Memory sticks: How do the champions do it?
Mnemonics helped one man recite pi to 67,890 places. Another could recite a 50-number list backwards after just 3 minutes鈥� study, thanks to synaesthesia
Memory sticks: Do mnemonics work?
Memory champions swear by them 鈥� now two psychologists have found out if mnemonics are useful in day-to-day life
Memory sticks: How should I bone up for a test?
Come exam time, which method provides the biggest pay-off from hours of hard study?
Memory sticks: Can I learn subliminally?
Learning in your sleep doesn鈥檛 work, but passive listening can help things lodge in your memory
Memory sticks: Can I expand my short-term memory?
New techniques have increased memory span by around 15 per cent over a training course of five weeks
Memory sticks: When is it too late to bother?
A septuagenarian who started training his memory at the age of 58 can now recite all 60,000 words of Paradise Lost with amazing accuracy
