Tool #5: Loci Method, or the "Memory Palace"

You might have watched BBC's "Sherlock" starring Benedict Cumberbatch. If so, you might have wondered how Sherlock can memorize such a huge amount of random data. Well, there are some episodes in which he mentions that his brain is like a Mind Palace, as it happens in the video below. 

This may sound just like a funny line, but it actually comes from a memorization technique called the Loci Method, developed in Ancient Greece. That means that you can "Sherlock" your studies by using this technique. With the Loci Method you imagine a route or set of locations that is very familiar to you (for example, the route you walk to school), or the floor plan of your house or other building you know well (these are called "memory palaces"). Take the information you need to memorize, and “locate” it on this familiar path – in your mind (and even on paper, if it helps). Perhaps you put the photosynthesis diagram you have to remember in your south-facing living room window, and the atomic model on the kitchen counter. Have fun imagining where all the information is located. The crazier the image you create, the more memorable it will be. Click on the video below to better understand how the Loci Method works.