
Ask HN: How do you remember things without tests? - text_exch
I find it hard to remember things that I&#x27;m not tested on later. For example, I&#x27;m currently reading a fascinating textbook about compilers. I would like to remember the information later on, but without a formal test and the deadline it poses I don&#x27;t remember anything. How do you deal with this problem?
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eigen-vector
Take generous notes. With practice, you'll develop your own _language_ for
taking notes. Personally, for me, the act of writing down—or typing if that
works better for you—is almost as if reading the content twice, which in some
sense it is. I go back to my notes every now and then. After years of doing
it, I've learned to subconsciously devise an index of my own which is useful
for me to remember a gist of what I learned, and also lets me figure out where
to go look for if I need a deeper look into it.

Like other comments have mentioned, applying what you learn is also important
for recollecting information after any reasonable period. If something's not
used by at a later point, is there really a point to remember it? Of course,
there's the joy of remembering things just for the sake of it which I'm not
discounting. But party trick trivia for some reason has always lasted longer
in memory than essentials :-) beats me as to why.

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marssaxman
I would put the information into practice - in your case, by attempting to
build a compiler. The exercise makes the knowledge concrete. Think of it as
setting yourself a test.

~~~
ibeckermayer
I second this. In order of efficacy:

1) doing a project 2) taking notes 3) simply reading

Best if you can do all 3 in reverse. There's just no substitution for the
creative spark and contact with hard reality that doing a project gives you.
Any ambiguities, misunderstandings, and missed information are almost
guaranteed to be ironed out with a wisely chosen project.

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malux85
They key to memory is spaced repetition. I do it like this:

\- Read the content \- Make 1 / 2 sentence question, or just write the title
\- Do something else (coding) for 10 mins \- Come back to it, if you cant
remember it, read it again, if I can remember it, keep reading.

At the end of the day, review the notes, and move all the bullet points to
another list.

Come back to it tomorrow.

Keep sorting and moving content up and down the lists until your remember it.

I use the mac notes app for this, because then it auto-syncs with my ipad and
phone. If I'm on the train, or in the uber, I can get my phone out and do a
quick memory jog

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hackermailman
As noted in other comments, if you build something as you learn the material
you'll remember it. My learning strategy is usually:

    
    
      Think up idea
      No idea how to implement it
      Look at university lecture notes for background material
      Read lecture notes, read assigned text
      Implement idea while I read the text and notes
      Notice my implementation is poorly inefficient
      Read more advanced notes/papers to optimize
      Rewrite idea, success!
    

This is exactly what I did when I read _Modern Compiler Implementation in ML_
by Andrew Appel. This was the course I used
[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~janh/courses/411/17/schedule.html](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~janh/courses/411/17/schedule.html)
though it was an earlier version. Afterwards I collected a lot of compiler
optimization notes, like here
[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~15745/syllabus.html](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~15745/syllabus.html)

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chrisshroba
On the topic of spaced repetition, have a look at Anki. It's a great tool for
aggregating all the stuff you want to remember.

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dynamoa
I think what you are describing is really how to learn. It's not that you
require a test in order to remember material, you just need to implement what
you have read in order to reinforce what you have read into memory. Humans
remember things a lot better when you have an experience to associate with it.

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tugberkk
This may not be the answer you're looking for but I'm going to give my 2
cents. This is actually the same with every book we read or subject we study.
It is impossible to remember everything all the time. It is actually the
deductions we do while studying / reading. That is what improves our brain and
thinking ability.

Thing we call knowledge will go away, we will always check books and websites
if we are not using it frequently. I really like what Einstein said: Never
memorize something that you can look up!

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gnode
I've always found the key to learning is to make the information relevant to
you (although in most cases the information is relevant to me before I learn
it). Personally, I don't find formal testing / deadlines have helped me learn
things, other than as a reason to study.

In the case of compilers, I recommend you build one, or at least deeply
consider how you would, as a driver to put the information into use. An an
exercise, you could think about what language would put as many concepts in
the textbook into use as possible.

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bewe42
Summarize in your own words (and drawings) without looking into the textbook.
Even better, explain to someone else what you have learned. Best would be to
find a study partner, if that's not possible try to write for the public.

Learning occurs when we relate new material to what we already know. Build
your own internal knowledge map.

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ajeet_dhaliwal
Isn’t a better question how do you remember things after the test? When I was
in school on the day of the test I might get x% , two weeks later same test
would have been x/2% and probably x/4% the week after. The reinforcement is
key, rather than any test it’s working on personal projects that apply the
knowledge that does it for me.

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sharemywin
Read a section of it. put it down. and then think about it. would you do it
that way? what would you do different? how can you benefit from this? where
could this be useful?

You really want to know it. Do a project with it.

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poushkar
[http://nywkap.com/learning/effective-
learning.html](http://nywkap.com/learning/effective-learning.html)

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tytytytytytytyt
> How do you remember things without tests?

I study... It's not the tests that help me remember things, it's the studying
and working with them.

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lhuser123
There are very good answers here. One way I think about it is this : if is not
needed, it will be deleted.

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jxub
Being curious, what's this textbook?

