Memory tricks for a list to learn

This prompt creates memory aids, such as acronyms, rhymes and stories, for a list or set of facts you paste in.

text-mnemonic-maker — chatgpt — 52 words

I need to memorise this:

[LIST OR FACTS]

Create memory aids such as acronyms, rhymes, a story using the method of loci or a vivid mental image. Give me two options for each group of items and a short quiz to test my recall after 10 minutes, 1 day and 1 week.

Edit in the builder Copy & open ChatGPT ↗Copy & open Gemini ↗Copy & open Claude ↗

Personalise the story with people and places you know; the stranger it is, the better you recall it.

Get a better result

What you will get

Memory aids for your list, such as acronyms, rhymes, a memory palace story or a vivid image, two options for each group of items and a short quiz to test yourself after ten minutes, a day and a week.

Why it works

Different people remember in different ways, so the prompt asks for two options per group and a range of methods. Personal places make stories stick, which is why the memory palace works so well. The quiz at three gaps uses spaced practice, recalling just as you start to forget.

Common mistake

The acronym is harder to remember than the list.

Fix: Ask for an acronym that spells a real word or a funny phrase, or switch to a story for that group.

Also watch for

The story uses places you have never been. Give it a route you know well, like your home from door to bed, as the tip suggests, and ask it to use that.
One item in the list gets changed. Check the memory aid against your original list word by word before you start learning it.

Try a variation: make flashcards

Ask for the list as question and answer flashcards, with the memory aid as a hint on the back.

Still not right? Reply with this

I forgot these items in the one-day quiz: [LIST]. Give me a stronger memory aid for just those.