<p>Sometimes it feels like im filling a leaking tank when I learn. This year I took general chemistry 2 which is basically a review of AP chem, and it often feels like I am learning the content for the first time. But when I took AP chem I did not just memorize the content, I worked to understand so that it would be easier to recall--didnt work. Furthermore, when I read my APUSH book, two weeks after I read, I cant remember what ever happened (This difficulty in memory is especially prevalent in reading) In another example, I have to use statistical tests to examine some chem labs, and I cant recall the tests from last year AP stats. It is so FRUSTRATING, and I feel so stupid! What am I doing wrong that I can seldom remember what I learn? </p>
<p>I've read plenty of articles on memory, and I try to make the content meaningful by understanding and forming connections rather than memorize, but it still does not work! It is honestly sad to think that I have spent weeks of my life learning only to have the memory go away--those experiences might as well have not existed. I should not need to learn the same thing 2+times. But do you think this could it be an issue with recall rather than memory? What can I do differently to Remember everything? </p>
<p>These are great questions, but you need to address them to a neurologist. Some people will have trouble with memory because of health issues. Other people will have no trouble with memory but think that they do because they know people with better memories than they have. Testing can be done if you want to go this route.</p>
<p>I know I’m someone who needs to totally immerse themselves in a subject if I am to remember it so that I can easily explain it to someone else. I have to take elaborate notes. I have to compare the notes and readings. No one reading is enough. No one book is enough. For instance, in order to understand the nature of the college app process I’ve been living and breathing it several hours a day since July. I’m beginning to understand it (in large part because I’ve been writing responses instead of shadowing), but I still make short-term memory mistakes, or I won’t remember something I wrote two months earlier. Those two things aren’t likely to go away because in general I have short-term memory problems and have had them all my life (but ask me what Mike Schmidt hit in 1980 and I can tell you). I think it’s because my aunt used to drop me on my head for fun.</p>
<p>It’s not stupidity necessarily (altho intelligence and memory generally correlate) because I’m more intelligent than the median. It’s memory, and it is different from one person to the next for all kinds of reasons. But if you’re wondering if there’s a physiological reason to get yours checked out and you can afford to then maybe you should.</p>