Use the 'Method of Loci' to Remember Anything

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The method of loci (or the loci technique) is a mnemonic memorization trick with a number of uses, from helping people with mild cognitive impairment learn and remember information, to getting someone ready to give a speech.

But you can use it in almost any context, for anything you need to remember. Obviously, you're here because it's helpful when you're taking a test, but the ways you can apply it in that scenario are a little unique and you'll need to get the hang of something that seems silly at first. Here's what to do.

What is the method of loci?

If “loci” sounds like “location,” that’s because it’s what this method is all about: Location, location, location. To employ the technique, you use visualizations of specific spatial environments to help you recall information. It’s been around for centuries and is still in use today, as memory contest participants say it helps them recall everything from faces to digits. (Did you know there are memory contests?)

Think of a location you know well, ideally one with a lot of defining features. Maybe it’s a street with a bunch of different shops, a room with a variety of surfaces and corners, or your childhood home. Any singular place works, but it's crucial it's one you know well and can truly visualize in your mind's eye.

When you have to remember a ton of things, like items in a list or topics to hit in a speech, imagine yourself placing them, one by one, in one of those little loci. One topic can go in the corner, another on the desk, and another in the windowsill, for instance. When you want to retrieve or recall the information, imagine yourself walking through the area again, picking up what you need to remember from its proper place.

Why does this work? Generally speaking, your brain remembers images better than it remembers words or numbers, so attaching the words or digits you need to remember to an image makes them easier to retrieve.

How to use use the method of loci in real life

One way to tap into the power of this memory trick is “placing” your memory items around the room you’ll be in when you need to recall them. If you know you have to speak in front of a meeting in a certain conference room, or take a test in a particular classroom, use that imagined setting as the spot where you drop your listed items.

Better yet, prepare in that space. If you're able to, sit in the classroom where you'll take your test as you prepare, maybe staying late after class or entering it when it's unoccupied at some point during the week. Imagine yourself placing the things you're studying, one by one, in locations around the room. You can even wander around and pantomime doing so if that seems helpful. Just make sure the loci you pick are permanent. Don't assign a key fact to, say, a cup of pens on the professor's desk, which may be removed from the room before your test date. Choose things like the radiator, a discolored ceiling tile, the podium, or a doorstop.

If you can't study in the classroom itself, this trick does require you to plan ahead and be familiar with the room by memory alone, so choose even broader loci, like the door or the window. And don't forget that this can all be a mental game. Your locations can be anywhere you can remember well, like the break room at your job or your bedroom, as long as you can pull up that mental map in your mind at test time.

Why it works

This might seem frivolous, but it does work. It's part of a broader memory technique called association. With association, you can make up mnemonic phrases, sing a little song, or, yes, use the method of loci. The goal is associate your newfound knowledge with something else, so whenever you think of that other thing—in this case, a location—you'll automatically remember the nugget of information you associated with it.

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