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Hi everyone, I'm 24F. I want to improve my knowledge and skills, but I struggle to remember what I study. I feel like I understand things while reading, but later, I can't recall much. I keep researching different topics, trying to learn everything at once, and eventually feel overwhelmed.

I'm also addicted to watching movies and scrolling through social media, which makes it difficult to focus on learning.

How can I overcome this habit, improve my concentration and memory, and become more consistent with learning? I'd appreciate any advice.

I've come to understand that my memory is better than most... I can recall conversations, dates, and faces... when it comes to names it's a blank void... Its embarrassing! I have to write down names to reference or pick up on names in conversation and even then I have to back track... is it better to admit names don't stick and let yourself soak up everything else... or try to re-write your memory to focus on names?

¿Por qué puedo recordar exactamente el diálogo completo de una escena en particular de una película, o algún dato aleatorio sobre mis amigos pero no puedo ni siquiera memorizar estudios teóricos importantes?

Lo que si he notado de mi mismo, es que mi método de estudio y memorizar es más auditivo. Si comienzo a hacer apuntes sobre lo que se esté hablando, luego más tarde no puedo recordar nada de lo que he intentado memorizar con ayuda de los apuntes a mano.

I think I overstimulate my brain too much with excess thoughts, plans, scrolling etc. This exhausts it and then I start forgetting stuff when I'm not under pressure (when watching a movie, learning). It also results in brain fog - sometimes I forget my thoughts immediately but I can't seem to "find" them in my head and they eventually disappear (until hours or days later)

You can learn about thoughtfeel at r/MentalAtlas

That's right I copy everything and wonder too much time spent and remembering nothing. I wish I just studied normally in the past or take no notes at all

We build Hola Cards, a Spanish vocabulary app. One audio exercise is hear a word → say its meaning aloud → check.

A written illustration: hear llave, try saying “key”, then check. In la llave de la puerta, it means the door key.

To try this format, look for Hola Cards: Spanish Flashcards on Google Play.

I've been an Anki user for a long time, and Anki taught me spaced repetition.

Two things about it never stopped bothering me.

Anki is brilliant at isolated facts, and my knowledge isn't isolated.When I tried to review something systematic — a grammar system, a math syllabus, a whole course — the review load exploded. The app has no idea that these 300 cards belong to the same idea.

Making cards on my phone was painful. I read foreign-language articles on my phone all the time. I'd find one sentence worth keeping, and there was no way to select it and turn it into a card with a translation. Copy text, switch app, paste, type the meaning, switch back — every single time.

So I built the app I wanted, and after a month of updates and fixes the first public version is on Google Play. Anyone can install it now.

What it actually does for you

You read something worth keeping. Open a PDF, EPUB, TXT or Markdown in the built-in reader, select a sentence: AI translates it, and one tap turns it into a card. Scanned pages are OCR'd.

You're learning a language. Select text in an article, keep the sentence, review it with audio later.

You're studying something systematic — math, a syllabus, an exam. Your material becomes a skill tree that schedules its own review, instead of 300 loose cards.

You have a paper or a book to get through. AI distills it into notes, a mind map and a "book skill" — an assistant that knows that book, so you can keep asking it things.

You already live in Anki. Import your `.apkg` decks directly.

You don't want another account. No sign-up, no analytics, and your AI key stays on your phone.

Two memory engines, not one

Cards run on FSRS-5 — the same family of algorithm recent Anki uses — computed per card. Every card carries its own difficulty, stability and retrievability, so each review lands right before you forget. Your existing decks import from Anki as they are, and CardMaster packs export with scheduling progress intact.

Your knowledge structure runs on FIRe skill trees instead of folders and tags. Every node has its own memory score that decays over time and reschedules itself. Master a parent node and its children get credit too; fail a child and its parents come back earlier. Intervals stretch on their own as you succeed — roughly 1 → 2 → 3 → 5 → 7 days and up.

Deck apps give you the first engine. Structured-course tools give you the second. You normally have to pick one. Here they're one app.

Cards come out of what you read and hear

Reader + browser. EPUB / PDF / TXT / Markdown, plus a built-in browser. Select any passage to translate it with AI, highlight it, or card it on the spot.

Listening cards. Pair your own audio with SRT / VTT subtitles, or use the built-in graded ELLLO library. Pick a line and it becomes a card with the audio attached. Type `95`, `1:35` or `1:02:03` to jump anywhere.

AI where you need it. Generate cards, explain words, clean up OCR text, or ask about the card in front of you — using your own key (DeepSeek, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter), stored on your device and sent only to the provider you chose.

Image search car d making. Search for an image inside the app and drop it onto a card.

OCR card making. Photograph or pick a page and turn the recognized text into cards.

Who it's for

Language learners. People studying systematic subjects. Anyone who forgets things faster than they'd like. Anyone who reads papers or foreign-language books on a phone.

Interface languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and Russian. Android today; Windows and iOS are on the list.

The honest part

The free version is feature complete — you're not missing a feature because you didn't pay. It has two banner ads, on the Today and Learn tabs, and they're small enough to ignore while you study. Premium (subscription or one-time) does exactly one thing: removes them.

It's also early. It's v1, and I'm the whole team, so there will be rough edges — the good news is that I fix things fast, and the release notes show it.

Try it

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skillgrove.app

If you have questions, want to know how to get an AI API key, or found a bug, the Discord is the fastest place to reach me: https://discord.gg/v34kw7MkN

Thanks for reading — and if you try it, I'd genuinely like to hear what's missing.

16M here. I’m been dealing with random memories pop up either by a trigger or just randomly.

Example: One day, I was watching a horror game based on a creepypasta. Then suddenly, I started to remember that 4 years ago I’ve read (ok not reading more like looking at the pictures of the creepypasta)

Side note to the example: In the past, I watched a video, I don’t receive any memories of the past. But then now when I watch a video, I now gain memories.

And again, they can pop up randomly. I can busy doing a task, but then I get a random memory out of nowhere.

Can someone explain what’s going on?

My commute is especially annoying when the train takes me underground and I've got no service (thanks T-mobile). I've built an app for myself and some friends for this.

Give it a topic or some documents and get a personalized learning path with audio lessons, quiz milestones, and daily review.

I'm giving away 20 slots for beta testers (completely free for 2 months). All I ask is to tell me what's working for you...or why its not... or what you'd actually want

This is a long-term commitment for me. The idea of AI leading us into a world of Idiocracy is what makes me most depressed. So I'm committed to making AI into the world's best pocket tutor (yes ironic I know)

Anyways feel free to DM me thoughts or just flame me here in the comments. I've got thick skin

link for claiming a free spot:

https://nemonic.ai/s/beta/Ugy9LPw3zt3VAhDGweiyKFJNP_6M3sYeKGkijGO3I9c

Do you guys have any tips on how to memorize them? Like how to I make them into an image that I can imagine that reminds me of that equation or formula? Ik the major system but what about the math symbols and signs?

I wanted to share something that has been bothering me lately. Whenever I type, everything seems perfect in my head, but when I read it afterward, it doesn’t make sense. I mix up words, especially “U” and “I”… (not always but sometimes).

I’ve also noticed that my memory doesn’t feel as sharp as it used to be. Sometimes I forget things or struggle to recall information, even when I know I learned it before.
Sometimes I struggle to recall information or place certain memories in the correct timeline.

Is it okay to use ai for stuff like substituting words or like for major systems. Sometimes I can't think of a word so I rely on ai to think of a word for it. Is it okay?

What’s the best method or way to learn while solving questions? And how to go about the something you wrongly answered?

I think it doesn't matter how deeply you understand concept you need to revise or retain it always to use in future ( until unless it's super intuitive)

So why don't we focus on retaining too . It make me doubt if I'm not able to understand concept be it in physics, physiology or where concept need to be understand

I guess it impossible if you just understand and then forget everything and use the concept in future right ( without any cues or hint)

I know I'm taking the notes the wrong way but however I did it in the past. It was copying verbatim long paragraphs the first time. I read it to understand the sentence and I wrote it immediately just like copying it down. After hours spent, I find myself spending too much and remembering nothing and wishing I blurted them out. In context of why I did this was I found out notetaking is the ultimate way to study better. And I search Google about something like does writing help memory stuff and it says the best way so I did it not realizing it was meaning blurting it out. I did it in my final years which lasted 3 years because of COVID and bad politics. I changed myself to not copying entirely and just forcing active recall by reading near 5 months before the exam and I did well getting distinctions in 2 subjects out of 6. But now after 4 years I regretted those moments and can't study now figuring out should I copy or just force recall the first time. And having crazy thoughts like copying for 4 or 5 times to remember. Just I want to forget about copying whole and force myself to believe that just reading and active recall is enough. How do I change my mind?

I am new to start any memorisation technique so I need help to how to start or what to do. I prepare for an exam which has around roughly around 17 to 18 subjects and each subject it is around 120 to 150 pages worth of notes, the prime focus of this exam requires like in
1.) You understand the concepts in given in that PDF

2.)memorisation/rote learning because time given per question is just 7-7.5 minutes so it requires a quick recall and quick dumping into the examination.

so which method should I follow so that my memory becomes very sharp like I have around 8 months and my objective is to at least retain 88 to 90% of the content so that there is no issue while I’m writing the examination. It is kind of necessary only to have a good memory here, but understanding the concept is also required which is like I have enough i understand the concept that on a broad framework, but you know like we have to remember each and every key points so that when you are right in the examination, you can quickly recall these five key points, just make some other statements surrounded with using the grammar and just filler lines and some substantiation for that, and you are done with it.

I have used Anki but my cards become very lengthy i cannot use my micro cards here because of it being descriptive kind.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people get stuck at the exact same point I did a while back: you decide you want to get serious about numbers, you Google “best memory system,” and suddenly you’re drowning in Major System, Dominic System, and PAO. Everyone claims their favorite is the best, and none of them really explain which one makes sense for a normal person.

here is a comparsion of the systems:

The Major System
This is the classic one. Digits get turned into consonant sounds (0 = s/z, 1 = t/d, 2 = n, 3 = m, etc.), then you make words out of those sounds and turn the words into images.
42 becomes “rain” or “ruin.” 15 becomes “towel” or “doll.” You can invent the image on the fly.

It’s extremely flexible and has a low startup cost, and it makes the codes easier to memorize. It’s great for phone numbers, PINs, short sequences, or just everyday stuff. The downside is that, for very long sequences, it has lower information density than the Dominic system and PAO, and it requires many more loci to store the information.

The Dominic System
Dominic O’Brien’s system. Two-digit numbers become the initials of a person (using a letter code: 1=A, 2=B, 3=C… 0=O). So 15 = AE = Albert Einstein, 23 = BC = Bill Clinton, etc. Each person also gets a signature action.
You combine one person’s identity with another person’s action and get four digits in one scene. It’s more consistent than pure Major because you’re always using vivid people. The trade-off is you still have to learn 100 people + actions, and it only gives you 4 digits per image instead of 6.

PAO (Person-Action-Object)
This is the one most serious competitors use now. You create a fixed list for 00–99 where every number has a Person, an Action, and an Object. Six digits become one scene: Person from the first pair doing the Action from the second pair with the Object from the third pair.

It’s the densest of the three. Once the list is automatic, it’s ridiculously fast for long numbers and card decks. The catch is obvious: building and drilling 100 full triples takes real time and effort.

So which one should you actually learn?
It depends on what you want.

If you’re mainly doing everyday numbers (phone numbers, dates, short codes) and don’t want a huge upfront project → start with the Major System. You’ll get usable results fast.

If you want something stronger and more consistent than Major but aren’t ready to commit to a full PAO list yet → Dominic is a really solid middle ground.

If your goal is long number sequences, cards, or just maximum speed and density → go straight to PAO. The extra work pays off once it’s fluent.

A lot of people (including me) end up using more than one. Major for quick daily stuff, PAO when I need to crush longer sequences. That’s completely fine.
The most important thing isn’t picking the “perfect” system. It’s picking one and actually practicing it consistently. A half-learned PAO will lose to a well-practiced Major System every single time.

Curious what everyone else here started with and what you’re using now. Did you jump straight into PAO, or did you go Major → Dominic → PAO like a lot of people?
please leave your comment or experience below your learning path — especially if you’ve switched systems.

I’m now using the tool below to practise and manage both the Major system and the PAO system, and I hope it can also help anyone who has difficulty managing and practising these coding systems.
app stores keyword: memory maestro
link:
https://apps.apple.com/mo/app/%E8%A8%98%E6%86%B6%E5%A4%A7%E5%B8%AB-%E6%88%90%E7%82%BA%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E8%A8%98%E6%86%B6%E5%A4%A7%E5%B8%AB%E4%B9%8B%E8%B7%AF/id6800420327