Do slow learners remember more than fast learners? (11 useful tips)

This blog post aims to answer the question, “Do slow learners remember more than fast learners?” and explore what it means to be a slow learner and a fast learner, the traits and behaviours of both kinds of learners and the significance of each kind of learning to help understand the answer. 

Do slow learners remember more than fast learners?

No, slow learners do not remember more than fast learners. Slow learners lose the material they have acquired more quickly, despite having far more experience in learning to obtain a 100% level of recall. 

Slow learners can try to remember more than fast learners in the following 11 ways –

• Relax and stay calm.
• Get rid of distractions.
• Eat right and sleep well.
• Play to your strengths.
• Practice.
• Mnemonic devices.
• Try all learning styles.
• Reflect and adapt.
• Know your learning blocks.
• Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
• Be curious and playful.

What are these 11 ways in which slow learners can try to remember more than fast learners?

Relax and stay calm.

Learning to relax and maintain your composure is essential to accelerating your learning since it’s difficult to learn much of anything while you’re stressed out or irritated about something.

One study found that stress had an adverse effect on both memory and recognition tests. This suggests that if we want to go from being slow learners to quick ones, we must attempt to relax and maintain our composure.

Stress reduction can be aided by breathing exercises. Breathing more slowly and deeply might make us feel more at ease and less worried. Exercises in mindfulness might also encourage us to focus more on what we are learning and less on our stressors. 

You may move from worrying and overthinking, which are terrible for learning, to be able to better focus on the work at hand by taking notice of what is in your immediate environment and listening to the adjacent sounds.

Get rid of distractions.

A sluggish learner finds it incredibly challenging to retain information when there are many outside distractions. When we’re attempting to learn something new, distracting noises and technological overload might get in the way.

Turn off notifications and put your phone aside whenever you can. Additionally, try your best to choose a peaceful area without any TV or radio that may distract you from whatever it is that you’re trying to study.

Eat right and sleep well.

A healthy diet and academic success are directly related. Learning is likely to be delayed if you feel as though you’re in a fog as a result of nutritional inadequacies.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet that is high in fresh fruits and vegetables to combat that. Make sure to eat fish and nuts or try an omega-3 supplement because fatty acids have been linked to memory and brain-boosting effects.

Getting enough sleep is a healthy method to improve your ability to learn. Our brains organise our day’s events while we sleep. 

During sleep, some synaptic connections weaken while others are strengthened. Simply put, this basically implies that in order to make memories stronger, your brain needs a good night’s sleep.

Sleep for at least seven hours every night so that you can wake up alert and prepared to study. Try rereading the material you want to learn before night so that you may utilise sleep to help it stick in your long-term memory.

Having a consistent nighttime routine is also beneficial. Your body requires regular circadian rhythms in order to fall asleep quickly and experience those important REM cycles.

Play to your strengths.

Each of us possesses both strengths and shortcomings. Make a self-evaluation and consider what you learn quickly and what makes you a slow learner. Then, make the most of your self-evaluation and play to your strengths.

Practice.

Planned exposure to the material you’re attempting to learn repeatedly is another method for accelerating sluggish learning. It won’t be enough to just go through your notes once.

Learning may be improved through a technique called spaced repetition. You study challenging stuff more frequently and simpler information less frequently when you use spaced repetition.

A tried-and-true technique for helping you retain new knowledge in long-term memories so that it becomes automatic is spaced repetition.

Mnemonic devices.

The mnemonic VIBGYOR makes it simple (and quick) for humans to recall the hues of the rainbow. Mnemonic tools facilitate memory encoding, which speeds up learning. VIBGYOR is significantly simpler to remember than all the colours together. 

The initial letter of each colour then provides a tip to help you remember them. In order to speed up learning while you’re having a slow learning phase, use mnemonic devices.

Try all learning styles.

Learning methods started to gain prominence in the 1990s. Since then, there hasn’t been concrete evidence to support the claim that a learner’s chosen learning style—whether it be kinesthetic, auditory, visual, or reading/writing—improves learning results. 

However, being aware of your preferred learning method helps speed up your progress. Discover your favourite learning method and make use of it. Mixing and matching learning styles will help you learn things more quickly. Try to match your learning style to the material you’re trying to learn.

To learn a new song, for instance, you might wish to listen to it first. It could be useful to have some new statistics represented graphically while trying to understand them.

Reflect and adapt.

It may not make sense to pause and reflect while we’re talking about accelerating learning, yet being self-aware and contemplative may ultimately accelerate learning.

A little increase in learning is provided by keeping a diary to reflect on prior knowledge, but it can be all you need to go from being a slow learner to a not-so-slow one.

Know your learning blocks.

It’s crucial to understand what stops you from absorbing new information. To recover and keep learning, you must identify what causes you to get shut down.

We can learn a lot from improv about how to design learning spaces that encourage creativity and learning. We may establish learning settings that are significantly more supportive of quicker learning by accepting other people’s views and refraining from passing judgement on one another.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.

We must also make errors in order to learn. If we’re too focused on being correct or flawless, we won’t take the chances necessary to learn new things.

When mistakes do occur, it’s critical to be able to discuss them honestly in order to learn from them rather than allowing them to cause shame and humiliation.

Be curious and playful.

Finally, it’s essential to be curious about what you’re learning if you want to go from being a slow learner to a quick one. Curiosity has been demonstrated in one research to enhance professional learning and performance.

The change in emphasis is crucial. We are better able to switch our attention from internal thoughts to an exterior focus on the people and things around us while we are playing. 

This encourages people to pay attention to the here and now and to the work at hand, which are essential components of effective learning. It also reduces overthinking and distractions.

Conclusion – 

This blog post aimed to answer the question, “Do slow learners remember more than fast learners?” and reviewed what it means to be a slow learner and a fast learner, the traits and behaviours of both kinds of learners and the significance of each kind of learning to help determine if slow learners remember more than fast learners. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or comments you may have.

References –

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Gentile, J. R., Voelkl, K. E., Pleasant, J. Mt., & Monaco, N. M. (1995). Recall after Relearning by Fast and Slow Learners. The Journal of Experimental Education, 63(3), 185–197. Retrieved from  https://www.jstor.org/stable/20152450

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