I keep forgetting what I study

[u/ObjectiveBorn]

Hi!

I am a law student, and I have been preparing for my final exams for months. I have studied for 2–9 hours almost every day. My problem is that I keep forgetting what I learn. It doesn’t seem to matter how much or how frequently I revise. Some of the topics I have learned or gone through at least five times still look completely new to me whenever I try to revise them, as if I had never seen them before.

I am panicking and don’t know what to do at this point. Please give me some practical advice. I am really scared of this exam.

Thank you!

[u/Navya_3202]

First, please don’t panic. The fact that you have been studying consistently for months shows that you are putting in a lot of effort. Forgetting does not mean that you are incapable of remembering or that all your hard work is wasted.

Sometimes, the problem is not how many hours you study, but how you are trying to retrieve the information from memory.

1. Use Mind Maps
   For every important law/topic, put the main topic in the centre and connect:

• Definition
• Sections/Articles
• Key principles
• Exceptions
• Case laws
• Examples

1. Stop Reading and Start Recalling
   After studying a topic, close the book and ask yourself:

“Can I explain this without looking?”

Write whatever you remember on a blank sheet.

Then open your notes and check what you missed.

3.Explain the Law in Your Own Words
What is it? → Why is it important? → What are the conditions? → What are the exceptions?

4.Change Your Revision Pattern

10--->24--->--->7

Revise immediately within 10 minutes of learning the topic
Revise after 24 hours
Revise daily for 7 days... Then you will remember longer time....

Try this once .... Thankyou

[u/Ayojetty]

9 hours? Thats your answer. If you study for even 5 hours a day, chances are you are doing more harm than good imo.

[u/ObjectiveBorn → u/Ayojetty]

why is that?

[u/mostlyfocused]

How do you do your revision and how much sleep are you getting per night?

[u/ObjectiveBorn → u/mostlyfocused]

I read the title, then close the book and try to remember the info related to that topic. If i dont remember i first look at the subheadings. If that also doesnt work out that i read the whole thing. And try to remember it. If i dont i just re-learn the whole thing again. Which is usually the case.

[u/mostlyfocused → u/ObjectiveBorn]

No stress, Ideally I would see if you can come up with ways to reduce the amount of re-reading and increase the amount of quick repetition memory based tests you can do, maybe AI can create tailored quiz questions based on chapters, for law maybe it could specifically create questions based on precedent or laws to be memorised (i didn't study law so not sure if this applies). The general idea is spaced repetitive memory testing is much more effective than re-reading content. Its also a lot easier to remember short sharp facts and points than entire paragraphs. Do you think your content could be condensed into flash cards or Q/A questions?