What does Ebbinghaus's "forgetting curve" describe?

Memory decays rapidly at first, then levels off

Memory fades at a constant rate over time

Memory fades slowly at first, then collapses suddenly

Memory declines steadily with age

Which study method produces the strongest long-term retention?

Retrieval practice — testing yourself from memory

Re-reading the material several times

Copying out a summary while looking at the text

What is the "method of loci" (memory palace)?

Placing items to remember along a familiar route or space

Turning a list into a rhyme or song

Making a word from the first letters of each item

Repeating a list aloud until it sticks

"Spaced repetition" improves memory mainly because...

Reviewing just as you start to forget makes recall effortful and durable

It simply means spending more total hours studying

It keeps you in a better mood while studying

It forces you to learn material in the correct order

Grouping items into larger meaningful units

Breaking study sessions into short blocks

Deliberately forgetting unimportant details

Switching between subjects to stay fresh

Which habit has the strongest evidence for supporting long-term memory health?

Playing brain-training games daily

What's Your Memory IQ? Test Your Recall and Retention 🧠

Memory IQ quiz — iridescent brain render

How much do you actually know about how memory works? 🧠

This 10-question memory quiz covers the science of recall, retention and forgetting — spaced repetition, the forgetting curve, working-memory limits, mnemonic techniques and the habits that genuinely improve memory. Every question comes with a short explanation, so you sharpen your memory while you test it.

Get your Memory IQ score in about 3 minutes.