The Chunking Memory Strategy Explained: 7 Powerful Techniques

You’ve probably heard of the chunking technique and thought it sounded pretty boring.

I mean, how is splitting large pieces of information into smaller pieces supposed to help you remember more?

Isn’t that just more work?

Your intuition is correct to ask.

Because if the chunk method is poorly executed, it not only leads to wasted time and energy.

It doesn’t provide the desired results either.

So to fix that, let’s go beyond the standard chunking definition.

And I promise that after you’re read each and every example I have to share on this page, you’ll always get great results whenever you’re chunking information.

Ready?

Let’s dive in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqLf5HygEbo

What is Chunking?

David Sousa gives a very simple way to understand chunking in How the Brain Learns.

Look at the word “chunking.”

Do your eyes and your brain see eight individual letters?

Technically, yes. But your mind “chunks” c-h-u-n-k-i-n-g into a single word.

We also tend to chunk numbers, such as the ones we use to call one another by phone. Whereas telephone numbers were initially very short, as the systems grew in popularity, they needed to be longer.

The term “chunking” comes from Dr. George Miller. In a 1956 paper titled The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, he famously pointed out how grouping numbers into shorter chunks made them much easier to remember.

Many memory athletes and memory experts have used mnemonic devices like the PAO System to completely sidestep the limitations Miller identified and chunk in highly efficient ways. One of my students even memorized 1200 digits of pi and can recite them all in about a minute!

Experts provide another example. Instead of trying to understand vast swaths of disconnected information, they think categorically. They find and refer to patterns. And when necessary, experts create new terms or paradigms that help us understand the connections between aspects of the world.

Finally, some students treat “cramming” as a form of chunking. Although this practice can provide some results, one of my favorite memory hacks is called “The Cram Smasher.” It helps you group blocks of time in a sophisticated way that reduces forgetting and maximizes your free time.

How the Chunking Memory Strategy Works

Chunking is not necessarily a natural behavior. It tends to be a skill we learn. For example, when we are young, we are shown how ten dimes make a dollar.

There are many patterns like this that we learn: ten, ten dollar bills make one hundred, etc.

But to turn this into a memory strategy, we want to add a few additional elements. We can look for patterns and then group information deliberately.

Take for example a number like 9289.

In this number, you might notice that your grandfather is 92 and in 1989 he took you to the zoo. Now, instead of 9289 looking like a random digit, it has been separated and encoded with meaning. You can also use the PAO System I mentioned above or the Major System.

The Major System

Another way to chunk items together involves applying stories and links. For example, let’s say you need to memorize the following list of words:

• Kitten
• Field
• Football
• Drink
• Hunting
• Ocean

To remember these items, you could chunk them together using a story. For example, you can imagine a kitten in a field playing football. After the game, the kitten grabs some beers, puts on a hunting cap and goes to the ocean.

Yes, the story is weird, but it chunks the items in the list together, making them much easier to recall.

But these aren’t the only ways to chunk. Let’s have a look at a few more.

7 Powerful Chunking Memory Techniques

As you go through this list, pick at least one and apply it to something you’re learning.

As always, you’ll want to ask before getting started with any particular chunking technique if it’s really appropriate to the learning goal. Sometimes there are more appropriate strategies available, though we never know until we experiment. So above all, have fun.