Your teacher or lecturer can explain something to you, you can learn it from a text book, your friends can study with you, even your own notes can explain it to you but all these explanations are of little use if, by the end, you cant explain what you have learned to yourself. If you dont understand a study concept that you need to illustrate in an exam to get top exam results, then you wont be happy with your end exam result. To combat this, get into the habit of explaining whatever it is you are studying, in your own words, so you understand your study notes. The key to help improve your memory is to understand what youve learned when you are studying it. So dont just memorise and tick off the list make sure you understand your theory.