I have a math test in two weeks and I always forget the formulas when it's time. I've already tried making summaries and sticking them on my bedroom wall, but it doesn't work. Is there any technique that works better to actually get this stuff to stick in my head?
The most important thing is to stop trying to memorize formulas and start understanding where they come from. Like, instead of memorizing Bhaskara's formula, try deriving it from scratch, get the reasoning behind it. When you know why that formula exists, it sticks in your head naturally - it's not memorization, it's actual logic. It makes way more sense for your brain to store a concept than a bunch of random letters and numbers.
The technique that actually works is doing exercises pretty much every day, even if just a few. Like, it's not about studying for 3 hours on the weekend - that doesn't stick. Better to do 30 minutes every day solving problems, because then you're using the formula in practice, you see it showing up in different contexts, and that's what really works your memory. Put it into practice, get it wrong, get it right, see the formula being useful - that's when it sticks.
And when you're solving the exercises, write the formula out again instead of just looking it up in your notebook. Sketch it out, work with it, build it step by step. Your body and your muscle memory learn along with your brain. Two weeks is plenty of time if you do it right, no crazy memorization tricks.
The secret is to stop trying to memorize and start understanding where the formula comes from. When you know why that formula exists, you don't need to memorize it because you can reconstruct it during the exam. Try solving around 10 different exercises using the same formula - by the third time you're already not looking at your notes, you're just applying it directly. Putting summaries on the wall doesn't work because your brain sees it as cramming, not as real knowledge.
But is it really a memory problem, or is it that formulas never actually made sense to you in the first place? I agree with everyone who mentioned understanding the reasoning behind it - that's definitely the way to go - but I'll give you a really practical example: I had a terrible time with volume and area calculations because I'd only memorized them, so I started drawing everything, literally sketching the shapes on paper, measuring, testing with stuff I had around the house. From that point on it became impossible to forget because it wasn't abstract anymore, it was visual! Try doing the same thing: take a problem from your textbook, work through it slowly, go back to the initial steps, write down why each operation makes sense. If you can rebuild the logic three or four times before the exam, it's not memorization - it's understanding, and that sticks.
Log into answer.
