One of the biggest challenges about history is remembering all the different dates of events. Student's frequently ask, "How do I remember all those dates?". The answer depends on your memorization ability and the amount of time you are willing to put into it.

A person's ability to memorize dates and facts varies incredibly. Those with photographic memories can look at something once and remember everything for long periods of time. Others have a hard time remembering more than one thing at a time. For most people the answer is going to be a combination of time and technique.

One strategy is to make a list of dates and their corresponding events and reading over them and quizzing yourself until you know them. This can be done with flash cards, Cornell Notes or time-lines. This can work, but it will take time and the information will be lost if not used quickly. This technique is most effective for people that are good at memorizing.

A more effective strategy is to give the dates some kind of context to help remember them. For instance, if dates are categorized in shorter blocks they will be easier to remember. In American history it is helpful to organize dates by the presidential administrations. This narrows the event dates into four year or eight year blocks . If you know Sputnik was launched while Dwight Eisenhower was president then the date is between 1953 and 1960. Now you have a frame of reference for the event. If you can then remember the key events of the Eisenhower presidency in order, you have an even better chance of knowing the exact date.

A good way to remember dates and educate others is to work the events and dates you are trying to remember into everyday conversation. If someone says they are going to a party Saturday, you could say, "That is June 6th what a great way to celebrate D-Day." They may look at you strange but you will remember the date.

Whatever strategy you choose to use, repetition and context are the key. You will not be able to remember dates that are only numbers. The more you see and think about the date and the more ways you have to pinpoint the correct date the better you will be at remembering dates