The capacity of short term memory is about 7 chunks of information, whether each bit is a single number or a more complex set of things. A U S New material seems to bump existing material out. The contents of short-term memory disappear in about 30 seconds, unless you repeat them to yourself over and over. Maintenance rehearsal is the conscious repetition of the contents to short-term memory. LTM is limited by encoding and retrieval.
Encoding is the process whereby information is put into long-term memory.
More effective is to repeat the information in some new meaningful way. This is called elaborative rehearsal because you elaborate on the material. Information processed at a deeper level is more likely to be remembered. This strategy can be useful. Think about where the information leads.