Being psychic or having a poor memory?

Apparent psychic messages are often put down to cryptomnesia. This is where you have a memory of something without realizing it but which may be recalled in certain situations. I used to think this seemed a bit unlikely and wondered if it was a real phenomenon. Now I realize I have been experiencing it all my life.

I should explain that I have a terrible memory. I’ve had it all  my life but amazingly didn’t realize until someone pointed it out when I was already several decades old. I looked back over my life and all sorts of puzzling things suddenly made sense. Like how it was that I just happened to know lots of people with remarkably good memories! And how was it that I understood stuff when it was being taught at school but went completely blank when in an exam room? I also realized I was using coping strategies, like leaving reminder notes everywhere, without ever consciously deciding I needed to. This coping mechanism disguised my ,memory problem.

I also realized I was able to display strong cryptomnesia. I’m not particularly interested in quizzes but occasionally come across one, on TV, for instance. And sometimes I find myself answering the questions on the quiz correctly. There’s nothing odd about that except for one thing – I usually have no absolutely idea how I know the answer. It is often a subject I’ve never studied or taken any interest in. It’s entirely possible that I’ve simply absorbed the information from TV, on the web or from books and simply can’t remember it. I can see how some people who do this could regard themselves as psychic.

So could my bad memory mean that I know all sorts of things without even realizing it? Or is it nothing to do with a bad memory and, actually, everyone displays this kind of cryptomnesia? I’d be interested to hear other people’s experiences in being able to answer quiz questions without knowing how. And I’d love to know if psychics, or those who think they might be psychic, have bad memories.