I read somewhere on Tumblr that Mabel and Dipper are technically geniuses for their age, as Dipper was doing complicated math and Mabel could make amazing art sculptures. So I have this headcanon that Mabel is actually really good at using memory techniques, as creativity is actually a big part of these techniques, which would make her just as smart if not better than Dipper at retaining information, as I'd imagine Dipper takes rote learning very seriously. Also this would be future Pines twins going to the same college and taking the same upper-division Psychology course.

Most information and quotes either come from my own experience and research or from Kevin Horsley's UNLIMITED MEMORY: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive.

"Whoa, that was an intense episode!" squealed Mabel from her perch on the arm of the couch. Dipper clicked the power button on the remote.

"Yeah, but in retrospect, it was kind of predictable," he said, shrugging.

"But Dipper, that guy using the mind-whatsit thing to figure out the exact newspaper article? That's so cool!"

"So? He read and researched a lot of crime reports and newspaper articles, and the right article came to him after he concentrated hard enough. Nothing special."

Mabel flopped onto the mass of pillows that Dipper had set up for himself on the ground.

"Still, the way he moved his arms around and the pictures flashed and changed like he was on an actual hologram computer thingy! I wanna try it!"

"Mabel, you already did something similar, back when the whole, um, you know . . ."

Mabel and Dipper both shuddered at the memory.

"C'mon Dipper, that was Mabel Land; that was just me controlling the world cuz that's what the bubble wanted. This is my brain, I wanna do what he did."

"Mabel, that was just a TV show's representation of what's going on in his mind, it's not really something realistic," said Dipper, leaning back against the couch.

"You sure? I'm pretty sure that I saw something like that in one of Grunkle Ford's old notes."

"Wait, when did you read those? I thought Bill destroyed them, remember?"

"I have my sources," said Mabel, trying to wink while unintentionally scrunching up her face in the process. "Let's just say that Grunkle Stan still had those photocopies he made a long time ago."

"Fair point. So what did his notes say?"

"Just something about the term that the detective guy used. Mind Palace"

Dipper looked to the ceiling, trying to recall what his great uncle had mentioned on the subject.

"That was just a mental experiment, Sis. He was never able to get to work on his because of what Bill did. He wanted to use the technique as a safe house for his mind, but with Bill being able to influence dreams and enter into people's minds, he figured that something else would be more effective."

"Um, duh, I don't plan on using it as a defense mechanism, dork. I'm just curious to see if it works in real life," said Mabel, slapping Dipper's cheek with the sleeve of her sweater.

"H-Hey, cut it out, will ya? Bleh, llama hair tastes disgusting," said Dipper, picking loose hairs out of his shirt.

"You're no fun. Whatever, go study for the exam, I'll go research this on my own," said Mabel, getting up to leave the living room.

"You have to go study too, you know," Dipper called out after his sister. "The exam is a huge chunk of our grade!"

"I'll be fine, I'll study afterwards," she called back from the stairs.

A quick Internet search proved helpful as there were many useful sites and books that would help with learning more about this technique. The Mind Palace, in essence, combines a lot of memory tricks and techniques in order to remember a huge amount of information.

Mabel read aloud:

First, imagine places that you can visualize easily. It can be your home, school, car, route to work, etc. You have to know them very well and can easily see them in your mind's eye. Next, pick a starting point and important checkpoints starting from your first one. For instance, if you pick the door to your room as point 1, go clockwise around your room and label points or pieces of furniture as the next ones sequentially. To start, imagine big pieces of furniture as your points, but as you get used to imagining your scene, choose smaller points or break the piece of furniture into smaller points.

"Huh, okay, let's try that then." Mabel closed her eyes and imagined the twins' shared bedroom in the shack. Point 1 was the door, point 2 was the closet to the left, point 3 was Mabel's mirror, point 4 was her bed, point 5 was the window between their beds, point 6 was Dipper's bed, and point 7 was Dipper's mirror. Seven points to start out.

Next, we create the images. For this exercise, we'll use foreign words:

Spanish:

Tiger is Tigre, and it sounds like "tea" and "grey," so imagine a tiger drinking his tea that has turned grey.

Arm is Brazo, so imagine a bra is sewn onto your arm.

Italian:

Chicken is Polo, so imagine playing polo with the ball being replaced by the chicken.

Cat is Gatto. Imagine saying to a friend, "You've got to hold on to my cat!"

Zulu:

Dog is inja (eenja). Think of a dog who is secretly a ninja.

Snake is Inyoka (eenyo'kaa). Imagine a snake slithering in your car.

Japanese:

Chest is Mune (Mooneh). Imagine money growing out of your chest.

The next step is to place each newly made wacky picture in each location on the path you've created. Review your pictures along your path forwards and backwards and you've got yourself a set of newly memorized information!

Mabel giggled to herself as she let her imagination take control. In her mind's eye, she imagined a tiger with a fist attached to its side, drinking tea that changed from bright red to a dull grey. Opening the closet, she imagined Lil' Gideon, where she promptly stapled a bra to his arm and shut the door on his screams. She didn't know how to play polo, so she instead imagined a chicken wearing a bright polo shirt, looking at its own reflection in her mirror. On her bed she saw Grenda and Candy, and imagined tossing a cat in their direction. A ninja dog broke through their window, making a cool pose, and a car appearing on Dipper's bed, complete with a snake wrapping its tail around the steering wheel. She imagined twelve-year-old Dipper staring into his own mirror, sad that he didn't have any chest hair, when suddenly instead of hair, dollar bills started forming on his chest.

Reviewing the little movie scene she created backwards and forwards in her mind several times, she returned to the article she was reading:

Test Yourself:

What is the Spanish word of tiger?

What is the Italian word of cat?

What is the Zulu word for dog?

What is the Japanese word for chest?

What is the Italian word for chicken?

What is the Zulu word for snake?

What is the Spanish word for arm?

"Tigre, gatto, inja, mune, polo, inyoka, and brazo!" Mabel said out loud almost immediately, then jumped up and down while cheering. This was easy, because she was so creative already. This was fun, because it's wacky and silly. Mabel looked to her textbook, and wondered what would happen if . . .

Dipper looked up at the ceiling, wondering why Mabel was so quiet. Usually she'd be running all over the place, making noises and singing while he was studying, but not tonight. She'd been holed up in her room all day, while he's been at the kitchen table studying for their final exam the next day. Going upstairs to check on her, he knocked quietly and peeked into her room.

The room was a mess, littered with what looked like lists and notes combined. Mabel had on some study piano music and was almost in a meditative state, mumbling incoherently. Occasionally she would open her eyes and jot down something, cross out something else, and go back into a trance.

Dipper smiled, then quietly went down to the kitchen. Best to let her study in her own way.

The day of the exam came, and the twins sat next to each other. Dipper, having barely spoken to his sister all morning, gave her a small smile before the exams were handed out. She smiled back, bags under her eyes, and gave his hand a small squeeze before returning to her last-minute review. Dipper glanced at the list she was poring over, and was surprised at what he saw at the top:

William Wundt | Darth Vader holding baby w/ PSYCH on forehead | Nazi Labrador w/ flag (also says Psych)

While he knew who William Wundt was, the rest of the list confused him. Was this the Mind Palace technique that she had found? Seemed silly, but if Mabel was focusing this intensely, it must work. Dipper shrugged once more, then focused on his own review.

The sound of scratching pencils and frantic erasing quickly filled the room. Mabel was having a blast. The answers came to her so fast because she already knew which picture meant what definition, and where exactly she stored each image. Who was the father of psychology? Um duh, William Wundt, of course (Vader + baby with PSYCH forehead = father of psychology). What are the parts of the brain, and what does each part do? Easy, I have a brain sectioned off with pictures for each definition stored right next to the TV in the living room. Difference between monozygotic twins and dizygotic twins? Um hello? Twins are an easy one. Childhood bedroom, here I come!

Dipper stared at his exam sheet, pondering over the next question. He heard a sound from next to him, and looked up to see that Mabel was turning in her exam already.

There were still two hours still remaining on the clock. She skipped out the door, giving a wink to the bewildered Dipper, and shut the door behind her.

After the exam period was over, Dipper met up with Mabel at the on-campus Starbucks where she was waiting for him.

"How the heck did you finish so fast? I was less than halfway through and you hand your paper in after only one hour?"

"Hey, I told you I was gonna do my own studying after I learn about the Mind Palace. Well, I did. I memorized the entire textbook," said Mabel proudly. A couple of students from their class looked over at her in amazement.

Dipper, with the same expression of amazement on his face, leaned forward.

"You mean to tell me that all those lists, all that meditation, all the wacky and silly stuff I saw on those papers, that was you memorizing an entire textbook in one night?!"

"Yup yup, Bro-Bro!" smiled Mabel. Dipper couldn't say no to that smile, so he happily listening while Mabel started rambling about her studies.

"It's so amazing, Dip! The books all said that creativity is the biggest asset to the technique, and it IS! I had to make so many wacky pictures and make so many Mind Palaces, I used the Mystery Shack, our childhood home, schools, I even had to use Mabel Land and Stan's Mind on occasion because I ran out of places, and the information stuck in my mind! I breezed past the multiple choice because my mind was all like BOOM BOOM BAM here's the right answer, gurl!" I didn't miss a single picture in my mind, everything stayed right there, and I am so HAPPY WHY AM I SO HAPPY!?"

"Mabes, calm down, people are staring," said Dipper, blushing a bit.

"Who cares, I did AWESOME, and I can't wait to see the scores!"

Later that night, the professor posted on the class forum that the TA's were in the process of inputting grades. Dipper was spoon-feeding Mabel ice cream while she was laying on the couch, having burned out most of her brain energy on the exam. Dipper's email notification beeped, indicating that the professor has posted the final exam scores. While Mabel stayed sprawled on the couch, Dipper pulled up their grades on each of the twins' laptops.

The scores were clear:

Dipper Pines: 93/100

Mabel Pines: 120/100

"Mabel . . ." said Dipper slowly.

"Wha . . .?" moaned his sister from the couch.

"You aced the final, and then some."

"Wait, WHAT?!" shouted Mabel, sitting up suddenly. She scrambled over the couch, knocking cushions everywhere, then plonked down behind Dipper, putting her head on his shoulder.

"You got every single question right, plus every single extra credit question right. The professor even put a comment on your grade: You are the first person in the history of my class, as well as the history of the campus to get this high of a score in this course. I am very impressed and wish to use your exam as an example for future classes. Also, I appreciate the glitter all over the exam. Nice touch."

Mabel responded with screams and danced around the room, yelling 'Alpha Twin!' between jumps. Dipper closed the laptops, and watched his sister happy-dance on the couch. He's not gonna hear the end of this for a while, is he?

Epilogue: Mabel goes on to use the Mind Palace for the rest of her exams, as well as learning all sorts of skills in a short amount of time. Dipper is her supplier of sugar to keep her brain working, and Mabel eventually teaches Dipper her secrets and the twins go on to become the top two students in the entire college campus.