A syndrome weight of failed decoding attempts is used to select parameters for future read retry operations. The following exemplary steps are performed until a decoding success or a predefined limited number of readings is reached: (i) reading a codeword using different read threshold voltages; (ii) mapping the readings to a corresponding likelihood value using a likelihood value assignment; and (iii) recording a syndrome weight for failed decoding attempts of the readings using the different read threshold voltages. Once the predefined limit is reached, the following exemplary steps are performed: (i) mapping the readings to a corresponding likelihood value using different likelihood value assignments, and (ii) recording a syndrome weight for failed decoding attempts of the readings using the different likelihood value assignments; and using a given read threshold voltage and/or a likelihood value assignment associated with a substantially minimum syndrome weight as an initial read threshold voltage and/or a higher priority read threshold voltage for subsequent read retry operations.