A determination of the memory state of a resistive n-level memory cell is described. The determination includes charging or discharging a read capacity of the memory cell by applying a voltage between a first electrode and a second electrode of the resistive memory cell. A voltage at the second electrode is compared to a reference voltage to obtain a comparison signal. The comparison signal is sampled at, at least, (n−1) time instants during the charge or discharge of the read capacity to obtain sampling values. The memory state of the memory cell can be determined based upon the sampling values.