I can really only recommend books that do a more top-down approach. I apologize for the long links; I'm html illiterate and if I look it up, I'll get distracted and probably never come back to it.
Here's my perspective (I just started my first real job as an FP attending this week)
Those 1500 pages do not need to be in your long term memory. I only remember a small fraction of what I learned in the first 2 years, and use even less of that.
For a subject like biochem, it is a building block for things you will need to know later.
For a subject like pharmacology, you won't use all of those drugs, and half of them will be different by the time you finish residency. A lot of it will need to be crammed. A slimmer board-review book like the LWW High Yield Series will give you a better source for things to learn long term
( ... )
I've always learned better through auditory means. I've found that if I'm able to listen to a lecture more than once (or just a key section of a lecture), I tend to retain that information.
I keep mp3s of all of my lectures (granted I use a speech-to-text converter, Dragon Naturally Speaking, to change them all into notes). You can also buy a text-to-speech converter (Naturally Speaking can also do this) and make your own audio files from old notes.
I'm also an advocate of applied or problem-based learning for long-term retention. If you have to dig to find an answer (or many answers) you're going to have more experience with the material, and you will retain it better.
Re: Great suggestionslincolnparadoxAugust 3 2008, 03:29:04 UTC
Well, PBL is always kind of artificial. It's nicer when you have a real, applied reason to seek out some information. But, if you want to remember things using PBL, start adding caveats onto your current work. For pharm, ask yourself about prescribing a drug to a specific patient. Go over whatever it is you want to brush up on (side effects, drug interactions, etc.). For patho, that's a lot tougher (and artificial), but still doable. Get your hands on a bunch of test slides (I actually use old-fashioned slides for this) and go through them. ID test, methodology, interpret the results...
I got lucky and inherited about 15 carousels of old patho 35mm slides. They're not pretty, but they're in color and cover a lot of ground.
Pharm is a bitch, no matter what you do, but if you can familiarize yourself with the common stuff, you can start building on that knowledge.
Uhh, you don't need to know all that stuff long term. You just need to retain that information long enough to pass your test and then brush up on it again for the USMLE exam. Then, after you pass the USMLE, you'll drink a few beers and your brain will release its grasp on this information, letting it slip away forever.
Don't worry, you'll never need to use that information again. Not a day goes by where I ever have to remember what follows fumarate in the Krebs cycle.
[I'm not in med school, only a hard working undergrad with aspirations :)]
With so much information, I find it really really difficult to make note cards. Since you have so much time, you can allow yourself a more drawn out study method to allow for maximal processing of the information. I usually start out with making a pretty detailed outline of the chapter, which I then read through many times. After that, I type up a simplified version of the information which organizes main points rather than details. This simplified version is then read through, while mentally substituting in the details from the original outline. If I have extra time, I write everything out by hand.
I find this to be the best way for me to learn long term: cued recall and repetition. To remember complicated information long term, there is no short cut. There's only determined and directed studying. :)
This is only my own super in-depth study method. If you find anything else in your search, please let me know!
Comments 11
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Concepts-Pharmacology-Students-Survival/dp/0070631654
http://www.amazon.com/How-Immune-System-Works-Blackwells/dp/140516221X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217608872&sr=1-1
and, of course, the ever popular
http://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Microbiology-Ridiculously-Simple-Medmaster/dp/094078081X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217608769&sr=8-1
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What is your study technique? Is there a way to learn all this without notecards?
Reply
Those 1500 pages do not need to be in your long term memory. I only remember a small fraction of what I learned in the first 2 years, and use even less of that.
For a subject like biochem, it is a building block for things you will need to know later.
For a subject like pharmacology, you won't use all of those drugs, and half of them will be different by the time you finish residency. A lot of it will need to be crammed. A slimmer board-review book like the LWW High Yield Series will give you a better source for things to learn long term ( ... )
Reply
Thank you for the review book suggestions.
I copied everything important into a spiral notebook. I found writing everything down as I read it me retain it short term.
Sounds like the outlines that I typed. All good points. Thank you.
Did you rely on notecards or is there a way without cards?
Reply
I've always learned better through auditory means. I've found that if I'm able to listen to a lecture more than once (or just a key section of a lecture), I tend to retain that information.
I keep mp3s of all of my lectures (granted I use a speech-to-text converter, Dragon Naturally Speaking, to change them all into notes). You can also buy a text-to-speech converter (Naturally Speaking can also do this) and make your own audio files from old notes.
I'm also an advocate of applied or problem-based learning for long-term retention. If you have to dig to find an answer (or many answers) you're going to have more experience with the material, and you will retain it better.
Reply
How could I practice problem-based learning for pharm or patho, for instance?
Reply
Well, PBL is always kind of artificial. It's nicer when you have a real, applied reason to seek out some information. But, if you want to remember things using PBL, start adding caveats onto your current work. For pharm, ask yourself about prescribing a drug to a specific patient. Go over whatever it is you want to brush up on (side effects, drug interactions, etc.). For patho, that's a lot tougher (and artificial), but still doable. Get your hands on a bunch of test slides (I actually use old-fashioned slides for this) and go through them. ID test, methodology, interpret the results...
I got lucky and inherited about 15 carousels of old patho 35mm slides. They're not pretty, but they're in color and cover a lot of ground.
Pharm is a bitch, no matter what you do, but if you can familiarize yourself with the common stuff, you can start building on that knowledge.
Reply
Don't worry, you'll never need to use that information again. Not a day goes by where I ever have to remember what follows fumarate in the Krebs cycle.
Reply
Reply
Still, it doesn't hurt to brush up on your biohem every once in a while...
Reply
With so much information, I find it really really difficult to make note cards. Since you have so much time, you can allow yourself a more drawn out study method to allow for maximal processing of the information. I usually start out with making a pretty detailed outline of the chapter, which I then read through many times. After that, I type up a simplified version of the information which organizes main points rather than details. This simplified version is then read through, while mentally substituting in the details from the original outline. If I have extra time, I write everything out by hand.
I find this to be the best way for me to learn long term: cued recall and repetition. To remember complicated information long term, there is no short cut. There's only determined and directed studying. :)
This is only my own super in-depth study method. If you find anything else in your search, please let me know!
Reply
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