How do you retain information

[jsp132]

There were a couple older forum posts about a year ago about this topic but nothing recently

do most of you review things in your downtime in between semesters?

try to memorize things until you can repeat it ad naseaum?

..........i guess it puzzles me maybe it's my age and how I am not able to memorize concepts as easily as when I was having it beaten into me when I was little

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[CaptainObvious]

I find that rote memory and repetition are the most inefficient methods for me. They don't seem to work well for laying down long term recall.

I like to to make little memory hooks, I guess like the peg system some here have mentioned, and sometimes mnemonics. Mnemonics are ok, and work well in a pinch, but I try not to rely on them too much.

I review my notes every day (usually multiple times per day) for maybe 10-20 minutes and have also been using the Anki flashcards. I find that the consistent exposure tends to make the information stick better long term.

It's kind of hard to explain how I retain information. But the way I study and think about things has changed quite a bit since I was younger. Maybe I have gotten more efficient in remembering things just by virtue of being around for a good number of years as opposed to when I was in my 20's. Not really sure.

 

[Torr]

Everyone has to find their own system but I'm a big fan of mnemonics where I can get them, repetition, repetition and if you have enough time...repetition also helps.

Understanding concepts is important in most areas but when it comes to subjects like anatomy, micro, and parts of biochem (krebs cycle etc) you're going to be focused on memorization for the most part.

try to memorize things until you can repeat it ad naseaum?

Yeah, so pretty much this for me.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

Yep, it completely depends on the subject, but in reality I think ofr all of us its repeated exposure, or a strong interest in the info....

 

[MT Headed]

In the winter, no I don't review material. I ski and I read the "SubjectX For Dummies" books for the next semester's classes.

In the summer, I guess so, in the sense that last summer my job was a science tutor at my university, and this summer my job is to study for the MCAT. This is a lot more concept-based studying though, and not really memorization.

The tutoring really helped, trying to come up with creative ways relate new chem and bio topics to subjects the students were already familiar with.

 

[n3xa]

I have to draw it all out myself to see it:

*Note: be careful with the bathtub crayons. You're going to need a bit o' bleach in your cleaner to clean in between the tiles. Ask me how I know.

 

[LegendaryPunk]

I try to feed myself information from multiple senses, although my main strength is visual learning. This means I draw pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. I'm no artist - to the lay person my scribbles are occasionally incomprehensible, but to me they unlock the secrets of the nephron, pediatric intubation technique, and why atropine works as an organophosphate "antidote." The more difficult it is to translate something into a picture, the more likely I am to remember it, just because the picture ends up being so absurd.

I also create note cards that I can glance through for "lightning round" review sessions, and audio files that I listen to while working out or driving. If after multiple attempts I find I can't remember something, I re-write / re-draw the information to try looking at it from a different perspective.

I envision my memory as a spider-web that only adheres to certain methods of learning - the trick is finding out which things stick and which slide right off!

 

[Torr]

I have to draw it all out myself to see it:

*Note: be careful with the bathtub crayons. You're going to need a bit o' bleach in your cleaner to clean in between the tiles. Ask me how I know.

Oh my god n3xa Can I pllllease buy you a whiteboard!!?

I'll wait till you announce your acceptance this cycle before I send it to disguise it as a congratulatory gift. Act surprised.

 

[n3xa]

Oh my god n3xa Can I pllllease buy you a whiteboard!!?

YAYS!


I use the whiteboards at the library, but I don't have one of my own. Hence the portable easel post-it thingie on the other picture:

http://www.post-it.com/wps/portal/3...3CE7_nid=V0K8CKJ9MQgsKK1GCH46K8gl02RXR1QXDSbl

You can easily carry it around campus like a dork and it fits in the backseat of my car.

 

[NuttyEngDude]

You can get markerboard-like material at home depot for very cheap, like 3' x 5' for $10. It isnt as nice as the real markerboard and probably has to be replaced with heavy use but it is very good value.

I have one now, ready to go for o-chem in the fall

I've so far only used it to practice memorizing the vsepr models in chem and to keep track of my various class grades throughout the semester.

 

[Catburr]

*Note: be careful with the bathtub crayons. You're going to need a bit o' bleach in your cleaner to clean in between the tiles. Ask me how I know.

That is so creative...I'm in awe.

 

[eablackwell]

Interest is important for me. I learn best in different ways depending on how interested I am in the material.

Uninterested approach: Repetition. Flash cards. White board drawings. Verbal quizzes. Mnemonic devices.

Interested approach: If I hear it, I can usually repeat it. For the sake of studying, I wait overnight and quiz myself to make sure I actually retained it. If not, I study with the above uninterested approach. Reading a textbook doesn't do much for me. I can visualize pics I've seen in textbooks, but there are too many words on the page for me to bring up a picture in my head of the specific words. I do skim textbooks for important information, of course, but I find sitting down for long periods of time and reading through chapters completely is a waste of my time. Oddly, I tend to absorb things overnight. Maybe I'll be flustered with a subject I'm studying one evening, and when I wake up sometimes it makes sense.

In the end, everyone learns in their own way. It's important to hammer down what really works for you as quickly as possible. From what I've heard, there's so much information flying your way in med school that old approaches to studying often do not work.

 

[n3xa]

That is so creative...I'm in awe.

I gotta give credit where it's due. I ripped this from a friend of mine, who is now a surgery resident, who snapped pics of her study methods for step 1 years ago.

 

[BlestMama]

Drawing pictures is brilliant! That would work really well for me I think. I recall pictures in my mind quite well and if I draw it myself, even better. I love the shower idea too. Really! What a great way to occupy an otherwise waste of 20 minutes (I'm reeeaaaallllly slow).

It also helps me to explain it out loud to someone else, so if I don't have a study group, my very sweet husband pretends to be interested. Especially if we're sharing a pitcher of margaritas on the roof.

 

[eablackwell]

Drawing pictures is brilliant! That would work really well for me I think. I recall pictures in my mind quite well and if I draw it myself, even better. I love the shower idea too. Really! What a great way to occupy an otherwise waste of 20 minutes (I'm reeeaaaallllly slow).

It also helps me to explain it out loud to someone else, so if I don't have a study group, my very sweet husband pretends to be interested. Especially if we're sharing a pitcher of margaritas on the roof.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees my shower time as a waste I, too, am slow at showers, maybe because I spend so much time thinking about other things I could be doing. I LOVE the idea of drawing reviews on the walls, though I suspect I will be running out of hot water.

 

[jsp132]

the lengths people go to retain information...........very awesome and creative

may I ask what class it was for?.........

 

[BuSyDaZe]

This is hilarious. I also enjoy the pleasures of having my husband as a study partner. He tries to portray to be as interested as possible, but we end up taking multiple breaks after a while. His attention span for the material does not last as long as I would like, but he is still my favorite study buddy

 

[QofQuimica]

What I want to know is, where do you buy shower crayons? That is awesome.

OP, I find that doing practice questions helps me a lot. If I can use the material to solve novel problems, it will help me remember it. Obviously math-based subjects like physics and chemistry (including organic chem) are very amenable to being studied this way. Biology does require more memorization, but you can still do the questions at the end of your textbook chapter, do practice quiz questions, etc. Engaging the material actively rather than trying to absorb it passively by reading is what makes the information stick.

For things that require sheer memorization, mnemonics are my strategy. I hate flashcards. Making up mnemonics requires some practice and creativity, but if you get decent at it, you can use them in many other ways besides just to memorize academic info. When I meet new people, I find mnemonics useful to help me learn unfamiliar names, especially Asian and Indian names. My best friend from grad school is from India, and I even managed to learn several words and phrases in his native language using mnemonics to memorize the syllables--I still remember that the Telegu word for "hungry" rhymes with "broccoli," only without the br at the beginning. So, you say it "occoli." (No idea how it's actually spelled!)

 

[n3xa]

What I want to know is, where do you buy shower crayons? That is awesome.

OP, I find that doing practice questions helps me a lot. If I can use the material to solve novel problems, it will help me remember it. Obviously math-based subjects like physics and chemistry (including organic chem) are very amenable to being studied this way. Biology does require more memorization, but you can still do the questions at the end of your textbook chapter, do practice quiz questions, etc. Engaging the material actively rather than trying to absorb it passively by reading is what makes the information stick.

I think that's why I naturally gravitated towards chem/math/physics in college. Doing problems kept me engaged.

I bought those crayons at either a Babies R Us or Toys R Us. One of those.. I was trying to find a birthday present for a toddler and came across a pack of bathtub crayons.

 

[wholeheartedly]

It definitely depends on the subject for me. With things like calc, physics, and chemistry it's camping out with a whiteboard doing problems and drawing reactions over and over.

For things like physiology and micro it was drawing diagrams and for memorization stuff it's writing "summary" sheets, which is basically condensing my notes down to fewer pages in my own words until I get everything down to just a couple pages to remember everything. I prefer understanding concepts to memorizing but am quite good at memorizing if the situation
requires it.

While I like studying alone, I did discover a couple year back that I do review quite well going back and forth with another person and sort of teaching material and quizzing each other. It requires the right kind of person though as other times it's been waaaay to easier to get off task. In a couple of my classes we did case studies to solidify concepts as a group and it was awesome to walk through cases like that. I really learn well when I can apply the information to real world problems.