Memorization in biology courses

[throwl]

Lately I’ve been taking some biology courses and have found studying very tedious. The material isn’t difficult, as I have gotten good marks and a good MCAT score. But I don’t enjoy studying for those courses and I am afraid I might not enjoy the courses in medical school either. The main problem is the extensive amount of memorization needed for the courses. I like learning about how the body works but am not fond of memorizing the details. For other courses like chemistry, there isn’t as much rote memorization required. I know that after the first two years of medical school, this won’t be a major problem. But it would be great if someone here can provide some insight about the extent of memorization needed in medical school.

I had to make a new account because I can't login to my old one.

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[jqueb29]

Lately I’ve been taking some biology courses and have found studying very tedious. The material isn’t difficult, as I have gotten good marks and a good MCAT score. But I don’t enjoy studying for those courses and I am afraid I might not enjoy the courses in medical school either. The main problem is the extensive amount of memorization needed for the courses. I like learning about how the body works but am not fond of memorizing the details. For other courses like chemistry, there isn’t as much rote memorization required. I know that after the first two years of medical school, this won’t be a major problem. But it would be great if someone here can provide some insight about the extent of memorization needed in medical school.

I had to make a new account because I can't login to my old one.

It's hard to give percentages but there's a lot of both, and they often mix together. If I had to guess though, I would say it's probably about 1/3 learning processes that are pretty intuitive and don't require memorization, 1/6 memorization of random facts that don't fit in elsewhere, and the remaining 1/2 is 2nd or 3rd level stuff that you can either memorize or just rationalize out if you understand the core process underlying it. An example of that last part: you can either just memorize that myelofibrosis is associated with extramedullary hematopoiesis, or you can just be able to break it down step by step; you know that myelofibrosis is scarring of the bone marrow, you know that hematopoiesis occurs normally in the bone marrow, and then you can reason that this fibrosis pushes out hematopoiesis to extramedullary sites. A great deal of physiology, pharmacology, and pathology can be reasoned out if you just know the core principles, but there are definitely still a not-insignificant number of pure factoids that you're just gonna have to memorize.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

Generally it's an arduous chore memorizing material you don't give a crap about, I couldn't stand studying for an anthro course I took. You might just not be into the courses you're taking, which depending on the courses might not matter if medicine is your goal.

 

[yeasureyoubetcha]

I couldn't stand studying for an anthro course I took. You might just not be into the courses you're taking

Hate that s***


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[Dandine]

I asked a similar question in undergrad, although more on how much conceptual understanding is in med school. In general (and shout out to @NickNaylor for this one), the actual material is memorization but the practice is much more critical thinking and differentials. Feel free to check it out below if you're interested.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ng-aka-studying-in-conceptual-classes.983153/

Though many bio classes I took were on the more conceptual side, although there were several (biochem included, if that counts as bio even with chem involved) where I had to straight up memorize stuff that would be asked for on the test later. I think in those classes, the goal is to make sure you understand the framework, and if you do that, then the memorization becomes somewhat easier. It becomes more of a memory palace than anything else, linking the parts together that you need to put down on the paper. I preferred conceptual stuff more than straight-up memorizing, but looking back on those classes, it probably would have been easier to do the "remember first" approach since they were very easy points to get from those exams. Although, ironically, taking those classes made me have to think critically about the processes in the first place so...two-way street?

 

[Skydive Fox]

Not in med school, but just FYI I've found "memorizing" a lot easier after spending a summer going over all the common Latin (and some Greek) root words that accompany science terminology. Of course there's always going to be that **** named after discoverers and irrational names that just have to memorized, but you can ease the burden quite a bit by knowing root words.

 

[ifnotnowwren]

Not in med school, but just FYI I've found "memorizing" a lot easier after spending a summer going over all the common Latin (and some Greek) root words that accompany science terminology. Of course there's always going to be that **** named after discoverers and irrational names that just have to memorized, but you can ease the burden quite a bit by knowing root words.

What resources did you use for this? I've always found etymology really helpful and I've been wanting to do something similar!

 

[Skydive Fox]

What resources did you use for this? I've always found etymology really helpful and I've been wanting to do something similar!

I'm not sure where my sheet came from when I studied them that summer tbh, my dad's a physician and I just found it in a pile of his stuff. If I still had it, I'd scan it for ya, but here's something kinda similar I dug up via a Google search (hyperlinked). It seems to have all the important ones. I just did one column a week in summer and then went light-speed through the "memorization" parts of Anatomy & Physiology material the next year. (Ex. I knew "Phren-" means "diaphragm," so recalling in practicals that the "Phrenic Nerve" is what innervates the diaphragm was second nature)

 

[ifnotnowwren]

I'm not sure where my sheet came from when I studied them that summer tbh, my dad's a physician and I just found it in a pile of his stuff. If I still had it, I'd scan it for ya, but here's something kinda similar I dug up via a Google search (hyperlinked). It seems to have all the important ones. I just did one column a week in summer and then went light-speed through the "memorization" parts of Anatomy & Physiology material the next year. (Ex. I knew "Phren-" means "diaphragm," so recalling in practicals that the "Phrenic Nerve" is what innervates the diaphragm was second nature)

Thank you so much!