My system for memorizing micro

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WilliamsEph

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To memorize all the various diseases in microbiology I came up with a simple and effective system: I assign each bacteria/virus/fungi/parasite to a person. The person can be someone famous, a friend, or classmate. Then I associate all the clinical symptoms, lab diagnoses, and anything related to the bug in question to the assigned person with a crazy image or story. I've found now that I'm reviewing for USMLE Step 1, I still remember these crazy associations a year later.


Here are some examples of making up crazy, vidid stories incorporating as much of the associated details for each bug:

E. Coli vs. Klebsiella

I had assigned E. Coli to a guy I used to work with called Eric Collins and Klebsiella to a guy called Bryan Fransella.

E.Coli is indole positive and Klebsiella is indole negative. I imagined myself yelling at Eric calling him a lazy SOB for being so INDOLENT, while Bryan is a hard worker and is not indolent.

Neisseria Meningitidis vs Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria Meningitidis was assigned to my friend Mariam. I imagined Mariam looking demented (meningitis) slobbering over a Maltose candy bar (maltose fermenter). Mariam is a scardy cat and lives in a capsule (capsule present) and always gets vaccinated (vaccine available).

Neisseria gonorrHOEae was assigned to this girl I knew called Nallini. I imagined because Nallini is such a hoe and slept around she was fearless (didn't need a capsule) and since she was very adult-like in her behavior she didn't eat maltose candy bars (maltose non fermenter) and being such a hoe she never took vaccines (no vaccine available).

Ok, so you can imagine you can easily make up stories for each bug, virus, parasite, and fungus. Make it your own; its the best mnemonic. Sometimes it was simple as something that sounded like the name. Ex: Leishmania donovani was Landon Donovan; he couldn't join the US soccer team because he came down with Leishmania donovani when he was bitten by a sandfly when visiting Africa. The ESPN guy showed a picture of Landon Donovan lying in a hospital bed with hyperpigmented skin and a huge spleen.

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lol, that's nice method for retaining large amount of information. When I can't seem to recall information after reviewing repeatedly I draw it out and try to make some kind of association. I will try your method. Thanks ...
 
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