Do you forget what you learned over the summer?

[nerv12]

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To med school students specifically as I know that you have to memorize/remember ALOT of tedious and difficult things, so what helps you remember the stuff for next year? when summer goes by, do you forget what you learned in the previous year? What are some strategies to help remember? I do good in school but I always forget most of the stuff over the summer...

 

[RySerr21]

To med school students specifically as I know that you have to memorize/remember ALOT of tedious and difficult things, so what helps you remember the stuff for next year? when summer goes by, do you forget what you learned in the previous year? What are some strategies to help remember? I do good in school but I always forget most of the stuff over the summer...

If you dont continue to use something (or read something, review something, etc) then you are going to forget it. Its that simple. The human memory really isn't that good. I mean you arent going to TOTALLY forget it, it should at least sound familiar if you see it again, but it just takes a simple review and the material should start coming back to you quickly. For example if you look at comprehensive finals. Yes, they are scary. However, if you have been keeping up all semseter and been studying hard then the review should be pretty easy and youll find that the little stuff you forgot will come back very quickly. Really the only strategy to remember something is to keep reviewing it. If you leave it alone for X amount of time, eventually you will forget it.

 

[seelee]

If you dont continue to use something (or read something, review something, etc) then you are going to forget it. Its that simple. The human memory really isn't that good. I mean you arent going to TOTALLY forget it, it should at least sound familiar if you see it again, but it just takes a simple review and the material should start coming back to you quickly. For example if you look at comprehensive finals. Yes, they are scary. However, if you have been keeping up all semseter and been studying hard then the review should be pretty easy and youll find that the little stuff you forgot will come back very quickly. Really the only strategy to remember something is to keep reviewing it. If you leave it alone for X amount of time, eventually you will forget it.

I agree with the above quote, the reason your teachers remember everything is because they teach the course semester after semester, ask any organic chem professor a specific question about quantum mechanics and they will not be any help. You will remember the stuff that you use all the time. The key is to hang onto study materials and textbooks that you might need in the future. I would recommend not selling back any of your science textbooks. Besides, putting them on your wall makes you look like a genius.

 

[RySerr21]

I agree with the above quote, the reason your teachers remember everything is because they teach the course semester after semester, ask any organic chem professor a specific question about quantum mechanics and they will not be any help. You will remember the stuff that you use all the time. The key is to hang onto study materials and textbooks that you might need in the future. I would recommend not selling back any of your science textbooks. Besides, putting them on your wall makes you look like a genius.

HAHA. F that. I plan to NEVER look in an organic chemistry/physics/general chemistry text book ever again. Biology would be useful to keep, although i borrowed it from somebody. I kept my anatomy and physiology textbooks, for obvious reasons, and actually quite a few of my humanities textbooks/books that i found fascinating and wouldnt mind browsing through every once in a while.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Second the "f that" to keeping up with classes via textbook. Everything you learn in undergrad will become obsolete in the first week of each of your classes. Don't bother keeping up with anything via a textbook. MCAT review is really all you need to remember anything for. Once you've taken that and done as well as you want, you can purge undergrad completely. At UAMS, we learn stuff by organ system, and I tend to instantly forget just about everything after the test for each unit. I'll have to refresh myself for shelf exams and Step 1, but information essentially becomes useless once the block it's in is done.

 

[tennisball80]

I discovered it's so hard for me to remember anything I have learned. For example, I am getting an A in my math course, but when I did the practice final test, I only got 40% on it. I have spend some time every month to review a course's materials then.

 

[gabeybaby]

I discovered it's so hard for me to remember anything I have learned. For example, I am getting an A in my math course, but when I did the practice final test, I only got 40% on it. I have spend some time every month to review a course's materials then.

your grade doesn't reflect what you know. for math, you need to understand the basics/fundamentals/equations. if you don't know those but just crammed when it comes to each unit test, you're basically dead when it comes to the final comprehension test. your 40% reflects your inefficient study skills. find what u did before and try to tweak it so it can better help you in the future.

 

[seelee]

OK let me rephrase that. If you are only taking classes so that you can get into medical school and do not plan on being well rounded at all then yes get rid of your textbooks and only keep an MCAT study guide.

 

[strv04]

It feels like I barely remember anything that we did more then 3 weeks ago, however it is in my brain somewhere and we I study it again for boards it will come back faster (hopefully). So get used to this feeling it never goes away.

 

[MilkmanAl]

OK let me rephrase that. If you are only taking classes so that you can get into medical school and do not plan on being well rounded at all then yes get rid of your textbooks and only keep an MCAT study guide.

Reading textbooks does not make you well-rounded in any sense. I can absolutely promise you that you won't have time to read them even if you wanted to. I kept a few books from classes that interested me greatly, and I've looked through them each maybe 1-2 times. If you like a book, awesome. Keep it. Let's not go acting like having all your textbooks says anything about your personality one way or another.

 

[RySerr21]

OK let me rephrase that. If you are only taking classes so that you can get into medical school and do not plan on being well rounded at all then yes get rid of your textbooks and only keep an MCAT study guide.

😕 Ill be the first to say that the ONLY reason I took organic chemistry, physics, general chemistry, and calculus is so that I could meet the pre med requirements (yes, ive said that in an interview). I could not care less bout the content of those subjects. Its not those courses that make you well rounded, everyone has to take them. Its your elective courses and theh courses that you take b/c you want to take them that make you well rounded.....THOSE are the books that I kept. Its your other activities and interestes that make you well rounded, not the useless storage of old textbooks for subjects you have no use in knowing (yes, i understand that a basic knowledge in chemistry is necessary. But you are out of your mind if you think its necessary to review balancing equations). You really think that keeping your physics textbook makes you well rounded? Um, I'll take my 100 dollars back thank you kindly.

 

[tennisball80]

your grade doesn't reflect what you know. for math, you need to understand the basics/fundamentals/equations. if you don't know those but just crammed when it comes to each unit test, you're basically dead when it comes to the final comprehension test. your 40% reflects your inefficient study skills. find what u did before and try to tweak it so it can better help you in the future.

Thanks for your advice. 😉

 

[kdburton]

To med school students specifically as I know that you have to memorize/remember ALOT of tedious and difficult things, so what helps you remember the stuff for next year? when summer goes by, do you forget what you learned in the previous year? What are some strategies to help remember? I do good in school but I always forget most of the stuff over the summer...

Big time... When I'm ready to take a test I can pretty much remember even the smallest details about the most minute minutia. Once another module starts (even if its just a couple weeks after the test) I can't recall most of those details. However, you see a lot of recurring themes in med school as you progress through the different modules and eventually some of the big-picture stuff becomes cemented in your brain. If I were to go back and "relearn" a lot of the stuff I've already learned in the last couple years it would come back much faster even if I can't recall it off the top of my head right now.