Yeah, this is what happens when you cram.
I majored in history in college and we had to memorize tons of dates in courses like Greek and Roman history. The only way I could remember the dates was through intensive night before the exam cramming. I'm also finding I have to do this in anatomy sometimes for things like origins and insertions of muscles. IMO, any information that has no connection to other information and is just kind of a random something-you-must-know is easily forgotten. The best way to rectify this, I find, is forming as many connections as possible among different pieces of information. Link one factoid to another factoid and observe how they relate. Also, clinical examples help a lot too. If you can associate a structure with a pathology and treatment, it makes it easier to remember (at least for me). Any associations help too, just like with people. You're more likely to remember someone's name if you associate it with a physical characteristic of that person, for example, Ruby has red hair.
