forgetting?

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bruinkid

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hi!
i finished my first year of medical school and i've noticed that i've forgotten a lot of the things i learned this past year. for instance, if someone were to ask me an anatomy question...i wouldn't be able to answer it. is this normal?
 
bruinkid said:
hi!
i finished my first year of medical school and i've noticed that i've forgotten a lot of the things i learned this past year. for instance, if someone were to ask me an anatomy question...i wouldn't be able to answer it. is this normal?

Yes. It is said that physicians have forgotten more things than the average person has ever learned. That's fine, because medical school is largely about learning conceptual foundations that you will never need to know the specifics about again. What you need to know will be retained through repetition. (And of course there will always be people who remember more than others, so don't worry when someone whips out the old Krebs cycle on you at some point ...the only thing I know about it any more is that it looks like a circle made of many small arrows, and even that is a little suspect.)
 
yes

but if you wanna do something about it early.
buy first aid for usmle step 1 and study it during 2nd year
will help you remember things faster when boards time rolls around
good luck
 
thanks for the advice asianpride!
 
bruinkid said:
hi!
i finished my first year of medical school and i've noticed that i've forgotten a lot of the things i learned this past year. for instance, if someone were to ask me an anatomy question...i wouldn't be able to answer it. is this normal?


ah ha!
you've hit the jack pot question of the md's life. you'll be even more amazed how much you forget by the time the boards come around (scary at times) or some attending starts pimping you in front of everyone, or you need to work someone up for euvolemic hyponatremia.

it's tough, but if you're conscientious and have the discipline (and find a little bit of time each day) to come up with creative ways to review (and more importantly recall quickly) pertinent old materia, you'll be well on your way to making life much easier for yourself and for the patients you care for. make it a lifelong habit and it'll be a tremendous help. however, as the med student/resident's life is always time-sucked, it is alas, easier said than done.

nevertheless, keep trying hard to always find the time to review something old for at least for 20 minutes a day; it'll add up.

best.

p.s.
in additon to first aid for the boards as finely suggested by an OP, i'd also pick up pharm recall: a really great book for boards review as well as highly useful during 3rd yr and beyond (check out SDN and/or amazon.com for some reviews).
 
Keep a review book (1st aid) by the crapper.
 
bruinkid said:
hi!
i finished my first year of medical school and i've noticed that i've forgotten a lot of the things i learned this past year. for instance, if someone were to ask me an anatomy question...i wouldn't be able to answer it. is this normal?


it's normal...you'll only be extremely well versed about a topic if you did a research about it, or repeat it some many times until you are sick and tired of it, like diabetes and hypertension
 
kinetic said:
... so don't worry when someone whips out the old Krebs cycle on you at some point ...the only thing I know about it any more is that it looks like a circle made of many small arrows, and even that is a little suspect.)


:laugh:

hahaha. i knew i wasn't the only one.
 
kinetic said:
Yes. It is said that physicians have forgotten more things than the average person has ever learned.
And I imagine it was a physician who said this originally. This sounds suspiciously like ego masturbation to me.
 
aphistis said:
And I imagine it was a physician who said this originally. This sounds suspiciously like ego masturbation to me.

Which doesn't mean it's untrue.
 
kinetic said:
Which doesn't mean it's untrue.
After only one year of med school, I believe it.
 
kinetic said:
Which doesn't mean it's untrue.
True enough, but with the vast majority of physicians not really having any experience with the volume of information a "normal person" (whatever that is) deals with, it remains a pretty pretentious claim.
 
Once you have went through puberty you have earned the right to masturbate!
 
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