LEARNING versus MEMORIZING, how to learn vs memorize?

[PharmaTope]

seriously, i have found that cramming so much in i just had to figure out Mnemonics and maybe dirty dumb ways of regurgitation of material.

i feel like i have done so much of that that i dont know what LEARNING even is anymore.

any advice? It scares me that i forget some of the simple things but in the past i was able to dominate exams at the time.

anyone else encounter this? anyone else afraid by this?

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[shreypete]

I have the exact the same question but I never asked for the fear of being ridiculed 🙁

 

[PharmaTope]

I have the exact the same question but I never asked for the fear of being ridiculed 🙁

ridicule all they want, this is a serious question for me.

ill be honest, i was able to learn massive amounts of info in a short amount of time based on mneumonics and perverted stories i came up in my mind. ESPECIALLY for pharmacology.

i figured why bother when you can look certain things up. biochem? come on seriously when will you ever need to recite the krebs cycle and other garbage? never, medicine is more clinically based and depending on speciality you won't know it.

i was able to pass and do very very well in my classes based upon my ability to regurgitate so much junk. i would really compare my ability to regurgitate to Will Ferrell in old school when he wuold go into a trance and just spit out tons of randomness and suddenly be drained after confused as to what just happened.

i think that describes me. learn and regurg then move on. anyone else feel this way? i dont even know what learning is anymore because of the expectations in society to be the best and to meet these performance expectations.

please any advice. how do you learn?

 

[unsung]

I feel the same way. What's this "learning" you speak of? I feel like I've memorized a ton in MSI... but "learned" only a little 😉

But. One thing I will say is, it makes a difference what you choose to memorize, in terms of how much you "learn".

For example, I find that actually memorizing the classes of meds- i.e. draw a big flow chart of autonomic drugs- cholinergic agonists- indirect- reversible/irreversible, etc. (you get the point), and memorizing drugs by class, made me feel like I "learned" something.

Any "random facts" I memorized about a specific drug could be placed into a kind of logical framework. This framework allows me to reason things out when faced with a Q. I.e. "drug X is a reversible cholineresterase inhibitor, therefore it probably ...." This worked a lot better for me in terms of retention too, as it was a logical way to "chunk" the material, instead of just memorizing "10 random different things" about each drug (I think the flashcard method unfortunately propetuates this method). Chunking makes remembering easier, but not only that, it allowed me to see connections more easily, and in so doing feel like I was able to learn and "reason" through things.

To the extent that certain classes were conducive to this method (micro was a little bit like this- I again drew a massive flowchart by G+/G- bacteria, etc. etc., and tried to fit every organism on it somewhere), I tended to feel like I got more out of it.

To the extent that other classes were totally disorganized & it was UNCLEAR even what we were supposed to be learning (much less how everything fit together), I felt like I was just memorizing a bunch of facts.
Hello embryology??

I had not clue wtf was going on with that class, as it was just a bunch of terms getting thrown in my face. And even when pictures were presented in the context of "explaining" something, half the time I didn't even know which direction was supposed to be caudal or what not. So I couldn't even picture it in my head. I really didn't know how I was supposed to deal with that (and still don't, to some extent.) It's like, yes there is a textbook supposedly, but I bet you even if I read 50 pages, I would still be confused.

It seems to be like that is a class that really should be more of just a video showing what happens. But instead, no. People rely on walls of text w/ a few unclear pictures.

Forcing me to memorize.

That's the problem. Sometimes the material is just presented in a way such that it would be too much work to try to understand. Thus, memorization of key terms prevails.

Thoughts??

 

[shreypete]

Yes, subjects like Anatomy, Embryology and Histology centered on rote-memorization.

But I feel subjects like Pathology (and I don't mean pathophysiology) and Pharmacology are like that too!

I guess after 2 years of memorization (which we probably perceive as "learning"), one finds it hard to distinguish one from the other. Sad but true.

 

[da8s0859q]

For example, I find that actually memorizing the classes of meds- i.e. draw a big flow chart of autonomic drugs- cholinergic agonists- indirect- reversible/irreversible, etc. (you get the point), and memorizing drugs by class, made me feel like I "learned" something.

Any "random facts" I memorized about a specific drug could be placed into a kind of logical framework. ... This worked a lot better for me in terms of retention too, as it was a logical way to "chunk" the material, instead of just memorizing "10 random different things" about each drug (I think the flashcard method unfortunately propetuates this method).

Right on. Connecting new information to other new information / stuff you already know goes a long way. 👍

This is also why flash cards are a last resort / review only for me. I despise rote memorization for the sake of itself.

 

[Perrotfish]

I guess after 2 years of memorization (which we probably perceive as "learning"), one finds it hard to distinguish one from the other. Sad but true.

In the context of medicine I'm not sure that learning is different from memorizing. Generally the 'you're not learning, you're just memorizing' argument is used in a liberal arts setting to imply that someone has memorized a lot of random facts but is incabable of synthesizing them and applying them in a coherent way. In medicine that synthesis never happens because it isn't supposed to. That factoids don't form a coherent whole, but rather each individual factoid is regurgitated to either identify or fix a corresponding problem.

'Oh you have [set of symptoms], that means you might have [memorized differential diagnosis]. Allow me to run [memorized tests in memorized order]. I guess that means you have [memorized interpretations of tests]. Let me treat you with [memorized treatment for the now identified diseaase]. If that doesn't work we'll try [memorized second line treatment]. Still didn't work? Well, I'm afraid we've done all we can do, but [memorized managment of Kubler Ross's 5 stages].

One day we will be replaced by computer programs. I am just hoping by then I will have enough money to retire.

 

[CBG23]

In the context of medicine I'm not sure that learning is different from memorizing. Generally the 'you're not learning, you're just memorizing' argument is used in a liberal arts setting to imply that someone has memorized a lot of random facts but is incabable of synthesizing them and applying them in a coherent way. In medicine that synthesis never happens because it isn't supposed to. That factoids don't form a coherent whole, but rather each individual factoid is regurgitated to either identify or fix a corresponding problem.

'Oh you have [set of symptoms], that means you might have [memorized differential diagnosis]. Allow me to run [memorized tests in memorized order]. I guess that means you have [memorized interpretations of tests]. Let me treat you with [memorized treatment for the now identified diseaase]. If that doesn't work we'll try [memorized second line treatment]. Still didn't work? Well, I'm afraid we've done all we can do, but [memorized managment of Kubler Ross's 5 stages].

One day we will be replaced by computer programs. I am just hoping by then I will have enough money to retire.

How depressing...

 

[Knicks]

^^Agreed.

It's just the nature of med school. So much material to learn in such little time that one wonders how any of us would get through med school without the slew of mnemonics.

A while ago, I had the same opinion about how useless minutiae will not help the majority of us as practicing physicians, but sure enough, some obnoxiously pretentious over-achiever stepped in like a white-knight in an attempt to "defend" the idea of needing to know all of that useless minutiae.

 

[krispiffy3]

I had the same problem this past year. But I found that when I did group study and was called upon to explain something, I felt like I actually learned it and retained it. Of course, this can't be done with every little last tidbit but I wish I had done it more, like in Physiology and Anatomy.

 

[majahops]

Funny that you would post this. I've always wondered how people memorized without learning... I can't seem to do it.

 

[shreypete]

Funny that you would post this. I've always wondered how people memorized without learning... I can't seem to do it.

I guess if you mean learning = understanding, then yes one does have to "learn" before he/she can memorize.

But in some cases, there just isn't any learning involved. Especially with the millions of genetic mutations (like Follicular lymphoma - t(18;14) or Bukitts - (t(8;14). Fortunately, you're just expected to know the important ones.

Whereas subjects like Physiology require a fair bit of learning before memorizing the stuff (I guess one still has to memorize the names of the mechanisms, the different neurophysiological pathways and stuff, there's no getting around that. But you can't just memorize the functions.)

Some other subjects like Biochemistry, and Pharmacology require both memorizing and application to clinical settings.

By far, I think I've hard the toughest time with Pathology! oh, what a nightmare. All those petty, indistinguishable morphological features, such a pain. How in the world does my prof. except me to distinguish an intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm from a mucinous cysteadnoma or a solid pseudopapillary tumor or worse how the nuclei look in ALL and how they're different from those in AML!

p.s. I do know how to distinguish the tumors mentioned above but you get the point.

 

[deleted127837]

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[Tarabara]

I think you're probably learning without even realizing it! If you only know that this class of drugs does that, then you're only memorizing but if you know how this class of drugs works in the body to produce that result then you've learned. Because then you can apply the information and make inferences. I personally think learning and understanding concepts is the easiest way to pass tests because then if you understand the concept you can answer any question about it.