So I loved that most of my science courses during college were based on enhancing our ability to think critically and steered clear of straight up memorization. I've heard that the first two years of med school are pretty much memorization and am kinda not looking forward to that o-chem approach to learning starting in a couple of weeks. Any of you med students have a different experience or are you all just memorization robots now?
"You get what you reward"
Unforunately, medical school admissions has selected for a certain type of person. The people more likely to be accepted are those that do well on multiple choic exams (the MCAT) and who get good grades. While you might pull a few As in the English Lit course in undergrad, or the Spanish Intro (when you've already taken 6 years in middle/high school) the thing that separates applicants to medical school is their science GPA)(thus why so much discussion is spent on it in the forums for pre-allo). To achieve success at Multiple Choice exams and science course requires a good deal of memorization. Thus, as a system, we self select for machines: people with their own study strategies to retain the knowledge required to pass the test. I would argue few people actually engage that knoweldge in an attempt to understand it well. Why bother? Afterall, how much physics or o-chem is going to be used in medical school?
Since the evaluation criteria hasn't changed... that is, most of your grades in medical school are directed by multiple choice exams and Step 1. You get what you reward. So, people memorize. People good at memorizing do what they do best. And most, do very little else. And then these basic science students become clerkship students. And they realize that if they do well on the shelf, they do well in the course. So, they do what they do best. They memorize. Worse, they memorize with intention of forgetting. Just tell me whats on the test.
And then you become an intern. And ****. No multiple choice exams. No grades. No memorization. Here, the master memorizer, the memorize-to-forget phenomena, falter. Only here do some people realize that they need intense clinical reasoning, deductive power, to succeed.
And so the bustling intern now has to redefine how they think. Jump back to MS1. What if, instead of just memorizing, you actually learned with the intention to understand, to manipulate the vairables, to become profoundly ingrained with the content? You'd know more, you'd think better. But chances are you would NOT perform better on the test. After all, what separtes honors from high pass in pathology is whether you can recognize the risk factors for marfan's aortic dissection vs syphilitic aortitis dissection (as opposed to HOLY CRAP! YOU'RE DISSECTING!).
Why such a long and convulded post? I am often verbose, but there is a point. This year I have received a number of compliments from my fellow interns. They perceive me as - smarter - or somehow more - impressive -. I don't say this to brag. I think I'm with some pretty brilliant people, far smarter than I. Yet I impress them because I can reason through problems, I sound like I know what I'm talking about. Is there memorization? OF COURSE. We have to accumulate a wealth of information, a fund of knowledge, greater than any other professional in the country. But its how you apply it. Its how it fits. What makes you a better doctor is understanding the human condition.
Anyone can follow an algorythm. Anyone can memorize a couple of facts. Thats what most physicians, physician assisstants, and nurse practitioners do. What separates a great physician from a good one is how well they understand what they learn.
Bottom line: you will be rewarded in life if you take the time to understand now, even if you aren't as 'competitive' as your classmates. The short-term rewards of good grades do not outweight the long-term rewards of profound understanding.
