Question about memorizing Stuff in Micro/Pharm/BiochemistryH

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MaxMoonMD

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Hello everyone,

so far my second week in preparing for Step1 is coming to an end. :thumbup:
I read through Biochemistry (FA+Kaplan here and there, HY CELL/Mol.Bio) and Microbiology (CMMRS and FA), along with daily Pathology Goljan Stuff.

I´m doing some QBank Micro and Biochemistry Questions to retain the stuff I read while concentrating on systems right now (Cardiovascular), and while I´m scoring low 50´s to low 60´s in both, most of the questions I get wrong is stuff that needs serious memorization, like "What kind of Virus is this?" (double-stranded DNA etc.), "What Antibiotic did they give him?", enzyme stuff from Glucose-metabolism and so on...

Well, to come to a point...how should I memorize this stuff?
Did you make Flashcards for this kind of info and put Mnemonics on them?
While I hated my Flashcard bank back in school when I had Latin (>600 cards at the end), it was a very effective way to retain vocabulary.

On the other side it is pointless in memorizing stuff right now, because until the test on 1st October I will forget most of the info.
Maybe it´s more effective to memorize stuff in the last days?

I also heard QBank is too nitpicky on the mentioned subjects...

Any advice?

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Hello everyone,

so far my second week in preparing for Step1 is coming to an end. :thumbup:
I read through Biochemistry (FA+Kaplan here and there, HY CELL/Mol.Bio) and Microbiology (CMMRS and FA), along with daily Pathology Goljan Stuff.

I´m doing some QBank Micro and Biochemistry Questions to retain the stuff I read while concentrating on systems right now (Cardiovascular), and while I´m scoring low 50´s to low 60´s in both, most of the questions I get wrong is stuff that needs serious memorization, like "What kind of Virus is this?" (double-stranded DNA etc.), "What Antibiotic did they give him?", enzyme stuff from Glucose-metabolism and so on...

Well, to come to a point...how should I memorize this stuff?
Did you make Flashcards for this kind of info and put Mnemonics on them?
While I hated my Flashcard bank back in school when I had Latin (>600 cards at the end), it was a very effective way to retain vocabulary.

On the other side it is pointless in memorizing stuff right now, because until the test on 1st October I will forget most of the info.
Maybe it´s more effective to memorize stuff in the last days?

I also heard QBank is too nitpicky on the mentioned subjects...

Any advice?

save information that is purely memorization till the end, but that doesn't mean to ignore it now though. making flashcards is a personal perference - i never made a single flashcard in my life. plus, you never know whats on the test so you will waste time making craploads of flashcards on useless facts (i saw many people at my school do this). if you're not a flashcard person, don't feel obligated to become one.
 
Hello everyone,

so far my second week in preparing for Step1 is coming to an end. :thumbup:
I read through Biochemistry (FA+Kaplan here and there, HY CELL/Mol.Bio) and Microbiology (CMMRS and FA), along with daily Pathology Goljan Stuff.

I´m doing some QBank Micro and Biochemistry Questions to retain the stuff I read while concentrating on systems right now (Cardiovascular), and while I´m scoring low 50´s to low 60´s in both, most of the questions I get wrong is stuff that needs serious memorization, like "What kind of Virus is this?" (double-stranded DNA etc.), "What Antibiotic did they give him?", enzyme stuff from Glucose-metabolism and so on...

Well, to come to a point...how should I memorize this stuff?
Did you make Flashcards for this kind of info and put Mnemonics on them?
While I hated my Flashcard bank back in school when I had Latin (>600 cards at the end), it was a very effective way to retain vocabulary.

On the other side it is pointless in memorizing stuff right now, because until the test on 1st October I will forget most of the info.
Maybe it´s more effective to memorize stuff in the last days?

I also heard QBank is too nitpicky on the mentioned subjects...

Any advice?

Penumonics, pneumonics, pneumonics - silly ones, dirty ones, catchy ones. And yes, leave it for the end.
 
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LOL :laugh:

That made me laugh..

Nah man, pneumonics, you know having to do with pneumonia, you know micro just like the OP requested... :cool:
 
oh good question yes i also did micro in 2 shifts from MMRS and when was reading was having feeling..oh yes i know i can remember no need to jot them down etc but later started and made few while studying on suggetsing friend to do so,but at end when started doing micro bank..i was kicked hard at my $$# :scared: so i really want to know how u all made it gothrough..its hard for me to remember micro bugs as all sign syptoms appear same on question guess few buzzwords we need to know..i left micro bank in disappointment to do later after one more reading:idea: but not sure that will help me or not..so plz plz plz guide ..how to go about it...
thanks:luck:
 
I used post it notes. Big 5x8 ones, small ones, flower shaped ones- copied entire pages of FA onto them. - which viruses are +/-, which are DNA RNA. Put them all over my kitchen. Pharm too. Some biochem/genetics. anything that required rote memorization. then, when I was making dinner or getting a drink, I would pick one, read it outloud once or twice. Then, 2 or 3 days before the exam, I took em all down, stuck em back to back, and just read and re read them. It really worked for me. Spending 2 minutes every couple days with renal pharm is a lot easier than an hour the day before the exam.
good luck
rugby
 
I used post it notes. Big 5x8 ones, small ones, flower shaped ones- copied entire pages of FA onto them. - which viruses are +/-, which are DNA RNA. Put them all over my kitchen. Pharm too. Some biochem/genetics. anything that required rote memorization. then, when I was making dinner or getting a drink, I would pick one, read it outloud once or twice. Then, 2 or 3 days before the exam, I took em all down, stuck em back to back, and just read and re read them. It really worked for me. Spending 2 minutes every couple days with renal pharm is a lot easier than an hour the day before the exam.
good luck
rugby

:p Excellent idea Rugby.
Reminds me of the time back in my Preclinical years (as you call it in Germany), when we had our big first exam. (called Erstes Staatsexamen)
I put up lots of diagrams, notes, stuff I had to memorize all across our dorm (a house for 16 students), even in the bathroom. (yea, we had to share those too...:eek: )
So everyone had their benefit of it, for example you would sit down on the toilet and start looking at the mesenteric arteries etc... :thumbup:

Anatomy was one of the big subjects in the Erstes Staatsexamen, and only the minority of the questions were presented in a clinical context.
:scared:
 
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