Remembering the mountain of information that is vet school

[futurevet_2025]

Hi all! I'm about halfway through my first year of veterinary school, just chugging along and trying to survive haha. I've recently started becoming very nervous about the thought of forgetting some of the major things I've spent so much time studying this year, like anatomy and physiology. I know that forgetting some things, especially the smaller details, is inevitable. However, I'm wondering if anyone who is now in practice has suggestions on how to keep relevant on the especially pertinent parts of anatomy & physiology. I had a professor suggest that next year when we are learning pathophys to always take a quick second to review the anatomy of the system. That makes sense to me and seems like a manageable way to keep the relevant things in my head. Just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions or words of advice

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[WildZoo]

You'll forget a lot of the details of anatomy, or at least they will be filed into some back portion of your brain unless you need to access them. And that's ok. You don't need to remember the origin and insertion of every muscle to be a good doctor. That foundational knowledge is important so you can build on it, of course. You'll remember the things you use the most, and you can always review the rest. But yes, committing things to memory takes repetition, spaced repetition in particular, and active recall. So your professor's suggestion is a good one! I found things a lot easier to remember once I was applying them to clinical situations. Things I had forgotten came back to me, or I looked them up again, because they were important for a case. I think having an actual patient associated with that knowledge you're trying to keep helps a lot.

 

[JaynaAli]

Familiarity and remembering comes with use. The vast majority of what you learn in anatomy, while important in the grand scheme of things, is not something you will regularly use. Those bone and muscle attachments are important if you’re a surgeon doing a repair or making a surgical approach. They’re not as important to me as a clinical pathologist. While you do need to learn them, a lot of vet school is teaching you how and when to look up information. No one expects anyone to remember every single thing. There are some a few things you absolutely need to recall at a moments notice but almost everything else there’ll be time to read and refresh yourself. Also, as you go through the curriculum you’ll get better at knowing what’s important and what’s not. You’ll see what gets emphasized multiple times and in multiple places and learn.

 

[futurevet_2025]

Thank you both! That generally makes me feel a lot better. The logical part of myself knows that there will be a lot that I forget and will need to re-familiarize myself with later on, but then the emotional part of myself is frustrated at the thought of potentially forgetting things that I had spent hours upon hours learning! Lol. But that’s a great point that a lot of vet school is also learning how/where/when to find information needed for a case. I’ve also been working *very* part time at the hospital, but I’m finding that is also helping me solidify things that I’m learning and seeing in real time. Thanks again for the advice

 

[Enzo07]

Thank you both! That generally makes me feel a lot better. The logical part of myself knows that there will be a lot that I forget and will need to re-familiarize myself with later on, but then the emotional part of myself is frustrated at the thought of potentially forgetting things that I had spent hours upon hours learning! Lol. But that’s a great point that a lot of vet school is also learning how/where/when to find information needed for a case. I’ve also been working *very* part time at the hospital, but I’m finding that is also helping me solidify things that I’m learning and seeing in real time. Thanks again for the advice

3rd year here and I remember this feeling! I still feel this way sometimes but have surprised myself in clinics when I can remember things I had no idea were still in my brain. Like @WildZoo said, it's filed into the back of your brain until it gets triggered to show itself again! And if it's just on the tip of your tongue but you just can't get it, like you said, you can find the information when needed. The repetition you'll encounter through the rest of vet school will help you nail things down. I remember first year having no idea how I was supposed to remember cranial nerve pathways...now I still don't remember all of them off the top of my head, but I have been able to recall some I use in my physical exams such as pupillary light reflex, menace response, and palpebral response, much quicker than I could first year. You're doing great thinking about this!