Study tips - memorizing bacteria for microbiology?

[jochi1543]

So I have this microbio midterm in a week, and I've heard some BAD things about it. The part that's giving me the most trouble is the memorization of 84 various bacterial genera, where I'm supposed to know the main characteristics of the genus (like axial filaments) and the diseases they cause. After talking to people who've taken this exam before, I found out that the questions are of the type "Name a high G+C filamentous bacterium that may cause chronic and difficult-to-treat pulmonary infections."

I've been trying to memorize stuff, but all that is just jumbled in my head. I've tried to simply split the bacteria by phyla and orders, as well as split phyla into subsections such as "human pathogens" and "nitrogen-fixing," but I still have enormous amounts of disordered information in my head. For those of you who've taken microbio before, how did you deal with having to memorize so many bacterial names/characteristics/diseases? Any methods? A&P seems like a walk in the park in comparison (but then again, A&P exams are MC).

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[Bacchus]

I just had an exam like this. It was mechanical and drug therapies. It focused more on diseases and what they were caused by rather than what the bacteria look like. If you want, I can email you a few spreadsheets I made. PM me your email address.

 

[jochi1543]

Done.

 

[Bacchus]

This just goes to show I'm not a gunner, jochi and doinmybest 😉.

 

[jochi1543]

So, who wants to buy ahaydt's spreadsheets off of me? Give me an offer.

 

[Bacchus]

Oh, if somethings wrong on it, I apologize. And I think you should pay me by coming and massaging my arm, its sore from my flu shot 🙁.

 

[themule]

So I have this microbio midterm in a week, and I've heard some BAD things about it. The part that's giving me the most trouble is the memorization of 84 various bacterial genera, where I'm supposed to know the main characteristics of the genus (like axial filaments) and the diseases they cause. After talking to people who've taken this exam before, I found out that the questions are of the type "Name a high G+C filamentous bacterium that may cause chronic and difficult-to-treat pulmonary infections."

I've been trying to memorize stuff, but all that is just jumbled in my head. I've tried to simply split the bacteria by phyla and orders, as well as split phyla into subsections such as "human pathogens" and "nitrogen-fixing," but I still have enormous amounts of disordered information in my head. For those of you who've taken microbio before, how did you deal with having to memorize so many bacterial names/characteristics/diseases? Any methods? A&P seems like a walk in the park in comparison (but then again, A&P exams are MC).

OK, so what's the answer? Mycobacterium?

 

[jochi1543]

OK, so what's the answer? Mycobacterium?

Well, I just picked a totally random example from my book, but it's Nocardia Asteroides.

 

[HumidBeing]

Well, I just picked a totally random example from my book, but it's Nocardia Asteroides.

Those heartless asteroids! How dare they attack people's lungs! Can't NASA or somebody prevent that from happening?