When you initially learn an abstract fact, it is hard to remember. As you conceptualize and understand that fact and there’s a story to go with it it’s easier and easier to remember. The more times you touch on that fact, the easier it is to remember.
Now for the cool part. The more you learn, the more you can remember. So the more you learn, the more you can learn! Your brain is fantastic, and it seems endless.
Linking is a technique that lets you remember more as your wealth of knowledge grows. You meet someone named Kirstin (a new person just moved into my neighborhood) I think to myself oh that’s like Kristin I work with and another Kristin I used to be friends with in high school. I have the image of the three of them standing in a group. Now I’ve got it.
Even better, this new neighbor’s husband is Christian. I can easily link Christian and Kristin. So all I have to do is remember her name, and I’ve got them both. Linking.
Now take a name I’ve never heard and have trouble pronouncing like Tushar. I don’t know any other Tushar’s, and I struggle (just a little) to remember how to pronounce it. This name fades just a little quicker.
The more people you know and the more names you know, the easier NOT, the harder it gets to remember the names. It’s a direct relationship where you would think it’s an inverse relationship.
The same goes for medical knowledge. There you know the more you can learn. You have to lay the groundwork and the vocabulary first and then build from there. If I had two people follow me around for the day, I can teach a PA student 100x more than I could teach a high school student.
If all of this is true, (and it is), then one of your goals should be to gain as much knowledge as possible as quickly as possible so that you have the groundwork to continue to learn and remember.
If learning and memorizing things to build a better foundation of medical knowledge is your goal, then there is no better tool for doing that then The Final Step.
The book I wrote of 1,200 quick review questions designate to pound home memorization of key ideas. You’ll like it. Take a look.
Brian