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Best Tips for Memorization (Medical Jargon...)

Cloudpatrol

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For the next year I am going to be heavily focused on medical practices and terminology. I was wondering if anyone had practical tips for me as far as retaining the minutiae and jargon?

Anatomy posters? Flashcards? I have a chalkboard and spare wall space that I can devote to learning. I enjoy memorization and learning but will be on an accelerated time-line and am a bit nervous about retaining everything I am cramming in.

Thanks in advance!
 

ceecee

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When I took medical terminology, I found flashcards worked really well. I think they actually came with one of my textbooks. There is a lot to learn and it might seem daunting but you will get them and eventually you will use them so much in your classes, it becomes natural. Think of it as leaning another language - speaking it as much as possible is how you learn. Get with your classmates if possible.
 

JocktheMotie

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For the next year I am going to be heavily focused on medical practices and terminology. I was wondering if anyone had practical tips for me as far as retaining the minutiae and jargon?

Anatomy posters? Flashcards? I have a chalkboard and spare wall space that I can devote to learning. I enjoy memorization and learning but will be on an accelerated time-line and am a bit nervous about retaining everything I am cramming in.

Thanks in advance!

Flashcards are good, Mnemonics, visual aids.

If you think you have a visual memory, or are interested in memory tricks in general, I'd suggest picking up the book Moonwalking with Einstein

It builds on the fact or idea that humans remember imagery and stories quite well, as opposed to contextless facts, numbers, and names. It has you construct "memory palaces" that house memories and thoughts. I use them now when it comes to professional certifications, prepping for meetings, etc.
 

Coriolis

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For the next year I am going to be heavily focused on medical practices and terminology. I was wondering if anyone had practical tips for me as far as retaining the minutiae and jargon?

Anatomy posters? Flashcards? I have a chalkboard and spare wall space that I can devote to learning. I enjoy memorization and learning but will be on an accelerated time-line and am a bit nervous about retaining everything I am cramming in.
When I have had to memorize large amounts of terminology, I have found flashcards to be the best way. I studied several foreign languages, which always entailed learning large vocabulary lists. Then later I was studying for the A+ computer certification - again, lots of terminology. I would cut index cards in half and write the word I needed to know on the front, and the definition (or English translation) on the back. I would go through them every day, and after I got one right 2 or 3 times, I would remove it from the stack. This concentrated my efforts on the items I hadn't learned. Every so often I would return the set-aside cards to the deck and do a complete review.
 

Cloudpatrol

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Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
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When I took medical terminology, I found flashcards worked really well. I think they actually came with one of my textbooks. There is a lot to learn and it might seem daunting but you will get them and eventually you will use them so much in your classes, it becomes natural. Think of it as leaning another language - speaking it as much as possible is how you learn. Get with your classmates if possible.

Hmmm. I think in linguistics so that actually is uber helpful. Thanks!
 

Cloudpatrol

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Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
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Flashcards are good, Mnemonics, visual aids.

If you think you have a visual memory, or are interested in memory tricks in general, I'd suggest picking up the book Moonwalking with Einstein

It builds on the fact or idea that humans remember imagery and stories quite well, as opposed to contextless facts, numbers, and names. It has you construct "memory palaces" that house memories and thoughts. I use them now when it comes to professional certifications, prepping for meetings, etc.

I've been utilizing memory palaces for a bit since getting more access to Sherlock but no doubt my techniques could use tweaking. I will definitely take a gander at the book. Thank you ever so much for directing my attention to it!
 

Cloudpatrol

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Jan 26, 2016
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2,163
When I have had to memorize large amounts of terminology, I have found flashcards to be the best way. I studied several foreign languages, which always entailed learning large vocabulary lists. Then later I was studying for the A+ computer certification - again, lots of terminology. I would cut index cards in half and write the word I needed to know on the front, and the definition (or English translation) on the back. I would go through them every day, and after I got one right 2 or 3 times, I would remove it from the stack. This concentrated my efforts on the items I hadn't learned. Every so often I would return the set-aside cards to the deck and do a complete review.

I like the idea of removing cards once you have the hang of things. I think I let my flashcard piles grow too large. Thank you for the insight of your experience!
 

Ingrid in grids

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Lots of good ideas already in this thread.

When learning medical terminology, focus on learning the Greek/Latin prefixes more than the terms as a whole. Once you know those, it becomes easy to work out what the term means. There's a pretty comprehensive (and a little scary looking) Wikipedia reference here.
 

/DG/

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Lots of good ideas already in this thread.

When learning medical terminology, focus on learning the Greek/Latin prefixes more than the terms as a whole. Once you know those, it becomes easy to work out what the term means. There's a pretty comprehensive (and a little scary looking) Wikipedia reference here.

Yeah, I was going to mention this. It's often a lot easier to learn what the word is derived from, because it tends to tell you the meaning in its name! I like using this site, but it is probably not as comprehensive as Wikipedia: Online Etymology Dictionary

I have never taken med term, but when I took anatomy as a freshman...I had a whiteboard and I would continually write the terms on the board until I could remember them entirely correct without having to reference the text. This came especially in handy when we would learn muscles because we had to know more than just identification (origin, insertion, action, innervation).

I have moved away from that now because it takes a long time, but it might be a method worth trying. I don't know many people that have utilized that method. Instead, when I memorize content now, I recite it repeatedly out loud until I have memorized a given page in the text, then move onto the next page.

Obviously this won't work if your med term content is not all laid out on one page, so you might want to organize it yourself before you begin. It's essentially the same as flashcards, but without the excess of time it takes to make the flashcards. I never found flashcards all that useful to begin with because it would take so long to make them (and the process of making them didn't help me memorize anything), but I'll admit I have used them on occasion.

And then obviously there's the use of mnemonics and memory tricks. Use any type of story or abbreviation to help you, no matter how stupid it sounds.

----

I'll give some anatomy related examples of ways that I have used memory tricks if you're interested in seeing how this works. Otherwise ignore this bit.

 

Tellenbach

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I second Harry Lorayne books; better yet, get his audio course. You might be able to find some old copies on ebay or goodwill. Lorayne teaches the link method and the peg word method (using the mneumonic alphabet).
 

kyuuei

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I ditto quizlet.

Picmonic is a good site.

Mind palaces are a thing, and they are awesome. I forget the exact term for it.

Figure 1 is a good app to look at while you're in line at the grocery store. At first its like "yeaahh.. okay.. sure... " but you sort of get the hang of it just looking for a while.

I made up a lot of my own mnemonics. Sometimes other peoples' are gold, sometimes they are. I still remember the spine to this day from the meal-time logic.. "7am breakfast, 12 lunch, 5 dinner" for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar numbers. However, the cranial nerves mnemonic didn't ever help me at all, it was more confusing. Even now, if I don't see a word frequently I'll forget what it means and have to go look it up right quick and smack my forehead. It's not like riding a bike, it's more like math. Lots of repetition does the trick. Most people suck at the class because they simply don't put the time into it.
 

Cloudpatrol

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Jan 26, 2016
Messages
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Lots of good ideas already in this thread.

When learning medical terminology, focus on learning the Greek/Latin prefixes more than the terms as a whole. Once you know those, it becomes easy to work out what the term means. There's a pretty comprehensive (and a little scary looking) Wikipedia reference here.

This is SO helpful. It eases my brain already and actually is making a lot of sense. Yay! Thank you!!!
 

Cloudpatrol

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Messages
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I second Harry Lorayne books; better yet, get his audio course. You might be able to find some old copies on ebay or goodwill. Lorayne teaches the link method and the peg word method (using the mneumonic alphabet).


Wow, have never heard of this will start looking into it immediately. Thanks sincerely.
 

Cloudpatrol

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I ditto quizlet.

Picmonic is a good site.

Mind palaces are a thing, and they are awesome. I forget the exact term for it.

Figure 1 is a good app to look at while you're in line at the grocery store. At first its like "yeaahh.. okay.. sure... " but you sort of get the hang of it just looking for a while.

I made up a lot of my own mnemonics. Sometimes other peoples' are gold, sometimes they are. I still remember the spine to this day from the meal-time logic.. "7am breakfast, 12 lunch, 5 dinner" for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar numbers. However, the cranial nerves mnemonic didn't ever help me at all, it was more confusing. Even now, if I don't see a word frequently I'll forget what it means and have to go look it up right quick and smack my forehead. It's not like riding a bike, it's more like math. Lots of repetition does the trick. Most people suck at the class because they simply don't put the time into it.

Really appreciate the visual strengths of picmonic and was not familiar with it until your post.

I also value your tips and cautions. Forewarned is forearmed. Genuine thanks!!
 

Cloudpatrol

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Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
2,163
Yeah, I was going to mention this. It's often a lot easier to learn what the word is derived from, because it tends to tell you the meaning in its name! I like using this site, but it is probably not as comprehensive as Wikipedia: Online Etymology Dictionary

I have never taken med term, but when I took anatomy as a freshman...I had a whiteboard and I would continually write the terms on the board until I could remember them entirely correct without having to reference the text. This came especially in handy when we would learn muscles because we had to know more than just identification (origin, insertion, action, innervation).

I have moved away from that now because it takes a long time, but it might be a method worth trying. I don't know many people that have utilized that method. Instead, when I memorize content now, I recite it repeatedly out loud until I have memorized a given page in the text, then move onto the next page.

Obviously this won't work if your med term content is not all laid out on one page, so you might want to organize it yourself before you begin. It's essentially the same as flashcards, but without the excess of time it takes to make the flashcards. I never found flashcards all that useful to begin with because it would take so long to make them (and the process of making them didn't help me memorize anything), but I'll admit I have used them on occasion.

And then obviously there's the use of mnemonics and memory tricks. Use any type of story or abbreviation to help you, no matter how stupid it sounds.

----

I'll give some anatomy related examples of ways that I have used memory tricks if you're interested in seeing how this works. Otherwise ignore this bit.


Oh my word those are brilliant. Love mitreboard hat/mitral valve connection=so clever.

I like the whiteboard idea. I use a whiteboard already for something else and hadn't heard of that before.

Yes, oh yes please may I know #4!!!!!
 
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