Mnemonics sites and links on how to improve your memory

Here is a "HUGE" list of mnemonic website and all the links to improve your learning and memory. Includes many medical websites also. Visit http://memorymethods.com/

4 Tips for Improving Study Skills in Medical School

As the Medical Mnemonics blog demonstrates, making studying and learning easier is possible if you find specific tactics and shortcuts that will make you study smarter so you don't have to study harder. That is to say, putting in the hours of necessary time to absorb all the information you need to know for various tests is certainly required. But you want to above all strive for efficiency in order to maximize your time hitting the books and pouring over notes. Aside from mnemonics, here are some study tips that will enhance your efficiency so you don't have to stay up all night (too often)

1. Know your learning style.
Of course, everyone has specific learning methods that are helpful for them and not for others. While the number of study methods is infinite, learning styles usually fall into one of three categories aural, visual, and kinetic. Most people will respond to a mix of these learning styles, but they will be stronger with one. Read about ways to implement different learning styles and figure out which one suits you best.

2. Take effective notes in class that translates material into a language you can understand but doesn't oversimplify the material.
Effective note taking is perhaps one of the most important study skills any medical student must learn in order to be successful. When you are attending a lecture, be sure to whittle down the information the lecturer presents into precise notes that capture all the main points without leaving out details that might be important to know on tests. Above all, remember that a conceptual understanding of the material is more important than memorizing specific details. Of course, you'll need both concepts and details, but without conceptual understanding, you won't be able to connect all the dots and actually apply your learning later, whether it's on a test, in the lab, or in a clinical setting.

3. Review every day several days before a test.
One of the worst habits that many graduate or medical students retain from their undergraduate days is "pulling an all-nighter" or studying the night before the test. While it's more possible to do this successfully in college, in medical school it's a huge gamble. Make time to review material right after each lecture, and do so again later in the evening. Start with an hour or so, and as the test approaches, increase your review time accordingly.

4. If there is anything you don't understand after a lecture, address it with your professor immediately.
The best thing about reviewing your notes right after a lecture is that you'll be able to figure out what you don't understand immediately. This way, you can ask the lecturer or professor soon after so that you won't amass all this information that you are clueless about, leaving you stumped when it comes time to prepare for an exam. Clarifying concepts that you are confused about in a timely manner will help you enormously in making your study time more efficient. Studying for a test means going over and memorizing material you've already learned. If you are learning while you are studying, you will be wasting tons of time.

These are just a few ways to improve your study skills and methods in medical school. Above all, remember that it isn't the "most intelligent" students who do well. It's those who have carefully refined their study methods. Good luck!


By-line:
This guest contribution was submitted by Jamie Davis, who specializes in writing about masters degree. Questions and comments can be sent to: davis.jamie17@gmail.com.

Solve Medical Crossword

For people interested in quiz and / crossword solving, here's a very good idea. Solve a medical crossword. When solving the crossword, you tend to think a lot. At last when you finally get the right word, you won't forget that fact again. Also this game helps you to remember the spelling better. Try the crosswords below to get started:
http://o2demand.com/crossword.html

Flashcards and educational games by StudyStack

Download software to remember numbers

Here's a software to remember numbers by converting them to words by look alike technique. Read more about this technique here.

Medical mnemonics / pnemonics / pneumonics / mneumonics

This is a little notice I want to put in this blog. I have seen people searching with all these wrong spellings for mnemonics. Google identifies and corrects most of these but it is better to have the correct spelling at your finger tips. There is no 'U' or 'P' in M-N-E-M-O-N-I-C-S. Just remember MEN on MONdays go to ICH (International Conference Hall / Indian Coffee House); Now rearrange MEN to MNE, add MON and ICS. So the correct spelling is MNE+MON+ICS. I just made up this silly rule to remember the spelling. You can thus split a large word to be remembered and split it as desired to rememeber them.

Medical spellings

Potassium or Pottasium - Which is corect?
PoTaSSium is correct - remember that there is one 'Tea' and two 'S'ugars.

A good practical mnemonic

Here's a good mnemonic I found which is not a medical mnemonic, but you may meed to apply in your everyday life including medicine, esp while operating medical machinery; Very useful for orthopedic surgeons while operating during a sleepless night :-)
When you turn a screw / lid / bolt with your screwdriver / hand /spanner, which direction to turn to loosen it? May be you are very confident now and tell the answer, but people use to commit this mistake even though they know this fact. Sometimes our brain sleeps or get confused on such facts.
So here's the mnemonic: " Turn Left to Loosen; Turn rIGHT to tIGHT"

Medical terminology video song

This video above is a concert including lots of medical terms. It helps you to remember many terms. When you see this for the first time, it is better to pause on each term represented by a cartoon / clinical photo. You can revise the terms by seeing the video many time.

How to use your computer for better learning and memory - Part 3

• We have introduced the concept of Mind maps in our earlier post. To make mindmaps in your PC, download software from http://www.mindmanager.com
• After installing mindmanager 30 day trial (or better you purchase it) download medical mindmaps which you can open in this software. For eg, download diuretics mindmap for opening in this software here .
• Now you can create your own customised and colourful notes and print it out for easy reference and revision. Your subsequent revisions will be faster and you can also make it more memorable with pictures and colours.
• Other software to create free mindmaps are FreeMind, Compendium, Sciplore etc. (Clicking on the link will take you to the software's download site). Download an algorithm to cough analysis and differential diagnosis made with Free Mind here .
• For more medical mindmap examples, visit http://medicalmaps.blogspot.com
• Download pdf Pharmacology mindmaps here(Please note that you will have to register to download the pdf mindmaps)

How to use your computer for better learning and memory - Part 2

Continuing from our previous post in this series:

• How do you like the idea of computer reading aloud the notes for you? Well to do this get hold of free Text to speech software like Talk it! or natural readers or read please or Panopreter . Out of this if the download link to the first program (Talk it!) works, that's the best because it has many voices which you can make to read normally / whisper / sing. Now type / copy the text you need to read. You can get the paid versions of these programs to get better sounds or other features. Sit back relaxed while the computer reads aloud the lesson to you. You can adjust the speed of reading, font size and watch your screen from a distance. To make better experience, you can connect your computer / laptop to the LCD TV, home theater etc.
•  As a next step, you can record what the computer speaks to a mp3 file and write it as an mp3 CD ! Here's how you do it. If you want programs that straight away do this job, there is paid version of above free programs or there is Text Aloud. 
• In case you want to create free mp3 file online these are 2 sites: 1 -  http://www.hearwho.com/   2 -  http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=en
• So having created your mp3 lessons, burn it into CDs, label the CDs, exchange with your friends, listen to these lessons on your home / car / Walkman mp3 player. Whenever you feel that your eyes are sore or tired from sleepless night just pop a CD into the player and relax. It is recommended that you hear your lessons while going to sleep, when the relaxing brain waves starts as you will remember better. May be you can order the mp3s to get a song between your lessons for refreshment. 
• You can get hold of free audio editing software like Audacity sound editor and mix you favourite song in background or you can put your song into the left channel of mp3 and lessons into the other channel.
• And if you don't want to get all this complex work, just plugin your mic and record in your own voice using the windows sound record utility ! You can then convert the recorded sound from .wav to mp3 format using the free small downloadwav to mp3 program. Then burn the mp3 file to a CD and you are done !
• The aim of all these ideas are to get effortless revision. Remember, the more you revise, the better your memory
  

How to use your computer for better learning and memory - Part 1

Below are a few ideas for how to make the best out of your computer for learning. We are not going to ask you to browse a list of good websites or buy some good multimedia CDs and see them in your computer. Of course, they are good and followed by everyone and if done repeatedly, will help you to memorize better. For executing the novel ideas, you may require few software to be downloaded. We have provided the links also.

• The easiest tip is to start making powerpoint presentations yourself out of your notes. If you want pictures added search for required pictures at http://images.google.com/. Make your powerpoints in different designs and colours. Spare extra slides to highlight points that you forget in big / bold letters. May be you can ask your friends to prepare ppts for the same / different topics and get your works written in a CD / DVD and exchange your ppts so that the points missed by you may be covered by your friend or vice versa. If you want to make a VCD / DVD out of your powerpoints get hold of software like ppt2VCD or ppt2DVD or PPT to Video Scout or Moyea PPT to Video convertor are few of the software to get this work done. Another idea is to get a screen video recording utility like SnagIt to get this work done. If you want to do it free, check out this article from Labnol.com. 

More tips and ideas will follow in forthcoming posts.

Mind Maps in Medicine : Book preview

Mind maps helps to store a lot of information pictorially. Helps in quick and frequent revision. make your own mind maps, laminate them and take with you to revise anywhere ! See the mind map for Rheumatic fever to see how effective it is.

Interactive Microbiology, Genetics for better memory

Ever thought Neuroscience, DNA, RNA, Karyotyping, ELISA test, stem cells, immunology, genetics etc are tough topics. Well, if you want to make these topics easier and remember them better go to http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/index.html
This site has lots of downloads - videos, lectures, pdfs etc in these topics. Do check out all the topics. There is a virtual lab, where you can do ELISA for SLE, Identify bacteria using PCR and all those advanced techniques. (Please make sure that you have the latest version of shockwave flash). Virtual classroom lectures help in easy learning. Many do and learns help you to remember better.

Number mnemonic game

Play this digit mnemonic memory game. You will get some idea to remember complex numbers.

`Link method` memory technique

Find out how to memorise a list of words using the 'link method' from the video below :

How medical students learn

Here is a power point presentation on how your memory works. It will give you new ideas for effective learning.

New idea to remember cycles like Kreb's Cycle

Here's a new idea to remember the TCA cycle. Get a T-shirt with Krebs cycle printed on it. Visit this website to get my point: http://www.zazzle.com/krebs_cycle_citric_acid_cycle_biochemistry_tshirt-235956078092549858
You can remember the toughest cycles by using this method, because you will repeatedly revise this way. Remember the Indian film "Gajini" in which Ameer Khan suffers from short term memory loss and writes facts all over his body, room wall etc.

Also you can make small cards to remember the difficult cycles / diagrams and keep it in your wallet. One of my friends used to laminate such cards and take with him while bathing also!

9 types of mnemonics for better memory

Take a look at this article published by Dennis Congos, University of Central Florida, who explores the scope of mnemonics:
http://www.learningassistance.com/2006/january/mnemonics.html

USMLE : Hi Yield notes - Preview

These Hi-Yield notes for USMLE are really good for revision once you get the crux of the matter. Try using these notes for fast revision. You can add your points to these notes, but believe me, these books contains all essential points to get you high grades. Moreover, if you are aiming at USMLE, I recommend to keep this book as a constant companion. The book has lots of Mnemonics also. All subjects included.

Exam tips, question papers and syllabus

Hi from MM4U, it's exam time for most of you. Eat moderately, sleep at least 6 hrs, take vitamins and anti anxiety drugs if required after consulting your teachers ( Esp. helps during viva exam. Many recommend Propranolol 20 - 40 mg 2 hours before your viva. However beware of the side effects - nightmare, diarrhoea etc.)

Read only what is important. Get hold of previous 10 yrs question papers / books written by your seniors regarding important topics expected or, get a copy of the syllabus in detail. Don't try to read something of everything, rather everything regarding the important things is better. All question papers are set with important topics in mind. Wherever you find confusion try to use mnemonics.

Most importantly, try to recall what you studied when you are free / at the mess with friends. Combine study works wonders, if you select a person matching your capacity.

Below, we have picked few links which will give you last few years question papers, syllabus of various years MBBS exams from various universities:

THE TAMILNADU Dr. M.G.R. MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (VIRTUAL LIBRARY - QUESTION BANK)
http://www.tnmmu.ac.in/mbbs.htm
http://dodd.cmcvellore.ac.in/mbbs.htm

SYLLABUS (From Aims): http://www.aiims.edu/aiims/academic/aiims-syllabus/Syllabus%20-%20MBBS.pdf
(For Maharashtra): http://www.techbirbal.com/viewtopic.php?t=1745
(For Punjab): http://www.pmc.edu.pk/syllabus1styr.htm

Various MBBS question papers:
Third yr:

http://rapidshare.com/files/179141329/Third_year_MBBS_Question_Papers_TAMILNADU.rar.html
Final yr: http://rapidshare.com/files/179140313/final_year_MBBS_questions_Tamilnadu_.rar.html