5 Ways Top Students Study That You (probably) Don't
Summary
TLDRThe video script details the unique study methods employed by medical students to effectively absorb vast amounts of information. The speaker, a fourth-year medical student, highlights five key strategies: 1) Flood and retreat titration, where students are initially overwhelmed with information before gradually mastering it. 2) Feynman's clinical test, which involves simplifying complex concepts to ensure true understanding. 3) Malignant active recall, a constant process of recalling information that disrupts forgetting curves. 4) Emotional damage as a motivator, where the impact of medical knowledge on patients' lives serves as a powerful incentive for learning. 5) Learning by osmosis, where exposure to medical knowledge in various contexts reinforces learning. The speaker also recommends using platforms like Nebula and Curiosity Stream for in-depth and distraction-free learning experiences.
Takeaways
- 📚 **Flood and Retreat Titration**: Medical students are initially overwhelmed with a flood of information, which they later apply and understand through practice, leading to a more effective learning process.
- 🧑🏫 **Feynman's Clinical Test**: The Feynman technique is inherently part of medical education, where students must simplify complex concepts to explain them to patients, reinforcing their own understanding.
- 🧠 **Malignant Active Recall**: Medical students are frequently prompted to recall information in various contexts, which helps solidify their knowledge and makes them better at grasping medical concepts.
- ❤️ **Emotional Impact**: The emotional aspect of medical cases, both positive and negative, serves as a strong motivator for learning and remembering critical information.
- 🌱 **Learning by Osmosis**: Being constantly immersed in a medical environment allows for passive absorption of knowledge, which can be beneficial for learning complex subjects.
- 📈 **Structured Learning Systems**: The systems around medical students contribute to their effective studying, rather than relying on superhuman abilities.
- 🤝 **Collaborative Learning**: Medical students often learn from each other and lean into the systems that support their education to improve their study methods.
- 📺 **Real-World Applications**: Medical knowledge is often detached from its original context, which helps students understand and apply it in various real-world situations.
- 📚 **Continuous Exposure**: Long-term exposure to medical information, even in non-academic settings like TV shows, can contribute to a deeper understanding of the subject.
- 🚑 **Practical Application**: The practical application of medical knowledge in clinical settings reinforces theoretical learning and helps students to better remember and apply what they've learned.
- 🌟 **Emotional Reserve**: The emotional drive to learn from both negative experiences and positive impacts on patients' lives can be a powerful tool for medical students to study effectively.
Q & A
What is the 'flood and retreat titration' method mentioned in the transcript?
-The 'flood and retreat titration' method refers to the approach in medical education where students are initially overwhelmed with a large amount of information (the flooding stage), and then they retreat to apply and understand this information in a more structured and practical manner. This method helps students gain a broad perspective on the subject before delving into specifics.
How does the Feynman technique relate to medical education?
-The Feynman technique, which involves explaining concepts in simple terms to ensure understanding, is inherently part of medical education. Medical students often have to break down complex medical jargon into understandable language for patients, which reinforces their own understanding and application of the concepts.
What is meant by 'malignant active recall' in the context of the transcript?
-Malignant active recall refers to the constant and unavoidable need for medical students to remember past information due to the nature of their field. It is called 'malignant' because it is pervasive and invasive, happening frequently and in various contexts, which helps in solidifying knowledge.
How does emotional impact play a role in medical student learning?
-Emotional impact, both positive and negative, can serve as a strong motivator for medical students. Negative experiences, such as humiliation for not knowing something, can lead to stronger retention of information out of shame. Positive emotional impact comes from understanding the real-world consequences and benefits of the knowledge they acquire.
What is the concept of learning by osmosis as described in the transcript?
-Learning by osmosis in the context of medical education refers to the passive absorption of knowledge that occurs from being constantly exposed to medical information and environments. This can happen through observing, listening to discussions, or being in a hospital setting, which contributes to a deeper and more subconscious understanding of medical concepts.
Why is the platform 'Nebula' mentioned in the transcript?
-Nebula is mentioned as an alternative platform for educational content where creators can deliver their content without the restrictions of algorithms and ads. It is suggested as a resource for in-depth and exclusive content, including documentaries and detailed book discussions, which can enhance learning through a more intentional and focused approach.
How does the medical student's daily life contribute to their study methods?
-The daily life of a medical student, filled with clinical placements, patient interactions, and exposure to medical scenarios, provides constant prompts for active recall and practical application of knowledge. This immersive experience aids in the retention and understanding of complex medical concepts.
What is the significance of explaining medical concepts to patients in learning?
-Explaining medical concepts to patients is significant because it forces medical students to understand and articulate information in layman's terms. This process reinforces their own comprehension and helps them establish a solid foundation of basic knowledge that can be applied more effectively.
How does the medical student's ego play a role in the learning process?
-The ego can initially take a hit during the flooding stage of learning, where students are confronted with their lack of understanding. However, this humbling experience is crucial as it allows students to become familiar with the information before they grasp it fully, leading to a deeper and more effective learning process.
What is the role of the 'emotional reserve' in motivating medical students?
-The 'emotional reserve' refers to the strong emotional drive that comes from the impact medical knowledge can have on patients' lives. This can be a powerful motivator for medical students to learn, as they see the direct consequences of their knowledge on health outcomes, whether positive or negative.
Why is it recommended to avoid relying solely on complicated language and jargon when studying technical subjects?
-Relying solely on complicated language and jargon can lead to a superficial understanding of the subject. By translating complex concepts into simpler terms, students can establish a deeper and more practical understanding, which is especially important in fields like medicine where clear communication with patients is essential.
Outlines
📚 Flood and Retreat Titration in Medical Learning
The first paragraph discusses the unique approach to learning in the medical field, which the author refers to as the 'flood and retreat titration.' This method involves initially being overwhelmed with a large amount of information, followed by a period of retreat where the information is applied and better understood. The author explains that this technique, although initially daunting, provides a broader perspective and allows for more effective learning. It contrasts with incremental learning and enables medical students to grasp complex concepts more thoroughly.
🧠 Feynman's Clinical Test and Simplifying Medical Concepts
The second paragraph highlights the importance of Feynman's technique in medical education. The author emphasizes the need to explain complex medical concepts in simple terms, as if to a child, to ensure true understanding. This is particularly relevant in medicine, where the ability to communicate effectively with patients of all backgrounds is crucial. The author also discusses the challenge of using complicated language and the benefits of breaking down information to establish a stronger foundation in the basics.
🔎 Malignant Active Recall in Medical Education
The third paragraph explores the concept of 'malignant active recall,' a process where medical students are constantly required to remember past information in various contexts. This is a pervasive aspect of medical training, as students must be prepared to address a wide range of health issues. The author explains that this constant recall helps solidify knowledge and improve understanding, as information is not just memorized but truly grasped and connected to real-world applications.
😢 Emotional Impact as a Motivator in Medical Learning
The fourth paragraph delves into the emotional aspects of medical education. The author acknowledges the emotional toll of the field, such as the humiliation of not knowing something, but also discusses how these experiences can motivate students to learn more deeply. The emotional reserve in medicine, including the impact of medical errors and the positive outcomes of successful treatments, provides a strong drive for students to study and retain information.
🌐 Learning by Osmosis in Medical Training
The fifth and final paragraph talks about learning by osmosis in the medical field. The author shares how exposure to medical knowledge in various settings, such as hospitals and media, leads to the passive absorption of information. This long-term exposure helps in grasping complex concepts unconsciously. The author also suggests that other subjects can benefit from similar osmotic learning by immersing oneself in environments where the topic is frequently discussed or encountered.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Medical Student
💡Flood and Retreat Titration
💡Feynman's Clinical Test
💡Active Recall
💡Emotional Damage
💡Learning by Osmosis
💡Nebula
💡Curiosity Stream
💡Study Methods
💡Medical Education
💡Osmosis Meme
Highlights
Medical students are often perceived as highly organized and consistently poor due to the vast amount of knowledge they need to acquire about the human body.
Despite the disorganized state many medical students find themselves in, they still manage to retain a significant amount of information.
The speaker believes that the system around medical students contributes to their effective studying rather than relying on superhuman skills.
Five ways that medical students study more effectively are to be discussed, with the potential for non-medical students to apply these methods.
The 'Flood and Retreat Titration' method involves initially being overwhelmed with information and then gradually applying it.
Feynman's clinical test is a technique used in medicine to ensure understanding by simplifying explanations for patients.
Active recall is a pervasive method in medicine, where information is constantly retrieved from memory in various contexts.
Emotional impact plays a significant role in medical learning, with both negative and positive experiences driving motivation to study.
Learning by osmosis is common in medicine, where exposure to the environment and situations leads to the unconscious absorption of knowledge.
The speaker recommends using platforms like Nebula and Curiosity Stream for ad-free, in-depth educational content.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the basics and applying them effectively, rather than relying solely on complex language.
Medics are often prompted to use active recall due to the pervasive nature of health-related topics in everyday life.
The emotional reserve in medicine, stemming from the impact of medical knowledge on patients' lives, serves as a strong motivator for learning.
The speaker suggests that non-medical students can benefit from creating emotional connections to the subjects they study to enhance motivation.
Osmosis in learning can be facilitated by immersing oneself in environments where the subject matter is frequently discussed or practiced.
The speaker highlights the limitations of platforms like YouTube for in-depth learning and advocates for alternative platforms like Nebula.
Transcripts
what comes to mind when you think of a
medical student
probably some structured organized
consistent poor soul who has to learn
absolutely everything there is to know
about the human body and who won't shut
up about it
now clearly some of these things are
absolutely true but at a fourth year
medical student myself I don't think I
know anyone at this stage that hasn't
become a disorganized mess and yet
somehow we still end up with all of this
information in our brains so how are we
doing it
today I wanted to go through the ways
that I believe as future doctors we
genuinely just study a lot better
because of the ways that the systems are
built around us rather than having some
superhuman skill ourselves so that's if
you are also a medic and you relate to
these we can hopefully lean into them a
bit more together and also house
pharmacology treating you and if you are
not a medic then hopefully you can
benefit from implementing some of these
systems into your own study methods I am
definitely not yet licensed to prescribe
but today I will be prescribing five
ways that I think Medics just study a
lot better let's get straight into it
the first is what I call the flood and
Retreat titration and this is how I was
taught absolutely everything in medicine
it definitely feels like torture and it
takes a while to get used to but it's so
so worth it basically this is the view
that in medicine instead of learning
things in small bite chunks and learning
them step by step or incrementally we
are actually flooded in one go with
information and then this information
Retreats and we are kind of allowed to
apply it so when I was in my first year
of medical school I would come home
every day from lectures with hundreds of
new words that I had never seen before
so many new Concepts an amount of
information that was absolutely insane
and I felt like I would never be able to
wrap my head around it but what I
realized was that this was definitely
just still the flooding stage in my
University I have one year of
pre-clinical medicine as opposed to two
and three in most other universities but
this is where I learned all of the
theoretical information and in the rest
of my four years I am applying and
reapplying it so in the beginning I am
flooded and then I am kind of retreating
and this is so helpful although it's a
huge shock to Your Ego to not understand
so much and it feels as though you're
never going to be able to grasp
everything actually you're not expected
to you're just expected to hear it and
be familiar with it and then you will
learn it when it comes up practically or
when you decide to study it later or
when your brain is actually ready to
grasp everything else that is needed for
you to make that connection but this
flooding stage actually gives you with a
huge amount of perspective and
understanding on the topic as a whole
and therefore allows you to collect
things later and understand things in a
way that is so much more effective so as
opposed to the way that I studied in
high school which was one chapter then
the next then the next whenever I'm
learning something new now what I do
instead is that I give myself an hour or
a day or a week depending on how big the
topic is and completely flood myself
with Advanced things and everything I'm
supposed to know in this topic not
expecting myself to actually retain all
of this information then I go in my
retreat stage where I'm learning things
step by step or the way that they are
given to me and now these things things
sit a lot better in my mind and memory
and I have a much better framework of
how to understand things in general the
second thing I think is incredible in
medical learning is feynman's clinical
test and you might have heard of the
Feynman technique everyone in education
I think has so I'm not going to go into
it in depth but famine great physicist
great lecturer said that you should
explain things to Children if you want
to know if you've understood them
properly which is a great test to do
however this is inherently built into
the structure of medicine I absolutely
have to use this technique both when I
first started and now that I am much
more advanced when I started I would
read a sentence and out of 25 words 20
would be new words to me and nothing
would make sense so I would have to kind
of break it down and explain it to
myself when I didn't understand anything
and now that I'm kind of older and I
understand a lot of the jargon and
understand the things myself
automatically I have to think wait I
need to explain this to a patient how
would I do that I realized that I do
this for everything that I learn and
medicine because no matter how much you
want to keep it at the high level
yourself you're going to have to explain
it to someone at some point and in
medicine we are faced with people of
different ages of different disabilities
different levels of consciousness
different languages and we face so many
barriers in trying to explain what we
want or what the patient needs in a way
that we have to get very creative with
breaking it down to various levels of
difficulty therefore having to convert
our language in a way that's understood
by everyone every single day eventually
it's properly understood by us ourselves
and this is so amazing this is a huge
problem I find in technical subjects
where if you are always studying or
working with Engineers or people at your
level you can get away by always using
this complicated language but by keeping
things at such a high level you're
probably missing out on really
establishing the basics in a way that
would help you apply them even better so
I really would recommend not relying on
the complicated words and the
complicated language that you've learned
but trying to convert things in a way
that you would have understood five or
ten years ago or that your customer or
that your patient or that your grandma
might understand a lot better and using
this every time that you're learning
something especially when it's
complicated will help you establish it
in a much healthier and a much more
effective way third thing that we
benefit from in medicine in my opinion
is malignant active recall and I call it
malignant because it is pervasive it is
invasive it is away from its source and
it happens all the time in such an
unavoidable way basically active recall
is the process of having to make
yourself remember something from the
past and what it does is that it
interrupts our forgetting curves which
naturally happen when we haven't been
exposed to some information for a while
and in medicine this is unavoidable you
might think that you're safe on a
Psychiatry placement but the patient
also has a hematological problem and you
need to refer back to that information
patients will ask you questions from
whatever they need and not whatever
topic that you are currently studying at
the moment and also we are faced with so
many prompts for active recall in our
everyday lives as health is so pervasive
and invasive there are documentaries on
health there's news on health you're
having your Peaceful Christmas dinner
and definitely not trying to study and
someone from your family asks you a
medical question so you are always
prompted to use active recall and I feel
that the fact that we say that we aren't
Medics kind of helps us in a way because
we are forced to recall things again and
again and again the other huge benefit
to this and the reason why I call it
malignant is that things are taken
outside of their original context and
therefore we become much better at
grasping them for example when I was
studying mathematics the Pythagoras
theorem for me is only connected to
black ink and white paper on my textbook
or in my exam I would never ever use
this anywhere else but in medicine when
we learn things they never belong to one
specific place we see something in a
YouTube video we read about it on
Wikipedia in a textbook in one Hospital
in another hospital with different
patients with different family members
in a documentary everywhere things are
so detached from their original source
that we realized that we actually grasp
the information rather than having to
rely on just a memory which is a good
way to connect something initially but
doesn't really mean that we have grasp
of the thing ourselves so I would really
really recommend if you are studying a
different topic than medicine to kind of
keep your ears perked for things that
might prompt you in the world to use
active recall on the things that you are
interested for example if you are
watching a movie or a documentary with
an asteroid in it thinking of the
physics formulas of these sort of
gravitational pulls so using real life
active prompts for active recall rather
than just depending on our scheduled
studying is something that we benefit a
lot from and therefore we can I think
get away with a bit less scheduled
formal studying in our personal lives at
him or in the library if you're a medic
it's almost like you're living in an
exam all the time it's not just an exam
paper so that tends to be very
beneficial for our learning number four
and I'm going to try and explain this in
a way that sounds healthy is the amount
of emotional damage that you get as a
medical student and some of this I agree
with some of it I don't for example I
think it's impossible to not have been
traumatized by a consultant just kind of
humiliating you for not knowing
something complicated or basic when you
are in a clinical setting and I think we
really set down the memories of that
information that we are ashamed for not
knowing or humiliated for not knowing
and I'm not going to condone this
Behavior it's a great way to study but I
don't think we should use this on the
other hand something that I think is a
lot more valuable is that in medicine
there's a lot of emotional reserve for
motivation for learning things for
example there was a doctor teaching us
and I noticed that when we were zoning
out the doctor always used a clinical
scenario about a patient who had died
because of a mistake that was made with
information that they were currently
teaching us and all of us as students we
just perked up and started to pay
attention again and this is something
that's used again and again in medicine
for almost everything that you learn
there's a case that someone did
something wrong and therefore there were
terrible consequences or death and on
the other hand there's so many
discoveries and everything that you
learn kind of helped so many people and
improved their life so I think we can
very easily rely on this huge emotional
Reserve to recharge us which of course
can be very emotionally draining
especially in the negative context but
it's something that I find at least
personally really helps me study a lot
is realizing the impacts of the thing
that I am doing and I believe in many
subjects this is definitely something
that can be relied on in literature or
in Media or in history we also see how
the Power of Words has almost an equal
impact on people's lives and whether
they live or die so tying the things
that we are learning to something with a
strong emotional impact gives us a huge
motivation to study we're very close to
it in medicine but I definitely think
that these connections can be made in
any sort of subject if we try a bit
harder for some of them but it's a huge
huge inspiration and to learn a lot
better the fifth thing that we
definitely benefit from in medicine is
learning by osmosis I've seen these
memes of people saying that they just
sleep with their books hoping that the
information gets into their heads by
osmosis and honestly this is just what
happens in medicine actually because I
realize that there's so much that I know
when I am required to regurgitate
something I genuinely don't know why
this information has come from because
I've never actively studied it but it's
just from being in hospital seeing
things here and there that this
information somehow Finds Its way into
my brain and this long exposure over
time is a huge source of valuable
information I'm for example really
surprised with sometimes people who
watch Gray's Anatomy religiously will
know some really Niche and complicated
things in medicine which shock me but
this is really really helpful because
being in that environment as much as
possible can help you grasp things even
unconsciously so in other subjects I
would get really creative by how much we
can learn by osmosis and this can be
just putting ourselves evolves in
situations where important discussions
are happening in practice about our
topic which can be a job or being an
apprentice somewhere or reading your
friend's papers instead of just reading
your own reading books or watching
documentaries or watching TV shows on
the topic can help you passively absorb
a lot of things and extend the amount of
time that you are actively spending on
your subject you might not get the
benefit of having a five or six year
degree as we do in medicine but by
spending more Summers doing the things
that you are going to do in your subject
can help you in ways that are fun or
very passive actually absorb a lot more
information than you thought you were
doing in the first place as much as I
obviously love and use YouTube as a
Creator myself I realize that this
platform has a lot of limitations a few
of which I am very guilty of doing
myself in order for our videos to be
shown to you on this platform we need to
stick to a lot of specific requirements
and ways of packaging and delivering our
content which although they are
hopefully ideal for reaching more people
they might not be ideal in terms of the
type of learning that specific people
need in order to get the most amount of
information ever in our attempt to get
around this tiny me and a bunch of other
huge educational YouTube Caterers are
using another platform in order to put a
lot of our content and this is nebula
over on nebula there is no algorithm so
there are no restrictions in terms of
how slowly or how fast we are delivering
our content or how in depth we are going
therefore a huge part of the even
YouTube content that I consume I am
doing over on nebula not only that but
also there are exclusive documentaries
and exclusive content that is found over
there from these creators and therefore
it is massively massively helpful also
there are no ads there are no
distractions there is no weird
recommendations that kind of take away
from what I'm trying to do so I find
this to be such a clean way to get
information I just show up there what do
I need to watch and then leave the best
way to get access to nebula is through a
curiosity stream who are very kindly
sponsoring this video because the bundle
of watching thousands and thousands of
documentaries on curiosity stream and
access to these videos are nebula is
only under 15 a year which is absolutely
ridiculous for the amount of value that
is there so if you are looking into some
of these methods of priming or deep
diving or just being a bit more
intentional with the things that you
consume I would definitely recommend
curiosity stream which has thousands of
documentaries on any sort of topic that
you are interested in but also trying to
see if some of these big creators that
you follow on YouTube or some of the
more intentional and kind of
educationally produced content can also
be found earlier even and ad-free on
nebula I have a series that I run
exclusively over there where I go
through in detail in very very chatty
conversations and style through books
that I am reading and what are my main
learning points things that I love and
hate about them which you can follow if
you are planning to read or planning to
never read those books and kind of see
the content I consume but they're also
very highly produced videos on the
platform so I would definitely recommend
having a look at both there will be a
link in my description which will give
you that crazy good discount hopefully
some of these insights from my
experience in medical school were
helpful I would love love any questions
that you have on teaching or learning
that I might address in a future video
but otherwise if you made it so far
thank you so much for spending this time
with me be kind to yourself on others
and don't believe everything you think
thanks thanks bye
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