Med School TOPPER’S SYSTEM to Memorising Effectively (Detailed Breakdown)

Summary

This video, sponsored by Short Form, offers a comprehensive guide on effective memorization techniques by Zay Yif, a third-year medical student. The script outlines a three-part method to enhance memory retention: associating information by creating connections and value, visualizing complex data into stories and memory palaces, and recalling information through spaced repetition. Yif emphasizes the importance of understanding over rote memorization and provides practical steps to revolutionize the learning process.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script emphasizes the importance of effective memorization techniques for learning and retaining information, especially for complex subjects like medicine.
• 🧠 It introduces the concept that our brains naturally try to discard information, so creating associations and showing value to the information is crucial for memorization.
• 🗺️ The video guide suggests mapping out the entire topic to create a foundational understanding and to avoid information overload on the working memory.
• 🔗 The process of creating 'relation' and 'value' involves linking new information to prior knowledge and demonstrating its relevance, which helps in moving information from working memory to long-term memory.
• 👨‍🎓 Zay oif, a medical student, shares his personal techniques based on scientific research and his own experiences in medical school.
• 📈 The guide is divided into three main parts: associating information, visualizing information, and recalling information, each with specific steps and techniques.
• 🤯 The video discusses the effectiveness of creating absurd and vivid stories to help with memorization, as the brain is more likely to remember unusual and distinct information.
• 🏠 It introduces the concept of a 'Memory Palace', a method where information is stored in specific locations within a familiar environment to aid recall.
• 🔍 The guide encourages the use of visual markers and stories for complex information, such as tables filled with data or lists of diseases, to enhance memorization.
• ✍️ The importance of writing down or sketching out the stories and memory palaces is highlighted to prevent forgetting and to provide a reference for复习.
• 📝 The final part of the guide focuses on the retrieval of information, suggesting techniques like initial mind map retrieval and spaced repetition for effective recall.

Q & A

What is the main issue the video aims to address?

The video addresses the issue of ineffective memorization during study sessions, where people read extensively but fail to retain the information.

Who is the presenter of the video?

The presenter is Zay Yif, a third-year medical student.

What is the purpose of the guide presented in the video?

The guide aims to provide scientifically-backed steps to understand and memorize information effectively, revolutionizing the way one learns.

What does the video suggest about the relationship between understanding a topic and memorizing it?

The video suggests that understanding a topic is important but not sufficient for memorization; additional steps are needed to make the brain retain the information effectively.

What are the three main parts of the memorization guide presented in the video?

The three main parts are associating the information, visualizing the information, and recalling the information.

What is the significance of creating a mind map during the initial study phase?

Creating a mind map helps in mapping out the entire topic, establishing a foundation, and making connections between different pieces of information, which aids in better memorization.

How does the video suggest making the learning process more relevant and valuable?

The video suggests creating relations by associating new information with prior knowledge and showing the brain that the information is relevant and important by demonstrating its value.

What role does the sponsor 'Short Form' play in the video?

Short Form provides book summaries and guides that the presenter uses for research and to simplify concepts before delving into detailed study, which helps in the initial mapping of topics.

What is the importance of creating a 'crazy story' for memorization?

Creating a 'crazy story' helps in visualizing complex information and processes, making them more memorable through the use of absurd and vivid imagery.

How does the video recommend using a 'Memory Palace' for memorization?

The video recommends using a 'Memory Palace' by placing visual stories and information in specific locations within a familiar place, which helps in retrieving the information during recall.

What is the final part of the memorization guide about?

The final part of the guide focuses on recalling the information effectively by using the created visual stories and memory palaces, and spacing out the retrieval practice for better retention.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Effective Memorization Techniques for Learning

The speaker, Zay Yif, introduces the video as a guide to improve memorization skills during study sessions. Emphasizing the importance of understanding and memorizing information effectively, the video promises a step-by-step approach based on scientific research. Zay shares his background as a medical student and his exploration of various memory techniques, which he has condensed into a practical method. The video is structured into three parts: associating information, visualizing information, and recalling information, starting with the often-overlooked importance of associating new information with prior knowledge to create connections and show the brain the value of retaining this information.

05:01

🗺️ Mapping the Topic for Better Understanding and Memory

This paragraph delves into the first step of the memorization process: mapping the entire topic. Zay suggests creating a mental model by skimming through the material to identify key points and separating the essential concepts from less critical details. He highlights the importance of not overloading working memory and instead focusing on simplifying concepts to foundational basics. The speaker also introduces the sponsor, Short Form, which provides book summaries that helped in the research for the video. The mapping method includes categorizing and chunking big ideas, creating a mind map, and considering the logical backbone of the chapter, all of which are crucial for embedding details into long-term memory.

10:02

🤔 Creating Intrigue and Value to Enhance Memory

The speaker discusses the second step in the memorization process: creating intrigue and value. This involves building upon the initial structure of the topic with a deeper exploration, driven by curiosity and interest. Zay emphasizes the importance of attention and emotions in transferring knowledge from working memory to long-term memory. Techniques such as studying deeply, understanding from first principles, and considering the broader context of the information are suggested to make the learning process more memorable. The paragraph also touches on the importance of differentiating between content that needs to be understood and content that also requires memorization.

15:03

🎨 Visualizing Information for Enhanced Memory Retention

In this paragraph, Zay introduces the concept of visualizing information as a method to transform complex data into a format that the brain can quickly understand and absorb. He explains the process of creating a 'crazy story' by associating each piece of information with a vivid, absurd image or scenario. This technique leverages the brain's ability to remember images more effectively than words. The speaker also discusses the use of memory palaces or loci, a method of associating these visual stories with specific locations in a familiar environment, to aid in recall. The paragraph concludes with practical advice on applying these visualization techniques to memorize dense information.

20:04

🏠 Utilizing Memory Palaces for Advanced Memorization

The speaker provides a nuanced approach to the memory palace technique, adapted for complex study material. He suggests creating a path through a chosen location and placing visual stories in specific 'micro stations' within that location. By clustering stories related to the same topic in the same room, or 'macro station', the speaker demonstrates a method to efficiently store and retrieve large amounts of information. The paragraph includes practical steps for implementing this technique, such as sketching the location and testing one's memory of the space, to ensure the stories are effectively placed and retrievable.

25:05

💡 Recalling Information with the Aid of Memory Techniques

Zay discusses the importance of recalling information and how memory techniques can make this process feel like having a photographic memory. He shares personal experiences of how these techniques have impacted his ability to remember complex medical information quickly. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of understanding the information intuitively, rather than relying solely on rote memorization. He provides examples of how he uses stories and memory palaces to recall specific medical conditions and their characteristics, highlighting the efficiency and effectiveness of this method.

30:06

🔄 Spacing Retrieval Sessions for Long-Term Memory

The final paragraph focuses on the retrieval of memorized information and the concept of spacing effect for efficient learning. Zay explains his method of initial mind map retrieval before starting a revision session, which helps to jog the memory and identify knowledge gaps. He also discusses the use of recall questions to test oneself, suggesting the inclusion of cues that trigger the associated visual stories and memory palaces. The speaker emphasizes the importance of spacing out retrieval sessions to optimize memory retention, recommending different intervals for easier and harder topics, and concludes by encouraging viewers to provide feedback on the memorization guide.

Keywords

💡Memorization

Memorization refers to the process of committing information to memory. In the video's theme, it is the key to effectively retaining what is studied, especially for complex subjects like medicine. The script discusses various scientifically-backed techniques to enhance memorization, such as creating associations and visualizing information, which are crucial for a medical student like the speaker.

💡Working Memory

Working memory is a cognitive system that holds information temporarily for processing. The script mentions that students often overload their working memory, which hinders the transfer of information to long-term memory. The video suggests simplifying concepts as a method to prevent this overload and facilitate memorization.

💡Long-term Memory

Long-term memory is the ability to store information over a long period. The video emphasizes the importance of transferring information from working memory to long-term memory. Techniques such as creating mind maps and linking new information to existing knowledge are discussed as strategies to achieve this.

💡Mind Maps

A mind map is a visual representation of information, used to organize and structure knowledge. The script describes creating mind maps as an initial step in the memorization process, helping to define the main concepts and their interconnections, which is vital for understanding and remembering complex topics.

💡Relevance

Relevance, in the context of the video, is about making new information meaningful by associating it with what is already known. The speaker explains that showing the brain that new information is relevant helps in retaining it, which is a fundamental concept in the memorization techniques discussed.

💡Value

Value, in terms of memorization, is the importance or usefulness attributed to information. The script suggests that by creating value and showing the brain that information is worth keeping, one can enhance memorization. This is linked to the idea of making information relevant and significant to the individual.

💡Visualizing Information

Visualizing information involves creating mental images or diagrams to represent data or concepts. The video script describes this as a crucial step in memorization, where complex information is transformed into visual stories or images that are easier for the brain to recall.

💡Memory Palace

A memory palace, also known as the method of loci, is a mnemonic device that uses spatial memory to remember information. The script describes a modified version of this technique where stories and visual images are placed in familiar locations within one's memory palace to aid in recall.

💡Active Recall

Active recall is the process of actively trying to remember information without looking at the source material. The video emphasizes the importance of active recall in reinforcing memory and suggests using recall questions and stories to practice this technique effectively.

💡Spacing Effect

The spacing effect is a learning technique where studying is spread out over time, which has been shown to improve retention. The script recommends spacing out recall sessions for memorized information, suggesting a formula for easier and harder topics to optimize long-term memory retention.

💡Intrigue

Intrigue in the video refers to the curiosity or interest one has in the material being studied. The speaker suggests that creating intrigue and making the content interesting can increase the value of the information in the eyes of the learner, thus aiding in memorization.

💡First Principles

First principles are the fundamental truths or building blocks from which other truths are derived. The script encourages understanding information from first principles as a way to deepen comprehension and facilitate memorization, by questioning and analyzing information beyond just accepting facts.

Highlights

The video offers a comprehensive guide on effective memorization techniques for better learning.

Zay Yif, a third-year medical student, shares scientifically-backed steps for memorizing complex information.

The importance of associating new information with prior knowledge to create connections and value is emphasized.

Mapping the entire topic before studying is suggested to avoid information overload and create a mental model.

Sponsor Short Form is introduced for its book summaries and guides that help simplify complex concepts.

The guide is divided into three parts: associating, visualizing, and recalling information.

Creating intrigue and value while studying helps in transferring knowledge to long-term memory.

The method of creating a memorization filter to differentiate content that needs understanding versus memorization is discussed.

Visualizing information through creating crazy stories and linking them helps in better absorption and recall.

The modified Memory Palace technique is introduced to store complex stories and information in a spatial format.

The benefits of using visual stories and memory palaces for difficult to understand or remember information are highlighted.

The process of recalling information involves initial mind map retrieval and practice questions.

Spacing out the retrieval sessions is crucial for effective long-term retention of information.

The guide concludes with a summary of the memorization techniques and a call for feedback from viewers.

A special offer for Short Form is provided to the viewers with a link in the description for a free trial and discount.

The video encourages viewers to apply these techniques for improved memorization skills and exam preparation.

Transcripts

this video is sponsored by short form

more on them later if you're the person

that reads and reads and reads for hours

but never ends up remembering anything

it's because you don't do the incredibly

important steps that you need to be

doing during the study sessions to

memorize effectively my name is Zay oif

I'm a third-year medical student and in

this full guide we are going through the

exact steps one by one every single

specific scientifically backed action

that you need to be taking in order to

not only understand information but to

memorize it and in Rin it in your head

in a way that revolutionizes the way you

learn these last few weeks I've gone

through six different scientifically

backed memory books I've explored the

nuances of exactly how our brain

memorizes information I've experimented

with these techniques from my own

studies in medical school and condensed

it all into a digestible easy to follow

method for all of you but here's the

catch as always this isn't like any

other video because this is an active

guide filled with practical steps of

things that you can do right now to

improve your memory skills and to

actually memorize the topic with me in

real time and I know most videos just

show you a list of unrelated words and

then show you pictures in order to

memorize them but what's the point in

doing that it's completely different

from the content and the information

that we actually have to memorize for

our exams so pick an actual topic that

you are studying a complex process of

multiple equations and follow along the

steps in this video to perfectly

memorize it this detailed guide is going

to be broken up into three parts one

associating the information two

visualizing the information and three

recalling the information part one

associate ing the information this first

entire part is always invisible to the

normal person not a lot of people do it

not a lot of people realize that I do it

and when people catch me memorizing

stuff like this in the next sections

they all say oh my God how are you so

fast as learning how do you remember so

much when it's not really the same thing

if you haven't done the first main big

step so let's get into it we all think

that if I understand a topic well enough

that it'll just magnetically stick in my

head but the funny fact is the way that

our brain and our memory works that

we're literally trying to discard and

forget as much as possible in any given

moment and yes if you read and

understand a topic it does create a good

base but to actually memorize

information to make your brain think

that this is worth keeping you need to

be able to create number one relation

and number two value relation means that

you need to associate the new

information you're learning to your

prior knowledge to create connections

between this information and your strong

basic foundation and then creating value

means to show your brain that this

information is relevant and important

you're literally screaming at it please

don't throw away it is worth keeping and

both of these relation and value can

both be created through very practical

techniques and that's what we'll achieve

with these next steps step number one

map the entire topic the only way we can

create relevance to the information we

want to learn is by first mapping out

the entire topic this means sitting down

and creating a foundation a mental model

of all the basics separating The Logical

backbone of the chapter from the fluff

both Barbara Oakley and Olaf Shu I.E big

neuroscientist in the space they say in

multiple books that most students while

reading information actually choke up

their working memory or in other words

overloaded with information too quickly

giving no actual attention to the

individual pieces of information which

means very little connects from their

working memory to their long-term memory

and the solution that they always

mentioned was to make time before you

start learning to simplify the concepts

to the absolute Basics the applicable

rules the key big overarching themes and

topics that sometimes people even ignore

because they're too simple and the

reason we do this is because it'll

become much much easier to embed the

details into our memory if we can relate

them back to this foundational web of

Basics that we're creating while we do

this mapping step and the Practical

steps to do this initial mapping is to

Step One skim the entire chapter

starting with the absolute Basics this

means looking at the main headings the

definitions the keywords simplifying

them and trying to vaguely understand

every big point being discussed but no

memorizing you're just going through the

book and kind of marinating your brain

you're going through the book and kind

of of marinating your brain becoming

familiar with the content this step

usually takes me around 20 to 30 minutes

per big topic but it usually depends on

the content and add a tip here is to not

think too much about how everything is

structured just yet so don't focus on oh

this is the title this is the subtitle

this is the main heading the way we

think about and structure information

while we take it in is highly highly

important in the long term to how we

remember it so leave the structure until

you've skim through and have a basic

understanding of all the topics skimming

through information however is quite

tough when you have a 100 page books and

multiple books on the same topic and you

don't know which to actually spend time

reading but don't worry because the

sponsor of today's video short form has

God us covered they are the very first

sponsors I've ever accepted and it's

because their book summaries and their

guides are exactly what I use before I

read most books in fact it's what I use

for all of the research I did for this

video as well instead of spending hours

reading through all these bigname memory

learning books searching for things that

would only be applicable to us students

I simply went through their onepage

summaries and searched for the specific

things things in the books that were

actually useful and the reason they're

so good is because they're not like most

summaries they're like full guides the

guy who writes them compares the key

ideas of these books with other books

with other prominent research with

conflicting theories so the just this it

gives you all the information you need

and short form has thousands of books on

learning personal development Finance

business and a lot of other genres and

if you want a book that they don't have

yet then you can actually vote for books

and they upload new books every week as

well so if you're interested click on

the link in my description short.com

szan that's all it is short.com Za n

Zane my first name you get 5 days of

unlimited free access and then another

20% off the annual subscription as well

and if you use the specific link I get a

little bit of Kickback as well which

really helps support this channel so

thank you for listening let's get back

to the mapping method the second step of

this method is to think about how all of

these big ideas that you've read about

and understood the basics about can be

now categorized and chunked together how

can these big Ideas be put into

categories and subcategories and how can

they all be linked together don't look

at your text book for this think in your

own head what is the main trunk of that

tree what is the main topic what are the

main big branches coming off what are

the subtopics and what are the small

leaves that you want to attach at the

end in my previous full study guide I

know I did say to write out everything

all the keywords and topics onto one big

list and put everything on there but to

start studying a topic when doing that

when you have zero basic understanding

is quite annoying and difficult to do

with a lot of topics and what I've

actually found useful is to start with

doing that basic overview and then

come up with my own wellth thought out

structure of all the topics and make

that mind map I think doing it that way

makes the topic stick out more in your

memory and it's because once you have a

decent basic understanding you can link

it all faster and start to create

relationships right off the bat and just

skip that extremely nonsense mindmap

that you'd be making with absolutely

zero knowledge which then just gives you

more time to strengthen everything

overall in the process step number three

is to actually now create that initial

mind map this is what this initial

mapping method is all about you have the

basics you can simply kind of Define

most aspects and processes of the topic

now and you've created a general idea of

how to link the subtopics and topics

together so now put all the main

Concepts on paper use your previous

knowledge and read Around the topic to

then create relationships between

everything helpful questions to think

about when structuring and creating

those connections between different

topics and subtopics you can ask

yourself how do these main topics fit

together if they were puzzle pieces how

are they related to each other can I

compare them are there similarities

differences are these cause and effect

are these smaller parts of a big hole

I've talked about this method before and

I know that this mapping priming stage

in the start seems extra but overall

everything takes around 45 minutes and

now you've not only gone through all the

topics Basics but you've also created a

full structured mindmap or mental model

of the topic that you can now build upon

most people wouldn't be able to do this

even if they had hours with the normal

study method like you don't understand

how much easier the entire memorization

process is after doing this step when

you now read the textbook and watch

lectures you're automatically linking

and anchoring this information to your

previous knowledge and this previous

knowledge is that wellth thought out

mindmap with all the basics of the topic

and this is a summary slide for the

initial mapping

method quick pause in the video Guys

these guides honestly take so long to

make and structure and plan out and

research for but I do them because I

know it helps people so much it helps me

as well to be honest but please could

you uh click off the video leave a like

spam comments help me out with the

algorithm click on that short form link

you get a 5-day free trial and then you

get an annual 20% off the annual

subscription anyways thank you let's get

right back in the guide step two

Intrigue creates value now obviously as

you continue to read you will be

building upon that initial structure of

the topic correcting it seeing what your

gaps are but instead of aimlessly

reading through the chapters like

everyone else because you did that

initial mapping you will be skipping

around and jumping to the subtopics that

you actually want to learn more about

and that's because you already have the

basics so once you have those Basics you

will want to think how this works and

how this connects to this and you'll

want to jump to certain specific

subtopics you'll be forming the interest

through your own learning this saves a

ton of time and it adds that interest

based exploration and that is

immediately what gives this topic value

because once something becomes

interesting it becomes important in our

brain and it's much more likely to stick

Oakley's model badly in hitches working

model of memory all tell us that our

attentional control system is actually

responsible for transferring our

knowledge from our working memory to

then our long-term memory I.E the more

attention and emotions that you give to

the new information that you're learning

the stronger the connections will become

between this new information and the

previous information that you have

number one studying deeply and to be

honest the best way to give this

information more attention is to create

Intrigue to have aha moments to

understand the information as deeply as

possible to understand it from first

principles this means you can't just be

normally reading through and just

accepting things as facts it means

assessing your understanding of the

information as you go through it for

example if you read about

anti-coagulants don't just accept what

it is and how it works and then read

about the examples think deeper H how

does this Doak help stop the cloting

what does it specifically work on

instead of just accepting the facts as

it is you think deeper about the

information ask yourself questions and

that'll allow you to remember more

anyways it's basic but this is the sort

of stuff thinking this way when I'm

studying is the reason I remembered most

of my studying before I discovered all

these great techniques I always asked

why to the point that where I was being

annoying I never took things at face

value and I always informally kind of

tested myself on what I was learning

that's how you'll actually remember more

when you can talk about things from

first principles talk exactly about why

this happens and what causes this to

happen the one caveat here is to know

the limits to being super curious

there's a lot of content to get through

and if you become curious about

everything then you'll never end up

actually covering it so become learn to

become satisfied to with a good level of

understanding I think a good limit to

have is if you can teach it to someone

that is is enough number two studying

broader your brain mainly remembers

things that are different so if you just

read about yet another disease and then

just move on you won't remember much

obviously but if you can assign meaning

to it if you can say why something is

relevant that is when your brain goes

like Oh wait hold on hey hey hey this is

important pay attention so as you read

through the information focus on

thinking about one why something is

important to you and number two why this

information is important for the real

world for number one you think selfishly

why do I need to know this information

for which section of which topic how

does this fit in with my own mental

structure of what I'm learning and then

for number two think with an open heart

where else in the world does this matter

who does it matter to imagine the

patient with the disease think about why

what you're learning is important that's

the key takeaway this second step was

the easy non-complicated ways of

actually making the things that you're

learning more memorable the first bit of

this is number one studying from first

principles I consistently asking why and

then number two studying with the

broader context I consistently asking

why is this important step three is to

create a memorization filter after

building the basics creating a good

mental model and then while you're

reading also creating Intrigue and then

making the content relevant there is one

last very important and kind of obvious

thing that you need to be doing before

you start to memorize everything from

your textbooks you need to differentiate

between the content that needs to be

understood versus the content that needs

to be understood as well as memorized

the things that you can only remember by

memorizing them and not it doesn't

really work with just understanding them

the fact is that memorization techniques

need to be the last resort being in med

school where there's a whole lot of

information to actually go through and

study we've now created a good mental

barrier for the things that can be

directly intuitively understood versus

the things that need to be just wrote

memorized the reason I'm putting so much

emphasis on this is because

understanding the concept is the best

way to memorize it and then remember it

long term if you can understand why

something happens and work through the

logic even if you don't know all the

details you can still look at the exam

question and work through the through

the the thing the concept one by one

work through the logic and get to some

sort of an estimated answer if you can

logically understand something you win

logic is King if I smash my laptop with

a hammer I know it will break that is

logic I don't need a Memory Palace to

remember that and because most of us

don't want to spend useless time

memorizing things that we can just

intuitively understand that's why we use

this filter to filter out the

information that actually needs to be

fully memorized me putting effort into

the memorizing equals to Long processes

plus difficult and sporadic details plus

extremely Niche diseases those are the

three main types of information that I'm

aiming to memorize make your own filter

for the information depending on the

degree and what you study it's important

so that you don't just waste time

stupidly using brain power on active

memorizing techniques when you can

simply do your recall questions and

attain deeper understanding also note

that around 80 to 90% of that

information does not fall in this filter

for memorization but for the specific

lengthy processes with a million steps

and so many byproducts and the illogical

sporadic Niche information this is what

I suggest doing to memorize

them part two visualizing the

information see the point of memorizing

here is to transform the information

that you're studying into a format that

the brain will quickly understand and

absorb I.E images and places because we

are incredible at forgetting words

instantly whereas we are profoundly good

at keeping mental images if you close

your eyes and think of the best

vacations the best food the best people

that you've ever met you need need

visual images to recall those detailed

faces and places so after a lot of

research and using my own experiences

over the years I've modified a mix of

techniques and strategies that a lot of

memory books and scientists swear by but

I've made it applicable to the type of

content that us students have to learn

which isn't usually all the digits of pi

or a random list of objects that most of

these books are teaching us to memorize

so this visualization method isn't just

to visualize the information it is the

way that you will ingrain it all in your

mind keep in mind that all the steps

with within the first part of this guide

associating the information all need to

be completed for this to work as well as

it can step one creating the crazy story

the very first step is to visualize like

a crazy man and then create a story now

this is difficult to explain so listen

carefully replay bits if you need our

brain loves the Absurd so when studying

a step-by-step process for example

replace all the words that you need to

memorize with visual graphic images it's

obviously easy to do with organs like

the heart or the gall L and imagine all

the complex processes happening within

them but something like AO blastoma that

is very hard to picture so in my mind it

becomes the Goblin from Harry Potter or

potassium that element you can't really

think of that so that becomes bananas I

don't know why it's bananas that's just

how it is in my head you get the gist

and so for a step-by-step process I will

imagine a story unfold in my head with

each element each step happening in 3D

but exaggerated remember the story has

to be absurd because our brains will

only remember it if it's different and

weird I knew about this before I do this

a lot with my learning anyways and I

know a lot of us probably do but what I

didn't realize or didn't think about was

the fact that you can do this

visualizing method with any information

with tables filled with difficult

information with rare diseases that are

difficult to imagine with all the

pneumonics that you have to learn you

can visualize and create a crazy story

about anything that you need to memorize

for example let me show you how you can

use it to memorize a huge table of brain

cancers with all of their

characteristics self types Etc very high

yield technique for exams by the way

because with big tables you're usually

given them because the exam questions

are going to ask you to differentiate

between the different things in that

table if you're trying to remember the

hystopathological findings the cell

types the tests for all of these cancers

the best solution is to chunk all of

these cancers together into one story if

you have like 10 20 cancers to memorize

each with different tests pneumonics

cell types it's very very easy to let

one or two of them slip or to to confuse

one or two of them but if you have them

linked through a story it's much more

logical and you're way less lightly

tached to forget anything so for the

brain cancers the Goblin from Harry

Potter I.E for the gleo blastoma breaks

through a big uh brick wall because that

tumor actually crosses the midline in a

CT scan and there's a butterfly on top

of that wall because the tumor is

usually shaped like a butterfly

classically and then continuing with the

story the other side of the wall is a

big gym with only men from enoma and

when this big abnormally looking Goblin

breaks through that wall all the men in

there get scared and start doing some

weird Samoan War dance which I then

associate with the Sima buddies

typically found in momas and on and on

and on you can keep going with the story

keep adding diseases keep adding

information to your mental picture that

story that you made you can even link

another big table of neurological

cancers for children for example and

Link them together using the story that

way you've now memorize two big tables

together visualizing vividly means that

you are creating an endless way to

organize the information in your head

and to be honest it all sounds a lot

harder than it actually is so

practically this is how I want you to

apply the technique one create visual

markers one by one for each of the

information pieces that you are

memorizing two outline the story in

extreme levels of detail going through

things in a sequential order

continuously chunking the similar

information or the things that are

related to each other together and

number three write the story or do some

rough drawings of the story in your

notebook if you actively use this method

a lot and especially if you have a lot

of things to mem Iz in your degree then

you're going to have a lot of short

stories holding a lot of dense

information which is an amazing thing

that our minds can do but actually

leaving that much to your memory is

quite risky so a good solution that a

doctor recommended recently was to

actually have a memory book of all the

visualizations the creative stories that

we create all the pneumonics that we use

in med school a memory book of all the

things that we can't just leave to

understanding and it makes sense if

we're doing this visualizing this much

then why leave it to chance why don't be

organized about it so spend like 10

minutes of your session you actually do

this drawing out the Doodles or the

mental story that you went through for

that table for that huge table by the

way that you're summarizing in this

small little drawing or for that rare

disease that you didn't know about so we

can at least look back to the stories

that we created if we forget them again

I'm repeating this understanding the

information the topic is the hack do not

do this uselessly visualizing and

creating these stories is very active

and helpful but nothing beats just

logically intuitively naturally

understanding the medicine and the

processes step two the modified Memory

Palace the second part of taking this

visualizing technique to the next level

is involving the method of lokai or

memory palaces which by the way is a

memory of a real place or location that

you remember really well like your

school or old home and the simple

technique that most of these books talk

about is to leave different objects in

different locations within your big

Memory Palace so that when you do need

to remember the list you can just walk

through the your memory Palace and

remember those objects and it's a very

smart use of the spatial urenus in our

brain but I never really used this

technique in the past because it wasn't

going to help me with all the content

that I needed to study for actual med

school I don't need to memorize this

list of objects the content is a lot

more complicated than that however after

reading through all these books and

looking at the research of the best

memory scientists I've kind of created a

really effective way to Nuance this

ingenious method for my own studies and

the way to be honest that anyone can do

this is by first doing that step where

you're creating all these stories

visualizations pneumonics for a big

topic and then second you take all these

big stories and store them in that

memory castle of yours and I know it

sounds complicated like how are you

expecting me to store these full stories

with a lot of den content in themselves

in multiple locations within one room of

one house and to be honest initially it

is a big thing to wrap your head around

but there is a logical smart way to do

it and at the end of it you will not

only just remember all the amount of

content that you stored in that one

short visual story but you'll also be

able to create multiple short stories to

do with one topic and then store it all

in that that one room for that topic and

then you have multiple topics in that

same location that same house now for

the Practical technique this is

obviously going to be after you've

created those good visual stories of

yours to do with the tables the

difficult information in them the uh

rare diseases that you can't possibly

remember the long processes once you

have these stories in your head at least

one or two of them now you can start to

actually place them in your memory

console and for that you need to number

one create a path through your location

where you're going to place your stories

your pneumonics Etc this means planning

and sketching it out on paper you need

to draw the location out on paper all

the big furniture inside each of the

rooms it'll take less than 15 minutes

and you need to test your memory of the

how well you remember the location

anyway so draw a quick outline of the

location on a piece of paper think about

all the rooms all the furniture within

those room those Furniture pieces or

very prominent aspects will be used to

as micro stations for you to then place

your visual stories on top of the Second

Step here is to now picture placing

those visual stories one by one in those

microl locations and what's smart is if

you Clump all of these similar stories

to do with the same topic in the same

room so micro stations one story on the

chair one chair one story on the bed one

on the mirror and that'll just allow you

to remember that all of these different

stories to do with the same topic are in

the same room or macro station I hope

this is all making sense so far this

probably text somewhere explaining the

process as I speak about it re-watch

this last bit if you don't understand so

for example for microbiology which is a

huge Topic in medic that is mainly based

on Ro memorization have a couple rooms

or macro stations for Grand positive

bacteria have a couple rooms or entire

floor or whatever for GR negative

bacteria have a different house for

fungi have a different house for viruses

my point is plan everything as well as

possible before you start to do this

stuff don't Clump everything together in

the same room or the same house the

technique is to actually space out the

markers for the stories or pneumonics or

whatever as much as possible in the room

space out the rooms as well it makes it

easier to remember and also it's very

challenging to do all of this as you

make up the stories and just start

storing them in places plan it out as

much as possible creating the stories is

actually the easy fun part but actually

thinking about the location actually

that's why I said sketch the locations

up because you need to think about where

exactly each story is going to go and

that is the thing that will actually

help you remember it and it's honestly

insane you're doing a little bit of work

to then just locate these stories and as

soon as you when you need to rejog your

memory you think about the topic you

think about the room you think about

where in the room this particular

concept you stored and then you go into

that and remember all this information

and after some practice it'll honestly

feel like you have some photographic

memory a cool thing I've also been doing

is creating stories from those initial

mind maps of the topic and by creating

stories about the different subtopics

and the topics and the way they link

together on that mind map they've been

sticking in my head for longer because

once I create a full story for this

whole topic I can then picture it as a

mind map or a big poster in in a room of

one of the of one of the locations I

have I could go into a lot more Nuance

here about this entire process but just

start creating the stories start

creating multiple stories to do the same

topics uh that hold information like

tables information like pneumonics and

place them in the rooms of your memory

Castle the more you do it the more

you'll slowly start to develop your

method as you go forward the reality of

using these memory techniques now

obviously this is all quite Advanced and

a lot of you might not need to use it so

really don't stick to good study

techniques I talk about all of the good

study techniques to understand

information really well in my guide

right here definitely definitely do

everything in the first part of this

guide associating the information

incorporate the visualizing and thinking

of some stories for difficult

information and maybe that memory cost a

bit may be overkill for you my point is

be the judge for yourself for courses

like medicine law info dense subjects I

can see these memory techniques be so

useful it excites me literally for me

I've only just started creating these

stories and using memory palaces I've

only just started to actually do enough

of this to now get a hang of it I've

just started to draw a few sketches but

the thing is I can already see the

impact they've had on my ability to

remember things random times a professor

or doctor has asked me something and I

can now jump to my respiratory building

I can go into the restrictive disease

Corridor get to the place for

sarcoidosis which I represent with a

story of a a young African-American

female playing football soccer socer

reminding me of sarcoidosis and that

specific stereotype is because

sarcoidosis is common in those people

and of course she loves her cardio

health so she never smokes because

sarcoidosis is not typically found in

smokers it's found more in non-smokers

her teammate is also there on the pitch

using a squirty bottle to drink water

and that is to remind me of the Bal

technique to use using bronchoscopies

where um I think they they squirt water

into the lungs and then collect that for

examination and The Story Goes On and On

obviously but through this quick

thinking of this story I have now

recalled all the facts to do with

sarcoidosis which but would have usually

taken me ages so it's it's a disease I

don't know much about I think this

specific story was heavily influenced by

a sketchy video I was watching for USM

but again my own thought process and my

own way of remembering it however

overall even though it's been really

helpful in the way I'm studying doing

these added memory techniques in my and

adding them to my revision has added

that extra level of processing in my

head and to extra work to do on paper as

well which has kind of been taking extra

time to get through the topic and

initially that was worrying me because

of course I was spending too long on

these topics but the thing that is

important to to remember is that we are

only doing this for the information that

is difficult to 100% understand and then

remember in your head I'm basically

doing it for conditions I haven't seen

in real life the rare diseases I'm doing

it for organisms and the details of

specific cancers and things like that

and because I'm doing it this way I am

spending a lot more time in those study

sessions but I'm doing very I'm doing a

lot fewer of those repetitions than to

remember that knowledge the main benef

benefit is that it's not root

memorization anymore and to be honest

finding and developing these complex

memory techniques into something simple

that I can use for my own education was

the entire reason that I actually wanted

to make this video and do the research

for this video it was because I started

to realize that I was now just rot

memorizing the hard Niche details

whereas creating stories creating Visual

pneumonics and then storing them in

different locations for example my

locations are mainly in med school and

schools it's all been a very nice

natural way to remember the information

for much much longer like I'm not even

joking a little bit of triggering a

little bit of doing and it's ingrained

in my head I can jump to the stories

immediately and fish out the

information part three recalling the

information but that being said creating

these stories and just storing them in

places isn't going to be enough the

third big part of this memorizing guide

is actually recalling the information

but doing it cleverly and I'm not only

going to summarize how I do this for the

rest of my studies but I will also give

you a method for how I do this involving

these memorization techniques before I

get into this there's a reason these

memory techniques feel like magic and it

comes down to the three Arts of

remembering record retain and retrieve

we initially substituted a word or a

phrase for an image we're trying to

record this way we're using this image

to encode what we need to remember us

linking all these images and creating

graphic characters and stuff out of them

and linking them in a story is US

retaining and at the end of the day

thinking through these visual stories

looking through the memory palaces is

the best form of retrieving well I don't

know if it's the best but actually going

through these stories and automatically

just remembering things that you need to

know that way of retrieval is just much

easier and more fun compared to actively

trying to recall information and

retrieving information like this is much

easier because of all of the cues and

connections we created compared to us

going in and trying to active recall the

information in a normal way but anyways

for the Practical aspects of this

recalling step this is what I've been

doing Step One initial mind map

retrieval before starting to revise a

big topic I've now started to do two

things first I sit there for 10 minutes

and try to recall my entire skeletal map

of the topic then the second thing I do

is do like 15 practice questions which

I've mentioned before in my previous

full study guide and I've talked about

why pre- testing is important but let me

expand on the first thing how and why I

recall the whole mind map this is the

Mind map that I created initially during

that mapping skimming section where I

chunk the big topics together make

connections and associations and Link

them all together and really deeply try

to understand the basics of the topic

which by the way regardless of whether I

did this or not fuels the rest of my

learning in but let's start with how I

actually remember these mind maps and

the way I do it is I link the individual

topics and subtopics on the Mind map and

just create a short story of the whole

thing this short story is then stored in

the in the room that is to do with this

topic as a poster on the wall or

something of that nature in my memory

costole and the reason I try and recall

this mind map from memory in the first

place is a it re jogs the entire

structure of the topic that I initially

used to think about and the way I

learned it in the first place n b this

is the second time I'm going through and

reading about this topic so I should be

able to recall this mind map better and

actually add things to it improve the

structure of it as well either way I'm

using my time to actively think about

the topic to think about the structure

the basics to really understand it

before even starting I've seen that

doing the small practice before my study

sessions really enhances the amount I

end up remembering it increases how fast

my brain works in the study session how

quickly I can remember what I learned

and then it also increases how quickly I

can see where my knowledge gaps are and

fill them up simply because this mind

map is all in front of me on a poster in

a room of some one of my memory ciles

and I can see exactly where I need to

fill in the blanks and I know this kind

of sounds like photographic memory which

I trust me I don't have but it's just

that these story techniques and memory

ciles make retrieving information that

is in some part of your mind so so easy

and to be honest all you really need is

a little bit of a practice round with

doing this that's why I suggested you

doing this with your own topic because

to be honest even I don't have that much

practice I've just been doing this for a

few weeks I'm still learning as well

step two retreat retrieving stories

during the recall questions overall the

primary way I revise is I go through and

answer my recall questions about a

certain topic that I made the first time

when I went through it as I probably

mentioned in around 80% of my videos is

that I convert all the information that

I study into recall questions the first

time I go through the the topic and then

the next time I go through the topic I

actually sit down and test myself on

these questions and yeah for most of my

studying I don't usually create huge

visual stories and memory ciles and

things like that but for the topics that

I actually do need to do that for and

memorize I try in one add a few

questions to do specifically to do with

the visual stories that I've thought of

for example in a question about the

histopathology of sarcoidosis I'd add a

bracket saying think about the soccer

balls in a cage which would then

immediately cue me to think about these

well- inflated tightly packed balls in

these cages which is how the sarid

granas are kind of placed together and

then that will trigger me to the rest of

the cells in there and on and on and on

obviously having this bracket is kind of

a big hint when you're trying to answer

these recall questions run to Rack your

brain and force your brain to recall but

initially I think it's quite useful

because it's quite hard to change the

way that we retrieve information and

adding that bracket in there reminds me

and hits that cue of oh there is I do

have a story about this and this is what

it was and this and this and this the

second thing I do while I try and answer

these recall questions is to think

specifically about the answer in a way

that it takes me back to the visual

story within the memory costle that I

created because when I read a question I

automatically start getting reminded of

the visual stories I created I then dive

into the location the specific room the

specific place in that room I'm going

through the story one by one in

chronological order and eventually

getting to my answer but as you can see

I've also now through this process run

through the entire structure of the

topic I've looked at the location the

topic the room the specific space I've

ran through some of the series of events

within this story which is reminded me

of the other bits of information that I

are related to this if the question is

about men and goomas I'm thinking oh

yeah that only men's gym that the wall

get bro got broken down into the men

were doing the siman Don yes I remember

that they have the men andas and the

Sima bodies of the men and gomas but I'm

also remembering the glioblastoma the

goblin that broke the wall down and I'm

also thinking through the fact that the

gastas um cross halfway through the CT

that there's a butterfly and that's how

they're typically shaped I'm running

through all the surrounding information

in my head like just going through and

having these stories in my head means

I'm thinking about the rest of the

associated information in a very quick

efficient way as well I'm not just

answering one specific question for one

specific piece of knowledge that I made

I'm going through all the surrounding

Associated information as well getting

context and reviewing all of it in a

very nice fun efficient way which is a

humongous benefit when doing these

sessions and trying to retrieve you not

only do it better but you also do it

faster you're literally able to retrieve

entire classes of disease and huge

tables with complex information with a

few simple stories honestly it still

surprises me how cool it is once you put

a little bit of effort into it step

three spacing that retrieval now that

you have all the information stored at

specific stories within the memory

console and you've also practiced

recalling it the way i' suggest that you

space your recall sessions out is how I

typically recommend you space it all out

this is the formula that I use generally

that works for me for the easier topics

I only tend to review them maybe once or

twice recall them on day one and then

day four to five and for the harder

topics I tend to do it around 2 or three

times I recall it in day one day four

day 14 to 15 and that's about spacing

out this retrieval of the memorized

information is extremely important if

you know the information you know the

story well if you have the time before

your exams then obviously add more space

repetitions but the benefit of all the

steps of this guide and all the study

techniques and efficient ways of

learning that I mentioned on this

channel is that they really focus on

maximizing the first initial study

session this every single study session

that comes afterwards so that you're

maximizing the amount of information you

retain so that at the end of it you just

have to study less and do less

repetitions I always try and focus on

creating the those layers of information

connecting everything together in each

session so that I don't have to then

practice everything like six times

afterwards it's just too much so that I

can go through the information create my

questions retrieve it one or two times

maybe three times maximum and then no 80

to 90% of it front to back of course add

more study sessions for each topic that

you need but I would really suggest just

trying to optimize the individual

studying of the topics that's the entire

reason why I make videos like these why

I made this guide even so that we can

learn to study and then memorize the

information that we need to do in a

handful of times rather than spending

ages doing every single topic doing this

endless amounts of times for Endless

amounts of

information anyways that was the entire

memorizing guide where we first went

through associating the information in

our head creating relevance and creating

value through natural intuitive Intrigue

then we focused on how to visualize the

information which focused on combining

all these complex memory techniques that

everyone talks about that all these big

authors have researched for ages about

and then creating a simple method for

ourselves to implement to create visual

stories to store them in our mental mind

maps and palaces then we focus on how to

visualize the information which combined

all these complex memory techniques that

all these big authors talk about into

one simple method that any student can

use to memorize information of all kind

and lastly we talked about how to recall

all this information how to recall these

visual stories all this complex dense

information stored in these stories in

these memory palaces of ours and how to

actually space out this recall as well I

really hope that most of it made sense

to you and at the minimum that you've

taken some ways to improve your

memorization skills I'd really love some

feedback on the guide please let me know

down in the comments let me know what I

should make the next guide about check

out the link in the description for

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