There are certain subjects/concepts in school that are just plain memorization. For me, that was pharmacology. There is no way to understand the concepts behind it. For instance, why they choose to name a loop diuretic with the name Furosemide. So when it comes to pharmacology in particular, memorization is the way to go.
Now what if your like me, and stink at memorization?
Here are my 4 top tips to combat that:
1. Repetition. When you review it over and over again, it will stick, even if you don't know fully understand what you are repeating. For me, with 2 kids, I didn’t have much time on my hands. So I wrote a page of the top medications and put them in a sheet protectors and brought it everywhere-I even put them on the wall of the shower (the sheet protectors stick with water).I kept reading the medications and their classes over and over again, and after a few times I knew the medications and classes.
2. Picmonics. Picmonics is a study tool used to help retain a lot of information at once. It transforms the information into memorable stories and characters. It helps a lot with remembering everything you have to know about a medication. For instance, if you are trying to remember Penicillin, it will narrate a story with a pen to remember Penicillin and a gram cracker holding a spiral shape object to remember its used to treat gram positive organism and spirochete infections. The good thing is, that if you are not happy with there mnemonics, you can create your own. Over 500,000 students used it, and it has been shown to increase your retention and test scores. If you are interested and want 20% off, check out this link
www.picmonic.com/viphookup/sarahrn
3. Rewrite your notes. Rewriting your notes forces you to review the information while reading it, and then review it again while writing it. Also if you are a visual learner, it can help you a lot to remember what you wrote and where you saw it written.
4. Go through your medicine cabinet. This helped me a lot. I went through the medications in my house. Seeing them made it real, and helped me remember what they are used for. I also did this at pharmacies. I would take a walk with my daughter to get her to fall asleep and walk towards Walgreen's, and just went up and down the aisles trying to remember at least 3 medications and uses that I saw.
All in all, some people have no problem memorizing and are actually good at all. But for those who need to understand the information to help it stick, like me, the above steps are the way to go.
Good luck:)