test of memory?

[peehdee]

Do people who do well (i.e. >90 percentile) on Shelf, NMBE, USMLE in general have better memory than the average Joe?

Can people who do well on exams in general comment if you have always had 'good memory'?. Have you always had the ability to retain lots of facts and hold on to them? Do people tend to say, 'hey you have a great memory'. We all study the same things, heard about them at some point, read about them at some point. But for some reason some people just seem to retain more of it. When it comes down to it, you have to be able to remember small details to do well for these exams (i.e. if it has no fever than it can't be this, if it comes with high K, it couldn't be that, the side effect of x drug is this, people who have y tend to come with random disease z).

And those who don't do so well (i.e. < 40 percentile), do you tend to have the average memory? Are you the type that says, 'oh yeah, I do remember that drug side effect now you mention it.'

Anyone exist who thinks they don't have a good memory, worked really hard and yet got 99% scores?

I guess the bottom line is, is doing well on these exams a test of someones ability to remember lots of things. I know someone is gonna say, 'test taking skills' etc.. but don't those (test taking skills) come down to knowing the facts? (you can't eliminate answers if you don't know some facts about that).
No amount of 'test taking skills' or 'thinking/problem solving' will help you if you don't know certain facts, which comes down to memory.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that one out there. while taking a break from studying.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted109597]

People with better memory perform better on tests than people with worse memory, if you can equalize all other factors. However, you can't. Some people have great memory, but poor retrieval techniques and thus take too long to retrieve it, and can't before the test ends. Other people may have great memory but are indecisive, and thus cannot choose between two correct answers over which is more correct. In the long run, MDs probably have better memory than the average joe. It still takes the brain a long time to memorize anything.

 

[Wrigleyville]

I can't imagine anyone going through life or trying to take a test of the scope of the USMLE with a bunch of memorized flow diagrams and lists. Yes, having a great memory helps, but these exams are more about pattern recognition than memorization, both in terms of the content of the exam and the kinds of questions they ask. The ability to pick up on the scenario right away will give you insight into what concept they are testing you on and help you arrive at the right answer.

What I'm trying to say is that if you can learn to digest the passage quickly and efficiently it will help you more than trying to memorize the top 10 causes of hyperkalemia.

The reason is simple: The reading comprehension aspect helps you on every question, wheras some random acronym might help you on one out of every thousand questions.

 

[FriarLawrence]

Being born with a good memory will certainly help you on the board exams, but if you do not have a good memory I believe that there are things you can do to drastically improve it in a relatively short period of time.
There is a famous psychologist, Elizabeth Loftus, who specializes in the study of human memory. She teaches that memories that are emotionally significant will be retained far longer and with greater accuracy than memories which are created simply through memorization.
So, for example, I did my training in an inner city hospital where a large number of my patients were dying of AIDS. Observing these patients had an emotional impact on me. I then took an exam in which a test question tried to trick me into choosing an answer that suggested that a pediatric AIDS patient had a congenital immunodeficiency (e.g. SCID, Bruton’s, etc.). I was not fooled by the question because the stigmata of HIV disease are burned into my mind, not because I memorized them but because they are emotionally significant to me.
The behaviorists also offer some great advice for improving memory. They teach that an organism will remember a correct answer if it is rewarded immediately for giving the correct response and punished immediately for giving the wrong response. This is why I do practice questions almost exclusively in “tutor mode”. If I answer correctly, I am immediately rewarded, and the correct information is reinforced. If I answer incorrectly, I am punished immediately and the incorrect response is likely to be "extinguished". I do as few timed exams as possible because I do not want to reinforce bad information.

 

[jdig]

thats an excellent point regarding tutor mode, i have never thought of it that way but i think its right on.

 

[hale-bopp]

having a photographic memory won't help you kill the test if you can't apply principles - there are definitely thinking questions.
however, to do great you need to memorize a lot of stuff and be able to think/ apply what you know to new situations. so people who have awesome scores probably have to be excellent memorizers or really hard workers (or both), too.