Hello,
I’ve read few books about mnemonic, and I’ve read many topics on this forum, but I couldn’t find any solution to my problem, so I decided to write a topic.
I’m trying to create a memory system for microbiology. I’ve read few posts about medicine and microbiology but in all of them people described only a general rule without any examples e.g.
or they gave an example, but they were trying to memorize only a small amount of information, so they could create a simply story e.g.
As you can see, in my case, there is too much information to simply create a story. So I guess I’ll need to use memory palace in connection with story method.
Could you tell me how you would remember this mind map and give an example? I know that I’m asking a lot, but I have no idea how do this. I would be eternally grateful.
Let’s focus only on the diseases to make it easier to you.
Please have in mind that I will have to memorize about 100 similar maps till the end of this academic year, so it’s important to create system, which will allow memorizing the following maps with the least effort and will use as few loci as possible.
PS. I know my English is bad, and I should feel bad
You are making this difficult for us. There is no introduction of yourself. There is thus no way for me to assess your level of skill. I adapt any advice I give to a person’s skill. Since I cannot assess it, let’s start from the bottom.
This is a mindmap. Did you create it yourself?
If not, take the chapter of the book about Streptococcus Pyogenes and make one yourself.
Usually when you create a mindmap yourself, it sticks. Or at least, most of it.
First, the subject. Here is how I memorize ‘Streptococcus Pyogenes’.
parental advisory: explicit contents *
Streptococcus Pyogenes: Here is a strong image for you.I imagine a striped cock, lighting fire to a building, since it is a pyro(maniac) in jeans.
Then I think of how I change pyro-jeans to pyo-genes.
parental advisory: off *
To give you an example of how strong this is, I am writing this text while not looking at your mindmap.
I started at the subject of it, and thought how I could remember it. So I know this is about Streptococcus Pyogenes and do not even have to look if I am writing this right, because I remembered it as ‘pyo’ and not ‘pyro’.
I am not saying this to boast btw. Just trying to make you understand how powerful this is, when you give it the right amount of study, creativity and time.
From the subject move to the different parts and remember them. It helps to know what a pathogen is!
It helps to know what a toxin is. I assume you know all this.
Think about it. How do you move from Streptococcus Pyogenes to ‘pathogenes and immunity’?
I can tell you how I do that, but that might not help you.
Tip: it helps to try to write the mindmap out without looking at it.
This will tell you the parts that you missed.
Let me know if you need more help.
Be specific, please.
Thank you very much for answer. I would be grateful if you could tell me how you would move from Streptococcus Pyogenes to ‘pathogenes and immunity’.
Ok, I will try to be more specific.
Short introduction of myself:
I’m not a complete beginner in mnemonics. I’ve read “You Can Have an Amazing Memory” – D. O’brien, “How to Develop a Super Power Memory” –H. Lorayne and few Tony Buzan’s books. I know how to create a key-images and I know the basic ideas of link method, memory palace and Dominic system.
This mind map was created by me and I know what pathogen and toxin are.
Here is the problem :
Normally, when I want to memorize a list of elements, I create a big picture /story containing key images for them (like on picmonic.com ). But in a case of such big mind map there are too many facts to put in one story or to place on separate loci in memory palace or journey. Thus I don’t know how to memorize it.
I was thinking about dividing this map into few stories. I would create a main story/big picture containing key-images for streptococcus pyogenes and names of the major categories i.e. toxins, protection from opsonisation, pharyngitis and impetigo etc. Then I would create few separate stories containing key-images for individual fragments of this map, e.g. for words: toxins, pyrogenic exotoxins, streptolysin, streptokinase, dnase and c5a peptidase, etc. And finally I would create a mini-story only to define, for example what a streptolysin is. I hope you understood what I meant.
But it seems to me, that the best way to resolve my problem would be if you just gave me an example of how you guys would memorize this mind map, or at least a part of it.
Also I wonder how you memorize:
That a symptom doesn’t appear in all instances, but often, e.g “sore throat, often with pus on tonsils”
That something may leads to some disease, but it doesn’t have to.
Symptoms of disease e.g. scarlet fever. Do you just imagine a person with red rash on groins, chest, abdomen, buttocks but not on face?
That a symptom appears after 1-2 days and disappears after 5-7 days (I know that numbers have to be changed on key-images via major system or dominic system.)
Ok, I assume you know that SP is a bacteria that can make you sick.
In this case there are 3 important things to know:
what makes you sick (pathogen)
what helps to not make you sick (immunity)
what happens when your sick.(diseases)
In a good mindmap the links are usually logical.
If I create a mindmap, I know most of it by the sheer act of creating it.
How does that work for you?
In this case, create a story for the big picture, then create substories for each part of the map.
It is not more difficult, it is just more work and more links to create.
What is wrong with this approach?
Create an image for ‘often’ and differentiate is from ‘always’.
Either use the image for ‘often’, or create an image for ‘sometimes’.
Scarlet is red and fever makes the skin red. so scarlet fever is red upon red.
But if you want to imagine the symtoms as well, that is great.
Create an image for appear and disappear.
The first thing that comes to my mind is ‘a pear’ and ‘an eaten pear’.
You’re assuming here that you need to memorise the mind map.
Of course, it’s your mind map, and what you actually need to memorise the information. Memorising a mind map itself may not be the best way to do this.
Imagine a street of houses. This is Streptococcus street. It’s a striped street (whichever colours are memorable for you - say pink and blue - stripes across the road all the way up) full of cockerels (or which ever mental image is most memorable for you).
In the garden of the first house is a giant pie, full of jeans. It’s a Pie o’jeans. That tells us this is Pyogenes house.
Let’s go in. The main topics are rooms - or groups of rooms - in the house. So toxins might be cooked up in the kitchen. Create a mental image for the first one and put it in the fridge, the second on the stove, and so on.
Make each image big, wacky and memorable. Take a walk around the house in your mind’s eye as you build it and review it.
(And you’ll have created a framework for future learning - the next house on Streptococcus street has some new trees with lungs growing on them in the garden, for Streptococcus pneumonia, and so on. If the approach works with you, you’ll end up with a town of microorganisms you can walk around in your head. This area of town is where the bacteria live, over there is inhabited by viruses, see those roads coming off from protozoa park …)
