In this video, I discuss my memory palace-based mnemonics for learning high-yield facts about the antibiotic class tetracyclines, as taken from the medical student review book First Aid. Here's how to make pharm really stick. (18:09)
Read moreWhy You Shouldn't Stress Over Visual Clarity
Here's a question I've gotten a lot recently, in some form or another: How clear should my visualizations be? The visuals themselves aren't that important. Here's why.
Read moreHow to Use Memory Palaces (& Memrise) to Learn SAT English Vocab [Video]
In this video, I discuss how I use memory palaces—with a little help from Memrise—to learn English vocabulary. Here's how to make SAT vocab really stick. (21:38)
Read moreHow to Use Memory Palaces to Learn Chinese: Part 2
In Part 2, I discuss the memory palace-based Chinese system in more detail—complete with examples, tweaks I made to Serge’s approach, and issues I faced. I'm over a year in and still loving it.
Read moreWhy You Should Learn Memory Techniques, No Matter Who You Are
Back to basics for this week's Question of the Week: What are applications of memory techniques? Why should I learn to use them?
Read moreMy Home for Spaced Repetition: What My Anki Setup Looks Like
My Anki is broken into three parent decks: Medicine, Languages, and Memory Sports, each with a few subdecks (e.g. Pathology, Chinese). Here's what my day-to-day home for spaced repetition looks like.
Read moreWhy Double-Encoding Is a Double-Edged Sword
I often run into scenarios in which the same piece of information pops up in different contexts. Here's why encoding info multiple times might not be the great idea it seems.
Read moreDo Memory Palaces Hinder Learning? Our Top 3 Don't-Miss Tips
If you're someone struggling to apply memory palaces, look no further. Here I discuss my top 3 realizations about memory techniques as they pertain to learning—the ones that took my approach from frustratingly ineffective to invaluable.
Read moreHow to Memorize All 44 Presidents in 15 Minutes (and Remember Them a Week Later) [Video]
In this video, Alex walks you through a special memory palace to help you remember all 44 U.S. presidents. 15 minutes + a few reviews = never forget another president! (16:22)
Read moreHow to Keep a Clean Memory Palace: What to Do When You've Got Too Many Arms & Legs
Memory palaces getting congested? Using lots of people, so your palaces are full of arms, legs, blood, and urine tanks? Here's what to do.
Read moreNever Forget What You Learn: 4 Reasons You Should Be Using Anki in Medical School and Beyond
Anki, powered by spaced repetition, is a powerful tool for making things stick long-term, and I can't imagine learning without it—even with the aid of memory palaces. Here's why you should be combining spaced repetition with memory palaces to get the most from medical school and beyond.
Read moreShould I Memorize Everything Using Memory Palaces?
Bottom line: No! Here's how to know when (and when not) to encode information using a memory palace.
Read moreHow to Use Memory Palaces to Learn Pharmacology: Opioid Analgesics [Video]
Alex offers ready-made memory palace images for memorizing First Aid's high-yield points about opioid analgesics. Here's how to make those pharm details really stick. (19:05)
Read moreHow to Use Memory Palaces to Learn Pathology: Acute Pyelonephritis [Video]
We cap off the Step Up series by doing a real-life example in real time, showing how we each use a memory palace to memorize the acute pyelonephritis section from the First Aid medical student review book. Here's how to lock in the tricky, nonintuitive details of diseases. (16:24)
Read moreHow to Learn the Branches of the Trigeminal Nerve with a Memory Palace
The Trigeminal Nerve: a beast of a nerve if there ever was one. It no doubt gives most medical students headaches. Luckily, memory palaces work really well for this type of thing. Here's how to do it.
Read moreLearning Chinese with Memory Techniques: Part 1
Here’s a quick intro to a project I’m really excited about: learning Chinese. I’ve been giving it a go for about 3 months now. Here are some strategies, thoughts, and struggles.
Read moreHow to Use Memory Palaces to Learn Glycolysis [Video]
Here are two quick videos I submitted as part of a recent Khan Academy contest. How to use memory palaces to learn the molecules of glycolysis (10:00). How to memorize English vocab using basic mnemonic keywords (9:35).
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