How To Study: Picture Mnemonics

In my post on how I make study notes I mentioned that I draw a lot of cartoons -- or what you might call "picture mnemonics" -- to help me to remember things. I'm not an artist by any means and I'm probably the only one my pictures make sense to, but that's okay! So long as I can picture them during my exam they've served their purpose.

(c) Mark Gladwin

below: chlamydia affects eyes
& genitals

During medical school I bought the textbook Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple by Mark Gladwin. I was surprised and delighted to find it chock full of picture mnemonics! Here are a few of them, so that you know what I'm talking about:

above: salmonella spreads through the blood stream to bone, lungs, & CNS

below: Staph form clusters and are catalase positive (c) Mark Gladwin

After microbiology block I was left to devise my own picture mnemonics. They usually look something like this:

Spironolactone blocks androgen receptors & aldosterone receptors (shoe because Aldo is a shoe store).

In Goodpasture Syndrome autoAbs attack the kidneys & lungs, resulting in blood in the urine & hemoptysis.

Alport (sounds like "airport") Syndrome is caused by a collagen IV gene mutation (4 colas on the drink trolley). Symptoms include hearing loss and cataracts (earplugs and eye cover worn by airplane passenger), as well as ESRD and glomerulonephritis (airplane bathroom to remind me of these renal symptoms).

MEN-2A and MEN-2B both have MTC ("Mt. C.") and pheochromocytomas ("exciting"). The difference is that MEN-2A has parathyroid hyperplasia (the "para"chute in the "A"ir) and MEN-2B has Marfanoid habitus and mucosal neuromas in the "B"ouche (French word for mouth). The 2 mountain peaks signify that this is MEN-2 (not MEN-1) ...Maybe this one is too confusing!!

Croup is remembered by a chicken "coop" (sounds like "croup") with a steeple on it ("steeple sign" on x-ray). It is most commonly caused by parainfluenza virus ("para" means beside, so the virus is beside the coop) and presents with a barking cough (dog) and stridor. It is treated with steroids ("stair"oids). 

"My" for Mycobacterium, water for Listeria and Legionella (because both can grow in water), salmon for Salmonella, and a bubo for Yersinia (because it causes bubonic plague!) -- all are in a white blood cell because they are intracellular organisms.

Sometimes I think of a picture mnemonic that's too complicated to draw out. I just remember those ones as stories, which I pencil into the margins of my notes. For example, to remember the names of the three acetylcholinesterase inhibitors used to treat Alzheimer's (galantamine, rivastigmine, and donepezil), I think to myself: "The gallant knight, Rivastigmine, rescues damsel Donepezil". (It's a weird one, I know, but the word Rivastigmine made me think of Rumpelstiltskin, which reminded me of fairy tales, which made me realize that Donepezil sounds a bit like Rapunzel ...aaand I'm sure that makes no sense to you, but it did to me and now I remember the three drugs!)

A better example is this one thought up by a friend in medical school: To remember three common encapsulated bacteria, remember "Saturday Night Hockey" because hockey players wear helmets (i.e. capsules). The S is Streptococcus pneumoniae, the N is Neisseria meningitidis,and the H is Haemophilus influenzae.

While some people would think picture mnemonics are a ridiculous waste of time, to me they can be pretty helpful ...and also make studying marginally more fun :)


If you're interested, here are other posts I've written about how I study:
On getting organized to study:

• How To Make A Study Schedule
• Printable Minimalist 2015 Monthly Calendars
• How I Organize My Student Agenda
• The Student Organizer Binder

On studying:

• Study Tips, Part 1: Making Study Notes (& a few pages of my medical school study notes)
• Study Tips, Part 2: Quizzing Yourself
• Study Tips, Part 3: Where To Study
• Study Tips, Part 4: Picture Mnemonics
• Study Tips, Part 5: When To Study
• Study Tips, Part 6: Abbreviating Powerpoints Or Textbooks Into Study Notes
• Study Tips, Part 7: Avoiding Distractions