The Mindmap Method- Exposing My Full Process for Effective Studying

most of you honestly speaking suck at studying if you're the person who just opens up the page one of the chapter and just starts reading through then this video is for you because you're hugely messing up my name is Zay oif and I'm a third-year medical student who has been consistently working on and getting good at how to learn and absorb information efficiently effectively for over 5 years now and today I'm going to show you what no one does I'm going to show you exactly how I study one of the topics that I'm not very

good at and I'm going to show you how I do it live like actually step by step every single part of the process I'm I'm going to try and transparently show you as much as I possibly can I've made live demonstrations before but I'm going to make this as interactive and transparent and literally speak the words as I'm thinking them as much as I possibly can and show you as if you're like standing right behind me so let's get into another video on my live studying series the disclaimer for this video is that even though

I'm going to try and explain what I'm doing I'm not going to tell you why I'm doing every single thing like I've done plenty videos explaining why the specific method is like more effective why it's better than just reading or just doing a million questions so yeah I'm going to try and keep it as natural possible try and focus a bit as well even though I don't know how it's going to go if I'm going to be doing this like like talking to you thing while I'm studying but let's get into it I'm excited now

instead of studying one by one topic I am studying three diseases today three endocrine diseases that all link together Addison Cushings and cons it's going to be a lot to go through content wise but they're all very much related so I think this will be a good example of how to get through like a lot of information how to condense it quickly and learn it like efficiently I'm going to start step one in a minute what I always do is I start by skimming through all the content for all of the diseases so that I

can understand them in the most basic sense how they work what are their main causes what are they because once I can do that for all of the diseases then I can do a very important thing I can differentiate and relate them and that is something that is very important as soon as you start studying you have to be thinking how can I relate these Concepts differentiate between them because when you differentiate between them you'll be able to link them together and then remember them for much much longer anyways let's get into it now because

it is three big conditions that I'm looking at I am only focusing on the resources such as this High textbook that I have from past medicine and for example like the these YouTube videos that I'm looking at I'm not looking at any thick textbook I'm not doing a billion Google searches I'm relying on the stuff that will give me the basics in the most effective efficient way possible and then of course I will study the harder details once I've laid the basics of the knowledge down and while I skin by the way I'm writing down

all the key phrases and the key Concepts that I think are important in creating that basic understanding so on here for each disease I'll put down the main Concepts the causes the investigations the treatments and then what I'll do is I'll use these keywords categorize them put them underneath subheadings and sub subheadings and then eventually all of this will kind of go on a mind map and it will be a lot more intuitive than what I've just explained but let's continue the process now the main tip the tip number one that I want to give

you is that when you are doing this initial skimming when you are studying all of these diseases at the same time or all of your Concepts at the same time you need to be thinking about the central idea of your mind map now for me after a little watching and looking at the causes and reading a bit about the basics about each of the diseases what I kind of figured out as you've seen is that the they all involve the adrenal gland which is kind of why I chose to study them all together in the

first place and they all involve the hypothalamic to pituitary access all three of these conditions either involve cortisol or aldosterone or both so in my head I'm thinking that that link between the hypothalamus the pituitary and the adrenal gland can be like the center of my mind map we can have the brain with the pituitary gland inside and then below that we can have the the kidney with the adrenal gland on top of it and then the rest of the Mind map can like visually show what happens in each disease so like kind of this

is what I mean where this is the P AIS is that and that that those are the the kidneys with the adrenal glands on top of them and like for since each of these diseas involved that maybe one side of my mind map can be like the Addison side which is a reduction of both hormones and this side can be uh the cons and the Cushing side which is like an increase in both of those hormones and I think that is like a good way to organize the Mind map but again I'm going to keep

on going with this list there's a lot more that I need to look at I'll look at it for another like 15 20 minutes and then I'll start with the Mind map um but yeah I was just thinking let me just communicate what I was thinking about the Mind map as I was doing it like this is kind of what I mean I've just looked at this video and it's kind of showing us exactly what we were thinking about including on our mind map with the pituitary gland and the Brain linking and we can kind

of draw these links out and how the stuff released by The vuit then releases then hits the adrenal gland and causes um cortisol the stress hormone and alone to be produced or in this case in cons and Cushing's case it causes some sort of there's a deficiency of and I think this will really help us differentiate between the causes that's what I kind of want you guys to remember that I'm writing these keywords skimming through the content very slowly with the goal of understanding what the similarities and the differences are between each of my main

Concepts in our case these concepts are the diseases but this applies to practically every single topic that is out there every topic is divided up into Concepts and the way you remember the concepts is by differentiating between them and finding their differences and similarities and then adding them to a structure in your head so for us as you saw from the beginning this is what I've been doing I literally divided up all three of my conditions into and I will find a way to to split them these two are increases in the a dream gland

hormone production this one is a decrease so in my head the Mind map's already split this side of my mind map will be the side that will have the high production and low production on this side and there's this thing in the center of course I may revise this as I go through and I'll let you guys know but I don't even know how long I've been revising for and like this I've now figured out the main way that my head is probably forever going to be differentiating between these conditions anyways I'm going to continue

and um I'll let you know if I think of anything else I also want you guys to notice that how I'm studying the conditions as well as you've seen I've never actually gone really like deep into one for more than a few minutes my Approach Ro throughout the entire thing is I need to understand every single difference between each of them so I need to understand the differences between their causes then I need to understand the differences between their investigations and then I need to understand the diff well I'm going to do that understand the

differences between their Tre treatments I'm in between the process of doing this but I wanted to explain that to you as well because only once I understand the differences will I be able to again I'm saying this again and again but then only will I be able to create this structure that will be able to go on my mind map and the way that you remember things is by how they're similar or different to other things kind of like that's how they Link in your head I'm also being very selective of what goes on my

keyword list like to do with the specific basic knowledge that I want to get even in these like high yel textbooks they want to give us all the details right so they're literally saying so much stuff that I know I can spend like like an extra 10 minutes and understand but I don't want to do that because that is the detail layer that will just waste more of my time if I can narrow down and get the basics on point if I can get the second layer on point then the details will literally just like

I'll be able to understand them very quickly and easily also one other thing while I'm making this list as you can see it's not just like a list of words because it that's a waste of time yes you can start by doing that and then you can categorize them but what I'm doing is I'm categorizing as I go because that helps me understand what like the link is between different things for example here I have the two main causes of Cushings which is like an exogenous and endogenous and then I've broken the endogenous stuff up

into three at the same time I did that with K as well I broke it down into primary and I'm going to do the secondary in a bit but the primary is the main stuff so I broken down the primary as well and that's allowed me to understand what the differences are between treatment as well I'm not sure how I'm going to divide this on the mindmap but it's helping anyways overall my point is that categorize as you go that's like the best way to do it that's the fastest way to do it and that

allows you to really understand the differences between the conditions and create a better mental model in your head as you go through it to be honest I think this is where I'm going to stop with the keywords because by doing all of these like three topics together I'll probably bit on more than I could chew and when that happens when you have too many keywords on there that can tend to confuse you so that is why I think stopping here and starting with the Mind map right now would be the best action to take it's

always really important at this stage at this basic stage to think about okay what is important what is going to really help with my initial understanding and then I'll move forward cuz with the amount that is on here not every single thing is very very important for my basic understanding so I'm going to put the basic stuff on there first then I'll start my making my questions and my entire process anyways A good rule of thumb is that if your like keyword list has more than 10 to 20 things on it then probably like stop

reassess see what you have to cut out and like just start with actually the basics of the topic for me I now know what actually needs to go on my mind map from this initial schimming and learning about the topics I've kind of understand them in a very good sense now that I can easily build on my mind map I know I'll probably have main investigations for the Cushings as like the differentiating for each of the types that makes the most sense to me right now for Addison they'll probably be similar to my usual stuff

I I'll like draw someone out to show their like features something is in my head but I now just have to put it on a piece of paper and as you can see what I just did there throughout my entire studying that you just watched me do in like probably a fast forward way is that I'm thinking throughout how is this thing going to appear on my mind mind map how am I going to split it up how is it going to look like in my head when I'm answering questions in the future what is

the central idea that links all three things and I think I actually probably will start with my original thought of linking like uh the diseases through this like ACC and see how I can like split them up but I guess yeah let's start drawing and I'll talk through more of it oh and if it wasn't clear if I didn't mention this I'm going to be using this keyword list and like the categories that I've created already and then putting that on my mind map that is the main step that I'm doing right now I'm now

trying to think about now that I've drawn like the middle of the Mind map out as I kind of showed you guys before I'm now trying to think how am I going to divide the different types of cushions up and how am I going to show it visually and then I'm also thinking about how I'm going to do that with each of the other categories I know I verbally said it like a minute ago to you guys but it's like I would really suggest taking at least a few minutes to think about how you're going

to organize things on your mind map cuz that is essentially how you will start to think about it when you study it later on when you start to actually do questions on it when you think about it as a doctory I'm assuming that is how I'll remember it I think I've done a pretty good job to draw like the the types of the Cushings like what I would have usually done is literally like draw arrows out from the middle of the Mind map and like written out the types and categorized them but I feel like

doing it through one of the investigations that you do for Cushing makes it a lot more easier for me to remember them so like I will now easily remember what this type of Cushing does what this types of Cushing does and what this type does through the investigation like I think that's just a smar way to think about it and I think it's relatively like simple as well I've added the colors in to make cuz that helps with the memory of it and I've still like drawn out like the all the best drawing but it's

still a drawing of like the Cushing's patient and what the features I'd expect with them these sorts of drawings usually stick in my head from what I've previously done and it's like the basic way of explaining it I think it works I'm going to do the same thing with conson Addison now again it would be a lot cooler if I had like an iPad and I could easily draw it out and I had to like think less and I could do a lot more trial and error there's pros and cons with paper like it helps

me I think I have to think about it a lot more because it's going on paper I don't want to like keep redoing the Mind map right like there pren calls either way now I've drawn like a lot of fit out and it's very like nice and simple and it makes a lot of sense but I don't know if it's 100% in my head because I've also been like thinking about what I'm going to say to you guys and like it's a very meta process this does happen quite a lot like when you are like

so in the drawing when you've like done all stuff like you kind of like you're not 100% sure if it's in your head and if you actually fully understand it so I think the best thing to do even like halfway through the Mind map or like halfway through the skimming is like stop and like just close your eyes and just recall what you've drawn out and what it looks like in your head try and picture it as much as possible so that's what I'm going to do now the reason I did that is that sometimes

that the mind this mind map process becomes a little passive and I think you just need to like rejig what's in your brain and really make sure that you remember everything and as I said I kind of have finished like the con section of it as well and again I just wrote a few like key things the key differences between them the similarities between them and I'm going to do the similar stuff with the Addison and finish this off quickly and I think for now this is a good enough basic mind map of all three

conditions some mizing pretty much everything important that I need to know non details I don't think the details all the details are on here like the different types of surgeries the different types of meds required there like specific doses that will come either now or in my future study sessions however throughout this whole thing the way I've thought about it is that I'm kind of piecing a puzzle together and I didn't really used to do this when I initially started making the Mind map but what I did just now is that I was learning while

I was creating the Mind map yes I was trying to create a basic structure but I was reading also while I was trying to create it I was making sure my skimming was correct making sure the keywords and stuff are written down is correct making sure I can make it make sense in my head for example here I probably took way more time with my mind map than I probably would have usually but it's because in between I'm going back to my notes I'm checking from my textbooks I'm really taking time and thinking about what

I've learned trying to recall it as much as possible as well and then either adding more on this mind map which I've not made this like too complex it's very simple compared to some of the previous mind maps I was was even making a month ago like I've brought these other mind maps out like previous ones that I've drawn even in the last like month and what I've realized is that I struggle with remembering the more detailed ones and there's a reason is because there's too much writing on on all of these if I simplified

in my head as much as possible I can 100% guarantee that I'll remember this even a year from now even if I don't study this because I've laid out the structure in such a simple way for all of the diseases that I'm representing on here if I just added a ton of words lack the diagrams if I didn't add the colors it would be much much harder I've made a whole video on how to make good mind maps I'll link it up here so now the way I study is I take a lot of time

to think about how I'm going to lay out the entire topic on like in the simplest way possible in the simplest way for me to remember and in a way that I can easily compare between the conditions that I'm putting on there or between the concepts that I'm putting on there that takes time initially you will just want to put a ton of information on there but it's not necessary because a few of these icon represent the information the full words the full sentences that I require and that I need to know so yeah the

skimming the Mind mapping all of this this initial process may have taken me a bit longer but it's because I'm going through not just the basic layer like I've been recommending to you in the past but I'm also trying to learn this second layer while I do this because it's just much easier to remember information when you're actively trying to link it on a mind map it's just Foster to take in more layers of information while you're trying to link it all onto a mind map and as you saw this didn't mean that I skipped

like the layering process I was still doing the basic information I did that on the the Mind map and then oh sorry the keywords then I laid up the more general concepts and then I put it all onto the Mind map and even while I was doing that I was learning so it was very much still in layers I'm my head is not ready for the complex stuff right now like drugs and the specific surgeries or the specifics of the topics that I need to know like the pathophysiology of it Etc actually maybe it is

maybe that's what I'll probably look at now because to be honest naturally that is where my brain is going and that is what the rest of the learning is going to be it's going to be going and understanding and learning the things that I naturally want to fill my gaps with like the rest of my learning yes I'll be creating questions alongside but the rest of my learning is literally just filling in the gaps off from this mindmap from my knowledge for each of these conditions continuously thinking about my mental model of all three diseases

I'll skim through more like detailed resources to see if there's not something that I've studied yet are there any specific exam questions that I need to look at is there like a specific knowledge Gap that I have so yeah let's do a bit more of that and I'll speak to you guys in a second and by the way side by side I'm also while I'm learning more about each of the conditions I'm also creating recall questions from the basics that I already understand and I'm also now adding on them with the details that I'm learning

cuz I feel like with these questions the main like important purpose they have is to assess the details and the specifics of the knowledge that I don't know because that's what's our that's the main stuff that our exams actually assess so overall with these questions I have kind of changed the way I do this and I've I think I've improved it in the right direction I don't just randomly start creating recall questions anymore because for me honestly I've done it for years so I know in the beginning my recall questions are always just really really

basic so when I go and attempt them in my second session they're kind of just too basic which means in that session that I have to answer these basic questions first which is too easy in that session and then I have to go and edit them and improve them and find more details and make them like harder align those questions with my exam and it just is is a lot more time consuming so now what I do is I wait for like 30 45 minutes after my Basics are like Rock Solid after I have a

good Baseline understanding of whatever I'm studying and then I go to create these questions which means that the difficulty of the question is the right difficulty for my current level so that next time when I go and study these questions in my next study session I'll actually be challenged I'll actually have to think and remember what are the important parts like I'll have to think and remember the important parts rather than answer what does this definition mean and this other basic question mean I think these are pretty good for now I think in a session

like this what I would do is literally just continue with how I'm studying going through each disease another time taking in more of the information now that I have the basic layer now spending time on some of the details creating questions out of those details details doing it layer by layer for each disease trying to think about how it all links still to my mind map how it still fits in with my mental model anyways I'm going to put up a summary slide of all the steps and the tips that I've talked about in this

video that I've that I've used during my studying trying to make it a bit more structured even though this video wasn't as structured as I would like I think it was more natural it was more just me blurting out exactly what I'm thinking when I'm studying what mistakes I'm making what my process is like you guys had had like an in-depth picture into it if this type of video video was beneficial then please comment down below and I'll make the second part where I'll actually film myself in my second session studying these topics answering these

questions like you'll actually see me tackle my weaknesses learn the more detailed stuff and I could go into more layers in my second session let me know if that's something that you guys would like but what I want most from you guys is I want feedback on this video what edit did you not like what specific part of the video was really helpful to you what should I do more of what should I do less of and yeah of course I I'll link some more in-depth videos that I've made to do with how I make

the mind maps how I live more in-depth more structured videos rather than just like blurting and like a natural thought process of me while I studying which this was and I think it would be helpful but let me know anyways thank you so much for watching please subscribe down below if you've enjoyed it like the video spam the comments do the usual stuff follow my insta email me if you have any questions and I will see you in the next one