The Unexpected Learning Technique That Links Sages and Rubber Duckies

To prepare myself for medical school with a business and two small children, I spent a lot of time researching the most efficient ways to learn. I read numerous books about learning techniques and memorization. I learned about spaced repetition (more on this later). I came across something that blew my mind. 

Now as I’m approaching the end of the classroom part of medical school. I’ve honed this technique to study in less time with excellent results. 

Get ready – you’re about to learn how to learn!

Pathoma: How A Pakistani Sage Revolutionized Medical Education 

In preparation for starting medical school I came across a resource called Pathoma. Pathoma is an online course written by Husain Sattar MD, a professor of Pathology at University of Chicago. What’s unique about Pathoma is it’s approach: simplicity and clarity. I was intrigued by the inspiration for pathoma and its similarities to the Indian approach to yoga philosophy.

While in medical school, Dr. Sattar took a year sabbatical to pursue Islamic studies in Pakistan. He noticed two key characteristics of the sages methods

Eventually this inspired Dr Sattar to create a simple, clear method for learning pathology: Pathoma. This has become an integral part of medical education all over the world. It has gone viral because it works. One of my professors used his technique to teach heart valve pathologies. Dr. Sattar uses a four-by-four grid to illustrate the chambers of the heart and what happens when a valve malfunctions. 

Simplify and Understand to Reduce Memorization 

Pathoma’s magic lies in its ability to shed extraneous details and simplify concepts.  Breaking down more complex areas to simple concepts makes memorization easy. For example, I used this technique for lung diseases. Two big categories of disease are restrictive and obstructive. In obstructive disease, carbon dioxide is trapped in the lungs. The causes vary – emphysema, bronchitis or asthma, but the end result is gas trapping. Then there’s restrictive disease, where the lung tissue can’t expand and the intake of air becomes restricted. The causes of restrictive disease can be fibrosis, fluid (as in ARDS), or mechanical restriction. I was able to hook the details to the diseases with an understanding of the underlying mechanisms.  I also used this technique to break down the differences between Type 1 and Type II diabetes. This reminds me how my yogic guide, Sri O.P. Tiwari taught yoga philosophy. 

The Simplify Method in Yoga Philosophy 

In my yogic studies in India, I encountered many different sages. One in particular, my teacher and guide Sri O. P. Tiwari could distill the complex webs of text into very simple ideas. He often quotes stories or parables that illustrate a point. He never uses notes – all comes from his vast memory and command of the material. I was struck by how similar Dr. Sattar’s inspiration was to Tiwariji. 

It’s easy to get lost in a web of details, missing the main point. In medical school, we are bombarded with tons of PowerPoints with lots of details. Sometimes I condense one hundred slides into a few pages of notes or a table. 

Use the Feynman Technique (Or Rubber Duckie) to Learn Anything 

As I read more, I came across the Feynman technique. Richard Feynman, the Nobel prize winning physicist used the concepts of clear thinking and clear presentation over rote memorization. 

When learning, simplify. If you can absorb then explain in simple terms, you’ve got it. 

Here's how I use the Feynman Technique and you can too

If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself. ~Albert Einstein 

Using the Feynman technique, Pathoma and the key concepts behind these resources helps me to master medical school content in less time. You can use this to master new things. It’s never too late to master a new subject or skill. The basic steps are study, teach, review and simplify. Learning is hard and trying to teach is even harder. But hard learning is often better for discovering new ideas and long term retention. After you do this a few times it becomes natural. 

I’m curious to see what techniques you’ve learned for learning. Please comment below and let me know, how do you learn? What areas would you like to master?