I make a lot of flashcards and summary notes. My summary notes are very brief: lots of arrows, flowcharts, tables. My memorisation technique is quite straightforward: spaced repetition. I try to regularly cycle round my content so I’m actively reading over my summary notes and testing myself on my flashcards. I say actively because I try and keep my summary notes brief enough so that reading them over will trigger me to think about what I may have originally included in my longer set of notes (note: I didn’t make a longer set of notes in 3rd year though, I decided if I can’t remember something I’ll back to my original sources). I’ve answered a question about how I make brief summary notes to allow for active thinking when I read over them which you can read.
Using flashcards allow active recall, which does help me to memorise content over time. I don’t really manage to review my flashcards as often as I would like or as often as would be good to…but, the sets that I have reviewed I have noticed I can remember a lot better. Here’s a bit of advice I wrote for someone regarding long-term retention of information using the Forgetting Curve.
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Life of a Medic 