Going to pharmacy school? Or tackling your pharmacology class in nursing school? There’s no doubt that pharmacology is pretty intimidating. With tons of intricate drug names, doses, side effects, interactions, classifications, and more, it’s daunting to think you’ll have to remember them all—and fast.
But, in reality, there’s no need to worry. It’s not as overwhelming as you think. With the right approach and study tools, you can remember medications easily and memorize all of those drug classes.
1. Pace your memorization
You may be tempted to memorize a handful of medications in one sitting, but we recommend pacing yourself. Try focusing on three to four drugs a day within the same drug class. Once you memorize a drug class, you need to rinse and repeat your study cycle. If you don’t quiz yourself frequently or revisit the information, you may forget it. Spaced repetition is key for converting facts you’ve just memorized into knowledge you have thoroughly retained.
For example, if you remember that when ACE inhibitors interact with potassium supplements, it causes elevated potassium levels (hyperkalemia), then you need to use it or lose it. Make time to revisit ACE inhibitors, their side effects, and how they treat high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, migraines, and more. This can be a daily self-quiz or weekly practice test—it’s up to you.
2. Start with drug classes before specific medications
Start with the big picture and then get more granular. Since there are tons of medications, we recommend breaking down your drug list by class. An easy way to do this is to figure out the suffix or prefix associated with the drug.
Let’s return to our example of the ACE inhibitor. To remember ACE inhibitors, memorize the suffix “-pril”:
- Lisinopril
- Enalapril
- Captopril
- Quinapril
- Benazepril
- Moexipril
This way, if you stumble upon a drug you don’t know on your exam, you can at least recall its classification, which should help you narrow down your answer.
Check out our mnemonic video on ACE Inhibitors anytime!
3. Spice up your study approach
You may love old-school study methods, like reading a textbook or reviewing class notes, but it’s okay if these study methods aren’t your go-to for drug memorization. Studying pharmacology can be an incredibly heavy lift, and sometimes your favorite study method isn’t enough.
To prevent burnout or procrastination, try a new study method. This can be anything from flipping through flashcards, forming a study group, creating a pharmacology jeopardy game, drawing your own slideshow, or using mnemonics for pharmacology drugs.
Pharmacology mnemonics are a fun and effective way to memorize all kinds of medications. With the proper acronym, rhyme, association, or picture, you’ll easily recall drug information when you need it!
4. Try Mnemonics for efficient, quick drug memorization
Memorization without cramming is a science, and mnemonics are memory tools designed to help you encode the information you need to know into your long-term memory and recall it when necessary. When you use mnemonics to memorize a large number of facts, or in this case, drug information, you’re memorizing for the better!
Mnemonics can be acronyms, rhymes, associations, chunking, or even pictures. Once your brain identifies something as unique or interesting, it’s more likely to stuff it in your long-term memory. Then, when you take a test, you can recall that information with the mnemonic you used to study it! Visual mnemonics are especially powerful as your brain is prone to remember pictures more than words.
How to Master Mnemonics for Pharmacology with Picmonic
Picmonic is a research-proven study tool that has over 1,300 pharmacology mnemonics, offers daily quizzes with spaced repetition, and has thousands of covered topics so you can learn more in less time. It even covers hundreds of other need-to-know topics for nursing and pharmacy students alike. Picmonic uses memorable and exciting picture mnemonics to tell a story so students like you can use them to remember drugs quickly for your next exam and for your future career.
Here’s how you can make the most of it.
- Explore: First, you’ll search for the drug class or name you need to memorize, or simply explore our Pharmacology library.
- Learn: After you select what you want to learn, you’ll watch a quick and effective 2-3 minute video that uses fun, mnemonic devices to help you remember the drug class, effects, and more. Although brief, these mnemonics are designed to be both engaging and informative.
- Quiz: You’ll test your understanding next! Take a rapid review, multiple-choice quiz on what you just learned. This helps to strengthen your recall and boost retention.
- Review: Finally, our spaced repetition algorithm will calculate when you need to review this information again. With a spaced repetition quiz, you’ll review this information at the right time to increase long-term retention and avoid forgetting the information!
You can also use Picmonic to create your own picture mnemonics, study playlists, and more. Have fun with it!
5. Use digital flashcards for review
Digital flashcards from Anki or Quizlet can help you practice recall and memorize drugs faster than you think. You can create your own or find an existing deck with generic drug names, their class, and common side effects.
Unlike Quizlet, Anki is free to use and utilizes the spaced-repetition method to maximize your recall. The best part? You can use it with Picmonic! Download the Anki add-on to instantly access Picmonic explanations and videos that provide context on the drug you’re learning about.
Pharmacology Memorization Tips
Pharmacology isn’t so scary now, is it? We didn’t forget that you may have some more questions about pharmacology, so here’s the 411 you need to get studying with confidence.
How do you remember drug doses?
Drug doses are a little tricky. Other than memorizing them along with your drug mnemonics, you can use the major system to create mnemonics for numbers. It substitutes sounds with digits and can be easier than strict repetition for number memorization.
How can you remember drug classes?
Remember, drugs are often classified by their use to treat a type of condition or the chemical type of the active ingredient. Suffixes, prefixes, and roots are a convenient way to memorize drug classes. However, you can also memorize drugs based on the conditions they treat, too!
How many drugs do pharmacists have to memorize?
There are simply too many to memorize them all. Instead, focus on learning and memorizing drug classes, like beta-clockers, antibiotics, or depressants.
For the PTCB exam, Pharmacy Technicians focus on the commonly used Top 200 medications. So if NAPLEX candidates wanted to have a certain number of drugs memorized, you could start there. But don’t stress yourself out trying to memorize everything. It’s just too much.
What makes remembering medications so hard?
Pharmacology is hard because there’s a lot to remember. It also builds on physiology and anatomy, and it teaches you how drugs work and how they affect the human body. You’ll need to learn not only drug names, but their classifications, how they interact with other drugs, and drug administration.
In addition, you’ll need to apply your knowledge to scenarios and cases, plus dabble in a bit of math for pharmacokinetics (how the drug travels through the human body). That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, though! With the right approach and tools, learning pharmacology can be a highly rewarding experience.
How do you study for a pharmacology exam?
First, create your study plan. You’ll want to study often, but not too often that you’ll tire yourself out. Then, use your dedicated study time to memorize with mnemonics and quiz yourself on a few medications on a daily basis—even if you think you know them, a refresher doesn’t hurt. You can also review notes, study with your peers, ask your professors questions, and add a few practice exams in there! With enough practice and dedication, you’ll be prepared for your pharmacology exam in no time.
Don’t forget that Picmonic is here to help you get started. Let’s get to studying pharmacology!
