The endocrine system can be quite tough to study – it’s so many systems and feedback loops all at once! – and the exams on the endocrine system are mostly applicational, meaning you can’t get by through brute memorization. The endocrine system makes up the more difficult half of the largest unit in the Alberta Biology 30 Course, which is Endocrine and Nervous Systems. Subsequently, it’s imperative to do well. It might also teach you quite a bit about your own body!
Without further ado, here’s a step by step breakdown on how to study the endocrine system from someone who aced her unit test and multiple biology contest endocrine questions.
1. Draw it Out!
Even if you’re not a visual learner, being able to see feedback loops through arrows and diagrams helping link glands and hormones together can be very helpful. It helps connect a solid block of dense text into more readable material, which helps with comprehension and encourages you to link the systems together.
Visually, it can help with understanding and memorization. Especially if you use the “blurt” technique, where you redraw diagrams without the help of notes or texts, it’ll increase your chances of comprehension and create a superficial short-term memory of the cycles. Even if you don’t understand it, drawn cycles will definitely be easier to memorize than bullet points and blocks of paragraphs from your textbook.
Pros:
- easier to understand
- easier to memorize
- links systems together
- gives an idea of the bigger picture
Cons:
- can be time consuming
- not recommended for cramming because it is so time consuming
I find that both I and many of my peers comprehend and remember material much better when we link things to the bigger picture (i.e. this is how/why this happens in the body here). Drawing the cycles out certainly helps, but that’s not all.
2. Feynman Technique – Talk at Someone
I talk a lot about the Feynman technique in some of my other articles about study tips, and for good reason too. It’s probably one of the most effective ways to actively recall what you know and find weak areas that you should go back and study.
If you don’t know what the Feynman Technique is, it involves taking the material that you know and teaching it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be to someone else (especially if you don’t have family willing to listen to lectures and your friends are uninterested); it is equally effective when explaining to a pet, an imaginary friend, or your pencil sharpener.
This is critical when learning the endocrine system because it is so content and memorization heavy. You really need to make sure you understand and remember all the material.
When I don’t have anyone to talk at (because you’re really not talking to someone when you explain the endocrine system), I talk to the stuffed animal that I keep on my desk and attempt to explain it to him. Although he doesn’t have many questions, he’s a great listener. I also find that recording myself (in selfie mode, where I can see myself speak) is a fabulous technique that almost beats talking at other people. I get to improve my public speaking skills (you are your worst critic, especially watching yourself talk), and I get an auditory version of my notes that I can listen to on public transit.
Pros:
- active recall is super effective
- very fast – highly recommended if you’re cramming
- can reap benefits even if you have nobody to talk at
- improves speaking skills
- deepens understanding
- draws out weaknesses in very obvious ways
Cons:
- can get distracted if talking to people
- can feel lonely if not talking to people
- ego bruises because you’ll find many, many points of weakness
3. Cause and Effect Chart
One of the most common questions on tests regarding the endocrine system is “What will happen to [insert some part of the system or the body] if we remove/inject extra/find a dysfunction in [insert gland, hormone, duct, etc].” The best way I’ve found that combats these kinds of problems is creating a cause and effect chart.
List all the hormones and glands you need to know on both the horizontal area and the left vertical areas of a chart. Now go through all of them, and talk yourself through what the effects would be if one of the hormones were removed, damaged, or excessively produced. This is basically prepping yourself for most of the application questions involved on unit tests and on contests.
Pretty easy, huh? If only it didn’t take so long.
Pros:
- you have a 90% chance of seeing one of these questions on your test, so you’ll be super prepared
- see the bigger picture, link or separate all the hormones from different feedback loops together
- easy to do – charts can be hand-drawn, inserted into a Google Docs or Word file, or even just generated with AI.
- forces you to understand what’s going on
- very effective, especially when used for active recall
Cons:
- unless you seriously know everything about the endocrine system, ego bruises will form as you realize you really don’t know anything about the endocrine system
- feelings of discouragement and boredom
TL;DR
The endocrine system is a tough topic to study – it’s content heavy, it can be quite dull, and it requires application of knowledge, not just pure memorization (although that can also get you pretty far). As someone who did pretty well on this topic, here are my biggest tips on how to ace Endocrine System:
- Visualize it
- Talk at people
- Create a chart of all contingencies
I may have forgotten one really important tip: have fun! Even if you’re lying to yourself that something is fun, it will eventually get easier than forcing yourself to study material you tell yourself is boring.
Best of luck!