This may seem like a dumb question, but it’s something that I stress out about more than I should. Now I get that remembering ~everything~ isn’t likely, but how do you remember a good chunk of what you learned? Is it just something that happens?
As an engineer, memory is not the key. The world is always changing and you stay up to date with the field even with a 1960’s degree in Electrical Engineering. The degree basically teaches you how to learn as an electrical engineer from the 60’s has said.
There’s always reference materials at your disposal which can be used to problem solve. If you understand the basics and add on reference materials and experience gained on the job, you’re pretty set.
I’m a Japanese major, and the only thing I really need to know is how to speak, read, and write Japanese, especially if I’m going to get a job in a Japanese company or in Japan. All the stuff I learned in Japanese literature courses are useless to me.
I don’t think you have to remember “everything from your major”, just like you don’t remember everything from high school. You remember what you need to remember, and since most classes in math and science build on skills you learned in the previous course, you are always practicing a lot of what you need to know.
The more you use it, the more you remember. I have lots of illustrations from everyday life - people who play poker are very familiar with those rules, people who are first amendment lawyers know the landmark cases there, people who are mechanics know the details of, I dunno, carburetor function. And if you forget, something will come along to spark your memory or you can look it up.
I forget most of the material a few weeks after the class ends. Don’t worry about it.
Haha, you don’t!
BUT the way that you remember what you do remember is using it on a regular basis. My major in undergrad was psychology and I’m a research psychologist. So I use the principles of psychology every day in my work - designing experiments, statistical analyses, remembering concepts, that sort of thing. So I don’t forget most of it because I need it. There is a huge chunk of stuff I don’t use that I forget - for example, most concepts in sensation and perception (how your senses work), because I’m a social psychologist and we don’t use that.
Then some stuff I do forget and I have books to look it up in! Occasionally I’ll forget a very basic tenet of statistics, for example, and I pull down my introductory book and re-learn it. The Internet is also excellent for that.
Another good way to learn/re-learn stuff is, ironically, to teach it to someone else. I started to understand introductory statistics in the clearest way just by teaching intro statistics to undergrads, because they ask the deep questions and you need to be one step ahead.
You remember concepts, methods, and frameworks more than the factual content. I don’t remember every detail of the Kerberos protocol, since that was one topic on one midterm, but I deeply understand the theoretical underpinnings of its components (i.e. symmetric key cryptography). I could pick it back up in minutes. Likewise, I don’t have the full proof of correctness for Dijkstra’s algorithm memorized, but I could walk you through the algorithm and offer intuition for why it works (and when it breaks down).
Also remember the real world is an open book test and you are allowed to work with others.
I may not remember all details about a topic, but I know that it exists and how to find out more information about it.
I got my Bachelor’s in 1980 and my Master’s in 1983 or 1984… I don’t even remember WHICH year, much less all the information I learned.
But I remember enough, and understand enough.
Right now I’m taking a break from prepping to teach Precalculus next year. (It’s a Saturday morning in July, and I’ve been at it since about 6 am.) I haven’t taught it since 2000 (I took a break to stay home with my kids for 5 years, and have been teaching younger kids in the years since.)
So I’m prepping a course that I haven’t taught since most of you were 2 or 3 years old. Do I remember the formulas?? Many of them. A few others are on the outer edges of my memory, and I’ll need to relearn them. Do I know how to use a graphing calculator? I’ve been working on that since school ended, and my confidence is increasing. But I went through Calc 1-4, differential equations, you name it, without the use of a calculator of any sort at all… I was teaching 2 years before I bought even a basic 4 function model.
So, yeah, I need to prep this summer. But the thing is that I understand all the math, even if I do have to brush up on it. I may have to look up the formulas and complete definitions, but I understand it all.
Now ask me anything about geometry, and those formulas are much easier to come up with… I reviewed them a month ago with my students.
It’s not so much about remembering, as being able to access if and when needed and apply it then. It’s a case of “use it or lose it”-- you’ll remember the things you need, and be able to access the rest.
A lot of times I have to reteach the stuff to myself. But if you’ve mastered it once, relearning it is an “oh, yeah…” experience.
Thanks for all of the replies everyone. They made me feel a lot better!
I find that I learned a lot of structural engineering by rote - not really understanding the theory too well. But now that I’ve used the formulas over and over, it’s all making sense to me. That’s a good feeling! I need to be able to check the computer output to make sure it’s correct.
bopper made a good point: the real world is an open book and you’re allowed to work with others. I wouldn’t call it a test, per se, but that’s the major difference between school and the real world. In school, you’re on your own (minus the exception of an occasional group project), but in the real world, you have colleagues. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and we complement one another.
Also, trying to remember everything you learn is a good way to drive yourself insane. Even when you take a class, trying to memorize all the little details…that’s not how you retain information. Learning the concepts, applying the concepts, and retaining the knowledge of the application of those concepts - that’s what carries you forward. If the details matter later on - say, for a paper you have to write - well, that’s what research is for. And that’s why I personally keep all of my textbooks. They make great reference material.
by regularly reviewing the material
My degree is Math/CS. I remember very little from my math courses, as I don’t regularly have need to use high-level math. No one has asked me to prove any fundamental theorems of Calculus since I graduated!
I remember more of the CS classes, but reality is that the world of CS has changed so much that anything I learned with regards to specific programming languages is useless now. What was important was learning about how computer programming works, and understanding the need to be constantly updating that knowledge (there was no such thing as web sites when I studied CS!)