Medical terminology is one of the first hurdles in nursing and allied health programs, and it catches a lot of students off guard. If you search the student forums, the same questions come up again and again, and each has a practical fix.
Problem 1: There are just too many words
It looks like thousands of unrelated terms to memorize, and that is overwhelming.
“How on earth do I pass medical terminology?”
— r/StudentNurse post title, view the thread
The fix: you don’t have to learn every word. Medical terms are built from a small set of parts, namely prefixes, roots and suffixes. Learn the parts and you can work out words you have never seen. For example, hepat/o means liver and -itis means inflammation, so hepatitis is inflammation of the liver. Here are two real cards from our deck:
hepat/o (Word Roots & Combining Forms)
Liver. Origin: Greek ‘hepar’ meaning liver. Example: Hepatitis, where ‘hepat/o’ refers to the liver and ‘-itis’ to inflammation, indicating inflammation of the liver.-itis (Suffixes)
Inflammation. Origin: Greek ‘itis’ meaning disease, inflammation. Example words include ‘arthritis’ (inflammation of the joints) and ‘dermatitis’ (inflammation of the skin).
Problem 2: Not knowing how to memorize it
Reading a textbook chapter once doesn’t make the words stick.
“How did you memorize medical terminology?”
— r/StudentNurse post title, view the thread
The fix: recall beats rereading. Flashcards make you pull the answer out of your memory, and reviewing a small batch every day, then bringing back the cards you missed, works better than one long session. Repeated recall (practice testing and spaced practice) is rated a high-utility study technique in learning research (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Start with the word parts, then move on to terms grouped by body system.
Problem 3: Realizing too late that everything builds on it
Students often discover how much later courses depend on the vocabulary only once they are in them.
“ALL pre-nursing students, take medical terminology before pharmacology/pathophysiology!”
— r/StudentNurse post title, view the thread
The fix: learn the vocabulary early, before the heavier courses start. A deck you can review in spare minutes lets you build the foundation alongside your other classes instead of falling behind.
Problem 4: Wondering if a class is enough
Some programs include a terminology course and some don’t, and students wonder whether it is worth taking.
“Is it beneficial to take a medical terminology class?”
— r/StudentNurse post title, view the thread
The fix: a class gives structure, and flashcards give you the daily practice a class often doesn’t. Use them together. If you are studying on your own, a deck that goes from word parts to body-system terms gives you a path to follow.
Ready to try it?
- Check out the format: download the free sample files to see how our printable PDFs, interactive HTML app and Anki decks look. The sample is a general example deck on a different topic.
- Want a medical terminology deck made for you? Order custom flashcards on our Fiverr gig: printable PDFs, an offline HTML app and Anki decks built around your topic.
- Need something specific? Order a custom bundle built around your topic.
Quotes are public post titles from the r/StudentNurse community on Reddit, shown with links to the original threads. They are not endorsements, and we are not affiliated with Reddit or the posters. Our flashcards are generated with AI and reviewed by a person before delivery. They are study aids, not medical advice, so check anything important against your course materials. Study-technique reference: Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan & Willingham (2013), “Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest.