Why I always start from the basics

When a student tells me pharmacology is not sticking, the problem is usually not pharmacology. It is that cell membranes, receptors or renal function never fully landed, so every new drug becomes something to memorise instead of something to understand.

But what even are the basics?

Think of it like building a house. You cannot build one without bricks, timber and a foundation. And if you do build with bricks that already have cracks in them, the wall might stand for a while, but it will not hold under pressure. Exam week is the pressure.

Maths works the same way. You cannot add without knowing how to count. You cannot multiply without knowing how to add. Nobody would call that a lack of intelligence; it is simply the order things have to be learnt in.

The truth is that there is a basic foundation to everything, and it looks different depending on where you are in your studies and in your life. For one student, the foundation is cell transport. For another, it is confidence reading a question properly, or knowing how to structure a paragraph.

Where we usually start

My first question to a student in the very first lesson is often the simplest one I can ask: what is a cell?

It surprises people. But the answer tells me so much. If we can talk comfortably about what a cell is, what it does and what it needs, we already have somewhere solid to attach fluid balance, oxygenation, medications, and eventually the patient in front of you on placement.

If that answer is shaky, we start right there, and everything after it becomes easier. Not because the content got simpler, but because it finally has something to sit on.

This is not about slowing you down

If you already have the foundations, we skip ahead. With eight years of tutoring behind me, I can usually tell within a session where the gap actually sits, and we start from that point rather than from page one.

Starting from the basics is not going backwards. It is making sure that nothing underneath you is cracked before we build the next floor.