How to Study in Vet school

Forgive me if there is a thread about this topic already, but I didn't find one. This may sound like a stupid question, but "How do you study to learn?" I have many years of college experience and have always been the person that studies an hour before an exam and walks out with a high B or A. I have a really good short term memory, but couldn't tell you what was on the last exam. Now that I have been accepted to Vet school, this tactic obviously won't work. First of all I know that the material in school is more in depth than UG and there's more of it, but also I need to actually learn and retain the info in order to be a good veterinarian. So, how do you learn? I have tried studying more than just a few hours but, it hasn't halped me to retain the material any longer, I've studied in groups, I've hand copied all my notes. Is there anyone that was like me in UG that has any advice on how you are now able to retain the information? I hope that I will be more interested in the material in vet school and that will help me to retain it.

I haven't started vet school yet (I will this fall!), but I know personally, I learn the most when the info is practical (i.e. I don't remember squat from Chem 121...) and when it's hands on. Hopefully where you are going allows you to get hands on experience all 4 years. While retaining a lot of the common things, normal/abnormal and basics, the other thing I think you have to remember is that you are not going to remember EVERYTHING and a truly good veterinarian is a good researcher. Know who/where to go to look things up when you aren't positive or just plain don't remember. And don't be afraid to say that you don't know and need to consult with a colleague or look it up! One thing I've been told by current first years is that the competitiveness you needed throughout your UG should melt away during vet school and you learn to network with your classmates. Any current vet students disagree with any of this? Hope this helps reduce your stress a little. Oh yeah and one of the doctors I worked for told me that C=DVM! You are going to be a great veterinarian!

Active Learning for me.

Colours, flash cards, diagrams, pictures....writing it over and over and over, and doing past papers....

Originally Posted by RxyBrtn

I haven't started vet school yet (I will this fall!), but I know personally, I learn the most when the info is practical ...

First year might be a little rough for you. Fair warning. Lol.

Not a vet student, but I had the same issue my first few years of UG.

In most lecture classes, I could hit the book or the notes for an hour or two the night before and walk out with an A. Pretty cool at the time, but not great for learning how to really study and retain.

As my courses got a bit more complex, I started studying like a grownup, mostly for the practice, if not because it was entirely required.

I usually take my notes and retype them in my own words. Then take the key concepts and throw them into a flash card program like Studyblue.com. Before a test, I'll get a stack of blank paper and rewrite everything important with my own diagrams, arrows, little pictures and mnemonic devices. This usually gives me pretty good semi-permanent recall for the material.

I think the key is finding as many different ways to view the material as you can. One of them is bound to stick.

Not many people have heard of this website, so I'll share it.

www.studyblue.com

If you're into flashcards like I am, it's a lifesaver! It saves time, paper, and I feel like I can review them more easily. They also have an option to study the flashcards you got wrong on the last go around, which really helps me commit things to memory. You can join your university and even specific classes, so that you can share flashcards and notes with classmates who're also on StudyBlue. They also have a free phone app so you can look at your flashcards on-the-go.

I love this study tool so much that I've even considered getting the paid version of the website, which offers a little more functionality (but don't worry, they don't skimp on the free version!).

I hope it helps someone

Shameless website promotion aside, I study by making notes of my notes. I'll often go through everything and rewrite it in Microsoft Word. And then I'll make flashcards as I'm rewriting my notes. It takes a long time, but I've found that rewriting everything really helps me remember stuff (rather than just rereading, where I tend to get bored and read without really paying attention).

One area where I need to improve is not procrastinating on doing this. I've tried to do it where I go home and go over that day's notes, and while it does help (and keeps me from cramming before the test), I still get behind sometimes. I'm trying to get better, though!

Edit: I should also mention that, as a pre-vet student, I haven't yet had the chance to put my studying skills to the test in vet school. I'm hoping they work, though!

Originally Posted by Dsmoody23

Not a vet student, but I had the same issue my first few years of UG.

In most lecture classes, I could hit the book or the notes for an hour or two the night before and walk out with an A. Pretty cool at the time, but not great for learning how to really study and retain.

As my courses got a bit more complex, I started studying like a grownup, mostly for the practice, if not because it was entirely required.

I usually take my notes and retype them in my own words. Then take the key concepts and throw them into a flash card program like Studyblue.com. Before a test, I'll get a stack of blank paper and rewrite everything important with my own diagrams, arrows, little pictures and mnemonic devices. This usually gives me pretty good semi-permanent recall for the material.

I think the key is finding as many different ways to view the material as you can. One of them is bound to stick.

This always worked very well for me. I would take notes with the powerpoints, and then a day or two before the exam I would re-write and condense all the notes into "study sheets". Being able to read the concepts in my own words helped a lot.

I am in the process of trying to re-vamp the way I study. For the first 3/4 of this year, I have done the "re-type/type" notes method. But I am not doing as well as I would like. Shocker, a vet student over-achiever. I have dabbled with StudyBlue (actually got the link originally here on SDN from DSMoody - THANKS!!), but I am starting to make much better use of it. A few of my other classmates and I have started a class together where we can share flash cards.

I also am starting to use study groups. I was NEVER a study group person, but I actually find it helps a day or so before the exam (have to study on my own first) to go over past exams with classmates.

Originally Posted by WhtsThFrequency

This always worked very well for me. I would take notes with the powerpoints, and then a day or two before the exam I would re-write and condense all the notes into "study sheets". Being able to read the concepts in my own words helped a lot.

That's basically how I handle it. Thing with the whole studying a bajillion hours is ... you get maybe 20-30 hours of lecture a week. Sometimes more. This week we have 26 hours of class time, but we've got 6 hours off that we're supposed to be in clinic, as well as one afternoon entirely free - so it's a light week. In general, we usually can count on 6 hours of lecture per day and then toss in an hour or two of lab, or some elective class, or ... whatever.

So if you try and apply that classic 3 hours of studying per hour of class (or whatever) ... good luck. Enjoy that fantasy. You'll be studying, what 60-90 hours/week? On top of your 20-30 hours of lecture and 4-8 hrs of labs. Toss in eating, transportation, a part-time job, scrabbling for some clinical time to work on your clinical skills, a night or two of binge drinking, some time with your SO ... you get the idea.

I go at the material this way.

1) I listen in lecture. As best I can. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes I'm totally tuned out. But I try and at least take notes. Pass #1.

2) I make study guides based on the lecture powerpoint, my notes, and any text we might have. Pass #2.

3) I go through my study guides before the exams. Pass #3.

That's it. Three passes through the material. I either know it well enough to pass the test at that point, or I don't. I do have a study partner, and we go over stuff at a very high level: sorta the "let's talk about concepts" level. I guess you could call that Pass #4.

For things I really, really want to remember long term I'll take some more time and set those aside and memorize. But when it comes to the daily "prepare for the next test" ... that's all I get. There are some exceptions: I spent hours in the anatomy lab the weekend before tests going over and over and over that stuff.

But the bottom line is that you need to get good at learning faster. The good news is that your brain will probably adapt and you'll do it without thinking about it.

I was very much the same for high school and some of the lower-level bio courses in Undergrad, but the further I've progressed in my academic career the more I've had to alter my study techniques.

One of the things that has helped me is rewriting my notes-partially because my handwriting is chicken scrawl and virtually illegible when I'm writing quickly, but also because I can add to it from stuff I've read in the textbook, reorganize my notes as needed, and also the act of writing it down helps commit it to memory.

However, I don't see this tactic working in the high-volume atmosphere that is veterinary school (bummer), so I'll move on to plan B - re-reading notes extensively.

VMRCVM provides printed notes for some of their lectures. I intend to use these and annotate them to my heart's desire, and then make a habit of reading through the material on a regular (as in, at least a few times a week) basis. This is how I've had to get through some of my current classes in UG.

Also, explaining the material to someone else has always helped me. I live with a non-science roommate currently so my poor rabbit has born the brunt of this technique, but just the act of organizing my thoughts enough to speak about them has really helped me process information.

Granted this is all coming from an undergraduate, so take it with a grain of salt.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=827050

That's all I got today.

Originally Posted by hopefulinva

VMRCVM provides printed notes for some of their lectures. I intend to use these and annotate them to my heart's desire, and then make a habit of reading through the material on a regular (as in, at least a few times a week) basis. This is how I've had to get through some of my current classes in UG.

I do this. And if there are no printed notes for a class, I grab a book that looks similar to what is going on and I annotate that. It helps me immensely.

Like others have said, there is no one good technique. What works for me doesn't work for my classmates. I have to study with no distractions. I have no TV or internet in my apartment, except my phone. I try to start off studying a little bit each night, but once the exam cycle hits, that usually goes out the window. I'm working with an old doc right now who told me that he spent 4 years studying for the next exam. Considering his current place of employment, that worked out pretty well. My usual study pattern is from the time I get home until 8 or 9 PM. The most intense time is after dinner until quitting time. I try to hit what we covered that day and then review other stuff. We also have some very handy charts that summarize the important points of the courses, which helps for test reviews.

Here's one other thing I do.... it's weird.... but it works for commuters.... Some people record lectures and listen to them on their drive home. I lecture, because it's more active. I talk through as much of the day's lectures as I can to the imaginary passenger in my car. Or, if she's with me that day, my dog. I'll talk through what I learned out loud. Really.

Yeah, it's goofy, stupid-looking, and whatever. But it really helps me retain information.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Here's one other thing I do.... it's weird.... but it works for commuters.... Some people record lectures and listen to them on their drive home. I lecture, because it's more active. I talk through as much of the day's lectures as I can to the imaginary passenger in my car. Or, if she's with me that day, my dog. I'll talk through what I learned out loud. Really.

Yeah, it's goofy, stupid-looking, and whatever. But it really helps me retain information.

I'll record my own voice recordings of summaries of lectures and listen to them, and repeat until i can say them myself. it helps on a lot of the concept based classes

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Here's one other thing I do.... it's weird.... but it works for commuters.... Some people record lectures and listen to them on their drive home. I lecture, because it's more active. I talk through as much of the day's lectures as I can to the imaginary passenger in my car. Or, if she's with me that day, my dog. I'll talk through what I learned out loud. Really.

Yeah, it's goofy, stupid-looking, and whatever. But it really helps me retain information.

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

I'll record my own voice recordings of summaries of lectures and listen to them, and repeat until i can say them myself. it helps on a lot of the concept based classes

These actually sound like really good ideas... I might have to give them a try.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Here's one other thing I do.... it's weird.... but it works for commuters.... Some people record lectures and listen to them on their drive home. I lecture, because it's more active. I talk through as much of the day's lectures as I can to the imaginary passenger in my car. Or, if she's with me that day, my dog. I'll talk through what I learned out loud. Really.

Yeah, it's goofy, stupid-looking, and whatever. But it really helps me retain information.

I kind of love this idea.
When I study, I tend to repeat things out loud, often with hand gestures to accompany my summaries, so I'm somewhat surprised I never thought to do this. Definitely going to try to remember to do so after biochem this week. Thanks.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Here's one other thing I do.... it's weird.... but it works for commuters.... Some people record lectures and listen to them on their drive home. I lecture, because it's more active. I talk through as much of the day's lectures as I can to the imaginary passenger in my car. Or, if she's with me that day, my dog. I'll talk through what I learned out loud. Really.

Yeah, it's goofy, stupid-looking, and whatever. But it really helps me retain information.

I definately do this. Talk to myself ALL THE TIME. Really helps me nut things out.

Originally Posted by breenie

And if a class is dumb, skip it. You have limited time, so use it wisely.

This also. Especially if your school records lectures. I listen to all my lectures on double time and most of the time, they just sound like a person talking normally... don't get stuck in the "i have to go to lectures" mentality if you a) don't, b) don't learn in them. Waste of your valuable time.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

Here's one other thing I do.... it's weird.... but it works for commuters.... Some people record lectures and listen to them on their drive home. I lecture, because it's more active. I talk through as much of the day's lectures as I can to the imaginary passenger in my car. Or, if she's with me that day, my dog. I'll talk through what I learned out loud. Really.

Yeah, it's goofy, stupid-looking, and whatever. But it really helps me retain information.

I would totally talk to my dog on our walks after school about what I learned

WE ARE ALL INSANE!

Originally Posted by Dsmoody23

I'm guessing there's a certain aspect of it you can't prepare for.

I'd be curious if any of you current students could confirm or deny, but I'm preparing for it like boot camp. Before I headed to boot camp, I spent a lot of time doing push ups, pull ups and running. And that was all well and good, but there's really no amount of preparation that gets you ready to do those push ups with 4 huge guys screaming at you and 1 standing on your back. Preparation helps, but there's a certain aspect of it all that you can't wrap your mind around until you actually get there and do it.

Hopefully that's not too much of a comparative leap, but it makes sense in my mind.

Yes. There is nothing you can really do to make vet school not kick your ass sometimes. It is important to "get to know yourself" as a student though and know what works and what doesn't for you. But other than that, you just kind of have to hit the ground running.

Originally Posted by breenie

Memorize the PowerPoint slides word for word.

/bitterness

Just kidding. Not really.

Yes... the level of detail in vet school was a shock for me. I would think, oh they wouldn't really want me to know all those numbers or acronyms or growth factors. Oh yes they do.

Originally Posted by LetItSnow

I go at the material this way...

I do something really similar to you. I've seen classmates get really hung up on making perfect study guides and flashcards and drawings and had it not really help them... ultimately there is no substitute for repetition. By all means, make yourself flashcards if that helps! But don't spend all your time getting your flashcards ready and have no time to review them.

---I think it is important as a first year to remember that no one studies the same way and there is no one right way to study. Don't make yourself anxious if other people are studying a different way than you. Just do what works for you. You may need some trial and error to figure out what that is.
---I think it's best to come into vet school with guns blazing and then you can back off if you're doing fine. It's better to put a lot into it at the beginning than be playing catch up and hoping you're not failing.

I can tell you what I do. It has worked really well for me. But obviously it depends on the person! Here is how I do things.
--I go to lecture and take notes. I have also had equal results with listening from home and taking notes. My goal at this point is information collection: make sure I write down all the information in a way that makes sense to me.
--After I come home from school I review each lecture from that day. I aim for half an hour per lecture but it can really vary. My goal at this point is understanding: I look up words I don't know, I email the professor if I have questions, I ask my study buddy to clarify things for me. I try to reason out things that weren't explicit in lecture... for example if there is a list of clinical signs for some disease like "tachycardia, dehydration, acidosis, oliguria" I will realize that the dehydration is causing the tachycardia/acidosis/oliguria and may reword the slide to reflect that. It makes it way easier to memorize later if the information is organized.
--The week before a test (we usually have Monday tests) I go over each test lecture once by myself, just reading the slides. I'll do this after going over my regular daily lectures. My goal at this point is starting to memorize things.
--The weekend before the test, I get together with my study partner in crime extraordinaire and we spend about 10 hours each weekend day reading the lectures out loud to each other. It forces us to put things in our own words and explain things to each other to make sure we really understand things. At this point I use a lot of acronyms and mnemonics to keep track of things that I can't reason out intuitively... I prefer to consolidate / integrate information but sometimes that isn't possible.
--I do use old exams to quiz myself the night before the test, mostly to reassure me but also to make sure I haven't missed something obvious.

Hope that helps
Oh, and I'm crazy. Most people don't study that much and do just fine.

Originally Posted by Emiloo4

I actually plan on not thinking with more than 3 brain cells until vet school starts. I definitely won't be practicing besides finishing these two classes.

If anything, I'm trying to RELAX as much as possible before vet school! No practicing for me!

Sent from my PG06100 using SDN Mobile

Memorize the PowerPoint slides word for word.

/bitterness

Just kidding. Not really.

Don't try to cram. It won't work. Try to do a little everyday, or at least make a "schedule" to get some time arranged. Our school does pretty much constant exams, so my advice not work for a simpler midterm/final schedule, but never fall behind.

And if a class is dumb, skip it. You have limited time, so use it wisely.

Depends on the class.

Pharm and disease/organism based classes, I make a lot of charts in Excel and various sets of flashcards. For Infectious Dz, I generally make a set of flashcards with ALL the info, a set with just disease name/causative organism, and a set of "objectives" that the professor stressed. It's time consuming, but works. The making of the flashcards helps just as much as the flipping through them, so I generally only have to go through the big set once before moving on to the rest.

For other classes, I rewrite all the info from the PPTs + my notes and put it into an outline format in word. It's easier for me to read, and my recall is better because I can go in order. Flashcards depend on the type of info. If the professor provides a list of objectives or a study guide, I print those out with huge spaces in between, 2 copies. First copy I go through and look up all the info. Second copy I do from memory as best I can.

Relistening to lectures really helps too. Even if I was there/awake, I tend to relisten to some professors the night or two before the exam just because hearing that voice makes it stick in my head and brings things I forgot back to the front of my brain.

For flashcards, I use flashcardexchange.com. I make the flashcards in excel and then all I have to do is copy and paste the spreadsheet into their import system. Can also add pictures which is nice. They sync to my phone as well.

Originally Posted by breenie

Memorize the PowerPoint slides word for word.

/bitterness

Just kidding. Not really.

Breenie- I totally had a UG prof like this. His powerpoints were paragraphs with no pictures. he would tell you "i'm going to give you a hint for the test, I'm definitely going to ask you about protein x"

his question on protein X would be something like "what is the cofactor for the protein that catalyzes this reaction" and he wouldn't name the protein....

Originally Posted by breenie

Memorize the PowerPoint slides word for word.

/bitterness

Just kidding. Not really.

yeah. at least definitely memorize what alll pictures are. some profs never use the same images on exams. but there are enough lazy ones that will use the same exact image from the powerpoints...

Originally Posted by breenie

Don't try to cram. It won't work. Try to do a little everyday, or at least make a "schedule" to get some time arranged. Our school does pretty much constant exams, so my advice not work for a simpler midterm/final schedule, but never fall behind.

eh... i think it depends on the person. i've always crammed, and it's the only way i can make it work.

Originally Posted by breenie

And if a class is dumb, skip it. You have limited time, so use it wisely.

vet school has so many baaaad teachers. great clinicians and great teachers in the clinics... but gawd awful lecturers. i can read off slides at home faster than they can outloud in class as they ramble off about tangents. unless i know a lecture is worth it, i won't go

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

eh... i think it depends on the person. i've always crammed, and it's the only way i can make it work.

This is me. If I am not under pressure, I just don't do well. I don't plan on cramming everything, but I have a tendency to cram and make it work for me. I would like to get away from this in vet school however, since I will need to use a lot of the information through the rest of my career, not just through the next test.
I could be wrong, but I feel like cramming won't serve you well for the NAVLE either.... unless you cram for that too

cry. a lot.


More useful tips to come when I'm not glaring at metabolism/biochem lectures.

Originally Posted by heylodeb

cry. a lot.

Originally Posted by Emiloo4

I could be wrong, but I feel like cramming won't serve you well for the NAVLE either.... unless you cram for that too

but see, that's the thing. i've never NOT crammed. like that's how i got through high school, college, and now what i'm doing through vet school. and i don't think i was deficient in pre-vet knowledge when I started vet school.

and when i'm working with other people who i consider good students in my class on case-based problems and stuff that integrate a lot of cumulative knowledge, i don't find myself crapping out just because i'm a crammer. so i get kind of offended when people assume that i'm not learning just because i don't study the way they do.

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

but see, that's the thing. i've never NOT crammed. like that's how i got through high school, college, and now what i'm doing through vet school. and i don't think i was deficient in pre-vet knowledge when I started vet school.

and when i'm working with other people who i consider good students in my class on case-based problems and stuff that integrate a lot of cumulative knowledge, i don't find myself crapping out just because i'm a crammer. so i get kind of offended when people assume that i'm not learning just because i don't study the way they do.

Didn't mean to offend you, I wasn't meaning you personally don't learn. I have also never NOT crammed and have done quite well. I guess with the repeated systems and diseases like has been said previously, you are using the knowledge a lot more than just putting facts into your head and then letting them go once the test is over. I guess thinking back, I really only lost the knowledge that I crammed and didn't care about... like my social problems class Sorry minnerbelle, not what I meant at all. I am a fellow crammer... don't hurt me

And I didn't mean "you" as in "you - minnerbelle" in my previous post. I can see where that wasn't clear. Sorry.

I am not a vet student, but I have found that I have to re-write instructor's power points. I cannot just read them to memorize.

The classes I did the best in, I re-wrote all the important slides, then annotated on those what I felt was important from the text books.

Diagrams also helped. I would review diagrams, and then write in my own words a description of the diagram.

Originally Posted by Minnerbelle

Lol and I'm sorry I didn't specify that I didn't mean "you" as in "you" either. It's something I meant to say when I first read the OP to explain that I do know at least a few crammers in vet school who do just fine, so there's more than one way to "learn to learn". What I meant to get across to you personally was that unless you feel as though you're deficient in your knowledge due to your cramming, then you shouldn't worry about it. For some people, the amount of info in vet school is more to cram than they can handle, which is why it doesn't work for them. But if that's not the case for you, no sense in forcing yourself to a learning style that doesn't work for you just because everyone else says it's better. Haha, sorry if I sounded threatening. I was all wound up trying to cram and stay caught up with the excitement of the WW game at the same time . I'm a rather antisocial person so if I don't really focus on what I'm writing, it comes off really b****y. Don't worry, I'm generally not violent

It's just a couple of pet peeves I have in vet school. That coupled with the people who say things like, "oh well maybe I don't get very good grades, but I know I'll be doing better than those book smart people once we're in clinics." I guess in general, I just get really offended when people assume that they're better than others. Elitist comments about individual vet schools (and believe me, I've heard enough at my own school) also rubs me the wrong way. lol, I guess I just get pissed really easily.

I didn't think you were violent, just kidding about that part. And yeah, I'm one of the worst crammars I know so I'm constantly hearing people I know in vet school say " you definitely can't do that in vet school". So it's nice to hear I can lol. That's the learning style that works best for me and I honestly don't know if I could change it, even if I wanted to. I worked with a vet who told me he crammed all the time and he had the most recall of any vet at the place. And yeah, I f***ing despise elitist sh*t!!! No one is better than anyone else. The last vet I worked for used to say the same thing about how he's not book smart but can run circles around other vets (which he definitely couldn't on a side note)