I spent the last 2 months only focusing on content review from the TPR books and doing the practice questions at the end of each chapter but I am having lots of trouble remembering what I've read now that I'm starting to do more practice questions (I'm using Nextstep practice/strategy books). I find that while doing practice questions that some terms and theories (especially psych/soci) have completely disappeared from my memory and I am having trouble even recalling what chapter I read about that specific theory. Should I just keep doing more practice questions and looking back and re-reading my TPR content books? Any tips please?
Best way to avoid forgetting material
- Thread starter pch
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equations / quick recall: flashcards
concepts: practice
understanding harder conceptual things / understanding why you got things wrong: focused review and ask on here
concepts: practice
understanding harder conceptual things / understanding why you got things wrong: focused review and ask on here
You need to figure out the best study method for yourself. For some people, flashcards are good for memorization. For others, seeing it in visual form is good, like in a video. For still others, re-writing it is an excellent strategy. It all depends on the person and you have to find your own strategy.
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This will be a necessary skill not just now, but for medical school. Aside from the obvious (reviewing content you've studied on a weekly basis) you want to stay ACTIVE with the information. that means doing practice passages and questions, not passive materials like flashcards and rote questions. This is long term what works best for retention.
For your immediate problem of not recalling material after you've read it. Try reviewing the material 3 times. After 2 minutes, after 2 hours, and then after 24 hours. This repetition will help the info move from your short term memory into long term. Also, be active with the material right away, tying MCAT style questions once you think you have a solid handle on the content.
Hope this helps, good luck!
I have been using the Nextstep strategy/practice books and doing the passages open book as practice. I do find that doing passages help with retaining the material a little better. However, it takes me a really long time to do the passage, check my answer and then re-read TPR content review books on that one topic. Is this normal? Also, would you suggest re-doing the same passages again to help me remember the content better?
Also, I do notice that some of the strategy/practice books have content that is different from the TPR books. I've only just started on the soci/psych practice passages but I do find some of the terms are named differently and some material was not even in the TPR books which makes me feel a little nervous... anybody experiencing that and how are you managing?
