Failed MS1... Repeating MS1. Now what?

[Dhooy7]

I learned one thing the only way for me to get the bugs, drugs and path in my head is sketchy. This is one reason I used Sketchy.

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[Dhooy7]

I could also just add my notes to the drugs for sketchy on Firecracker. Just add in my ppt slides into it.

 

[calivianya]

Stop trying to make all of the flashcards yourself, alone. That’s where you’re falling behind. If you want to study with flashcards based on your own classes, join or start a group.

My class has several different groups making flashcards at any different time. If you have a group of five, six, or more, and everyone is responsible for only a few lecture hours per week to contribute to the overall decks, it’s much easier to get the flashcards done.

Most of our class groups share their cards with everyone, so we have multiple comprehensive decks to choose from for each test. I have yet to see any decks with any obviously false or intentionally sabotaging information - I am lucky that my class is generally helpful and collaborative and the group decks are trustworthy.

Get in, or start, a group like that in your next year.

 

[Dhooy7]

Stop trying to make all of the flashcards yourself, alone. That’s where you’re falling behind. If you want to study with flashcards based on your own classes, join or start a group.

My class has several different groups making flashcards at any different time. If you have a group of five, six, or more, and everyone is responsible for only a few lecture hours per week to contribute to the overall decks, it’s much easier to get the flashcards done.

Most of our class groups share their cards with everyone, so we have multiple comprehensive decks to choose from for each test. I have yet to see any decks with any obviously false or intentionally sabotaging information - I am lucky that my class is generally helpful and collaborative and the group decks are trustworthy.

Get in, or start, a group like that in your next year.

Been getting some cards from others but they are not helpful. One deck is like a paragraph for each card. I often struggle connecting topics in Anki. I'm going to use Anki more for memorization. I've been trying to find others with cards that are helpful. I find cloze deletions to not be helpful for me. Thanks!

 

[Dhooy7]

Any tips on condensing notes and knowing what is important? I often really struggle with this and am trying to work on this. Thanks!

 

[calivianya]

Been getting some cards from others but they are not helpful. One deck is like a paragraph for each card. I often struggle connecting topics in Anki. I'm going to use Anki more for memorization. I've been trying to find others with cards that are helpful. I find cloze deletions to not be helpful for me. Thanks!

I think it’s how you approach the cards. I like the cards with maybe 1 sentence with 3-4 cloze deletions per card, so my decks are heavy on short cards with cloze deletions, like Zanki’s style.

The key with a cloze card, for me, is to read the full thing every time, not just what’s missing, and ask not just what word’s missing, but why it’s that word, before I flip it. By what mechanism does the disease cause that symptom? Why does that particular drug work? Why is it even relevant that I know what chromosome this is on? And I’ll usually have that kind of information in the “extra” section, and I try to read that every time, too.

I am constantly making changes to my cloze deletion cards as I go. I might start out with only one symptom as a separate card from the others, or one drug at a time... but as I find I know all of them, I change all the c1-c6 to c1, so I get that set of information once instead of six times and it saves me some time when I’m reviewing, if that makes sense.

If you’re just powering through and memorizing the missing word, I totally agree - cloze deletions are not helpful. This was a mistake I made at first. Asking “why” makes a world of difference.

It’s hard to tell what’s important info, honestly. I still struggle with this. We have a lot of professors at my school who test on minutiae, so it just depends on what your teachers consider important. It sucks.

 

[Dhooy7]

What are my chances in radiology as a DO? IM and Radiology are my top 2 choices. I know I'm not going to be a great ER dr but radiology would be a lot greater fit.

 

[deleted859689]

What are my chances in radiology as a DO? IM and Radiology are my top 2 choices. I know I'm not going to be a great ER dr but radiology would be a lot greater fit.

You have the lecture slides right? Find relevant information and use cloze deletions. Copy, paste, cloze deletion. Italicize or bold key-words in whatever your flashcarding. Add extra explanation in the "extra" field. You can even do typed cloze deletions which I usually do for spelling. I've been practicing making cards for costanzo.

IR or DR? IR is uber competitive compared to DR. I would think EM is very doable.

http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-2018-Osteo.pdf

 

[Dhooy7]

You have the lecture slides right? Find relevant information and use cloze deletions. Copy, paste, cloze deletion. Italicize or bold key-words in whatever your flashcarding. Add extra explanation in the "extra" field. You can even do typed cloze deletions which I usually do for spelling. I've been practicing making cards for costanzo.

IR or DR? IR is uber competitive compared to DR. I would think EM is very doable.

http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-2018-Osteo.pdf

DR Radiology.

 

[Alkaidius]

Any tips on condensing notes and knowing what is important? I often really struggle with this and am trying to work on this. Thanks!

So listen, do your professors bold stuff? Use different color font? Have any sort of indicators about what’s important. Before you figure out how to micromanage, you gotta think on a macro level. If you want to worry about doing something like Rads, you have to make sure you fail absolutely nothing else. Stop thinking about stuff that isn’t your next quiz/test.

If you’re scrapped for time, you want to focus on the points you know you can get rather than getting bogged down by condensing absolutely everything. Your first pass through a lecture’s material needs to focus on understanding it and remembering only the big takeaways. On your second pass add a layer of details and so on. This was my key to making the material more manageable. You can make your cards as you do this if you want.

I know people that just need 2 passes through the material to memorize it. You and I are not those people. Take small bites.

 

[deleted859689]

DR Radiology.

DR (diagnostic radiology) had around an 81% match rate for DOs in 2018.

http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-2018-Osteo.pdf

 

[Dhooy7]

So listen, do your professors bold stuff? Use different color font? Have any sort of indicators about what’s important. Before you figure out how to micromanage, you gotta think on a macro level. If you want to worry about doing something like Rads, you have to make sure you fail absolutely nothing else. Stop thinking about stuff that isn’t your next quiz/test.

If you’re scrapped for time, you want to focus on the points you know you can get rather than getting bogged down by condensing absolutely everything. Your first pass through a lecture’s material needs to focus on understanding it and remembering only the big takeaways. On your second pass add a layer of details and so on. This was my key to making the material more manageable. You can make your cards as you do this if you want.

I know people that just need 2 passes through the material to memorize it. You and I are not those people. Take small bites.

I honestly need at least 3 if not 5 passes on most info.

 

[Alkaidius]

I honestly need at least 3 if not 5 passes on most info.

Sounds about right. I usually needed ~3 for quizzes and another 3+ for tests. You get better over time. Plus however you’re condensing will make the process faster. I personally think you’re using too much material. I’ve found figuring out how people organize their stuff is such a waste of valuable time. It takes a unique style to make study guides that are universally good for everyone.

 

[Dhooy7]

I dont really condense most notes are like 4-10 pages typed per lecture. Was way too much for me.

Sounds about right. I usually needed ~3 for quizzes and another 3+ for tests. You get better over time. Plus however you’re condensing will make the process faster. I personally think you’re using too much material. I’ve found figuring out how people organize their stuff is such a waste of valuable time. It takes a unique style to make study guides that are universally good for everyone.

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[Alkaidius]

I dont really condense most notes are like 4-10 pages typed per lecture. Was way too much for me.

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Your bare-minimum goal for your notes should be for them to take half as long as getting through a lecture PowerPoint. Always shoot for shorthand. Always try to improve quality without making them longer. Pre-exam weekends for me would wind up with 50 PowerPoint that I'd need to get through. I would go through each in 10 minutes. Sounds like not enough? That's just over 10 hours of non-stop studying for one pass of the material. I always did two passes, one saturday and one sunday. This is how I've done it. I'm not the greatest student, but it's never failed me.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Your bare-minimum goal for your notes should be for them to take half as long as getting through a lecture PowerPoint. Always shoot for shorthand. Always try to improve quality without making them longer. Pre-exam weekends for me would wind up with 50 PowerPoint that I'd need to get through. I would go through each in 10 minutes. Sounds like not enough? That's just over 10 hours of non-stop studying for one pass of the material. I always did two passes, one saturday and one sunday. This is how I've done it. I'm not the greatest student, but it's never failed me.

Do you have advice on improving retention on your 1st pass. I feel like most people in my class absorb all the information but for me, I would be lucky to remember like 5 things max. This is particularly worse when learning pharmacology and micro. Is there something I should be doing actively while watching the lecture? How long do you usually take to learn one 50 minute lecture?

 

[Alkaidius]

Do you have advice on improving retention on your 1st pass. I feel like most people in my class absorb all the information but for me, I would be lucky to remember like 5 things max. This is particularly worse when learning pharmacology and micro. Is there something I should be doing actively while watching the lecture? How long do you usually take to learn one 50 minute lecture?

You’re at an institution with talented people. This is your life now lol. But seriously, your first pass needs to be as long as it takes for you to fully understand everything the lecture taught. Then you just use multiple passes through whatever notes you’ve made for the lecture. I also made a cram sheet on my iPad that i skimmed in the morning and evening. It was often very short, limited to some detail that kept refusing to stick from Lecture X. The reality here is some people need 2 passes, others need 6. There’s no use in comparing yourself to others anymore. You just gotta grind on.

Sketchy Pharm and Micro prior to attending the lectures was the most effective learning I’ve ever done. You can find a pdf of all the sketchy images with notes beneath the picture online. Use that and just add in stuff from lecture.

 

[Dhooy7]

For those that don't use Anki do you schedule per hour what to study or how do you make sure you get enough passes on the material before the exam? Ever since I've been doing less Anki this has been much more difficult.

 

[Splenda88]

Chances are almost non-existent for DR. Still have a shot at community IM program...

 

[Balo]

I agree with whomever said that you should condense your information. Even though it's a pain (sometimes, literally), it's ultimately worth it for me. You have these giant slides with tons of details, but you yourself said that you keep getting caught in those details without grasping the big testable takeaways; granted, you need the details to get the questions right, but it'll stick in your mind way better if you know the general outline of each lecture. Some people are really good at picking out a mental outline without even re-writing the information, but for me, I find it's easier to get a narrative by writing it down in a continuous fashion rather than relying on these chunks of information per slide. I also found that Anki is hard to use as a primary study source because most Ankis don't tie together the big concepts and only help you memorize the details, and so I only use it as a supplement after I've already reviewed the lecture once.

These days I tend to make an outline while I'm watching the lecture based on what the professor says (this is bolded because I find that some professors emphasize certain testable details or concepts, and that can make a difference on your exam; of course, not every professor does this, and some are misleading, so it is a case by case basis) plus key points from the PowerPoint, which ends up being 1-6 pages back and front (so more like 2-12). I review that along with the PowerPoint, making edits to clarify if necessary, and then if I have time, I'll use other resources, like tutoring, videos, practice questions, Anki/ Quizlet/ flashcards, or guides. Ultimately, it's easier to remember those 2-12 study sheets than 50+ slides, so when I'm doing my last minute prep, I tend to focus mostly on what I wrote on those outlines. I try to do at least 3 passes, with ideally 4, because that gives me better results than if I only did 2 (repetition to remember is important). I also use mnemonics or drawings to help me remember certain details.

You are very capable of turning it around. Something that might be worth doing is comparing how you studied before medical school and how you study now and thinking about which works better. I started off in med school not making outlines, but my current outlining method during class that I described is based on what I did before medical school; I reverted to that because it actually works a little better for me (disclaimer: no, I'm not getting perfect grades, but I would say that it's a bit more manageable and more methodical of an approach than before). The reason why I make my outlines during class is also because I realized that I hated spending time after class to pick through the details and to figure out what's most important; now I figure out what's most important during class and then just tweak the details later. I ultimately spend less time studying by making my outline during class and then editing it afterwards with details from the PowerPoint than writing a brand new outline after class. I also used to do a more or less even mix between podcasting and going physically to class, but these days I lean towards going to class when the option is available and when it doesn't interfere with certain scheduled events.

 

[Dhooy7]

I agree with whomever said that you should condense your information. Even though it's a pain (sometimes, literally), it's ultimately worth it for me. You have these giant slides with tons of details, but you yourself said that you keep getting caught in those details without grasping the big testable takeaways; granted, you need the details to get the questions right, but it'll stick in your mind way better if you know the general outline of each lecture. Some people are really good at picking out a mental outline without even re-writing the information, but for me, I find it's easier to get a narrative by writing it down in a continuous fashion rather than relying on these chunks of information per slide. I also found that Anki is hard to use as a primary study source because most Ankis don't tie together the big concepts and only help you memorize the details, and so I only use it as a supplement after I've already reviewed the lecture once.

These days I tend to make an outline while I'm watching the lecture based on what the professor says (this is bolded because I find that some professors emphasize certain testable details or concepts, and that can make a difference on your exam; of course, not every professor does this, and some are misleading, so it is a case by case basis) plus key points from the PowerPoint, which ends up being 1-6 pages back and front (so more like 2-12). I review that along with the PowerPoint, making edits to clarify if necessary, and then if I have time, I'll use other resources, like tutoring, videos, practice questions, Anki/ Quizlet/ flashcards, or guides. Ultimately, it's easier to remember those 2-12 study sheets than 50+ slides, so when I'm doing my last minute prep, I tend to focus mostly on what I wrote on those outlines. I try to do at least 3 passes, with ideally 4, because that gives me better results than if I only did 2 (repetition to remember is important). I also use mnemonics or drawings to help me remember certain details.

You are very capable of turning it around. Something that might be worth doing is comparing how you studied before medical school and how you study now and thinking about which works better. I started off in med school not making outlines, but my current outlining method during class that I described is based on what I did before medical school; I reverted to that because it actually works a little better for me (disclaimer: no, I'm not getting perfect grades, but I would say that it's a bit more manageable and more methodical of an approach than before). The reason why I make my outlines during class is also because I realized that I hated spending time after class to pick through the details and to figure out what's most important; now I figure out what's most important during class and then just tweak the details later. I ultimately spend less time studying by making my outline during class and then editing it afterwards with details from the PowerPoint than writing a brand new outline after class. I also used to do a more or less even mix between podcasting and going physically to class, but these days I lean towards going to class when the option is available and when it doesn't interfere with certain scheduled events.

Before med school I was able to get a 3.97. I just studied all the time and studied all the time. I knew every slide and this approach won't work in med school. There isn't enough time to do that.

 

[Splenda88]

Before med school I was able to get a 3.97. I just studied all the time and studied all the time. I knew every slide and this approach won't work in med school. There isn't enough time to do that.

Do you do practice questions prior taking exams? I was mostly getting C in MS1 and after an upper classman advised me to do practice questions before every exam (which I did), my grades jumped up to solid Bs.

 

[Medic741]

Before med school I was able to get a 3.97. I just studied all the time and studied all the time. I knew every slide and this approach won't work in med school. There isn't enough time to do that.

Tbh you actually need to know very little of the material that's on those slides to do well. Try to see the forest for the trees and it'll get a lot easier. If you understand the broader topics really well the details kind of explain themselves.

Did you read textbooks in UG? If that's a style of learning that works for you making the time to read Robbins along with classes might be beneficial

 

[Dhooy7]

I never read the book. I just studied the slides.

Tbh you actually need to know very little of the material that's on those slides to do well. Try to see the forest for the trees and it'll get a lot easier. If you understand the broader topics really well the details kind of explain themselves.

Did you read textbooks in UG? If that's a style of learning that works for you making the time to read Robbins along with classes might be beneficial

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[Dhooy7]

I barely did. I'm afraid the questions won't align with my lectures.

Do you do practice questions prior taking exams? I was mostly getting C in MS1 and after an upper classman advised me to do practice questions before every exam (which I did), my grades jumped up to solid Bs.

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[Dhooy7]

How do I go about finding research opportunities if I am moving back home this summer? I'd like to do research but I am far away from my osteopathic school. Any advice?

 

[Goro]

How do I go about finding research opportunities if I am moving back home this summer? I'd like to do research but I am far away from my osteopathic school. Any advice?

Are there any medical schools near your home? Research institutes? Biotech companies? Big UG schools?

 

[PunkRockMD]

People have given you so much really good advice in this thread and for every single suggestion you have an excuse for why it doesn't work for you. There are a thousand ways to study this material. What works for me (5-6 passes on PP, Ninja Nerd, B&B, Sketchy, and as many Guyton, Pretest, Grays, BRS practice questions as possible) might not work for you, but what you're currently doing clearly isn't working. I use Ninja Nerd as my first pass usually, which really forms (not completes, more like an outline of where the block is going) that big picture you seem to be hunting for. I can get that all done in under 50 hours a week. 2x is your friend, for me its not about fully understanding the material, but recognizing it when I see it, whether in class or on exams. Once you're able to narrow down exam questions to 2 choices, congrats, you're now in the same boat as at least half of the rest of your class. Good luck.

 

[Dhooy7]

People have given you so much really good advice in this thread and for every single suggestion you have an excuse for why it doesn't work for you. There are a thousand ways to study this material. What works for me (5-6 passes on PP, Ninja Nerd, B&B, Sketchy, and as many Guyton, Pretest, Grays, BRS practice questions as possible) might not work for you, but what you're currently doing clearly isn't working. I use Ninja Nerd as my first pass usually, which really forms (not completes, more like an outline of where the block is going) that big picture you seem to be hunting for. I can get that all done in under 50 hours a week. 2x is your friend, for me its not about fully understanding the material, but recognizing it when I see it, whether in class or on exams. Once you're able to narrow down exam questions to 2 choices, congrats, you're now in the same boat as at least half of the rest of your class. Good luck.

I'm not trying to make excuses. I'm just to explain what has worked and what hasn't worked for me.

I'll be honest once I had to go to class that killed a lot of time in neuro. I used to do much better not attending classes.

I normally get down to 2 answers and cannot choose between like right and left.

 

[Dhooy7]

Your bare-minimum goal for your notes should be for them to take half as long as getting through a lecture PowerPoint. Always shoot for shorthand. Always try to improve quality without making them longer. Pre-exam weekends for me would wind up with 50 PowerPoint that I'd need to get through. I would go through each in 10 minutes. Sounds like not enough? That's just over 10 hours of non-stop studying for one pass of the material. I always did two passes, one saturday and one sunday. This is how I've done it. I'm not the greatest student, but it's never failed me.

How did you study the 50 powerpoints in 10 minutes? Seems like a great plan but I've never studied a lecture in 10 minutes so trying to see how I could make this work

 

[Alkaidius]

How did you study the 50 powerpoints in 10 minutes? Seems like a great plan but I've never studied a lecture in 10 minutes so trying to see how I could make this work

The 10 minute reviews are my final passes of the material. It’s not studying anymore at that point so much as refreshing. Rapid fire. Listen, by exam time, very rarely am I able to recite any of the lectures verbatim. It’s about recognition. At some point, you have to trust your brain to be able to recognize the material in the question. This isn’t undergrad where you can take your sweet time to the point of regurgitating the lectures anymore. There’s too much material, and sometimes you’re just gonna have to resort to remembering words like “Dehydroepiandrosterone” as “that long*** steroid in the top right of the adrenal hyperplasia chart” and rely on your brain recognizing it when it sees it.

 

[Osteosaur]

At this point you're using a ton of resources. Its good to have a sense of what worked, but for your sanity you need to cut away what doesn't.

Also what, exactly, do you mean by pig picture? Medical school isn't really a thing where you learn the big picture and use it to puzzle out the question as people have said. Its very detail oriented. Many times you need to know what a hormone does, or where a vein or artery connects.

 

[Dhooy7]

Think it would be wise to look into getting USMLE RX for practice questions as MS1?

 

[hungrydoc710]

Think it would be wise to look into getting USMLE RX for practice questions as MS1?

Yeah I starting using them in block 6 of OMS2 for Boards and I really like how it gets you sifting thru first aid, before starting heavy duty UW questions. That being said, FA/Rx questions can be kinda nit picky.

I do 1 listen thru of lectures, then write them out once, then re-read them/review them out-loud with my girlfriend.
The goal is to hear it once, write it down once, and say it out loud once. This usually nets me B's only, but I have loads of time to do boards studying which has been my priority since day 1 of OMS2, as an OMS1 I still suggest this to get ahead. Esp since you have a failed year on ur transcript, you already have a red flag which can cost you.

I am able to review 800+ cards of anki a day + Rx/UW questions + Annotate FA with BnB on missed questions.
The work flow is great and I feel like I am focusing on whats important (Boards), not a useless GPA, while still performing above avg in class.

Cheers.

 

[hungrydoc710]

Has anyone taken either of these courses? I'm debating them as my friends loved Marshall Medhelp. Heard great things about boht of them.

https://www.thestatprogram.com/serv...furl="true"]https://www.marshall.edu/medhelp/

Sounds like a waste of money. You need to create a sustainable study pattern for yourself.
This is just another person telling you how they study.

 

[Goro]

Definitely not a waste of money. Know several people that it worked for and has been a huge help.


I need to change everything I'm doing.

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Dhooey, I'm really worried about you now. Why are you asking questions when you already have an answer ready???

 

[Osteosaur]

Pick a study plan and give it a chance to work man, really.

There is no perfect study plan. One might be faster than the other but in the end it's the same information. You're spending so much of your time worrying about how to be efficient that it's inefficient.

Don't spend any money. Plenty of free resources our there or cheap ones like Pathoma/FA.

 

[Dhooy7]

Dhooey, I'm really worried about you now. Why are you asking questions when you already have an answer ready???

I just wanted a second opinion. It's not a debate of whether I'm doing one. I just keep going back and worth on which program I am going to do. I'll be ok. I have my plan on what I'm going to do. Some things I've been doing for surely haven't worked and have a good plan established. Thanks!

 

[Dhooy7]

I'm going to get back to what worked for me. Talking and acting as if I was teaching others but not using Anki.

 

[hungrydoc710]

I'm going to get back to what worked for me. Talking and acting as if I was teaching others but not using Anki.

Now stick with it and get off SDN.
Sorry for the tough love.

 

[PunkRockMD]

At this point you're using a ton of resources. Its good to have a sense of what worked, but for your sanity you need to cut away what doesn't.

Also what, exactly, do you mean by pig picture? Medical school isn't really a thing where you learn the big picture and use it to puzzle out the question as people have said. Its very detail oriented. Many times you need to know what a hormone does, or where a vein or artery connects.

When I say big picture, Im speaking in relation to the block. Sometimes it can be difficult for me to understand the biochem, path and histo of the whole system without having an idea of how it relates to the physio and anatomy. So I watch the ninja nerd for the block at the beginning so I know where everything is headed and how the pieces fit together.

 

[Dhooy7]

My family is pushing me to look into NP. I just don't feel like that is the right choice right now. It's just been very tough.

 

[Dhooy7]

They are allowing me to repeat the year. I am very happy.

 

[Dhooy7]

Does anyone have any recommendations on insurance? Mine ends in April.

 

[Isoval]

Yes, I always do them the day before an exam.

Day late and a dollar short on this one, but I usually do Robbins and Rubins. One of our pathology professors really likes pulling questions from Rubins. We joke that Rubins is knockoff Robbins, but they're good questions.

 

[deleted859689]

Does anyone have any recommendations on insurance? Mine ends in April.

My advice is to ask your classmates. Some schools accept medicaid if you establish residency in the state. Other schools provide an insurance plan. Just ask around.

 

[Osteosaur]

My advice is to ask your classmates. Some schools accept medicaid if you establish residency in the state. Other schools provide an insurance plan. Just ask around.

I think the issue is he is losing his school insurance?

My mother is self employed and got her's from the ACA website. If you lose yours you should be able to shop for individual plans there. They're like $100 per month for a young person? Honestly that stuff is cheaper than what I got from my school.

 

[Dhooy7]

Actually turning 26 soon and moving back home. Theres a cheap plan in my state for low income individuals. Thanks!

I think the issue is he is losing his school insurance?

My mother is self employed and got her's from the ACA website. If you lose yours you should be able to shop for individual plans there. They're like $100 per month for a young person? Honestly that stuff is cheaper than what I got from my school.

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[curr4410]

For when you repeat the year: I’ve Spent the last few weeks working with a learning specialist on some mind mapping techniques that are helpful for many people with ADHD, but they’re good for anyone really. I have them all over The place now and at the end of the unit, I make one GIANT mind map on a poster board - I can use it not only for exam study, but also board study. It’s kind of like a web. On it, I include the diseases, bugs, medications related to it, and symptoms. I also started making separate mind maps specifically for the drugs with MOA, AE, CI, Disease used for, receptor, metabolism pathway, and anything else that’s interesting (like ACE inhibitors being a good one to consider for people with the risk of DM-related nephropathy etc). It’s a lot of writing, a lot of working, but my class grade jumped 10% in a week. It makes it more condensed and helps it stick. Plus, you can draw lines between things to see where they could be related Which helps with 2nd and 3rd order questions. I don’t know if it will help you, But it‘s something I had never tried before and made all the difference in passing the exams (my last exam grade increased by 20%, so big improvement). you start with the big concepts off of the center and branch out from there. it’s really helped me not get overwhelmed in my notes.

 

[hungrydoc710]

For when you repeat the year: I’ve Spent the last few weeks working with a learning specialist on some mind mapping techniques that are helpful for many people with ADHD, but they’re good for anyone really. I have them all over The place now and at the end of the unit, I make one GIANT mind map on a poster board - I can use it not only for exam study, but also board study. It’s kind of like a web. On it, I include the diseases, bugs, medications related to it, and symptoms. I also started making separate mind maps specifically for the drugs with MOA, AE, CI, Disease used for, receptor, metabolism pathway, and anything else that’s interesting (like ACE inhibitors being a good one to consider for people with the risk of DM-related nephropathy etc). It’s a lot of writing, a lot of working, but my class grade jumped 10% in a week. It makes it more condensed and helps it stick. Plus, you can draw lines between things to see where they could be related Which helps with 2nd and 3rd order questions. I don’t know if it will help you, But it‘s something I had never tried before and made all the difference in passing the exams (my last exam grade increased by 20%, so big improvement). you start with the big concepts off of the center and branch out from there. it’s really helped me not get overwhelmed in my notes.

Wow I just realized this is why some kid always has a massive rolled up poster around with him in my class. I could never get behind it - too much of a mess. I need concise textbook annotations, anki cards, or simply just running thru the powerpoint writing down important lines. More power to you for finding your way though. Cheers.