How much detail do you get into when studying?

[Sparda29]

Just wanted to know how much detail do you guys get into when you study. If you ever notice discrepancies between information on the lecture slides vs the corresponding textbook, do you inform the professor and ask for clarification?

I've noticed that I never pick up mistakes or discrepancies between the slides and text.

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[diastole]

My school doesn't have texts so I don't have that problem. Studying from just PowerPoint slides for multiple choice exams that have a built in challenge process is like having that Easy button in that commercial. It isn't exactly super easy but I suspect that lots of you out there have to work way harder than I do.

 

[Namishin]

I usually avoid textbooks unless the professor explicitly says something on the book (that's not in the ppt) will be on an exam.

The 150-200 slides per exam I'll go ahead and condense down into 6-10 typed word pages keeping only things that seem important. Then I cram just enough for familiarity: if someone asks me a question I may not know the answer to it, but I can sure as hell pick it out of a line up pretty well!

 

[littlepooh]

In pharmacy, we only want to study the main points. I don't want to go into details. I can't remember everything. Most of the students in my class..they read like crazy...i don't understand why they like to read a really big textbook. I hate reading..i only learn everything from the lecture...i hate reading

 

[Farmercyst]

I usually avoid textbooks unless the professor explicitly says something on the book (that's not in the ppt) will be on an exam.

The 150-200 slides per exam I'll go ahead and condense down into 6-10 typed word pages keeping only things that seem important. Then I cram just enough for familiarity: if someone asks me a question I may not know the answer to it, but I can sure as hell pick it out of a line up pretty well!

Geez, I've got single handouts with over 100 slides. I wish mine were limited to 200. I've got a final on Monday that's got over 1000 slides on it. Guarantee I'm NOT going into detail on it. Primary drugs for primary disease states with main side effects and doses. Then anything they intentionally said, "study this, it will be on the test." That's it. Even then it'll probably take me a few hours. Granted, a lot of my class has being looking at this for the past week, but I figure if I tried that, the stuff I went over first would be forgotten by the time I got to the end.

 

[Sparda29]

Yeah, I figured that. The e-mails that I always seen sent to professors about these sorta things are always sent by the 3.8+ crowd. Like I always see a question about when a professor puts an organic structure on a slide and the student points out that there is an oxygen or some functional group missing on the slide.

 

[bacillus1]

In pharmacy, we only want to study the main points. I don't want to go into details. I can't remember everything. Most of the students in my class..they read like crazy...i don't understand why they like to read a really big textbook. I hate reading..i only learn everything from the lecture...i hate reading

Well on the last therapeutics test we had questions that weren't from the notes (were from DiPiro), so I have to read. Regardless of reading, I still got those questions wrong, so maybe I didn't need to spend that much time reading. Oh well, it's one more way of looking over material, helps absorb things. We also have quizzes we have to do before class and sometimes in the first ten minutes of class where the material is from the reading.

 

[MindOverMatter]

I email certain professors all the time, and I'm definitely not in the 3.8 crowd. It's just because their slides suck and they constantly contradict what is in DiPiro. So I usually end up doing a lot more studying on these subjects just because of the horrible slides. If I don't, I end up seeing these questions on the test with the contradictory answer listed, so I never know what to choose... DiPiro or an incorrect professor's answer. I would just put what I believed to be correct and then argue it later, but it's a huge hassle and really I'm too lazy to do all that.

 

[theunderminer]

Well on the last therapeutics test we had questions that weren't from the notes (were from DiPiro), so I have to read. Regardless of reading, I still got those questions wrong, so maybe I didn't need to spend that much time reading. Oh well, it's one more way of looking over material, helps absorb things. We also have quizzes we have to do before class and sometimes in the first ten minutes of class where the material is from the reading.

Could be a wild guess, but I'm guessing you're a 4th year at usp. I had heard about the silly quizzes before p&t, too bad y'all are guinea pigs while the current 5th years are skating by.
I didnt look at Dipiro too much, only ever read one chapter of it. I hate how prof's pick specific questions out of hundreds of slides.

 

[bacillus1]

Could be a wild guess, but I'm guessing you're a 4th year at usp. I had heard about the silly quizzes before p&t, too bad y'all are guinea pigs while the current 5th years are skating by.
I didnt look at Dipiro too much, only ever read one chapter of it. I hate how prof's pick specific questions out of hundreds of slides.

I'm really OK with the program, since I don't have to waste too much time on the roadmaps anymore since about half the class is collaborating on them through a googledoc. I mean it's a bit hard since there are other classes to focus on (19 credits), not unbearable. I live with current 5th years and it seems like their program is harder (they never go out, just study all the time, since professors really can't cover all the lecture material in the time allotted).

It scares me though that they are moving towards "self-teaching" where we'll have to teach ourselves in all the concepts, and they'll just present cases in class. Apparently that's what they want to do 2nd semester of 5th year, and I hope it's not as bad as it sounded when they told this to us.

 

[confettiflyer]

It scares me though that they are moving towards "self-teaching" where we'll have to teach ourselves in all the concepts, and they'll just present cases in class. Apparently that's what they want to do 2nd semester of 5th year, and I hope it's not as bad as it sounded when they told this to us.

This is us right now w/ P&T...it's not bad, we're still learning stuff. I mean critical care cases have to be tailored to each pt anyway, so I find it useful...if anything, it gets me to read the cases/therapy before class whereas before I'd probably blow it off and cram it in before the exam like a traditional class.

I have people in my class who complain a ton...but apparently there are complainers everywhere. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[theunderminer]

This is us right now w/ P&T...it's not bad, we're still learning stuff. I mean critical care cases have to be tailored to each pt anyway, so I find it useful...if anything, it gets me to read the cases/therapy before class whereas before I'd probably blow it off and cram it in before the exam like a traditional class.

I have people in my class who complain a ton...but apparently there are complainers everywhere. I wouldn't worry about it.

Self learning is an essential part of the process, no doubt, but when you are paying out the nose for classes they better teach (and teach well!). This does not mean that the student isnt responsible, but that the professor has to actually teach the material as well (not like Kirifides).
That said, there are a lot of people who complain about silly things, granted they do come in handy when everyone is being screwed by silly things.

edit: Current style 5th year is hard as ever I hear, but a lot of students are doing quite well! I hear some people have had 90+ grades which is good to hear.

 

[confettiflyer]

Self learning is an essential part of the process, no doubt, but when you are paying out the nose for classes they better teach (and teach well!). This does not mean that the student isnt responsible, but that the professor has to actually teach the material as well (not like Kirifides).
That said, there are a lot of people who complain about silly things, granted they do come in handy when everyone is being screwed by silly things.

edit: Current style 5th year is hard as ever I hear, but a lot of students are doing quite well! I hear some people have had 90+ grades which is good to hear.

the complaints with the process aren't with teaching, we ARE being taught...it's the amount of time it takes to crunch through a case when you don't know wtf you're doing. it almost seems inefficient.

at least with a case AFTER a lecture, you can proceed with some confidence and know what to look for.

i'd argue that digging in on your own is effective in its own way, it's just the time involved is annoying.

get what i mean?

 

[Sparda29]

Personally, I think in Therapeutics they should replace the exams with a FARM scenario that you have to do within the 2 hour time slot of the exam, and work on it by yourself. And of course, you have all your notes and resources available to you.

 

[eeyore spice]

Personally, I think in Therapeutics they should replace the exams with a FARM scenario that you have to do within the 2 hour time slot of the exam, and work on it by yourself. And of course, you have all your notes and resources available to you.

Are you trying to say that pharmacists don't have to answer multiple guess questions without access to references in the real world?

 

[theunderminer]

the complaints with the process aren't with teaching, we ARE being taught...it's the amount of time it takes to crunch through a case when you don't know wtf you're doing. it almost seems inefficient.

at least with a case AFTER a lecture, you can proceed with some confidence and know what to look for.

i'd argue that digging in on your own is effective in its own way, it's just the time involved is annoying.

get what i mean?

Yup, timing is always an issue, it would not be so bad if they had not crammed everything into one year, they way they have started to do things is a little more sane.
And cases after lectures are a great idea, it most definitely solidifies things in our minds.

 

[Sparda29]

Are you trying to say that pharmacists don't have to answer multiple guess questions without access to references in the real world?

Not in the same way that they ask the multiple choice questions on exams.

 

[crazybob]

I wish my A&P class would let me choose answers out of a line-up instead of making me fill in all of the white space (you probably know what I mean).

 

[Farmtastic]

My school doesn't have texts so I don't have that problem. Studying from just PowerPoint slides for multiple choice exams that have a built in challenge process is like having that Easy button in that commercial. It isn't exactly super easy but I suspect that lots of you out there have to work way harder than I do.

That's a really good point but from what I have noticed, it depends on the class.

For example, I have a class where the exams are all multiple choice questions but you have to know your stuff inside out and then some because the questions are *really* hard on top of material that is already incredibly voluminous and challenging.

 

[Farmtastic]

The level of detail you should go into is usually conveyed to you by the instructor.

In some classes, they stress understanding basic concepts.

In other classes, if you want to pass, you need to know your notes/material in detail. If you wanna do well, you need to know the stuff in great detail, and if you wanna ace the test, you gotta know your notes inside/out & then some because that is the prof's testing style.....