Studying in HS, undergrad, and medical school?

[vanillawafer]

So I am currently a senior in HS and am curious how to go about studying in college and med school. I don't really have the best study habits, but with great motivation I achieve a great grade.

The only question I have is how different is studying from HS than undergrad and med school? The way I study is by rereading the material and memorizing it, practicing problems if it is mathematics, and flash cards. Is this a successful route?

Also I haven't really read a novel fully my whole life, as sad and embarrassing as it is, and would like to know how reading is in college/med school. I definitely will read something that interests me, such as biology, psychology, etc. But some stuff in HS just isn't for me.

Sorry about such a lengthy post, but it would be greatly appreciated to have a reply.

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[superpom_7]

If you don't have the best study habits now then you really need to work on that. What do you mean some stuff in HS just isn't for you? If you're willing to read in undergrad/med school, why can't you find something that interests you to read now? Find an interesting book about biology, psychology, or whatever else you like and read it . Do you like non-fiction or fiction? Personally I typically only read non-fiction science books. Find something and read it. I think of it like this: you have to read to learn. You can't really study if you don't read the material/understand it. I'm not learning if I'm just confused and have no idea what I'm reading. I'm confused. If I can actually understand and utilize what I just read, then I learned something. Does that make sense? Idk what I wanted to say sounded much better in my head, but I hope you get my point.

 

[jqueb29]

Your method of studying is much better suited for medical school than undergrad. There is a lot more outside reading in college; many of my lectures were heavy on discussion about outside stuff we were supposed to read. Meanwhile, so far in med school, I have had precisely zero mandatory readings. They know that the material they're giving you is so intense that you won't have time to do much else other than listen to the lectures another time or two and study the powerpoints

 

[Yazo]

Lol.
If you think your study habits are weird, then you haven't met me.
I can't focus at night at all. Literally my technique is to get up at 4 a.m. and study; mind you, it works so I'm not complaining!

 

[Shinobiz11]

When you get to college, you'll find a system that works for you. Personally I can memorize most things a couple of days before the test and just use practice problems, drawings, etc to supplement and really learn stuff. I also like going over all my notes before I sleep, something about the brain processing it while you snore. I don't know about anyone else, but it works for me

 

[ORU2Medicine]

My progression: High school rarely studied (ended up dropping out and got GED), undergrad studied sometimes but was involved in tons of things (lots of paper writing which I hated), med school now I study more than ever (but they provide ample resources and I rarely have to consult textbooks). You'll slowly learn how you are the most efficient at studying. For me I throw on some dubstep/drum and bass and read the powerpoints while occasionally consulting wikipedia/other online sources for clarification. It does the job, for me. The main thing to pull from this whole thread is that there isn't only one way to accomplish this. If your method proves unsuccessful than it warrants adjustment. If it works just grind it out and live your life. I still have plenty of time to see friends and be normal.

 

[HookahLungs]

High school is a joke I never studied and got a 3.75 GPA. In undergrad I studied hard enough to earn a 3.85 and im not in medical school but I would figure I'd have to study harder than undergrad to get a 3.0

 

[Apoplexy__]

Both transitions (into undergrad and into med school) rock your world. One piece of advice though: Be flexible. As long as you roll with the punches and change your habits as soon as you see they're not working, you'll be fine.

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

Can't comment on medical school
In undergrad, people have many different ways of studying, the only important thing is that you find and do one.

Some people schedule in their studying, read powerpoints, and study little bits everyday. I pretty much do the opposite and wing everything, relying on my intuition and understanding of concepts to get me through problems most of the time. So yeah, you can do well no matter your method really.

 

[MedWonk]

So I am currently a senior in HS and am curious how to go about studying in college and med school. I don't really have the best study habits, but with great motivation I achieve a great grade.

The only question I have is how different is studying from HS than undergrad and med school? The way I study is by rereading the material and memorizing it, practicing problems if it is mathematics, and flash cards. Is this a successful route?

Also I haven't really read a novel fully my whole life, as sad and embarrassing as it is, and would like to know how reading is in college/med school. I definitely will read something that interests me, such as biology, psychology, etc. But some stuff in HS just isn't for me.

Sorry about such a lengthy post, but it would be greatly appreciated to have a reply.

What worked in high school may work in undergrad, but you will have to do more of it. Undergrad can be as easy or hard as you make it. What works for you in undergrad might work in med school. You'll often hear about having to change your study habits for med school, but it really depends on what habits you're bringing in. If you like to cram, it won't work in med school, or at least it won't work very well. If you get into the habit of reviewing material a bit every day, then you'll develop a good foundation for studying in med school.

The method you describe is pretty much what I do. It's all about repetition in med school, and there are many ways to do it. Some people do flashcards, others do a ton of questions from board review books or Firecracker, and others just basically write up summaries of the lectures/compile lecture notes and just read them a bunch of times. Typically it isn't just one method, but we usually combine methods. I do the reading my notes a bunch of times and combine it with board review questions, as well as flashcards for some things like anatomy and pharmacology which are basically brute force memorization a lot of times. I study every day, anywhere from 4 hours to 8 hours depending on what needs to be done and whether my brain is up for it. I am tempted to watch football on Sundays, and I do usually watch whatever game is on Sunday nights.

Fair warning: no matter how much you have to study in undergrad, it gets progressively worse throughout med school. Preclinical courses, at least during the first year, are fairly easy to pass, but actually doing well in them requires effort.

 

[NTheo91]

From my experience (a decent amount of tutoring and leading tutor workshops):

- If you use flash cards, use them wisely. I have numerous friends who swear by them because they have been using them since high school. Flash cards may work for small quizzes, but when you have huge exams and the material begins getting dense, you will spend more time making flash cards than actually studying for them. I recommend just not using them at all.
- If you can teach someone else about it, you know enough to do well on an exam. Talk it out multiple times to yourself and then to a friend. If you have a biochem pathway you need to memorize, draw it out without looking at the book.
- Try to remember some applications to the material you are learning to keep you interested. Knowing why something is important will help you memorize it and will make the information more intuitive (but know that a lot of info you will learn will be counter-intuitive).
- It's okay to go to lecture and not understand a single thing. Many lecturers speak as if you already reviewed the assigned chapters before hand.
- The BS does not stop in college. You will have assigned readings that no one will read and you will have to work with your classmates to come up with BS answers to satisfy the professor.
- Make friends in your classes. This is especially true with kids in your major. You will be seeing the same kids for 4 years and you will have the same classes with many of them repeatedly. They will be the ones you form study groups with or that you will split up work with.
- Change your study habits with each class. You may prefer to study alone in all your biology classes but you need to be in a study group for statistics and organic chem.

Best of luck! Many people bomb their first semester while they adjust to the college life. Its not necessarily the difficulty of the work, but rather the freedoms of living on your own that ends up screwing a lot of kids over. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. I struggled adjusting to college so I really enjoy helping HS kids avoid the mistakes I made.