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I am curious about the preferences in note taking of 1st and 2nd years. Do you like to type your notes? Are you a binder person? What is your set up?
Can anyone chime in on the difference between firecracker and picmonic and which one is a better resource?
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So firecracker is a bit more oriented for the steps im getting.
I am curious about the preferences in note taking of 1st and 2nd years. Do you like to type your notes? Are you a binder person? What is your set up?
I am also interested in this.. Do other people use the strategy Hakuna Matata uses? Or is it better to go over all the information yourself first, then meet in a group? etc.
Not surprisingly studying techniques depend on each student individually, but how long did it take you to finally find the ideal method? Being out of school for only a year is still making me pretty anxious in having to study at a much elevated level and with an exam only a couple weeks into the term. Did you all change your study techniques drastically compared to that of undergrad or just start to include small changes throughout the months? I have always studied best using paper/pen but reading through these posts it appears that more and more students are using tablet/laptops with note services, which I find interesting and appealing, yet is it a good time to be changing techniques..
My advice is if you crush the practice questions in BRS and Grey's Clinical Review for anatomy, you know you'll be good. That's usually the first hurdle. Same for BRS physio.
Top 1% or die trying.My method is:
- Watch videos 1 time through at 1.5 to 1.75x to get familiar with the topic (no serious notes or goal to memorize here)
- Read the appropriate text book for certain classes, such as Constanzo for physio (I don't read for all classes)
- For anatomy, it requires consistently going through the info. You can't get behind.
- All other classes, I make a study packet transcribed from the class ppt slides and drill that packet 4x on the days before the exam (this is not some crazy thing that looks like a 13 yo girl with a collection of Lisa Frank markers made - you will see this. It's bullet point lists of must know info)
- Read relevant BRS books during the couple days before the exam (or other relevant source such as Pathoma or FA - I used some sort of high yield source for all of my classes)
- Firecracker questions 1-2 hours daily (except day before exams)
Creating a study packet is labor and time intensive, but I do it because it gives me time with the material and then allows me to make way more passes though the content than would be possible by re-listening to lectures or flipping through 1000 slides. My main piece of advice would be find out what works for you early. For me, it was multiple passes with spaced repetition. I did not group study or ever re-watch a lecture video. Others take a completely different approach and do very well. There is no right or wrong.
Whatever you do, I urge against passive learning - such as just sitting and listening to lectures to say you got through them. It is way better to actively learn - work on recalling the info and working through processes aloud or in your head before exams. There's a huge difference between understanding a concept when you hear it in a video versus recalling the nitty gritty details days later.
In my opinion, there's a big difference in time, efficiency, and repetition of studying between doing average on exams versus top of the class. Prepare hard for the first exam and see where you fall and reassess based on your class rank goal, whether that be pass, average, or Top 5%.
My method is:
- Watch videos 1 time through at 1.5 to 1.75x to get familiar with the topic (no serious notes or goal to memorize here)
- Read the appropriate text book for certain classes, such as Constanzo for physio (I don't read for all classes)
- For anatomy, it requires consistently going through the info. You can't get behind.
- All other classes, I make a study packet transcribed from the class ppt slides and drill that packet 4x on the days before the exam (this is not some crazy thing that looks like a 13 yo girl with a collection of Lisa Frank markers made - you will see this. It's bullet point lists of must know info)
- Read relevant BRS books during the couple days before the exam (or other relevant source such as Pathoma or FA - I used some sort of high yield source for all of my classes)
- Firecracker questions 1-2 hours daily (except day before exams)
Creating a study packet is labor and time intensive, but I do it because it gives me time with the material and then allows me to make way more passes though the content than would be possible by re-listening to lectures or flipping through 1000 slides. My main piece of advice would be find out what works for you early. For me, it was multiple passes with spaced repetition. I did not group study or ever re-watch a lecture video. Others take a completely different approach and do very well. There is no right or wrong.
Whatever you do, I urge against passive learning - such as just sitting and listening to lectures to say you got through them. It is way better to actively learn - work on recalling the info and working through processes aloud or in your head before exams. There's a huge difference between understanding a concept when you hear it in a video versus recalling the nitty gritty details days later.
In my opinion, there's a big difference in time, efficiency, and repetition of studying between doing average on exams versus top of the class. Prepare hard for the first exam and see where you fall and reassess based on your class rank goal, whether that be pass, average, or Top 5%.
I am also interested in this.. Do other people use the strategy Hakuna Matata uses? Or is it better to go over all the information yourself first, then meet in a group? etc.
Good lord.....don't you do research too?
- All other classes, I make a study packet transcribed from the class ppt slides and drill that packet 4x on the days before the exam (this is not some crazy thing that looks like a 13 yo girl
What does your transcription process involve? Do you include some slides while just summarizing others and adding relevant images?
So you print out the lecture? What about all the trees? Seriously though, thanks for the info.Nothing crazy, just writing out pertinent info from the ppt slides in bullet point/summary format. For whatever reason, I learn better through the active process of writing out info and thinking it out. It sticks for me better. In addition, it's easier to re-read for multiple passes.
Lots of people love the copy and paste from the slides or re-reading them a couple times. Figure out what works for you.
So you print out the lecture? What about all the trees? Seriously though, thanks for the info.
Dr Ender, what's the best way to secure research positions?
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