What changes did you make to your study habits?

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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orca2011 said:
I was just recently called unacceptable by someone for not knowing the answer. I just said okay and rolled with it . You're going to have to be ready to accept that you won't know everything and most clinicians realize that (this is kind of expected from this particular person and is not by any means the norm here) Any other time, I either try to figure out the answer, or I just say I don't know but I'll get back to you with the answer.
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Rofl. If anyone told me it was unacceptable that I don't know something, I don't even know what I'd say - "...sorry?"
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Jamr0ckin said:
I was a s*** student. My GPA and class rank suck. However, I am doing great on clinics. My clinics GPA is really high, and I wouldn't trade a thing.
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What's the point of GPA and class ranks in vet school? Determining factors for specializing and continuing education after you get your DVM?
 
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wheelin2vetmed said:
What's the point of GPA and class ranks in vet school? Determining factors for specializing and continuing education after you get your DVM?
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Yeah, class rank is used a lot for internships. They also have *some* scholarships based on GPA among other things.
 
wheelin2vetmed said:
You try Quizlet? What's different with Anki? I'm going to explore Anki to see if there's different features, but Quizlet is completely web based and doesn't require you to download anything. The free version is full-featured except for audio and pictures which cost $15/yr. Same sort of deal with the app from the iTunes/Google Play stores.
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I've tried premium Quizlet and StudyBlue before settling with Anki. Like someone else mentioned, I was hesitant at first because the interface isn't as pretty (which is ridiculous but true lol) and it was a learning curve of looking up different things in the manual or watching someone on YouTube but it is easily the best method I have now. The main reason why is because of the strategic repetition. If you don't know a card, it will come back within a minute of you seeing it. This is streamlines the process of memorizing it rather than marking it right or wrong and coming back at the end of the deck. Then once you get it right, it will come back ~10 mins later to test you. Get it right and it will be done for the day, otherwise you can send it back and it will help you learn it again with another 1 min wait time. Other flashcards could do the job for me, but this made it crazy efficient. Time of course, will become invaluable.

It's made to have few decks, so I have one for each class and have cards tagged according to their lecture. Then I can pull out however many lectures I want to study or just go through the entire class.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.
 
What do people use to take notes? I've never used anything other than a pen and paper for all of my undergrad classes. Would this still be feasible for vet school, or should I prepare to switch over to using my laptop?
 
olive. said:
What do people use to take notes? I've never used anything other than a pen and paper for all of my undergrad classes. Would this still be feasible for vet school, or should I prepare to switch over to using my laptop?
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I think it depends on how much you usually write down.

I have a classmate that has a notebook and will just write things here and there while keeping her laptop open, another that prints all of the slides and writes on them and everyone else uses OneNote/Notability/Growly Notes.

I think annotating is possible, but it depends on the person. I need a program to keep the mountains of info organized and easily accessible. Whatever floats your boat.
 
olive. said:
What do people use to take notes? I've never used anything other than a pen and paper for all of my undergrad classes. Would this still be feasible for vet school, or should I prepare to switch over to using my laptop?
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It'll depend a lot on your school/class and what material is provided. For schools that have lecture halls that are laptop friendly and lectures are all PowerPoint and they send it to you in advance, it's most efficient to just take notes directly on it. Some schools provide printed notes or copies of slides, and it's easier to just handwrite on those. For example for first year anatomy, our professor would provide a bunch of blank templates and during lecture she would have one too and we would all draw in structures together. That was actually really neat and helpful.

Otherwise it's personal preference. Some people do well voice recording. Others not taking any notes. Others typing or using a stylus on a tablet. Others just using an old fashioned notebook.
 
pinkpuppy9 said:
Not knowing an answer to a clinician's question on clinics scares me. I know it's very clinician dependent, but I've already seen 3-4 fourth years get eye rolls because they didn't know the answer to something.
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Ummmm....I expect this, A LOT. It doesn't bother me when I don't know the answer to something. At least I gave it my best effort, and will learn from the experience of being wrong. I'm a big participator in my vet school classes. It surprises me that many people appear to be very apprehensive of speaking up for fear of giving the wrong answer. If I knew all the answers, I'd already be a licensed vet. I'm in school to learn those things- that's the point. If a clinician can't remember back to what it was like in the learning phase, that's no skin off my nose. Their problem, not mine.
 
Trilt said:
YtkMwFT.jpg


One of the most beloved vets I've worked with tells clients she doesn't know things all of the time, because she doesn't. Doesn't stop her from successfully treating a lot of animals and having a long list of appointments requesting her specifically as the vet.
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Truth. On all accounts.
 
olive. said:
What do people use to take notes? I've never used anything other than a pen and paper for all of my undergrad classes. Would this still be feasible for vet school, or should I prepare to switch over to using my laptop?
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Yup. Sure is. I take all of my notes by hand, old school, using a pen and paper. Wouldn't do it any other way.
 
Trilt said:
Rofl. If anyone told me it was unacceptable that I don't know something, I don't even know what I'd say - "...sorry?"
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I wouldn't even apologize. Lame comments don't deserve the dignity of a response.
 
olive. said:
What do people use to take notes? I've never used anything other than a pen and paper for all of my undergrad classes. Would this still be feasible for vet school, or should I prepare to switch over to using my laptop?
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Yes, it is feasible. The first two years, I took all hand written notes because we were provided printed notes (PowerPoints were also provided, I just preferred the printed notes because I could highlight, scribble, add my own words, draw pictures, etc, really easily). I also paid more attention in lecture because I didn't have a laptop open with access to all the distracting internet things.

The second two years, all notes were taken with one note, lectures were provided by PowerPoint and no printed notes were given. I was able to use a stylet and hand write if I wanted, or type notes next to the slide.
 
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Lab Vet said:
I wouldn't even apologize. Lame comments don't deserve the dignity of a response.
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I wouldn't even respond. We have one resident who attempts to be a sarcastic dingus to students, trying to get a reaction. He could only get sarcasm from me (instead of the irritation and frustration he was looking for), so he doesn't bother me with dingus comments anymore.
 
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Lab Vet said:
I wouldn't even apologize. Lame comments don't deserve the dignity of a response.
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Oh I definitely didn't apologize even though I really, really should have known the answer. This person is in no way related to my area of interest, so I could care less. Although I will say that despite being this way, I do think he genuinely cares about whether or not the students learn and such. I mean, I will never forget this answer now. And I feel like I had it coming. First question he ever asked me I got right which he was 100% not expecting, so I had to mess it up somewhere to have what is considered a normal experience with him.
 
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DVMDream said:
I also paid more attention in lecture because I didn't have a laptop open with access to all the distracting internet things.
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This is one of the main reasons I advocate for hand written notes. For one, putting pressure on yourself to take handwritten notes and keep up with the lecturer forces you to be mentally present and 'on task' for the entire class period. When I was in undergrad, power point was just starting to be integrated into the curriculum (2001 grad). I was completely shocked my first week of vet school to recognize that all lectures would be power point based. I had to learn to take notes in that sort of environment. I actually can't stand power point. We had a lecturer in our first year physio class who simply talked through the entire lecture. Not one power point slide to be had. People freaked over it. I loved it. He was brilliant. If he needed a visual aid, he drew it- on an old school overhead (you know, the one with the rolling acetate?). When I study, I have the power point up on my computer screen (because lectures are fast, it's rare for me to catch every detail), but my hand written notes are my go to resource. Writing your own notes forces you to take in information (listening) and then convert that info into a phrase that makes sense specifically to your brain. As an added bonus, you don't get the distraction of the digital world- FB, SDN, whatever. If anyone would like to play around with hand written notes in vet school, I encourage you to try it. It may change your whole experience of the curriculum.
 
olive. said:
What do people use to take notes? I've never used anything other than a pen and paper for all of my undergrad classes. Would this still be feasible for vet school, or should I prepare to switch over to using my laptop?
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I would say that it's definitely feasible to take notes on pen/paper, there's a few of my classmates that still do that and are doing just fine. There's always the hybrid method of writing on printed ppt slides too if you find you can't keep up with writing. It really just depends on your style.

Personally, I was a pen/paper gal myself in undergrad, but when vet school hit I got OneNote on my Tablet/PC and I never looked back. I can type if I want or I can draw on it if I want, though the biggest advantage for me was the organization. Not losing paper and being able to search entire 1.5 years of stuff within 2 seconds? It definitely was a done deal for me.
 
Lab Vet said:
This is one of the main reasons I advocate for hand written notes. For one, putting pressure on yourself to take handwritten notes and keep up with the lecturer forces you to be mentally present and 'on task' for the entire class period. When I was in undergrad, power point was just starting to be integrated into the curriculum (2001 grad). I was completely shocked my first week of vet school to recognize that all lectures would be power point based. I had to learn to take notes in that sort of environment. I actually can't stand power point. We had a lecturer in our first year physio class who simply talked through the entire lecture. Not one power point slide to be had. People freaked over it. I loved it. He was brilliant. If he needed a visual aid, he drew it- on an old school overhead (you know, the one with the rolling acetate?). When I study, I have the power point up on my computer screen (because lectures are fast, it's rare for me to catch every detail), but my hand written notes are my go to resource. Writing your own notes forces you to take in information (listening) and then convert that info into a phrase that makes sense specifically to your brain. As an added bonus, you don't get the distraction of the digital world- FB, SDN, whatever. If anyone would like to play around with hand written notes in vet school, I encourage you to try it. It may change your whole experience of the curriculum.
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One of my favorite professors from undergrad didn't use PowerPoint either and I feel like I remember so much more from his class. He write up an outline on the board and then just talk through the lecture. It was great. He was also a pretty animated guy and told tons of sides stories so it was pretty easy to pat attention. We have one clinician in vet school who only uses PowerPoint to show pictures of the diseases but just talks through the lecture and that jots down the key points (ie what he will test you on) on the board in a very simple layout. He is routinely voted as one of the favorites and has won numerous teaching awards. He also tells absolutely horribly amazing, dad type jokes with a vet/animal spin.
 
Lab Vet said:
This is one of the main reasons I advocate for hand written notes. For one, putting pressure on yourself to take handwritten notes and keep up with the lecturer forces you to be mentally present and 'on task' for the entire class period. When I was in undergrad, power point was just starting to be integrated into the curriculum (2001 grad). I was completely shocked my first week of vet school to recognize that all lectures would be power point based. I had to learn to take notes in that sort of environment. I actually can't stand power point. We had a lecturer in our first year physio class who simply talked through the entire lecture. Not one power point slide to be had. People freaked over it. I loved it. He was brilliant. If he needed a visual aid, he drew it- on an old school overhead (you know, the one with the rolling acetate?). When I study, I have the power point up on my computer screen (because lectures are fast, it's rare for me to catch every detail), but my hand written notes are my go to resource. Writing your own notes forces you to take in information (listening) and then convert that info into a phrase that makes sense specifically to your brain. As an added bonus, you don't get the distraction of the digital world- FB, SDN, whatever. If anyone would like to play around with hand written notes in vet school, I encourage you to try it. It may change your whole experience of the curriculum.
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Yeah, and then some of us absolutely hated that way of teaching. I don't generally take notes - I listen, absorb, and go over things again later (when I'm being a good student obvs). I hated his lectures because I spent the whole time writing things down and then had to go back and re-teach myself off my hastily written notes. He was a fun guy, but physio really sucked for people who didn't work with that particular style.
 
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I think it must be different for everyone, because I have learned that I can pay much more attention and stay much more involved if I take my notes on a laptop directly on the power points or in a word document. When I took notes by hand, I felt like I was tirelessly scribbling what the professor said instead of actually listening and learning. With my computer, I can type what they say fast enough so that I can absorb it before we get to the next subject. When I wrote notes, I would still be trying to write about the previous subject even if we had already moved on in lecture!

I'm hoping to get a surface pro or something similar before vet school so that way I can write or type if need be!
 
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hazelmoo said:
I think it must be different for everyone, because I have learned that I can pay much more attention and stay much more involved if I take my notes on a laptop directly on the power points or in a word document. When I took notes by hand, I felt like I was tirelessly scribbling what the professor said instead of actually listening and learning. With my computer, I can type what they say fast enough so that I can absorb it before we get to the next subject. When I wrote notes, I would still be trying to write about the previous subject even if we had already moved on in lecture!

I'm hoping to get a surface pro or something similar before vet school so that way I can write or type if need be!
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I am not talking about writing notes from nothing when the professor is talking.

I mean, we had a printed packet of notes in front of us, so I could pay attention to the lecture and then write down something if I needed to clarify for myself. Or I could highlight something the instructor repeated 10 times or whatever.

I was never writing or typing notes on a blank slate.

Occasionally we would have a lecturer with only pictures as powerpoint slides and no notes, so then I would have to type or write from a blank slate, but it didn't matter if I was typing or writing, I felt like I was trying to play catch up the vast majority of the time. And these were the lectures that I really could not pay attention in. For example, in toxicology, he'd have a picture up of some random building and talk for 30-40 minutes about thing completely unrelated to the picture in the most monotone voice you can imagine. I hated the toxicology course mostly because of the instructor's teaching style.
 
I use onenote to take notes on slides with the stylus. I tried typing, but I just can't keep up. I also re-listen to lectures and take more notes in a different color. I love being able to draw things in various colors and highlight with ought having to carry around heavy notebooks.

We recently had a lecture with a brilliant clinician who has done amazing research, but his voice put me to sleep during lecture. I felt guilty, but I couldn't help it! Most of my classmates agreed that his voice was like a lullaby, another classmate said it forced her to pay more attention. We're all different!
 
Thanks everyone for all the feedback :bookworm::D
 
Lab Vet said:
I wouldn't even apologize. Lame comments don't deserve the dignity of a response.
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To be fair, as someone who has been in a resident position, there are indeed times where I've has to be a hardass with students and told them that not knowing the answer to a question (usually a very basic one) is essentially unacceptable. I.e., they are going to be in practice pretty damn soon and not knowing the answer to whatever I asked them is seriously no bueno considering they have made it all the way to fourth year. I mean come on, when I ask you to name 3 infectious causes of enteritis in a horse and you can't even name one? Stuff like that - and yes, that happened. In my opinion, when it comes to medical knowledge, it is better to be harder (within reason of course) than softer on people when they are thisclose to being in practice. I have no idea what was going on in that surgical suite and I'm not saying this was the case there or impugning orca's knowledge base, but it does happen....just to provide another viewpoint.

Someone who does that on nitty-gritty detail question just to go on a power trip is another matter, however.

Edit: I just realized that the person actually called orca unacceptable, not that not knowing the answer was unacceptable. Those are two different things. One should never attack a student's self-esteem in order to get a point across.
 
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In terms of studying...reading and highlighting is the absolute WORST and most inefficient form of studying there is. Totally passive learning and a monstrous waste of time. Rewriting notes in your own words, making diagrams, asking yourself questions as you go along, working with others, etc.....all and any of those are better than just staring at words like a robot. And sadly, the mechanical read and highlight is really all we are taught about studying skills throughout early education.
 
WhtsThFrequency said:
To be fair, as someone who has been in a resident position, there are indeed times where I've has to be a hardass with students and told them that not knowing the answer to a question (usually a very basic one) is essentially unacceptable. I.e., they are going to be in practice pretty damn soon and not knowing the answer to whatever I asked them is seriously no bueno considering they have made it all the way to fourth year. I mean come on, when I ask you to name 3 infectious causes of enteritis in a horse and you can't even name one? Stuff like that - and yes, that happened. In my opinion, when it comes to medical knowledge, it is better to be harder (within reason of course) than softer on people when they are thisclose to being in practice. I have no idea what was going on in that surgical suite and I'm not saying this was the case there or impugning orca's knowledge base, but it does happen....just to provide another viewpoint.

Someone who does that on nitty-gritty detail question just to go on a power trip is another matter, however.

Edit: I just realized that the person actually called orca unacceptable, not that not knowing the answer was unacceptable. Those are two different things. One should never attack a student's self-esteem in order to get a point across.
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When I asked a student once what the USG was in a patient with mild azotemia was, and the answer was: "roughly one"

o_O
 
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Hopefully nobody ever gets a question like, "How many legs does a horse have?" wrong :p
 
Starry-chan said:
Hopefully nobody ever gets a question like, "How many legs does a horse have?" wrong :p
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I'd find a way to read that question incorrectly and get it wrong.


Apparently during our animal handling exams first year of vet school, one of the questions they ask is for you to identify the gender of the dog you have. People have gotten the gender incorrect and failed.
 
DVMDream said:
I'd find a way to read that question incorrectly and get it wrong.


Apparently during our animal handling exams first year of vet school, one of the questions they ask is for you to identify the gender of the dog you have. People have gotten the gender incorrect and failed.
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:smack:
I used to work at a pet store that had puppies (it was a great way to get my foot in the door with the store vet, and it worked). One day I was handing a pug puppy to a customer, holding him so his abdomen was facing her. Her son asked if it was a boy or girl to which mom replied "it's a girl, see it has nipples" to which I replied "it's a boy, see it has a penis!" You'd think as the mother of two boys she'd know most male mammals have nipples!
 
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Jilary said:
:smack:
I used to work at a pet store that had puppies (it was a great way to get my foot in the door with the store vet, and it worked). One day I was handing a pug puppy to a customer, holding him so his abdomen was facing her. Her son asked if it was a boy or girl to which mom replied "it's a girl, see it has nipples" to which I replied "it's a boy, see it has a penis!" You'd think as the mother of two boys she'd know most male mammals have nipples!
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When I was living at home, my dad was playing with our family dog. He then was rubbing the dog's belly and asks me, "what are these on his belly?"

I go, "those are nipples". My dad goes, "but he is a boy." I go, "so are you and you also have nipples."

For some reason, people think that male animals are somehow different than male humans.
 
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Reading other student's comments here sort of has me wondering what else I should be doing lol. Honestly what I do is studying 4-5 nights before the exam, or the entire weekend before. I rewatch the lectures sometimes if I think it will help, depends on the class though. I highlight and write additional notes on the surface pro (which is a really awesome tool btw), and then go over it when I'm done. I'll often use other people's study guides, or sometimes make my own depending. I'll often try to link concepts together by going over previous notes linked to the most recent I'm doing so I have a good background in whatever I'm trying to understand. I do group study sometimes but not too often outside of anatomy and histology. I'm only a first year though and this will all probably change, I've just never been good with using notecards in most subjects. So I guess in the end my study habits change with what the class demands and I seem to be doing pretty well in all of my classes right now.
 
DVMDream said:
Good way to not be wrong if you don't recall the exact number... :laugh:
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My response was, "technically yes... But I'm not sure it means anything... Why do you think I asked the question in the first place?"

Awkward silence ensued. I didn't want to be rude, but I was just so shocked I was at a loss for words.
 
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Pugsforlove2014 said:
Reading other student's comments here sort of has me wondering what else I should be doing lol. Honestly what I do is studying 4-5 nights before the exam, or the entire weekend before. I rewatch the lectures sometimes if I think it will help, depends on the class though. I highlight and write additional notes on the surface pro (which is a really awesome tool btw), and then go over it when I'm done. I'll often use other people's study guides, or sometimes make my own depending. I'll often try to link concepts together by going over previous notes linked to the most recent I'm doing so I have a good background in whatever I'm trying to understand. I do group study sometimes but not too often outside of anatomy and histology. I'm only a first year though and this will all probably change, I've just never been good with using notecards in most subjects. So I guess in the end my study habits change with what the class demands and I seem to be doing pretty well in all of my classes right now.
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then keep doing it. It doesnt matter what ANYONE else does. It matters what works for you.
 
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dyachei said:
then keep doing it. It doesnt matter what ANYONE else does. It matters what works for you.
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I think that should always be the take home message for all of these things about how to succeed in vet school.

All that matters is that you figure out a way that works for you. It doesn't matter what other people say about the pros/cons of your methods. (You know what I told classmates who didn't like people who never went to lecture and thought it was the most horrible thing ever? F@&$ off. Cause I mean, really it's none of their business)

If you're doing poorly, maybe see how other people are approaching it to see if you might find a method or two that might suit you better than what you're doings. But no need to change what you're doing if you're doing well.
 
Pugsforlove2014 said:
Reading other student's comments here sort of has me wondering what else I should be doing lol. Honestly what I do is studying 4-5 nights before the exam, or the entire weekend before. I rewatch the lectures sometimes if I think it will help, depends on the class though. I highlight and write additional notes on the surface pro (which is a really awesome tool btw), and then go over it when I'm done. I'll often use other people's study guides, or sometimes make my own depending. I'll often try to link concepts together by going over previous notes linked to the most recent I'm doing so I have a good background in whatever I'm trying to understand. I do group study sometimes but not too often outside of anatomy and histology. I'm only a first year though and this will all probably change, I've just never been good with using notecards in most subjects. So I guess in the end my study habits change with what the class demands and I seem to be doing pretty well in all of my classes right now.
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The general rule is, do what works for you and don't worry about anybody else. If this technique is working for you, then keep at it until it doesn't.
 
Jilary said:
I use onenote to take notes on slides with the stylus. I tried typing, but I just can't keep up. I also re-listen to lectures and take more notes in a different color. I love being able to draw things in various colors and highlight with ought having to carry around heavy notebooks.
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Do you record the lecture audio in OneNote as well? I find the microphones on pretty much all the tablets I've ever used to be really subpar, but a small little USB mic that lives in the port can be really helpful if you go this route.

If you use OneNote to record the audio then it automatically syncs with your writing on the page. You can go back and click on any piece of your handwriting and it will play the recording from that exact spot. If you go into the advanced options as well, you can set up search to scan audio. So, for example, if you remember your professor talking about canned beans, you can just search for "canned beans" and it will actually find that in the audio. Pretty damn amazing.

I have no idea why canned beans was the first thing that came to mind.
 
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wheelin2vetmed said:
If you use OneNote to record the audio then it automatically syncs with your writing on the page. You can go back and click on any piece of your handwriting and it will play the recording from that exact spot. If you go into the advanced options as well, you can set up search to scan audio. So, for example, if you remember your professor talking about canned beans, you can just search for "canned beans" and it will actually find that in the audio. Pretty damn amazing.
Click to expand...

:wow: What! I had no idea you could do that! I am still very new to the world of OneNote, and am totally trying that in lectures this week.
 
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