Any study tips before starting medical school? I'm a big picture person and details freak me out.

[MagentaKarma]

I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum about people who barely studied in college/undergrad (1-3 hours a day) and transitioned to an average of 5 hours a day of studying in medical school. I don't know if I am abnormally slow or something but I feel like I always studied around 5-6 hours a day as an undergrad. Can any of you provide any tips on making the transition? What strategies did you test out? What worked for you? What didn't work? I was a biochem major and my biggest study strategy for biology courses was rereading notes over and over again and drawing out physiology pathways. For classes like ochem and physical chemistry, I worked problems over and over again. I also worry about learning all the details in medical school. I have always been a big picture person and the thought of memorizing countless nerves, muscles, and other body parts is freaking me out. I am very interested in how they work and function but naming and identifying them seems really intimating. How do you retain all of that? I realize that this will be a struggle for all incoming students but I think just any insight before beginning classes will be helpful. I don't know very many medical school students who can give me personal feedback.

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[mathnerd88]

I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum about people who barely studied in college/undergrad (1-3 hours a day) and transitioned to an average of 5 hours a day of studying in medical school. I don't know if I am abnormally slow or something but I feel like I always studied around 5-6 hours a day as an undergrad. Can any of you provide any tips on making the transition? What strategies did you test out? What worked for you? What didn't work? I was a biochem major and my biggest study strategy for biology courses was rereading notes over and over again and drawing out physiology pathways. For classes like ochem and physical chemistry, I worked problems over and over again. I also worry about learning all the details in medical school. I have always been a big picture person and the thought of memorizing countless nerves, muscles, and other body parts is freaking me out. I am very interested in how they work and function but naming and identifying them seems really intimating. How do you retain all of that? I realize that this will be a struggle for all incoming students but I think just any insight before beginning classes will be helpful. I don't know very many medical school students who can give me personal feedback.

Don't worry about any of this. The chances of you not passing boards is slim once you're accepted. You'll learn and adapt to medical school. Stop freaking out.

The people who you've heard studying only 1-3 hours a day are probably those who can just memorize facts quickly but also forget them quickly.

Think of it this way...there are people who were accepted with very low MCATs and still passed boards. You should only really be worried if you were on the extreme low end of your accepted class (like below 3.2 GPA and 25 MCAT.)

 

[radian313]

My good friend just got a radiology residency. His gpa was 3.3 and a 23 mcat. Nothing replaces sheer hard work and dedication.

Just dont fall behind and make sure you repeat your study material and not just sit on couch flipping through power points.

Group study, practice questions, concept mapping and of course reviewing power points is the way to go.

 

[Goro]

Dig up my post on "medical student success".

I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum about people who barely studied in college/undergrad (1-3 hours a day) and transitioned to an average of 5 hours a day of studying in medical school. I don't know if I am abnormally slow or something but I feel like I always studied around 5-6 hours a day as an undergrad. Can any of you provide any tips on making the transition? What strategies did you test out? What worked for you? What didn't work? I was a biochem major and my biggest study strategy for biology courses was rereading notes over and over again and drawing out physiology pathways. For classes like ochem and physical chemistry, I worked problems over and over again. I also worry about learning all the details in medical school. I have always been a big picture person and the thought of memorizing countless nerves, muscles, and other body parts is freaking me out. I am very interested in how they work and function but naming and identifying them seems really intimating. How do you retain all of that? I realize that this will be a struggle for all incoming students but I think just any insight before beginning classes will be helpful. I don't know very many medical school students who can give me personal feedback.

 

[MagentaKarma]

Thank you! It was very helpful! I am not sure why that post didn't come up before.