Any suggestion to improve my studying!

[jellygreen2001]

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Hey everyone,

First of all, how much do you guys study per night?
Everyone keeps saying study everyday or it will be hard to
catch up. Also everyone says read through the note package like 3 times. when you guys study, do you just read right through the notes
without stopping and then go over it several times, cause when I study,
what I do is memorize the text sentence by sentence, and then by
paragraph and then by page. It takes me like 15 min to study a page and
it just takes me forever to study everything and I doubt I will have
that much time in med school. I am just afraid that if i read without
memorizing, nothing will stick with me. I am just so anxious and
nervous! We just got done orientation and anatomy,histo and embryology starts on monday. I really appreciate all your responses and thanks for your resonses in advance🙂

 

[MarzMD]

If you read without memorizing, you will most likely fail anatomy. It is a huge waste of time. I wouldnt move on from any page unless you can regurgitate EVERYTHING on the page without looking. I just had my first anatomy midterm......it sucked.

 

[DoctorFunk]

I think that those of us who advocate reading through the notes several times aren't necessarily saying that you shouldn't read without taking time to digest details. It has been shown that exposure to a subject lends itself to memorization. So if you read the notes 3 times or more, you may find that by the end you have actually memorized much of the material without having to make that painful, conscious effort to do so.

That being said, I've always used the following system: preview (pretty shallowly) the material covered in lecture the day before, attend lecture (or read the chapter/notes by yourself), review the material again that night, then review the entire week's material during that weekend. This way you're getting 4 exposures to the material during the course of a week, which should be more than enough to learn the material well at that time. Then you can just layer on the details when you are studying for the exam (rather than learning the material for the first time like some people), and you should be good to go. Hasn't failed me yet.

 

[Law2Doc]

I think that those of us who advocate reading through the notes several times aren't necessarily saying that you shouldn't read without taking time to digest details. It has been shown that exposure to a subject lends itself to memorization. So if you read the notes 3 times or more, you may find that by the end you have actually memorized much of the material without having to make that painful, conscious effort to do so.

That being said, I've always used the following system: preview (pretty shallowly) the material covered in lecture the day before, attend lecture (or read the chapter/notes by yourself), review the material again that night, then review the entire week's material during that weekend. This way you're getting 4 exposures to the material during the course of a week, which should be more than enough to learn the material well at that time. Then you can just layer on the details when you are studying for the exam (rather than learning the material for the first time like some people), and you should be good to go. Hasn't failed me yet.

Sounds about right. The goal is to see the same material multiple times and maybe in multiple forms (noteset, lecture, maybe a text, and your own notes) and by having looked at it 4 or more times you start to remember most of it. Reading or just watching lectures without writing, taking notes, or even highlighting (i.e. something active) has been shown to be less effective, so always try to incorporate some hand to paper mode while studying. Making and using flashcards is useful in the parts of courses where brute force memorization is helpful. Drawing structures is useful in anatomy.

 

[MossPoh]

Also, a great way to learn, although I haven't applied it to medical studies since i'm not there yet is to create some sort of small study group. In that study group you each create your own exam and try to anticipate some of the questions that'll be on it. The preparation of the answer for each question is a great way to learn stuff. It is pretty much doing the various forms in a mini version. You scan looking and thinking ahead for what seems like a good question, you write it out, and then you write out the answer..and read the question out loud. If you and your friends take the tests you made and explain why then information will stick. Obviously it is a bit cumbersome to do on a continuous basis...but it is a great way to develop solid knowledge as well as become aware of what you are weak at. People have the tendency to focus on what they already know or enjoy the most and not everything else.

 

[Kazema]

If you try to memorize everything on your first pass through you'll end up wasting a lot of time rereading without gaining anything. I agree with the "reading 3 times" theory, but I use lecture as my "first" reading.

Your first pass (whether that comes during lecture or previewing before lecture) should be your introduction to the material - not necessarily reading for comprehension nor memorization. You should be just touching on the material superficially. I like to use lecture time as my introduction; I just write down what it seems like the prof is emphasizing during lecture.

My second pass is for comprehension. I don't try to memorize, I just try to comprehend what I'm reading. This is the period I also use other sources (like Costanzo Phys or Robbins or Micro made ridiculously simple or BRS, etc) to bolster my knowledge. This is when I do my highlighting (Law2Doc's active learning) and add my own notes. What kind of notes? Stuff from other lecture notes to try to tie things together. When I read something that rings a bell I write down why it rings a bell or if I can't remember exactly why it does, I look it up and then write it down.

My third pass is for memorization. When you comprehend the material and also have written in your notes what the most important things are to know (what the prof emphasized), memorization is much easier than going through and trying to memorize line by line. It also really helps when you've tied your notes together - then the different concepts start to reinforce each other.

 

[subi]

i reach my home at about six and by the time.. i get refreshed its like halfpast seven - after that i open my anatomy book and i seemed to be studying it for many hours -its like 11pm+ by the time i close anatomy....
after that i go through other lecture notes. its like 12.30 or so by the time i get to bed. its really hard but its worse to get up in the morning!😴

and i have my anatomy test in two weeks... and thinking of extending the sleeping time but its really tiring🙁 ... and its wierd to sit alone in a room and study ...

what time does these super brains go to bed? do they go to bed??

 

[Law2Doc]

I agree with the "reading 3 times" theory, but I use lecture as my "first" reading.

While this may work for you, studies actually suggest that if you preread or at least skim the note set before the lecture, you will actually get a lot more out of the lecture -- as you become more of an "active" rather than "passive" audience, anticipating what comes next. Many people find that if they sit through a lecture "cold" they absorb a substantially lower percentage of the info, wasting more time than it would take to just do the reading; this is the justification a lot of people use for not attending lecture. But it depends a lot on the way your brain works, and so everyone has to find what works for him/her.
But multiple repetitions through the material in some form or fashion seem to work for the vast majority of successful med students.

 

[Kazema]

While this may work for you, studies actually suggest that if you preread or at least skim the note set before the lecture, you will actually get a lot more out of the lecture -- as you become more of an "active" rather than "passive" audience, anticipating what comes next. Many people find that if they sit through a lecture "cold" they absorb a substantially lower percentage of the info, wasting more time than it would take to just do the reading; this is the justification a lot of people use for not attending lecture. But it depends a lot on the way your brain works, and so everyone has to find what works for him/her.
But multiple repetitions through the material in some form or fashion seem to work for the vast majority of successful med students.

Yeah you're right - I did the preview thing in undergrad and it was how I started out doing things in med school; and it did work well for me. I cut out the previewing to reduce my workload partway through the second semester of first year, so that instead of seeing the material 4 (preview, lecture, learning, review/memorization) I see it 3 times. I haven't noticed any difference in my understanding of the material or my grades so I decided to keep doing things this way instead.

I definitely do agree you should start out previewing material though, it's always better to start out doing too much and cut back based on what you think you need/don't need to do rather than the other way around.

 

[tupac_don]

i reach my home at about six and by the time.. i get refreshed its like halfpast seven - after that i open my anatomy book and i seemed to be studying it for many hours -its like 11pm+ by the time i close anatomy....
after that i go through other lecture notes. its like 12.30 or so by the time i get to bed. its really hard but its worse to get up in the morning!😴

and i have my anatomy test in two weeks... and thinking of extending the sleeping time but its really tiring🙁 ... and its wierd to sit alone in a room and study ...

what time does these super brains go to bed? do they go to bed??

why don't you try not going to lecture?

 

[RxnMan]

Sounds about right. The goal is to see the same material multiple times and maybe in multiple forms (noteset, lecture, maybe a text, and your own notes) and by having looked at it 4 or more times you start to remember most of it. Reading or just watching lectures without writing, taking notes, or even highlighting (i.e. something active) has been shown to be less effective, so always try to incorporate some hand to paper mode while studying. Making and using flashcards is useful in the parts of courses where brute force memorization is helpful. Drawing structures is useful in anatomy.

I tried that this week, a relatively info-heavy week, and it made lecture much more understandable. It also made studying alot less stressful - It's an easy way to either ease into studying or finish for the night. No need for memorization, and you can allow yourself to discover the fun parts of the material. And you can come to class with intelligent questions.

Repeated exposure to the material has worked well so far for me, but I think after awhile I get bored of seeing the same thing, so my eyes start to glaze over. Then I switch to study groups, writing flash cards, etc. Another tip I saw was to use BRS books right off the bat to supplement the class notes.

 

[Bad-Obsession]

When I took anatomy I had a hard time at first because I was trying to read, read, read. I found that -for me- anatomy was very different from the other classes. What worked for me was to get to practice questions as fast as I could. The more questions I could answer before a test the better I did. I think it made me make the information work in my head. The questions make anatomy stick in your head in a way traditional studing doesnt seem to do. Chung's Anatomy Review has a lot of great question and www.studybyear.com has a some anatomy practice tests on the resources page that you can download for free. Anyway, questions, questions, questions. Good times. 😎

 

[subi]

why don't you try not going to lecture?

thats a really good idea and i would love to give it a try but i should have 90% attendance or else cant write my exams!!!

 

[tupac_don]

thats a really good idea and i would love to give it a try but i should have 90% attendance or else cant write my exams!!!

They make you go to class???? Oh that's just silly?

 

[subi]

They make you go to class???? Oh that's just silly?

thats what happens in all med schools in my place...
otherwise there will be just 20 students or so who will stay in the class(out of 100+ students!!!)😀

 

[tupac_don]

thats what happens in all med schools in my place...
otherwise there will be just 20 students or so who will stay in the class(out of 100+ students!!!)😀

wow, I guess that idea is out the window.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

i dunno..... how do you improve memorization other than with repeititoin?

it just takes a lot of time.... unfortuately.

 

[BlondeCookie]

When I took anatomy I had a hard time at first because I was trying to read, read, read. I found that -for me- anatomy was very different from the other classes. What worked for me was to get to practice questions as fast as I could. The more questions I could answer before a test the better I did. I think it made me make the information work in my head. The questions make anatomy stick in your head in a way traditional studing doesnt seem to do. Chung's Anatomy Review has a lot of great question and www.studybyear.com has a some anatomy practice tests on the resources page that you can download for free. Anyway, questions, questions, questions. Good times. 😎

I like this method, but for me it's quite time consuming. For those of you who test themselves with review questions, what have you found works best for you? At which stage do you incorporate your question/answer sessions?

1) Preview lecture material
2) Go to lecture (active learning/comprehension)
3) Review lecture later that night (review)
4) Memorize material later in the week or weekend

So, where do the questions fit in. Or, are questions a 5th study session for the seriously high achievers?