This blog is the second in a series on the soft skills that all premedical students should develop prior to starting medical school.
Medical school admissions officers admit applicants who have demonstrated their ability to thrive in a challenging academic environment through competitive transcripts and test scores, meaningful experiences, and high-quality letters of recommendation. Yet many first-year medical students find themselves shocked by the intensity of the curriculum.
Dr. Aron Sousa, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Michigan State University’s medical school, described this phenomenon in an email written to U.S. News and World Report. "For the most part, the intellectual difficulty of the work is about the same as a meaningful upper-level college course, but there is so much studying and work that even very good students work long hours," he wrote. "Most medical schools expect their students to work 60-80 hours a week every week."
David Delnegro, a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Florida, also via an email to the U.S. News and World Report, echoed this sentiment. "The speed in which medical school material is delivered is breathtaking and will humble every incoming student, especially since little guidance is given on how to prioritize the mountain of material," he wrote.
We share this, not as a cause for alarm, but as a point for preparation. Incoming medical students often have a history of taking on academic challenges with relative ease, but many have not yet learned the study skills effective for an even more demanding environment.
According to a Medscape article, Study Hacks for Medical School, written by Kolin Meehan, research shows that effective study habits can be distilled into three simple rules. “Accomplished students actively construct a study plan and configure the surroundings to maximize their chance of success. Whether using 3x5 flashcards or Quizlet, one highlighter or a rainbow of colors, effective study strategies share common features borne out in the literature: Fully remove all distractions, temporally disperse the material, and repeatedly test concepts. These three simple rules stand to beget untold benefits to students at every level,” Meehan wrote.
As the article’s title promises, Meehan also provides suggested “hacks” for meeting these three conditions: removing distractions, dispersing the material, and testing yourself. We’ve summarized them below.
Read the rest of the series: Learn How to Accept Critical Feedback Before Starting Medical School
Medical school admissions officers admit applicants who have demonstrated their ability to thrive in a challenging academic environment through competitive transcripts and test scores, meaningful experiences, and high-quality letters of recommendation. Yet many first-year medical students find themselves shocked by the intensity of the curriculum.
Dr. Aron Sousa, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Michigan State University’s medical school, described this phenomenon in an email written to U.S. News and World Report. "For the most part, the intellectual difficulty of the work is about the same as a meaningful upper-level college course, but there is so much studying and work that even very good students work long hours," he wrote. "Most medical schools expect their students to work 60-80 hours a week every week."
David Delnegro, a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Florida, also via an email to the U.S. News and World Report, echoed this sentiment. "The speed in which medical school material is delivered is breathtaking and will humble every incoming student, especially since little guidance is given on how to prioritize the mountain of material," he wrote.
We share this, not as a cause for alarm, but as a point for preparation. Incoming medical students often have a history of taking on academic challenges with relative ease, but many have not yet learned the study skills effective for an even more demanding environment.
According to a Medscape article, Study Hacks for Medical School, written by Kolin Meehan, research shows that effective study habits can be distilled into three simple rules. “Accomplished students actively construct a study plan and configure the surroundings to maximize their chance of success. Whether using 3x5 flashcards or Quizlet, one highlighter or a rainbow of colors, effective study strategies share common features borne out in the literature: Fully remove all distractions, temporally disperse the material, and repeatedly test concepts. These three simple rules stand to beget untold benefits to students at every level,” Meehan wrote.
As the article’s title promises, Meehan also provides suggested “hacks” for meeting these three conditions: removing distractions, dispersing the material, and testing yourself. We’ve summarized them below.
- Mold your environment. Opt to go somewhere to study that is free of distractions. It should be away from others and quiet. Don’t just silence your phone, but keep it out of your sight. Meehan notes that research shows that even silenced and without notifications, keeping your phone within your field of vision creates a psychological distraction. You will waste energy trying to ignore it, so help yourself by keeping it put away.
- Define your time. Meehan recommends that you use the “Pomodoro Technique.” This involves setting a timer for a set interval to work. For example, 25 minutes with no interruptions. Follow this with a five-minute break. Do this for about four iterations and then take a longer break, for about 30 minutes. Meehan explains why this strategy works. “Study sessions structured in this manner enable students to accomplish a day's work without perceiving the level of fatigue normally felt during long, uninterrupted study cycles. The short breaks punctuating the day are sufficient to initiate the consolidation process and enable longer study periods,” he wrote.
- Slow and steady wins the race. While Meehan recommends the Pomodoro Technique for daily work, he emphasizes the need to study consistently throughout the full semester. Do. Not. Cram. Research shows that spaced repetition is necessary for long-term retention. “Study structures that incorporate spaced repetition vastly outperform single, large cramming sessions,” he wrote.
- Test yourself. Use frequent self-assessments to ensure that you are recalling the information that you are attempting to learn. He notes that studies have shown the brain must be asked to recall the information to ensure retention. “Students face a very real ‘use it or lose it’ situation,” Meehan wrote.
- Seriously, do not cram. Meehan again pointed to the superior results in studies of spaced learning combined with self-assessment and recall over passive review (or cramming). If you have been properly spacing your learning and testing yourself, the benefits of cramming are negligible. Save your time to enjoy a walk (or perhaps a quick rest!) before the exam.
Read the rest of the series: Learn How to Accept Critical Feedback Before Starting Medical School
