Being in the top percentile of your class

[grasshopperking]

I have far from an "photographic" memory but I am an excellent student. I went for mastery of the material and not for quick memorization. Quick memorization puts information in your short term memory where it isn't likely to stay unless you use it daily. If you master the material and link it to your present knowledge base, it stays in there and you can recall it with a solid review.

I never let myself get behind the class. If I was sick or missed a study day, I went to where ever the class was and mastered that material. I could catch up on the weekend but I didn't use the weekdays to "play catch-up" because that was unproductive for my study strategies.

I studied in 50-minute bursts with 10-minutes of break in between. I never sat for hours staring at a page because after 50 minutes, my attention span was gone. I made sure that I tailored my study routine to my attention span. On those 10-minute breaks, I would run up and down a fight of stairs or get something to drink but I got completely away from my study materials to let my brain get a break.

I would also move around and pace as I recited things back to myself or to others. The pacing helped to relieve stress. I would master the material alone and then on study group days, we would discuss the material. Since our medical school had the most awesome syllabi in the world, we had everything that we needed to know in front of us when we studied. We didn't have to go searching through multiple books to find information.

I would preview before a lecture, take notes during the lecture and study the lecture later that day filling in anything that needed to be added for my understanding. I would then link the material to the preview for the next lecture. The next day, I would repeat the cycle. On weekends, I studied the previous weeks material as if the test were on that next Monday. By exam time, all I needed was a quick review and I was ready.

When I took exams, I would skim the entire test and answer the materials that I knew right off. If I couldn't answer a question in 30 seconds, I moved onto something else. I would then come back to unanswered questions after I had seen the entire exam. I was almost always the first or second person to finish an exam.

I also did not change answers unless there was something compelling that I noticed (clerical error). When one changes answers, they will invariably change 8 out of 10 answers from right to wrong and 2 out of 10 from wrong to right. In addition, I looked at questions carefully for answer clues which would lead me to the correct answer every time.

I have stone normal intelligence and memory but I maximized what I had. I also never let anyone (including myself) talk me into believing that I was somehow not going to be able to completely master the material. Your "inner voice" can sometimes "talk" you into believing that you are somehow inferior to other students which is far from the case. There is no material presented in any medical school that is unmasterable.

Finally, tune out the folks who boast about having "photographic" memories because they are the ones who "crash and burn" on Board exams. Run your own race and tend to your own work. Challenge yourself to hone what you do best and ignore the boasters who are trying to undermine your confidence. They are human just like you are and have to go from Point A to get to Point B.

You can decide (no matter what your past performance) that you are going to change your attitude and thinking as you approach your studies. Decide right now that you have every tool that you need to do well. Take a deep breath and start working on whatever the class is working on with the attitude that you will completely master it.

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[IMSingular]

..

I think the whole-bell curve thing does have a lot to do with it as well, but I know there are people in my class that could kill every test if they would study more, they simply don't care to.

Well. Bell curve has two parameters. One is the average and other is the width. What determines these parameters? If the average goes up the people who make up test will make them more difficult. If the width goes down people who make up the test will distribute the difficulty of questions a little more. If every one studies hard exams will become more difficult because whole idea of tests is to differentiate. There is constant feedback from the test results to the difficulty of tests.

 

[yehhhboiii]

bump because m1s keep asking about this

 

[PreMedRookie]

I have three hours of lecture, 1/2 hr lunch, and then 5 hours of studying that days material. I read your 50 min study/10 min break method before I started and have followed that. I can barely stay caught up, let alone get ahead. If there are afternoon activities then I come in before lecture the next day and get done what I couldnt get done the day before.

With that said, I am afraid to do a whole lot different then what I have been for fear of it not working.

I rewrite notes. Maybe that is a waste of time.

Depending on how you do it, rewriting notes can be a complete waste of time. You need to be actively studying and usually rewriting notes is a very passive activity. Practicing active recall is the best way to study according to cognitive psychology studies.

 

[Dbate]

I think, that after reading njbmd's post above, most rational people will agree that it's prolly just not worth it. that leaves the irrational people to be at the top of the class

 

[Medschoolornah]

Bump.

 

[ChillDawg]

Is the pass/fail trend in med schools causing medical students to learn less in pre-clinical years?
Isn't this concerning in some ways? There are advantages, of course, but I think there's gotta be some sort of tradeoff.

 

[Lawpy]

A question: what happens if you're in the bottom percentile in preclinical years but in the top percentile in clinical years with strong Step and shelf exam scores?

 

[Meeehai]

A question: what happens if you're in the bottom percentile in preclinical years but in the top percentile in clinical years with strong Step and shelf exam scores?

The universe implodes.

 

[Lawpy]

The universe implodes.

but really, I wanted to know if it's a good idea to blow off preclinical years by just barely passing and yet having strong knowledge base and test-taking skills to succeed in the Step/shelf exams and dominate the clinical years. After all, residencies care about clinical grades, not preclinical

 

[Meeehai]

but really, I wanted to know if it's a good idea to blow off preclinical years by just barely passing and yet having strong knowledge base and test-taking skills to succeed in the Step/shelf exams and dominate the clinical years. After all, residencies care about clinical grades, not preclinical

Hmm... but I think to build a strong knowledge base you would have to give an honest effort, which would lead to good results!

 

[AirplaneFruit]

I went for mastery of the material

If you master the material and link it to your present knowledge base, it stays in there and you can recall it with a solid review.

So how do you "master" the material? Is it with your study plan that you detailed? Constant review of everything? Because even if someone is just "quick memorizing" they're still connecting it to prior knowledge even if they're not trying to...