Confused about studying methods

[PatoKw]

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Hi,

I just completed my first week of 1st yr med school, and our issue today is studying methods. My problem is that i study and memorize info either by rote learning or sometimes by making stories for things ( for eg. if i wanna memorize ataxia talengectasia main symptom cause i say ataxia>tax> when theres no tax we are rich > we dont move > so the disease is a degenerative motor condition. )
The problem is this wierd way is implented routenly for different types of memorized things. My question is can i memorize all types of things just by rote learning? I.e by just repeating? Because my wierd method is too time consuming and i spend alot of time studying because of it! I see alot of people who do multiple passes on materials, but im curious what do they do on each pass? Do they just read? This is my main concern, can i just read passively and repeat 3-4 times, i mean what are the details of muliple passes? My emphasise on the spaced repition method is bcz i find it convenient enough for me

 

[Goro]

While repetition drives learning, you cannot survive med school by merely memorizing...you have to be able to apply. That said, some things just do apply themselves to brute memory, like a lot of Pharm.

 

[Tabiyou]

What type of learner are you? I am mostly an auditory learner.

We are currently taking anatomy (regional) and histology/embryo at the same time.

So full disclosure, still fine-tuning it. What I am going to say is in regards to anatomy, since that is where I struggled. The way I attack histology is basically the same.

Hopefully you believe me when I say that I am only mentioning my scores is not to brag, rather to show you how i think it helped me out tremendously. First unit (upper limbs) written exam was 56% (28/50), and the one we took yesterday (head and neck) was 86 % (43/50).

So for every lecture, I skimmed the information before hand (the night before or day of class. I tried to make it 10 minutes or around that time). Again, reading it so I could get a very vague idea of what they were going to talk about. I really don’t think it matters if you go to class or not. What i think does matter, however, is that whenever you view lecture that you give it 100%, or as close to that as possible. Meaning you aren’t multitasking or doing something in the background. That night, you go home and you verbally read out-loud the course pack. At the end of every paragraph, you explain to your stuffed animal (i like it because it has eyes and it forces you to have eye contact) what you just learned. You have to say this out loud. This in effect makes you go over the material twice in one setting. Additionally, your brain registers if you don’t even believe yourself or their is something wrong you said (lateral vs medial pterygoid muscle for instance). Thus is the first passover, and it is done as close to the lecture day as possible. It also is time intensive about 3 hours per lecture, but I think no matter what study method you use, you are going to spend anywhere from 2-6 hours per lecture (at least that is what our classmates tell me).

I believe with the amount of time you have, you are going to stay either current in one class, and about 1-2 lectures in another class. For me, anatomy was the priority.

Thus, once you are caught up with both classes (usually on the weekend), you can do your second passover about a week before the actual exam. This is what I did. Now, about a week out go through the same process again (read outloud and explain to your stuffed animal). About 3-4 days before exam, go through the complete net anatomy (hopefully yor school has access to it; read everything in your mind). Take your practical questions on blackboard and UMICH questions about 2-3 days before exam. Then 2-3 days before exam, silently read course pack/class notes. The night before, take a really fast BRS test (there are about 92 questions, and try to answer all of them with your gut instinct in about 30 minutes. Also forgot to mention review cross sections and radiology every day (about 10 minutes per day).

First unit exam was 83% in histo, and second unit exam in histo was 75.6 %. Again, not saying to brag but rather how it is doable with two classes.

Regardless, I would make an appointment with your academic counselor as soon as possible. That way, you guys can go over study method.

Whatever study method you choose, don't do stuff that is a check in the box! Meaning, don't do busy work for the sake of doing busy work. Everything should be for a purpose and time efficient. Don't write a study guide for something if you already have it written out it in your notes. For instance, people swear on Anki. I hear its great but I want to stay away from it. Why? What is the point of creating all those flash cards if you are just going to be spending time creating them and not memorizing them.

Bottom line is you are going to change your study habbits from week to week and from course to course until you find your groove. Just always ask yourself "what is the point of what I am doing", "how is this an effective way to study," and "what have i retained." What works for me might not work for you. However, every study method should answer those aforementioned questions.

 

[PatoKw]

Thanks goro and tobiyou especially forcthe effort i've killed the majority of my curiouty from your answers however i crave for more opinions! Much appreciated <3 guys

 

[futuremdforme]

I use the story method too sometimes. I don't think rote memorization will be effective or useful in the long run. When you get into more clinical scenarios, how will you figure stuff out? If you try to understand the basic stuff, then you can spend time memorizing the details and it will be reasonably efficient. Things like anatomy need to be memorized, but a lot of cardio can be worked out logically, and you'll want to be able to do that. I used anki too but don't keep up with it because once I understand something, I don't need to see that card ever again, so I'd only go over the cards that I got wrong the first time. Make sense?

 

[PatoKw]

Thank you futuremdforme, but my question is can i study by multiple passes and on each pass i only read and try to rote memorize ( repeat loudly for example ) pure memorization things such as numbers, names of genes, percentages, etc that is my concern that is without stories and such in short i think its called brute memorization?

PS pfc ill use pathways and steps building of concepts and logic and understanding. What i meant by stories are fake stories such as "Myeloid conversion to my loud" for memorization, which i want to avoid.

 

[halodos]

anki (flashcards) is great for remembering the details. I think that once you know the details, you can put them together in a story, by which I mean the logic of the human body. Reading the books, lectures, and any online materials is great for seeing how different people/sources put together information.

I also found with anki I was just automatically recalling information, even when presented with just ataxia telangatascia or whichever disease.

 

[DrBeenThere]

Try to memorize the location on the page and attempt to recall the page after memorizing. Write down or highlight in different colors and devise a scheme so that each highlighting color means something. If you like mnemonics, use them (I'm not a mnemonic person). Read test questions over quickly and then carefully study the answer and try to memorize the answer, and do as many as possible. Familiarize with first pass, write things down with second pass, and organize with third pass. I found highlighting with a color scheme very helpful (back then we used paper.) Be willing to invest your time every night with short study breaks and study until midnight on a regular basis, it takes time to absorb vast amounts of information. Your brain can relax in a couple of years. You'll forget more than most people ever learn.

 

[CaffeineTwitch]

The best thing that has worked for me is multiple passes on different days. First pass I go through the powerpoint reading everything on it quickly and then put it away. I usually feel like I didn't learn much of anything on this pass. Second pass I read more carefully and look at pictures and diagrams but I don't necessarily try to memorize the details. Usually after this I feel things starting to click and have a good idea of the big picture. Third pass I scroll through the powerpoint/pdf and try to visualize what information is on the slide from just seeing the title. Here is where I try to drill in any details I am missing by using either flashcards or rewriting things. After this third pass I work through any problems we were given.

This seems to be working well for me. I tried anki but I like seeing the big picture on each slide every time so it wasn't really my thing Also, take lots of study breaks. I have the attention span of a goldfish so I study for 25 minutes break for 10 and repeat. I do this for ~5 study sessions then take a much longer break and repeat as necessary. I also ALWAYS sleep ~8 hours each night and walk away from studying if I feel like my mind is wandering.

 

[PatoKw]

Thanks to all the ppl who helped, the last is probably the best plan