For medical students: What resources do you use most in studying?

[pianola]

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As an undergrad, I used almost exclusively textbooks to learn anything science-related.

As a med student: Do you mostly learn from textbooks? computer models? websites? individual instructor/class power points? instructor notes? Are there sources you tend to use more than others? [Maybe it varies by block/class?]

 

[alwaysaangel]

Core notes (what the instructors give you be it notes or powerpoints) and Board review books. Text books are too dense for the amount of material you need to learn.

Oh, and wikipedia when something isn't clear.

 

[pianola]

Thanks. I think that's what I've been seeing at a lot of my interviews. I appreciate your response 🙂

 

[Textuality]

Lecture notes/core notes, my Atlas (anatomy), and the occasional random website/wiki.

 

[Tourterm]

Notes, powerpoints, and any handouts given by the professors primarily. Review books work great too. Text books, as previously mentioned, tend to be too dense for your needs, but they can be good to look up things you may not have a clear understanding of. Digital Histology / Histo Time are great for histology, but aside from that I haven't seen too many great computer programs.

 

[mterp45]

As an undergrad, I used almost exclusively textbooks to learn anything science-related.

As a med student: Do you mostly learn from textbooks? computer models? websites? individual instructor/class power points? instructor notes? Are there sources you tend to use more than others? [Maybe it varies by block/class?]

I used textbooks in undergrad and got out with a 4.0 BCPM. I dont know exactly how similar grad school courses are to med school courses but sticking with the textbook doesn't work in Grad level Hard sciences. The amount of complex detail in those books is insane. It is exponentially tougher to memorize all the info in those chapters. My introduction to grad school was accompanied with a 400 page book on RNA splicing 😱 which we only used for a month.

 

[stooges287]

Lecture notes/core notes, my Atlas (anatomy), and the occasional random website/wiki.

Ditto.

 

[SDN2013]

I used textbooks in undergrad and got out with a 4.0 BCPM. I dont know exactly how similar grad school courses are to med school courses but sticking with the textbook doesn't work in Grad level Hard sciences. The amount of complex detail in those books is insane. It is exponentially tougher to memorize all the info in those chapters. My introduction to grad school was accompanied with a 400 page book on RNA splicing 😱 which we only used for a month.

Nice. I strongly dislike reading textbooks. I got through undergrad thus far using powerpoints, handouts, and lecture notes that I take myself exclusively. I usually buy the textbooks for the peace of mind, knowing it's there, but rarely ever open them. Spent like $100 on that campbell and reece biology book but never even tore off the shrink wrap haha.

 

[mterp45]

Nice. I strongly dislike reading textbooks. I got through undergrad thus far using powerpoints, handouts, and lecture notes that I take myself exclusively. I usually buy the textbooks for the peace of mind, knowing it's there, but rarely ever open them. Spent like $100 on that campbell and reece biology book but never even tore off the shrink wrap haha.

haha 👍. I always laughed at those tape recording/excessive note taking pre-meds in the front row during lecture but now I find myself taking excessive notes and I'm actually contemplating getting a tape recorder.

 

[SDN2013]

heh. I just write everything down on a tablet basically. I don't record anything, but some of my classes offer podcasts of lectures.

 

[Jolie South]

i'm going to disagree with everyone here and say that textbooks actually are useful. it just depends on how you use them.

mostly, i use professors powerpoints, then to gain a deeper understanding i read from the book. it helps put everything into place when powerpoints are sparse. yes, there is extra detail, but i can't understand something well by just reading the "bare bones" version.

however, i by no means memorize everything in the text.

 

[Law2Doc]

Nice. I strongly dislike reading textbooks. I got through undergrad thus far using powerpoints, handouts, and lecture notes that I take myself exclusively.

Just bear in mind that what some of you are picturing as lecture notes from undergrad are nothing like the enormous bulk packs you are going to get in med school. In many cases, the text books are a lot shorter than the lecture notes you get in med school. So don't think this is like college where you can study "just the notes", like that's more concise, and do fine. You will be reading these notes many hours a day, and doing your darndest to work through them multiple times before each test. There are often recommended resources you can buy that will be good places to look things up if you don't like the explanation in your note set (sometimes another author's take is clearer), and as mentioned above, lots of people will start looking at board review stuff as a secondary resource which actually does summarize some of the key take-home points (but by no means everything you need to know for your particular class). So while you won't use textbooks in med school in most cases, don't get lulled into thinking that it means you can just listen to lectures, study a few powerpoints like you did in undergrad and you are fine. This is nothing like undergrad. The notesets will be hundreds of pages. There will be many hundred power point slides per exam. If you are picturing a big hill, revise your thinking to Everest. You will rise to the occasion and do fine, but it's better not to underestimate what's ahead and instead plan to hit the ground running full speed.

 

[gujuDoc]

Core notes (what the instructors give you be it notes or powerpoints) and Board review books. Text books are too dense for the amount of material you need to learn.

Oh, and wikipedia when something isn't clear.

Most MS I's and MS II's at USF that I talk to tell me the same thing as above!!!

The only time they ave a textbook is if it is something lke an anatomy atlas or things of that nature. But most of the stuff is from lectures and since video streamlining occurs for lectures if they need clarification they sometimes watch the lectures again in high speed.

the BRS series and the First AID USMLE Step 1 book are the series of board books I see them use to help study for their exams.

They all, also agree with the above about wikipedia being there to help them to get through medical school.

 

[DonkeyD]

^^ this is absolutely correct. A good way to think about it is a month of medical school is pretty similar to a semester of undergrad.

 

[engineeredout]

haha 👍. I always laughed at those tape recording/excessive note taking pre-meds in the front row during lecture but now I find myself taking excessive notes and I'm actually contemplating getting a tape recorder.

Can someone explain to me how this is beneficial in any manner whatsoever? It isn't enough that orgo/bio/physics lectures are given based upon powerpoint presentations which are available to download but people believe if they have a nice staticy low quality recording taken from about 30 feet away from the professor they'll be able to comprehend the lectures that much better? Are people writing ****ing transcripts of each lecture? I couldn't think of a bigger waste of time than actually sitting down and listening to the same exact lecture for a second time (possibly more). Do you try going to sleep while listening to the recording and somehow think that the knowledge will just absorb into your brain? I remember sitting in orgo lecture and the front table of the lecture hall looked like a ****ing display case from best buy from all the recorders placed on it.

 

[gujuDoc]

Can someone explain to me how this is beneficial in any manner whatsoever? It isn't enough that orgo/bio/physics lectures are given based upon powerpoint presentations which are available to download but people believe if they have a nice staticy low quality recording taken from about 30 feet away from the professor they'll be able to comprehend the lectures that much better? Are people writing ****ing transcripts of each lecture? I couldn't think of a bigger waste of time than actually sitting down and listening to the same exact lecture for a second time (possibly more). Do you try going to sleep while listening to the recording and somehow think that the knowledge will just absorb into your brain? I remember sitting in orgo lecture and the front table of the lecture hall looked like a ****ing display case from best buy from all the recorders placed on it.

It helped a lot of students in biochem 4 years ago. People do what they need to do. sometimes lecturers speak to fast for youto catch everything you need so recordings help. I never realized how much they could be helpful til I got to grad school and had video recordings done by the med school itself. They are a huge help more so then you'll ever begin to realize.

 

[Law2Doc]

People do what they need to do.

Agreed. The biggest mistake folks make in med school is thinking they know how to study based on what worked/didn't work in college. The second biggest mistake is thinking that what works well for one person will work well for another. You have to figure out what works in med school for you, and nobody else. If someone is a better auditory learner (many are), they will get more out of listening to a tape a second time than trying to read their notes. And vice versa if the person is a visual learner. You have to learn by trial and error what is going to work for you. I do have to say that there will be times when your eyes are so tired that you can no longer stomach any more reading but still want to eek another hour of studying into the day so throwing on a tape is a godsend -- it's a nice review of the lecture without having to read it. Similarly if you are at the gym or driving, you can often listen to things when you are unable to read. Doesn't make as much sense in college where you have lots of free time and using downtime productively is not as much of a premium, but med school is a different animal.

 

[pianola]

Can someone explain to me how this is beneficial in any manner whatsoever?

Well, all I can say is that I guess you must never have had my teacher for Advanced Metabolism. Her natural speech was more dense/detailed than a textbook, she spoke at ~0.25 dB volume, and somehow managed to say it all at what would be 2x speed for most people. (The class was in the COM btw). Loved the class, actually, but I would never have gotten through without recording it.

~~~~~

Anyway, getting back to the original point: Thanks to all you guys who responded.

 

[Ariadne]

Can someone explain to me how this is beneficial in any manner whatsoever? It isn't enough that orgo/bio/physics lectures are given based upon powerpoint presentations which are available to download but people believe if they have a nice staticy low quality recording taken from about 30 feet away from the professor they'll be able to comprehend the lectures that much better? Are people writing ****ing transcripts of each lecture? I couldn't think of a bigger waste of time than actually sitting down and listening to the same exact lecture for a second time (possibly more). Do you try going to sleep while listening to the recording and somehow think that the knowledge will just absorb into your brain? I remember sitting in orgo lecture and the front table of the lecture hall looked like a ****ing display case from best buy from all the recorders placed on it.

I take recordings of my more difficult lectures, for three reasons mainly.

First, I have a really bad habit of letting my mind wander in lecture. Every couple lectures I'll look up and realize I've been off in my own world and haven't heard anything for a good 15 minutes or so. I make a mark of the time on my notes, and if I have time/it seems important I go back and listen to the section later to fill in my notes. Plus knowing if I have a back-up makes class more relaxing, I don’t have to stress about getting every word down.

Second, there are particular classes where it really helps. For example, I had a repro phys class last semester where the tests consisted of timed essays and extremely challenging. There was a book for the class, but we didn't follow it at all, and the professor's lecture style was really chaotic and random. The only way I could make sense of it was to re-listen to every lecture, transcribe it, and then re-arrange it into something that made sense. Yes, its neurotic, I know, but it's what I needed to do to feel confident in the class.

And finally, as L2D mentioned above, it's a great way to multi-task. I work fulltime and take 15-18 credits a semester, so my time is at a premium. Listening to lectures while on the bus to work of while walking my dog helps me eek in those extra studying hours.

So anyway, to each his own. Don't knock other people for doing what they need to do to get by.

 

[URHere]

I think most medical students rely on their core "syllabus" packet most strongly. At our school, these packets have outlines of all of the terms and concepts presented during every lecture, copies of the powerpoint presentations, and objectives outlining specific things that we should know after studying the block.

What you use after that will vary by class. For anatomy, I found netter's atlas and the netter flashcards to be a godsend. For memorizing muscles, there are several online sites with useful origin/insertion/innervation lists, and for embryology online animations are very helpful. For clinical skills classes, I have found my examination handbook and online exam videos to be useful.

 

[footballrules]

Even though I'm not in medical school, I would love just to see the information that you all learn in medical school. I tend to work at a medical library after my day job for my other jobs and I often see students with books, papers, and other stuff studying. But I usually don't see students with stuff that looks like 300 page packets. I could be wrong though since there are several graduate programs housed in the same facility.

 

[gujuDoc]

Even though I'm not in medical school, I would love just to see the information that you all learn in medical school. I tend to work at a medical library after my day job for my other jobs and I often see students with books, papers, and other stuff studying. But I usually don't see students with stuff that looks like 300 page packets. I could be wrong though since there are several graduate programs housed in the same facility.

at my university, msot of the med students do not study in the med library. Half of them don't even know much about thel med lib. They usually use their labs or access to the student study lounges as places to study. If not that, they study at home or off campus at places like starbucks.

 

[CCLCMer]

As an undergrad, I used almost exclusively textbooks to learn anything science-related.

As a med student: Do you mostly learn from textbooks? computer models? websites? individual instructor/class power points? instructor notes? Are there sources you tend to use more than others? [Maybe it varies by block/class?]

It depends on the school, I'm sure. We use textbooks for the preclinical years at CCLCM (though not always the books that the school suggests!). I listed all the books I used for the first two years in my blog (look toward the bottom of the side bar for the links if you're interested). There are no packets or notes, and no one records the seminars, though I don't think there would be anything wrong with doing that if you wanted to. It's just not really necessary. We don't take tests, so no one is going to make you memorize every tiny detail from class. Some of the profs do give copies of their powerpoints, but I usually only read those if I had missed class or if there was info that could help with my homework essays. There are also some really good websites if you like using the internet to learn. U Michigan has an awesome anatomy site. Utah has webpath, which is really good for second year or whenever you take path. There used to be a list of good internet resources in the allo forum. You might want to search in there for it.

 

[pianola]

^Thank you! Very informative.

 

[Depakote]

i'm going to disagree with everyone here and say that textbooks actually are useful. it just depends on how you use them.

mostly, i use professors powerpoints, then to gain a deeper understanding i read from the book. it helps put everything into place when powerpoints are sparse. yes, there is extra detail, but i can't understand something well by just reading the "bare bones" version.

however, i by no means memorize everything in the text.

I've used handouts and lecture audio supplemented with review books, however for MS2, I've actually started using denser texts and found it pretty rewarding.

 

[Law2Doc]

Even though I'm not in medical school, I would love just to see the information that you all learn in medical school. I tend to work at a medical library after my day job for my other jobs and I often see students with books, papers, and other stuff studying. But I usually don't see students with stuff that looks like 300 page packets. I could be wrong though since there are several graduate programs housed in the same facility.

A lot of it is digital these days (to save the huge xerox costs), so if you see someone studying with their laptop, that could be it. Also a lot of places give you or allow you to download the packets in installments, instead of the 500 or so pages all at once, so if you see folks studying from "papers" that could be it. Also agree with the prior poster who suggested that not all med students do library studying, and many go at odd hours, so you may be looking at other graduate programs, where textbooks are still en vogue. But in terms of note-sets/bulk packs/syllabi (whatever the school chooses to call it), pretty much all med schools use them.

 

[Law2Doc]

I've used handouts and lecture audio supplemented with review books, however for MS2, I've actually started using denser texts and found it pretty rewarding.

Certainly for path, there are devotees of Robbins who swear by it.

 

[Depakote]

Certainly for path, there are devotees of Robbins who swear by it.

I'm quickly becoming a believer... as long as I don't herniate anything carrying it around.

I'm also a fan of clinical micro made ridiculously simple. Not a standard text, but it's more detailed than a review book. I'm actually going to give my pharm text a try, it looks like the lectures are pretty much straight from it.