has anyone been doing worse off when studying?

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it's my first year in and i had decided to change my study habits because poor performances on couple of tests made me realize that i couldn't just stick to my undergrad cramming habits. i decided to make the switch, start a new study regiment, and try to keep up with the material rather than play catch-up for a couple days before the exam

i kept up with this and was able to review over and over the material a couple times as well (lots of repetitions), and when the tests come..........ta da! i score about 6% below my past test score on one of them and 2% below my past test score in the other. i know the tests were not significantly harder than the past ones or anything because class average was actually HIGHER than the previous exam.

i mean im glad to be still passing my classes and all, but i can't understand for the life of me wtf is going on...i guess this means i have more reason to screw around and have fun because studying doesn't help me, it hurts?

 

[coffeecoffee]

Your post is not extremely detailed as far as your study methods, so my reply will be based on certain assumptions. You said that you used to cram, then realized that didnt work so you changed your study method. I am assuming that your only change was going over the material more times.

I found myself in a similar situation and my grades didnt decline but the increase was miniscule compared to my increased efforts. The key to improving is not just studying more/harder. First, discover your learning style and utilize it. For example, if you are a visual learner, draw diagrams over and over (similar to learning brachial plexus) for all subjects. Next, do tons of practice questions! A friend of mine on here does ~200 questions before any exam. The results show it works!

You might also self-examine if you have been studying passively. Perhaps the best person to help you is someone at your school. I am sure all schools have Academic Affairs or similar to help students.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

I wrote a post that might help you, about 2 minutes ago

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=783534

 

[da8s0859q]

Next, do tons of practice questions! A friend of mine on here does ~200 questions before any exam. The results show it works!

Second this. Practice questions won't lie to you about how well you know something.

Lots of good places to get them too -- the BRS series and Gunner Training have been the closest to representative for my exams. Then there's USMLERx and UWorld, but things like that are better put off until you're getting closer to Step 1.