Having Trouble Studying

[Detective SnowBucket]

Hey all, I don't know what's going on but I've never had this much trouble studying, been studying to poorly or not been able to figure out how to get back on track.
I fell into the trap for my first exam of making my own anki cards for block 1 and it took way too much of my study time with no benefit. However, I did excellently on my first exam. For the second exam, I decided I could just go with the pre-made cards from some M2's based off lecture. Turns out they were really not detailed enough to get me through the exam and I only passed the exam by 0.93%. Yes, I only scored 0.93% above passing down from an A+ on the first one. Now I'm back to making my own cards for exam 3. It's taking far more time than it's worth. What else can I do? Since this material is so unimportant for step 1* there aren't any pre-made resources for it so I'm worried for our end of course NBME.
*it's TCA cycle, sugar metabolism, gluconeogenesis, some virology, some cancer and the hard stuff (metabolism) doesn't have much in the way of pre-made resources. I'm fine with cancer & virology though.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Fatalis]

Hey all, I don't know what's going on but I've never had this much trouble studying, been studying to poorly or not been able to figure out how to get back on track.
I fell into the trap for my first exam of making my own anki cards for block 1 and it took way too much of my study time with no benefit. However, I did excellently on my first exam. For the second exam, I decided I could just go with the pre-made cards from some M2's based off lecture. Turns out they were really not detailed enough to get me through the exam and I only passed the exam by 0.93%. Yes, I only scored 0.93% above passing down from an A+ on the first one. Now I'm back to making my own cards for exam 3. It's taking far more time than it's worth. What else can I do? Since this material is so unimportant for step 1* there aren't any pre-made resources for it so I'm worried for our end of course NBME.
*it's TCA cycle, sugar metabolism, gluconeogenesis, some virology, some cancer and the hard stuff (metabolism) doesn't have much in the way of pre-made resources. I'm fine with cancer & virology though.

Looks like mostly biochem; draw draw and keep drawing out the pathways and know the enzymes/ what inhibits/ induces. It just takes some time but it will stick. FA or lippincotts has the pathways down you can refer to.

 

[BlueRocket]

You say that making your own anki cards was "of no benefit" but you scored an A+ on your first exam, so it sounds like that might be something that works for you. If its time consuming but working I would stick with it but try to maximize your efficiency with it. Grind through it and get those perfect scores.

 

[The wise one]

You can check my history. I am against pre made decks. Do not do them! I know making your own cards takes time but it's worth it.

Stop doing pre made deck, make your own flash cards based on whatever high yield resource you are using (FA or etc..).

Or you can buy BnB book on Amazon and anote it as you watch videos. It's not complete though.

But the take home message is, make your own flash card, do your pre reading. It will pay off at the end.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

[Goro]

Hey all, I don't know what's going on but I've never had this much trouble studying, been studying to poorly or not been able to figure out how to get back on track.
I fell into the trap for my first exam of making my own anki cards for block 1 and it took way too much of my study time with no benefit. However, I did excellently on my first exam. For the second exam, I decided I could just go with the pre-made cards from some M2's based off lecture. Turns out they were really not detailed enough to get me through the exam and I only passed the exam by 0.93%. Yes, I only scored 0.93% above passing down from an A+ on the first one. Now I'm back to making my own cards for exam 3. It's taking far more time than it's worth. What else can I do? Since this material is so unimportant for step 1* there aren't any pre-made resources for it so I'm worried for our end of course NBME.
*it's TCA cycle, sugar metabolism, gluconeogenesis, some virology, some cancer and the hard stuff (metabolism) doesn't have much in the way of pre-made resources. I'm fine with cancer & virology though.

Read this, and especially contact your school's learning or education center ASAP.

• Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2018 edition)

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

You can check my history. I am against pre made decks. Do not do them! I know making your own cards takes time but it's worth it.

Stop doing pre made deck, make your own flash cards based on whatever high yield resource you are using (FA or etc..).

Or you can buy BnB book on Amazon and anote it as you watch videos. It's not complete though.

But the take home message is, make your own flash card, do your pre reading. It will pay off at the end.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

I mean this certainly isn't universal advice. I've had great success using premade decks and making none of my own cards / not taking notes / etc. Everyone is different.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You can check my history. I am against pre made decks. Do not do them! I know making your own cards takes time but it's worth it.

Stop doing pre made deck, make your own flash cards based on whatever high yield resource you are using (FA or etc..).

Or you can buy BnB book on Amazon and anote it as you watch videos. It's not complete though.

But the take home message is, make your own flash card, do your pre reading. It will pay off at the end.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

And I’ve used almost exclusively premade decks and have done fantastic.

OP, there can be a balance. I use a premade deck and I use browse to see if all the topics I need to know are covered. If something isn’t or isn’t covered in enough detail, I add cards. Makes sure I get everything I need and also saves a lot of time and gets me reviewing faster which is where the learning happens.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

And I’ve used almost exclusively premade decks and have done fantastic.

OP, there can be a balance. I use a premade deck and I use browse to see if all the topics I need to know are covered. If something isn’t or isn’t covered in enough detail, I add cards. Makes sure I get everything I need and also saves a lot of time and gets me reviewing faster which is where the learning happens.

I'd rather use pre-made decks, I just can't find any that line up well enough for course material to do well on the tests. That will change when we move to the next block because this block has hardly any relevance for step (biochem/MSK) so there's very little in the way of pre-made resources.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I'd rather use pre-made decks, I just can't find any that line up well enough for course material to do well on the tests. That will change when we move to the next block because this block has hardly any relevance for step (biochem/MSK) so there's very little in the way of pre-made resources.

Zanki and lightyear both have msk decks. They also have biochem, cell bio, and genetics. For those subjects you have to be more diligent about suspending things and the in suspending what you’re covering.

 

[Mass Effect]

I mean this certainly isn't universal advice. I've had great success using premade decks and making none of my own cards / not taking notes / etc. Everyone is different.

It's true that everyone learns differently.

For me, I made my own cards because first pass through was studying. When I used pre-made cards, I had to straight up memorize rather than understand and it also made the memorization process much harder. But everyone has to do what works for them.