Help!!! I still don't know if i'm studying the right way!!!

[shreypete]

So second semester started about 2 months back and I still don't know if my method of studying is effective. I usually have a habit of taking notes and sometimes for subjects like histology, it takes quite a long time. But I don't know if studying straight from the book is any better (Coz i'm scared that i'll forget all the stuff for the final and then I would again have to start reading the book from the beginning; so note-taking might ease that process).

For anatomy I take only jot down important points for every topic (rather than the detailed histo. note-taking). The problem is that note-taking takes such a long time that I don't know if it's useful at the end. Are there any other students who think note-taking is useful and helps you retain better? (or eases the process of reading rather than reading the entire chapter at the end of exams?)....thanks a lot...

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[bambi]

So second semester started about 2 months back and I still don't know if my method of studying is effective. I usually have a habit of taking notes and sometimes for subjects like histology, it takes quite a long time. But I don't know if studying straight from the book is any better (Coz i'm scared that i'll forget all the stuff for the final and then I would again have to start reading the book from the beginning; so note-taking might ease that process).

For anatomy I take only jot down important points for every topic (rather than the detailed histo. note-taking). The problem is that note-taking takes such a long time that I don't know if it's useful at the end. Are there any other students who think note-taking is useful and helps you retain better? (or eases the process of reading rather than reading the entire chapter at the end of exams?)....thanks a lot...

It depends how you learn. If you can learn something from just reading it then surely you don't really need to take notes? If when you take notes you feel like it is helping you to remember the information then carry on with that. Personally I can learn from just reading (and highlighting pretty much every word) but I still take notes partly because when it comes to revision I know I have everything I need all neat and tidy in one place (and I don't really want to ruin all my books with highlighters).

 

[shreypete]

funny that you mention the highlighters...because I do the same (and at the end of the semester I look at my textbooks and pity them for having been overused...lol). But I usually read the material and highlight as I go along and after every 4-5 sections, I make notes (detailed but not too detailed that I'd never again read them before an exam). It's just that I don't know if the results are supposed to show in tests or in the finals....(as we our tests are completely different from our final exams in that the final exams are oral).

 

[bambi]

funny that you mention the highlighters...because I do the same (and at the end of the semester I look at my textbooks and pity them for having been overused...lol). But I usually read the material and highlight as I go along and after every 4-5 sections, I make notes (detailed but not too detailed that I'd never again read them before an exam). It's just that I don't know if the results are supposed to show in tests or in the finals....(as we our tests are completely different from our final exams in that the final exams are oral).

I used to make notes a bit like that and just throw them away right after, it helped but took way too long. If you never look at the notes again you could spend the extra time you would save from not making them reading the material more times and learn it just as well if not better than if you had made loads of notes.

 

[silas2642]

I don't think that anyone can tell you how to study the "right" way-- you just have to do what works for you. For me, I never take notes and I don't go to class because it just takes up too much time. I just read the syllabus, underline/highlight the points that I think are important, and take the exam. It works well for me, but it might be a disastrous way of studying for another student.

If you're passing your courses with a decent buffer, maybe you should give another method that you think is more efficient a shot-- try just reading the syllabus a couple of times and highlighting important points in the syllabus, or try study groups and see what happens. However, if you're passing your classes by a comfortable margin, then I wouldn't sweat your study technique because it is effective.

 

[Syringe3131]

So second semester started about 2 months back and I still don't know if my method of studying is effective. I usually have a habit of taking notes and sometimes for subjects like histology, it takes quite a long time. But I don't know if studying straight from the book is any better (Coz i'm scared that i'll forget all the stuff for the final and then I would again have to start reading the book from the beginning; so note-taking might ease that process).

For anatomy I take only jot down important points for every topic (rather than the detailed histo. note-taking). The problem is that note-taking takes such a long time that I don't know if it's useful at the end. Are there any other students who think note-taking is useful and helps you retain better? (or eases the process of reading rather than reading the entire chapter at the end of exams?)....thanks a lot...

What I like to do for certain classes is answer the objectives in my own words. Not sure if every med school classes have clear objectives at the beginning of every lecture, but ours does. So by answering them in my own words, and then later being able to answer them w/o looking at that document, I usually know what to focus on. Of course this only works if your exams tend to cover what the objectives asks (i.e. that the objectives mean something, and not just some info put together willy-nillly to have objectives for the sake of having them).

 

[shreypete]

Unfortunately there are very few subjects in my school that go by the objectives. For subjects like anatomy, histology, and medical genetics, it is just random questions that come up from any random source.