how do you guys stay focussed during exams?

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shreypete

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Beats me. I failed my last exam and am now taking the next one..after which I have to again retake the one I failed. I'm just a bit sick of studying...how do you guys keep up with all this stress/work load especially during exam time?

It's summer and I see nothing but people having fun all day (including my friends) and unfortunately I have to now study all summer for exams and nothing but exams sob sob.:(

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Apparently through drugs judging by the nootropics advertisement...er... poll topic.

On a serious note, I found the best way to focus in life is to not give a **** what other people are doing, i.e. stop wasting time comparing yourself to and worrying about others. Focus on what you need to get done. You don't know what they're really doing in the summer anymore than you know how much they worked for the course you failed, etc and it really has no bearing on you.
 
Beats me. I failed my last exam and am now taking the next one..after which I have to again retake the one I failed. I'm just a bit sick of studying...how do you guys keep up with all this stress/work load especially during exam time?

It's summer and I see nothing but people having fun all day (including my friends) and unfortunately I have to now study all summer for exams and nothing but exams sob sob.:(

Exercise. Seriously.

Just a 15 minute run once a day could help you stay focused and energized especially if done early in the morning. Also, remind yourself every now and then of how awful it was to fail and then channel your energy toward accomplishing the task. Be like Kobe and work hard.
 
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Its easy to focus if you find the time to recharge once in a while. I dunno what you have been doing so far, but maybe try studying in chunks and do something fun in between. That way, after having a bit of fun, you are re-energized and realize "Oh crap, I better get to work!" so you would be more productive and motivated to learn the material.

Yeah, med school classes in the summer is probably a bad morale booster when a lot of people are having fun...but this applies year-round if you really think about it. People will go out and have fun all year long, but realize you're in a different journey, and the amount of fun you can have is diminshed. However, it's not completely gone(and sadly some med students seem to forget this)
 
Or do they forget?

In my experience, students lie all the time to other students about how much work they put in and generally their lies winds up in one of the two extremes. Reasons are various:

A gunner might lie about not studying at all so students envy him/copy him and quit putting full effort, or about studying all the time to demoralize students that don't realize that's nearly impossible.

Others lie to keep up a public persona or because they're embarassed, or because they're lying to themselves, etc.

Just worry about what you need to do to get where you want to go.
 
I found the EK suggestion of taking a full 30 second break in between sections/passages very helpful. I would close my eyes, do some breathing and clear my mind before diving back in. Depending on the exam style, this might be more or less easy, but it works for me.

Same thing for studying. Find out how long you can pay attention before your mind starts to wander. Set a timer for this amount - could be 15 minutes or 50 minutes. At the end of this time, take a break proportional to the amount you have worked - say 2-3 minutes for a 15 minute study period and 10 for a 50 minute period. Get up and walk around. Think about any issues which have been bugging you while you have been studying (write them down so you can get them out of your head). I think njbmd has also advised this. Then re-focus for 30 seconds, close your eyes, clear your mind and get back in.

Also, decide how many hours you will study daily, or how much material you will need to cover, and when you have covered what you need to for the day, get away from the material and go have some fun with friends. Make low-key plans so you can join them whenever. And get plenty of sleep. :)

HTH
 
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The Japanese 3 min walk, it's proven : ) Even if I feel ok during the exam, I'll make myself get up and walk the hall, and eat something.

For studying, I recommend the "chunk" format, and I change up how I study throughout the day -some time reading, some time drilling, some with music, some without, and lots of breaks for food and movement. I also switch from reviewing to covering new material when I find myself losing focus.

I write myself to-do lists and if I work through the list, then the reward is play time. But you have to have realistic goals for that to work.

But dude, summer is a crappy time to try to memorize drugs.
 
I found the EK suggestion of taking a full 30 second break in between sections/passages very helpful. I would close my eyes, do some breathing and clear my mind before diving back in. Depending on the exam style, this might be more or less easy, but it works for me.

Same thing for studying. Find out how long you can pay attention before your mind starts to wander. Set a timer for this amount - could be 15 minutes or 50 minutes. At the end of this time, take a break proportional to the amount you have worked - say 2-3 minutes for a 15 minute study period and 10 for a 50 minute period. Get up and walk around. Think about any issues which have been bugging you while you have been studying (write them down so you can get them out of your head). I think njbmd has also advised this. Then re-focus for 30 seconds, close your eyes, clear your mind and get back in.

Also, decide how many hours you will study daily, or how much material you will need to cover, and when you have covered what you need to for the day, get away from the material and go have some fun with friends. Make low-key plans so you can join them whenever. And get plenty of sleep. :)

HTH

Agreed. I have about 45 minutes of good attention span for studying or test taking. When studying I'd set an egg timer for 45 minutes and then I'd take a timed break of 15 minutes (I started with untimed breaks but they always turned into 45 minutes of web surfing lol). During a test I do deep breathing/meditation before starting a block and get up and take a short walk through the hallways between blocks. Even for the step one I was able to take a break between each of the blocks and even did some yoga in the lobby. If I find myself panicking or zoning out I stop and do deep breathing/meditation.
 
Beats me. I failed my last exam and am now taking the next one..after which I have to again retake the one I failed. I'm just a bit sick of studying...how do you guys keep up with all this stress/work load especially during exam time?

It's summer and I see nothing but people having fun all day (including my friends) and unfortunately I have to now study all summer for exams and nothing but exams sob sob.:(

i tell myself no one else can do it for me. Ill have to do it.. It better be now than later
 
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