how do you study?

[gegogi]

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Do you print out all the ppt lectures and write down while studying? I used to studying like that, but it's too hard to keep the info and literally to hard to write down everything professors say in the lecture.
How do you guys study? is it good to type up under ppt? is it time to buy an iPad?

 

[Doc Smile]

Do you print out all the ppt lectures and write down while studying? I used to studying like that, but it's too hard to keep the info and literally to hard to write down everything professors say in the lecture.
How do you guys study? is it good to type up under ppt? is it time to buy an iPad?

I study such that I can go through the material as many times as possible before really having to sit down and memorize everything. That way, memorizing everything becomes really easy

At IUSD, we have, in our second year, an exam once a month. D1 first semester, it is every 2 weeks, and D1 2nd semester it is once every 3 weeks. Especially in the second year, it becomes really easy to put everything off until 'test week' but unlike some other top 10% class rank people in my class, I can't learn that fast and need to constantly prepare in order to do well.

Here is my lecture studying schedule:

1) Put ppt in Microsoft OneNote and Take little notes during lecture but try as hard as possible to pay attention and not fb/geekologie/sleep/blogging.

2) make a really in depth, all encompassing outline of the entire lecture as soon as possible after class. I do this for every lecture and send them out to the entire class at the end of every week (as well as numerous other test prep/studyguides/lecture-exam lists/verbatims). I am just very altruistic...

3) My wife does all the verbatims for our class lectures (word-for-word transcriptions that match up with the ppt slide the prof is talking about) and I will go through the verbatim and listen to the podcast at the same time (all our lectures are podcasted) but at increased speed (like 200% lecture speed).

4) I go through my previously made outlines over the weekend for the previous week.

5) ~1 week before the test leading up to the test I start going through my outlines and Memorizing the crap out of them.

Because 2nd year is chalk full of lab projects, time management is really important. I usually am at school from 7AM till 10:30PM come home, eat dinner, go to sleep. I hardly do anything fun, seriously, super nerd lame guy over here. We get out of class at 2PM on most days so I study/outline/verbatim from 2-6PM then go to the lab and work on my Fixed Prosth projects, Dentures, etc until the lab closes at 10/10:30. I usually leave Friday evenings/Saturday mornings for quality time with the wifey. The rest of the weekend I usually go to the school and work during the open lab hours then study for the rest of the time.

I seriously feel super lame and gunner-esque typing this out and realizing how ridiculous this sounds, But thats what it takes for me to be where I want to be class rank wise and proficient as a dentist.

Take it for whatever its worth.

 

[dentalWorks]

I study such that I can go through the material as many times as possible before really having to sit down and memorize everything. That way, memorizing everything becomes really easy

At IUSD, we have, in our second year, an exam once a month. D1 first semester, it is every 2 weeks, and D1 2nd semester it is once every 3 weeks. Especially in the second year, it becomes really easy to put everything off until 'test week' but unlike some other top 10% class rank people in my class, I can't learn that fast and need to constantly prepare in order to do well.

Here is my lecture studying schedule:

1) Put ppt in Microsoft OneNote and Take little notes during lecture but try as hard as possible to pay attention and not fb/geekologie/sleep/blogging.

2) make a really in depth, all encompassing outline of the entire lecture as soon as possible after class. I do this for every lecture and send them out to the entire class at the end of every week (as well as numerous other test prep/studyguides/lecture-exam lists/verbatims). I am just very altruistic...

3) My wife does all the verbatims for our class lectures (word-for-word transcriptions that match up with the ppt slide the prof is talking about) and I will go through the verbatim and listen to the podcast at the same time (all our lectures are podcasted) but at increased speed (like 200% lecture speed).

4) I go through my previously made outlines over the weekend for the previous week.

5) ~1 week before the test leading up to the test I start going through my outlines and Memorizing the crap out of them.

Because 2nd year is chalk full of lab projects, time management is really important. I usually am at school from 7AM till 10:30PM come home, eat dinner, go to sleep. I hardly do anything fun, seriously, super nerd lame guy over here. We get out of class at 2PM on most days so I study/outline/verbatim from 2-6PM then go to the lab and work on my Fixed Prosth projects, Dentures, etc until the lab closes at 10/10:30. I usually leave Friday evenings/Saturday mornings for quality time with the wifey. The rest of the weekend I usually go to the school and work during the open lab hours then study for the rest of the time.

I seriously feel super lame and gunner-esque typing this out and realizing how ridiculous this sounds, But thats what it takes for me to be where I want to be class rank wise and proficient as a dentist.

Take it for whatever its worth.

Sounds like a top 10% student right there. I am actually gonna follow that style of schedule when I get to DS2. Good job Smile, and keep up the hard work 👍

I am a DS1 at Detroit and... I am still not very "efficient" with my studying. I am the print-it-out and write hard notes typa-guy cause... I am old school like that, I can't study off of a computer screen (everyone's different). I do re-listen to lectures of difficult material (biochem, gross anatomy, and histology cause its online course anyways).

I am still battling the boredom I get during lectures, so, the notes I take on my printouts.... suck (hence not efficient way to use up my time). I am trying my hardest to pay better attention in class, so I can write better notes, and eventually study less at home. When will I be able to achieve this? who knows... I am still adjusting.

As far as studying at home goes, I study alot... My first term at mercy is light (only 20 credits ~ but its got 9 freaking classes, and THEY ALWAYS HAVE QUIZES, EVERY WEEK I have like 2-3 quizzes). Every day, I do about 3-5 hours of studying, and majority of weekend is spend studying. I am doing really well on my (so far) midterms and quizzes and I have no idea why I am working this hard, I can probably work half as hard, and still pass with 70s. I am a 30 year old DS1 which means, I don't think I'll ever specialize.

I am not too experienced with GPA / class rank / etc.... but from what I can tell so far, your DS1 class rank is HUGELY dependent on your undergrad degree + work ethic. Those of us who study day and night and have a big science-major undergrad, will rank well cause alot of the sciences you take in DS1 are very similar to upper level sciences you take in undergrad.

DS2, I can't really comment on, I am not there yet... but I bet you, organization + time management skills (along with the work ethic ofc) will be key. I look at the DS2 schedule at my school, and I can honestly say, it intimidates me. It makes my current schedule feel like a semester in high school.

 

[dentalWorks]

Hey Doc Smile ~

Forgot to ask... are the didactics of DS2 "easier" than DS1? I know you have ALOT more work to do in 2 (cause of all the labs and how hard they grade you guys).

 

[Doc Smile]

Hey Doc Smile ~

Forgot to ask... are the didactics of DS2 "easier" than DS1? I know you have ALOT more work to do in 2 (cause of all the labs and how hard they grade you guys).

I don't think they are particularly easier, they are just more relevant to dentistry - Fixed partial prosth, complete dentures, non-surgical perio, radiology, dx and tx planning, oral path, then our other have of "Systemic Approach to Biomedical Sciences (SABS)" which is basically physiology (this semester we do block system with Urinary-Reproductive, Musculoskeletal, Dermatology, and Hematology) - where as last year we had Molecular Cell bio, Oral facial Biology, histology, cranial facial growth and devo, etc, etc,etc.

Because our classes this year are more relevant, I find my self more interested in the topics, albeit still bored to death, and being more interested in a topic makes studying, comprehending, and learning it all that much easier.

As far as lab work goes:
D1 Sem 1: 90% Didactic and 10% lab (waxing, gnathology, & single tooth direct)
D1 Sem 2: 70% Didactic and 30% lab (but lab is for the purpose of learning techniques, building hand skills, etc - Single tooth indirect)
D2 Sem 1: 50% Didactic and 40% lab 10% clinic (Non-surgical perio, Radiology, fixed prosth, complete dentures, endo; shadowing in clinics, doing prophies, radiographs, and some basic cavity preps and restorations in the clinic)
D2 Sem 2: 40% Didactic and 40% lab and 20% clinics... not 1,000% sure what we do in there yet.


An addendum to my above post, I do print out all my outlines because I hate staring at the computer screen as well. I think having a hard copy of what your studying in fornt of you to take notes on in the margins, highlight, circle, doodle, etc really gets your focus on that only.

 

[dentalWorks]

As far as lab work goes:
D1 Sem 1: 90% Didactic and 10% lab (waxing, gnathology, & single tooth direct)
D1 Sem 2: 70% Didactic and 30% lab (but lab is for the purpose of learning techniques, building hand skills, etc - Single tooth indirect)
D2 Sem 1: 50% Didactic and 40% lab 10% clinic (Non-surgical perio, Radiology, fixed prosth, complete dentures, endo; shadowing in clinics, doing prophies, radiographs, and some basic cavity preps and restorations in the clinic)
D2 Sem 2: 40% Didactic and 40% lab and 20% clinics... not 1,000% sure what we do in there yet.

That sounds like a nice setup. In my school, first term now, in the sim-lab we are only doing indirect (its funny lol, MOST don't use the mirror, we are just bend down and prep)

Using that damn mirror is hard yo.... I try to practice, but I ALWAYS nick the cusp on the way out, or when I try to go mesial-to-distal and I end up going diagonally instead. Complete epic failure.

 

[Mackchops]

I was old-school and took loose-leaf notes during class. Then I would type up a new set of notes after class straight into the powerpoint. All our lectures were recorded so I could go back and re-listen to something if I needed to at this point but I usually didn't because it was still fresh in my mind. Then, when it was time to study, I just printed out the powerpoint with all my notes and studied that -- referring to textbooks as needed. Worked for me.

 

[bye bye greasy]

Study high
Take the test high
Get high scores

 

[JLum]

Study high
Take the test high
Get high scores

LOL, you serious?

 

[HoustonDAT]

type the entire lecture verbatim into Anki into question/answer format.

make power points of the diagrams/pictures. cover the answers/labels with boxes that disappear. i never made a ppt in my life before D-school. with practice, a bare bones efficient power point comes very quickly.

 

[pixidust]

It really depends on your learning style because you know how you study best. As for what to study, that depends on your school. If the professor focuses and tests mainly off ppts, then study only the ppts. If it's based on wha they say, write write write as much as you can. If you find you can't take notes fast enough by hand, switch to a computer and see if that works. But figure out how you learn best as soon as possible because one you get your groove on, it's on and you can cruise the rest of the way.

Plus, an iPad isn't necessary unless you want to play Angry Birds on big screen.

 

[UBDent19]

I like PDF versions of the notes. You can use the typewriter tool and arrow tool to take notes right on the slide and highlight important parts. In PPT, the notes are down below and not closely associated with the professors material. If you want to spend 30min running on a treadmill during lunch, you can print the notes out and study from them.

IMO: handwritten notes are too hard to keep track of. Everything on my computer means all of my notes only take up as much space in my backpack as my computer does and they are always available to me whenever I have my computer. Plus, you can search the content of all your notes from Spotlight in order to quickly reference material.

An iPad is a great supplement too. You can view/edit anything created on the laptop with it.