How many times do you review your notes?

[nardini46]

I am a 1st year student trying to figure out how to study. How many times do you guys review your notes for a test in medical school? I've heard that 3 passes is enough but Im not sure. Also how much time do you guys devote to practicing physical exam skills and OMM skills outside of class.

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[MrBeauregard]

I always tried to review lectures the same night. This allowed me to essentially see material twice in one day. Then, on the weekends, I would review every single lecture in the order in which we got them on both Saturday and Sunday, typically starting at about 9am and stopping at around 5pm, leaving me plenty of time to do what I wanted to on weekends. So that is already around four times right there. Then, depending on how many weeks of material were on an exam, I would do the same with the next week's material, using Saturday and Sunday as review days. I would always review week 1 material as well, so that it stayed fresh. If we had Monday exams I would review every single lecture on both Saturday and Sunday. If we had a Friday exam, I usually tried to get through weeks 1 and 2 on Wednesday and Thursday. So, in summary, if 2 weeks of material was on the exam, I would see a single lecture roughly 6 times, maybe more, depending on how well I felt I knew it. It worked well for me, as I ended up top 10 in my class. I personally think that repetition is the best way to go, since med school is more volume than conceptual difficulty. Seeing it as many times as possible will make it easy to do well. It will also really cement it in your head for the long run. Good luck!

 

[nardini46]

MrBeauregard, thanks for sharing your study methods. Did you attend class or stay at home and listen to audio/video lectures?

 

[Ghost22]

For the most part, solid 3 seems to be high B/low A territory.

4+ solid reviews seems to be more A territory.

I'm not including class as any of those reviews (as I don't go).

 

[MrBeauregard]

OP,

I went to every single lecture (almost). I felt that was the best way for me to get my first exposure to the material. I felt that my professors (most of them) explained material well, so my first exposure was a good one and helped me to understand the material. After that, I typically studied alone on the weeknights and on weekends I would get together with a group of 2 or 3 other people to go over the notes really hard and get some extra insight. I think studying in groups is good because it gives you the chance to see the lecture from someone else's perspective and pick up on things you otherwise may have missed. But I do enjoy my time studying alone because I can go at my own pace and do things my own way.