How to study, effectively??

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Haversian Canal

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Hi ... I read some comments on the thread "I SUCK at tests" ... and many said that he maybe is not studying properly...so am wondering:

How do you study? how do you know it is the "effective" way? Do you change this strategy before exams?

thanks

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Repetition is the key. So ideally you pre-read, go to class, and read the material after class on the same day. Then in the crunch week you just keep reviewing as much as you can.

Personally I liked to try and get through all of hte material for a test a few days early and then just review for a few days before the test.
 
Hi...

There is no one way to study. Everyone has various methods that work best for them. But the one near-universal factor is time management. As long as you devote the needed time for each subject... you should do fine. This is easier said than done... especially when family/ friends/ tv/ laziness come calling. During med school, I basically set aside 2 evenings to take off. One being on a weekend - with the other being on a weekday. All other evenings were to be devoted to studying (obviously not continuously - but for the most part). This was how I found my balance. Hope this helps.
 
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Hi ... I read some comments on the thread "I SUCK at tests" ... and many said that he maybe is not studying properly...so am wondering:

How do you study? how do you know it is the "effective" way? Do you change this strategy before exams?

thanks

In general, and after adjustment for volume, what got you into medical school will get you through medical school. When you were an undergraduate, how did you know if you had learned the material that you needed to master?

You have to be willing to make any adjustments early and you have to be willing to take advantage of the things that your school may have to offer. At my school, there were peer tutors who could help with organization. There were study skills workshops that students could take advantage of. There were test-taking workshops that students could take advantage of. All of these things could give you ideas or strategies that could help with efficiency.

In short, if something that you have been doing in the past, doesn't work for you, then you make some changes. For the vast majority of medical students, those changes are very minor. Be aware that the biggest change that many people may have to make is an attitude change because you can "talk" or "think" yourself out of being able to get the studying done effectively or if you go into a test with the idea that you are "no good" at test-taking, you will find yourself not doing very well on that particular test.
 
To really do well on tests (i.e. get A's), you've got to obsess a little. The guy who said repetition is key is correct. You need to go through the material as many times as possible, in as many ways as possible.

1) Try to preread lightly, you're not reading for memorization or really to retain anything in this phase. Although I will say I never really got into the "prereading" thing, and I did very well.

2) Go to class. Until you really know that class is not a good use of your time, go to every class. At the very least, you gain knowledge of how fast the professor is going through the material, what depth of understanding they expect, what things they say, "oh don't worry about this slide", or add to what's in the slides based on what they say in lecture. It's hard to argue that listening to the guy who's going to be writing the test questions on the material talk about the material isn't a worthwhile use of your time, though occasionally it does happen. So go to class, and take notes on the slides.

3) Go through your slides afterwards and highlight them according to your highlighting scheme (use multiple colors).

4) Go through your lecture notes and highlight them according to your highlighting scheme.

5) Transfer notes or anything extra (not in the lecture notes) from the slides & what was said in lecture to the lecture notes. Henceforth the lecture notes should have everything material-wise that you need for the test.

6) Go to town on the lecture notes. Make review sheets based on it. Review sheets are huge. In fact, in my opinion you should always be making review sheets. Draw out biochem reactions. Diagram endocrine pathways. Sketch anatomy structures. Make lists of micro bugs, or pharm drugs. Write down anything you don't know, and review that. The great thing about review sheets is that (1) you've had to read through the notes to make it in the first place, (2) you put key points in your own words and have a record of it, (3) you have something to review again later (you should use these as something easy to flip through the morning before the test). Make sure you get in a full comprehensive notes review in the week or so before the test.

7) The morning of, I recommend getting in a few hours of light review before the test. Just to get your head primed, thinking about the material, remind yourself of things, etc. Review sheets are great for this.

8) Also, if old tests are available, go through those. Not so much to learn things (or at least I didn't use them to really learn things), but to get down how they're going to be asking questions (depth, style, etc.). Do as many practice questions as you can.

9) Keep checklists of your progress. This is big. You keep careful track of what you've done and what you have yet to do, so that you're appropriately confident about how much you've done, but also knowledgeable about what you haven't hit yet.

10) General: set goals to how well you want to do and accept nothing less. Don't rely on curves. Pretend there isn't going to be a curve, e.g. that you need 90% on every test. That way, the curves tend to be on your side (even if you fall below the mark you're shooting for on an exam or two). Try to do well early in the course. It takes pressure off a little for the final.
 
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My strategy is to look at studying like learning a map. I start memorizing a small area that I am familiar with and I slowly increase the boundaries of my knowledge.
 
Hi ... I read some comments on the thread "I SUCK at tests" ... and many said that he maybe is not studying properly...so am wondering:

How do you study? how do you know it is the "effective" way? Do you change this strategy before exams?

thanks

Hey there
my method may not work for all, but it works really well for me so here goes. 1st I never preread or do any work for a lecture (usually) before hand. I tried early on, but never kept with it. Second, I usually always go to class. I like going to class, and I feel like it gives me a 1st good run through everything (though sometimes i day dream:) Third, I usually listen to the lectures casually at 2 times speed the night before I am going to "seriously" listen to the lecture. When I listen to a lecture the second time, I do it at 1.5 speed (sometimes 2 if someone who speaks more slowly is lecturing). I then take notes as if I was in the lecture and I devote all my attention to the task at hand. I can usually get through 2-4 lectures a day at this pace. After an exam I need time to recover, so I may go to class but I don't even think about studying for at least 3 days (sometimes it has been a week:eek:
This method may not work for all but it works for me. I echo the attitude of the previous guy who said you need a bit of OCD basically and high aim. I honestly aim for 100% on every exam I take. I don't really pick and chose what is impt from a lecture, I try to learn everything from the lectures (unless once in a while there are profs who say "know this for the exam", etc)
The only difference form above would be anatomy or histo. For anatomy I spent a good amount of time in the lab (which looking back was a ton of fun). I also used downstates website a lot, I really liked it. Histo is very visual so I look at various pictures. I don't really use books for any class except anatomy (for pictures) or wheaters, if I need to know something I usually google it.
 
My strategy is to look at studying like learning a map. I start memorizing a small area that I am familiar with and I slowly increase the boundaries of my knowledge.

I tend to do a little of this as well. To build confidence I usually go over the lectures I am more familiar with first.
 
My strategy is to look at studying like learning a map. I start memorizing a small area that I am familiar with and I slowly increase the boundaries of my knowledge.


This is good...

In addition I think its important to be able to attain 110% "tunnel vision" when you study (maybe even with the use of ear plugs at times)..

Also you should be able to really minimize distraction!!:thumbup:
 
best thing i learned first year was to be flexible with the way you study. if you feel something isn't really working for you, don't be afraid to change it. that being said, this is what i do

-i go to most classes (probably 80% or so) and try to pay attention.
-if the prof said "this is important" (which they do every so often), i of course would make huge stars next to it.
-in between lectures i would try to go back through the notes and high-light or clear something up in my own head. often, however, a food or bathroom run got in the way of doing this.
-at home i would pull out all the "important information" and put it in my computer. this was organized by lecture number.
-i would draw diagrams etc (i am best at remembering where things are on a page, so pics work really well for me) if i felt inspired.
-we have class-organized notes, so depending on who wrote them for each lecture, i may read those and pull out the "important info" again
-before quizzes or tests, i would print off the info and read it (at least 2 times before a quiz, 3 to 4 before a test). i am dependent on repitition, so this is why i made the lists. they ended up being huge with some classes because i had a hard time telling what exactly was important
-i only ever looked back at lecture notes to clarify or edit my notes or when studying for an exam (we have more quizzes than exams)
-after quizzes, i would look at my wrong answers to see what type of mistake i made (rushed w/o thinking, had no clue because i didn't study that, completely didn't get a concept) just so that i could maybe learn to take a test better
-i rarely ever used books
-i rarely ever listened to lectures again (i'm just not an auditory learner most of the time)
 
In short, if something that you have been doing in the past, doesn't work for you, then you make some changes. For the vast majority of medical students, those changes are very minor. Be aware that the biggest change that many people may have to make is an attitude change because you can "talk" or "think" yourself out of being able to get the studying done effectively or if you go into a test with the idea that you are "no good" at test-taking, you will find yourself not doing very well on that particular test.

this is v.difficult =/... but also inevitable


anyway, thanks guys for help, will try some of your ways, two years in medical school and still dont feel like i found my way of study, am doing fine but i know i am better, I do very great at maths and logic questions,, because,in many parts, its challenging and it feels good to look for answer! In medicine things are much different, not much of thinking stimuli, so anyone can just get the book into their photographic memory and get all through, i find such things difficult to tolerate, but i think and hope am getting over them...
 
OK, so you already know that repitition what it's about, so here' my take on it:

READ YOUR NOTES EVERY DAY! Try to do a week or two of notes a day plus the day's material. Since you'll be reading the same thing over and over again, you don't have to stress if you don't understand it the first time. This last part is big. A lot of people will stress out if they can't understand something the first time. Stress does not help in med school, Lord knows there's enough of it, don't add anymore!
My method might take awhile, and isn'tnecessarilly efficient (since the people who can see something once and understand it will definately out perform you in the beginning) but by the end of the class you'll be farther ahead of people who understood week 1's material and then hasn't given it a second thought.
This method get's me B's. It's not worth my sanity to strive for A's as my interests lie in internal med/critical care.
 
So, I did post a while ago about how I was frustrated with my performance. I do want to improve. I have read this thread and it has given me a good idea of what to do, but I think I am doing what most of your say.

I'll explain how I study. First off I go to class and try to copy everything important the professor says. If I end up not paying attentionand feel like its an important topic, I will sometimes (more often not) watch the lecture again. I try to stay on top of the lectures for the week that I have them by taking thorough notes on them. I don't retain everything this time through, but I take good notes and do get a good base of knowledge for the material. I do this during the weekdays and whatever i don't finish with, I catch up on the weekends. I do the same for the following week, and last week before the test, I go through the lectures again. Take notes again. I don't look at my old notes because I feel like the lecture notes are more thorough. I do make study sheets by linking topics together from seperate lectures and that helps. I just keep going over the material after that as many times as possible.

This is the general overview of how I study. I think my method is pretty thorough, may not be the most effective or efficient, but I get through everything a couple times. That said, I still can't get over the hump of getting a HP or H in any class. Is there anything lacking in my study habits? Also, is there anything I can do in this summer before I start 2nd year to get my started on the right foot...like any study improvement skills that I can develop?
Any input is appreciated!
Thanks!
 
Do your work in chunks of 2 to 3 hours at a time. Asking yourself to sit in one place for longer than that is probably asking too much.

Get up at least 3 hours before ANY exam, test, etc. Doesn't matter if the test starts at 8 am.

Minimize highlighting. Do not highlight every damn word / sentence / paragraph / chart. No more than 2 highlighter colors. It's not necessary. If you get the urge to fill up an entire page with 7 different shades of neon crap, go buy a coloring book from the drugstore instead.

Also helps:
Exercise - A LOT. Kick your own ass. Tire yourself out.
 
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