How to study? I forgot how to...

[C@lidoc]

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So for someone who has crammed a bunch when I was in undergrad and is now several years out from school, I think I forgot how to study. I never really had good study skills to begin with and I never really put in more than a few hours a day or so before an exam. Does anyone have any good resources they found useful to beef up their study skills? I have no problem sitting down and putting in the time if need be, I just feel unprepared for the volume that is about to hit me very soon. Anyone else that was in a similar position before starting M1?

 

[JingleChips]

same position as you, except i had to spend 3-4 days cramming before each exam. once that exam was done, i started cramming for the next one in a different class. AND i studied by basically rewriting / outlining the textbook (horribly inefficient). i'm hoping to rely on the P/F curriculum to survive while i learn how to actually study efficiently.

 

[Say]

Like you and most of your future classmates, I also only crammed for exams in undergrad. It is a big jump to go to medical school where every week feels like exam week. I think for most people instinct kicks in and you work as hard as you feel is necessary to be comfortable with the material. At the beginning of M1 I asked a few M2's how they studied and what they found was effective. I took their advice and tailored it to my study habits and it worked really well. Because every school is a little different, I'd suggest you do the same at your future school. Don't stress too much, and enjoy the summer! It should all work out.

 

[C@lidoc]

Thanks guys. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that was a crammer in undegrad. I just know my old study skills won't be sufficient, but I guess I can always learn from some of the M2s as to what worked for them.

 

[wdoc]

Like Say said, ask the M2's when you get to school and they will provide you with plenty of insight for how to study (or what worked for them). Figure out a study strategy, give it a shot, and if it doesn't work perfect just tweak it until you have something that is functional.

 

[cs24]

read stuff. then read it again later. then read it one or two more times before your test.

Repetition is key, don't get so bogged down in the first pass of material that is takes you hours and hours. With subsequent passes things will start to fall into place. Spacing out those repetitions appropriately makes it work even better.

Edit- and don't fall behind. Don't freak out, people rarely fall behind because the material is truly too much for them to handle, they fall behind because they are freaking LAZY. "OMG its Thursday and I still have to watch one of Monday's lectures and all the ones after!" Well what the f@ck were you doing during your 16 waking hours on Monday when you had 4 total hours of lecture material to cover (2 hr if you 2x!). And then again on Tuesday (16 more hours), and Wednesday, and so on and so forth. Stay on top of things, use repetition, and you will be fine.

 

[DrDarce]

I'm starting in September and in the same spot as you OP. I don't think it would be too bold to say a lot of people crammed before each test during undergrad (I know I did). What @cs24 said seems like pretty solid advice.

 

[sholamd]

Hi C@lidoc, I think we've talked before...I have a whole blog/podcast about this and could go on for hours, but I'll give you a few quick tips:
- Spaced repetition program like Anki (not firecracker), you can start learning how to use this before school starts
- Be careful about taking advice from M2s - you don't know the truth about how they are performing or how they will ultimately rank/match/score on Step 1. Better to take advice from M3/M4/residents who have some perspective.
- Figure out how you are going to use First Aid early on - not as important for M1 but crucial for M2
- Be willing to try out different study strategies for the first few exams

Hope this helps!
Oh - the most important advice: you'll be fine! Once a school accepts you, they have a vested interest in helping you succeed. Use your school's resources liberally, and try to enjoy life a little.

 

[Say]

Hi C@lidoc, I think we've talked before...I have a whole blog/podcast about this and could go on for hours, but I'll give you a few quick tips:
- Spaced repetition program like Anki (not firecracker), you can start learning how to use this before school starts
- Be careful about taking advice from M2s - you don't know the truth about how they are performing or how they will ultimately rank/match/score on Step 1. Better to take advice from M3/M4/residents who have some perspective.
- Figure out how you are going to use First Aid early on - not as important for M1 but crucial for M2
- Be willing to try out different study strategies for the first few exams

Hope this helps!
Oh - the most important advice: you'll be fine! Once a school accepts you, they have a vested interest in helping you succeed. Use your school's resources liberally, and try to enjoy life a little.

Lmao at point #2. Even the M2s who aren't doing well generally have a good idea of what they should be doing in order to make top marks. Most of the ones who performed poorly reached the limit of how hard they were willing to work to get the grade. Also how would you know how M3s performed during M2 without asking them (which could also be asked of an M2)?

 

[nonick123]

read stuff. then read it again later. then read it one or two more times before your test.

Repetition is key, don't get so bogged down in the first pass of material that is takes you hours and hours. With subsequent passes things will start to fall into place. Spacing out those repetitions appropriately makes it work even better.

Edit- and don't fall behind. Don't freak out, people rarely fall behind because the material is truly too much for them to handle, they fall behind because they are freaking LAZY. "OMG its Thursday and I still have to watch one of Monday's lectures and all the ones after!" Well what the f@ck were you doing during your 16 waking hours on Monday when you had 4 total hours of lecture material to cover (2 hr if you 2x!). And then again on Tuesday (16 more hours), and Wednesday, and so on and so forth. Stay on top of things, use repetition, and you will be fine.

This is it, there is no miracle..read..repeat then again

 

[Th2]

WebPath has a section on learning theory that is an interesting read in the very least.
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/LEARN/LEARNIDX.html

 

[Duff84]

Agreed with the above sentiments. When I started out I went a little overboard: I would go to every lecture, take excessive notes on the slides, go home, go over all my lectures again for a second pass, then take "high yield facts" which ended up being like wayyyy too much and turning them into Anki decks. Sometime around 1 AM each night I'd be done with all that. Yeah it was dumb and overkill and I found that all my note-taking took more time than actually just learning material.

Rest of the year I just attended or watched a lecture and then would read and reread our scribes over and over again until I was sick of it in the following weeks. The week before the exam I would do practice questions from old exams we got or from other resources and I was happily slightly above average but, more importantly, had a life and was feeling good about said life.

In the end, just do what works for you and don't be afraid to change things up and not get hung up on what everybody else is doing. Hopefully you'll have awesome classmates like I have to help you out along the way.

 

[sholamd]

Lmao at point #2. Even the M2s who aren't doing well generally have a good idea of what they should be doing in order to make top marks. Most of the ones who performed poorly reached the limit of how hard they were willing to work to get the grade. Also how would you know how M3s performed during M2 without asking them (which could also be asked of an M2)?

I can see how it seems funny, but I speak from experience here. During my M2 year, I had classmates who seemed to have it all together, and people would frequently ask those students for advice (which was given). A couple of those students, I found out later, failed exams and had to remediate the block - or even repeat an entire year. They were giving out study advice, meanwhile their study habits clearly weren't working.

It's just like reading journal articles - as physicians we always need to be skeptical about the source of our "facts."

 

[Jumanji2015]

read stuff. then read it again later. then read it one or two more times before your test.

Repetition is key, don't get so bogged down in the first pass of material that is takes you hours and hours. With subsequent passes things will start to fall into place. Spacing out those repetitions appropriately makes it work even better.

Edit- and don't fall behind. Don't freak out, people rarely fall behind because the material is truly too much for them to handle, they fall behind because they are freaking LAZY. "OMG its Thursday and I still have to watch one of Monday's lectures and all the ones after!" Well what the f@ck were you doing during your 16 waking hours on Monday when you had 4 total hours of lecture material to cover (2 hr if you 2x!). And then again on Tuesday (16 more hours), and Wednesday, and so on and so forth. Stay on top of things, use repetition, and you will be fine.

I believe this is referred to as spiraling, in the education community.

 

[Say]

I can see how it seems funny, but I speak from experience here. During my M2 year, I had classmates who seemed to have it all together, and people would frequently ask those students for advice (which was given). A couple of those students, I found out later, failed exams and had to remediate the block - or even repeat an entire year. They were giving out study advice, meanwhile their study habits clearly weren't working.

It's just like reading journal articles - as physicians we always need to be skeptical about the source of our "facts."

Are you suggesting that people who fail do not have a clue on how to succeed? Med school isn't intellectually draining... you sit there and rote memorize fact after fact, rinse, and repeat. People who fail aren't stumped by issues understanding the material, but rather do not have the motivation (or sometimes ability to do the work when something bad happens in their life). I'd argue that most med students have an idea of what they need to do but some simply can't quite get there. That does not make their advice invalid. I learned plenty from M2s who were top of their class and those who were not... it is good to get perspective from all angles.

 

[futuremdforme]

Coursera has a class on this called learning how to learn by Barbara Oakeley (sp?). It's specifically aimed at learning science. She also has a book on it.

 

[acceptmeplease]

I was a crammer in undergrad, because I knew I could get away with it.

There's this feeling of impending doom about 2 weeks or so before a test that makes me study in medical school.

 

[slopes23]

I was a crammer in undergrad, because I knew I could get away with it.

There's this feeling of impending doom about 2 weeks or so before a test that makes me study in medical school.

With a test every 2 weeks, its a constant feeling of doom. 🙂

 

[acceptmeplease]

With a test every 2 weeks, its a constant feeling of doom. 🙂

A test every two weeks would be awful; for our neuro block, our tests were 8 weeks apart.

We start 2nd year off with micro block that includes weekly tests for 8 weeks. That's going to suck.

 

[sholamd]

"Med school isn't intellectually draining... you sit there and rote memorize fact after fact, rinse, and repeat."

Yikes. Anyone with this attitude will score average on Step 1. Rote memorization is not going to cut it, on boards or as a physician. You need to understand complicated concepts (which is intellectually draining). You need to be able to apply that information to new situations, which is exactly what Step 1 is testing.

Honestly, I wish you the best of luck with school and I hope you aren't getting burned out, because it sounds like you may be getting a little cynical already (I went through that too!). If the M2s you are talking to are giving you good advice and it works out for you in the long run, more power to you! Congrats on making it through your first year, PM me with how things turn out or if I can be of help with any advice along the way!

 

[Th2]

"Med school isn't intellectually draining... you sit there and rote memorize fact after fact, rinse, and repeat."

Yikes.

I don't know, it isn't intellectually draining. It's intellectually stimulating. It may be morale-y or motivationally draining, however, to be fairly routine.