How to study WITHOUT going/relying to class???

[traus349]

I highlighted and underlined certain points to draw your attention to the important portions of this long post 🙂. I appreciate your time.

I started my first year of medical school about 1 month ago and quickly learned that there is NO WAY I can study like how I did for undergrad.

I killed undergrad by simply listening to lectures and transcribing them into notes. My college had amazing professors so it worked out well and I never had to use a textbook.

There is not enough time to do that with med school material. Additionally, Ive never experienced such TERRIBLE lecturers/slides. I don't mean to disrespect anyone, but most of them have thick accents and seem unprepared for class. I bet they are amazing scientists and very nice people, but they are absolutely cannot teach. It seems like they are throwing random bits of information at us. Often the material is wrong. In fact, my entire class has a FB group where we share notes, ask questions etc. and we had to create a spread sheet to collaboratively note the mistakes that professors made in their lectures/slides.

I grew passionate about research and medicine because of how interesting my undergrad professors made it. Here, the professors are so bad that they make me bored of science. The only bright side is the school records every lecture and provides a bank of free textbooks. I have tried skipping class to go through the slides before listening to lecture (2x speed) so that I can just jot down what was not on the powerpoint. But this process is draining and frustrating, again because of how bad the professors are and how frequent mistakes pop up.

Many people have told me to learn on my own with textbooks. The thought of using a textbook or commonly recommended resources like BRS, supplemented with videos and First Aid is rejuvenating. The prospect of just focusing on "what I need to know for boards" is pretty cool and it lets me get familiar with the resources for when I do actually start board prep. But, since I primarily learned by listening to lectures, I have no skills with a textbook. Furthermore, professors test mainly off of their slides and a few points made during their lecture. Being a neurotic type A person, I am too nervous about those few points that are made in class but might not be in the slides or textbook.

What do you recommend? Are there resources that would allow me to completely drop lectures and not have to listen to recordings (Lecturio, Najeeb, etc, DIT, etc)? What if the professor teaches a couple things that are not in those resources? If I do go the self teach route, as ridiculous as it sounds, how do I even use a textbook/videos? Do you create your own slides as you are reading? Do you take notes after every paragraph/section?

Thanks in advance.

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[Dr G Oogle]

I did not go to class the first 2 years of Med school for much the same reason. My school gave you a syllabus for the entire block and all i did was read the syllabus for 6 hours a day instead of going to class. Is that something you can do?

 

[bashwell]

I highlighted and underlined certain points to draw your attention to the important portions of this long post 🙂. I appreciate your time.

I started my first year of medical school about 1 month ago and quickly learned that there is NO WAY I can study like how I did for undergrad.

I killed undergrad by simply listening to lectures and transcribing them into notes. My college had amazing professors so it worked out well and I never had to use a textbook.

There is not enough time to do that with med school material. Additionally, Ive never experienced such TERRIBLE lecturers/slides. I don't mean to disrespect anyone, but most of them have thick accents and seem unprepared for class. I bet they are amazing scientists and very nice people, but they are absolutely cannot teach. It seems like they are throwing random bits of information at us. Often the material is wrong. In fact, my entire class has a FB group where we share notes, ask questions etc. and we had to create a spread sheet to collaboratively note the mistakes that professors made in their lectures/slides.

I grew passionate about research and medicine because of how interesting my undergrad professors made it. Here, the professors are so bad that they make me bored of science. The only bright side is the school records every lecture and provides a bank of free textbooks. I have tried skipping class to go through the slides before listening to lecture (2x speed) so that I can just jot down what was not on the powerpoint. But this process is draining and frustrating, again because of how bad the professors are and how frequent mistakes pop up.

Many people have told me to learn on my own with textbooks. The thought of using a textbook or commonly recommended resources like BRS, supplemented with videos and First Aid is rejuvenating. The prospect of just focusing on "what I need to know for boards" is pretty cool and it lets me get familiar with the resources for when I do actually start board prep. But, since I primarily learned by listening to lectures, I have no skills with a textbook. Furthermore, professors test mainly off of their slides and a few points made during their lecture. Being a neurotic type A person, I am too nervous about those few points that are made in class but might not be in the slides or textbook.

What do you recommend? Are there resources that would allow me to completely drop lectures and not have to listen to recordings (Lecturio, Najeeb, etc, DIT, etc)? What if the professor teaches a couple things that are not in those resources? If I do go the self teach route, as ridiculous as it sounds, how do I even use a textbook/videos? Do you create your own slides as you are reading? Do you take notes after every paragraph/section?

Thanks in advance.

1) There's a distinction between your med school curriculum and Step 1. For Step 1, you really don't need anything else except for FA + UWorld. Most would add Pathoma though. UFAP. For med school, you will have to do enough to pass your exams. If you know Step 1 material really well, then you should be able to pass all your exams. That's fine if all you care about is passing. However, if you want to do more (e.g., get AOA), then you might have to know what your professors are teaching too.

2) Also, med school is not like doing a PhD in science so that's probably why you feel like you're "bored of science." Scientists know science, but they don't really know what's clinically relevant or irrelevant to the physician (despite their confidence). If try to you ask yourself how what you're learning might be clinically relevant, then maybe you can keep your interest alive during your pre-clinical years. For many of us, though, the pre-clinical years are just a grind you have to get through. I hated my pre-clinical years, but every year gets a little bit better than the one before it. M3 is fun in that you're doing clinical stuff, but horrible in that there's just so much wasted time and you are treated like s*** by everyone. But in my opinion things get much better when you're actually a doctor and earning money.

3) I think you have too many resources (e.g., DIT, Najeeb, Lecturio). Just pick one that works for you, and stick with it. At the end of the day, they all cover most of the same material, and you'll be using FA as your primary guide anyway. Personally I'd recommend Boards and Beyond from what I've seen.

Hope that helps.

 

[traus349]

I did not go to class the first 2 years of Med school for much the same reason. My school gave you a syllabus for the entire block and all i did was read the syllabus for 6 hours a day instead of going to class. Is that something you can do?

Did you not use lectures at all? what resources did you use besides powerpoints?

1) There's a distinction between your med school curriculum and Step 1. For Step 1, you really don't need anything else except for FA + UWorld. Most would add Pathoma though. UFAP. For med school, you will have to do enough to pass your exams. If you know Step 1 material really well, then you should be able to pass all your exams. That's fine if all you care about is passing. However, if you want to do more (e.g., get AOA), then you might have to know what your professors are teaching too.

2) Also, med school is not like doing a PhD in science so that's probably why you feel like you're "bored of science." Scientists know science, but they don't really know what's clinically relevant or irrelevant to the physician (despite their confidence). If try to you ask yourself how what you're learning might be clinically relevant, then maybe you can keep your interest alive during your pre-clinical years. For many of us, though, the pre-clinical years are just a grind you have to get through. I hated my pre-clinical years, but every year gets a little bit better than the one before it. M3 is fun in that you're doing clinical stuff, but horrible in that there's just so much wasted time and you are treated like s*** by everyone. But in my opinion things get much better when you're actually a doctor and earning money.

3) I think you have too many resources (e.g., DIT, Najeeb, Lecturio). Just pick one that works for you, and stick with it. At the end of the day, they all cover most of the same material, and you'll be using FA as your primary guide anyway. Personally I'd recommend Boards and Beyond from what I've seen.

Hope that helps.

That makes sense.

Lets say that I want to completely skip classes (not even listen to recordings), would Boards and Beyond give me a strong foundation? What resources would you recommend if I go this route? I listed DIT, Najeeb, kaplan, firecracker, etc but have not used them.

Also how would I use them? Just watch and do practice questions? Are slides used for those videos provided so that I can treat online classes as real classes and take notes on the powerpoint as I go through them?

 

[LyMed]

There are a lot of all-in-one resources like Boards and Beyond, and Osmosis. I personally just did FA+google/youtube. However, I would really hold off on this approach and reassess it after your first exam. Some school exams pull information heavily from the lecture slides regardless of whether it's USMLE material or not. You don't want to bomb your first exam and have to get out of a hole in your first semester.

 

[Dr G Oogle]

Did you not use lectures at all? what resources did you use besides powerpoints?



That makes sense.

Lets say that I want to completely skip classes (not even listen to recordings), would Boards and Beyond give me a strong foundation? What resources would you recommend if I go this route? I listed DIT, Najeeb, kaplan, firecracker, etc but have not used them.

Also how would I use them? Just watch and do practice questions? Are slides used for those videos provided so that I can treat online classes as real classes and take notes on the powerpoint as I go through them?

I went to maybe 2 weeks of classes. We had very through syllabi (I.e notes) with more than enough info, so that's all I used the first 2 years with a little bit of "microbiology made ridiculously easy" and a pathology book of a similar type. For boards I used my notes from the first 2 years of Med school and first aid, I was in school from 2005-2009 so the available resources probably changed but the one piece of advice invan I can definitively give you is pick one or 2 resources and stick with that, too many resources and you won't be able to focus.

 

[Boricua27]

As someone who didn't go to class, I can tell you this: go to class.

 

[DNC127]

For an auditory learner, the correct answer is listen to boards and beyond. He is great, and goes beyond what is in FA, and pathoma so you get a more comprehensive knowledge rather than only the highest of yield

 

[Redpancreas]

I highlighted and underlined certain points to draw your attention to the important portions of this long post 🙂. I appreciate your time.

I started my first year of medical school about 1 month ago and quickly learned that there is NO WAY I can study like how I did for undergrad.

I killed undergrad by simply listening to lectures and transcribing them into notes. My college had amazing professors so it worked out well and I never had to use a textbook.

There is not enough time to do that with med school material. Additionally, Ive never experienced such TERRIBLE lecturers/slides. I don't mean to disrespect anyone, but most of them have thick accents and seem unprepared for class. I bet they are amazing scientists and very nice people, but they are absolutely cannot teach. It seems like they are throwing random bits of information at us. Often the material is wrong. In fact, my entire class has a FB group where we share notes, ask questions etc. and we had to create a spread sheet to collaboratively note the mistakes that professors made in their lectures/slides.

I grew passionate about research and medicine because of how interesting my undergrad professors made it. Here, the professors are so bad that they make me bored of science. The only bright side is the school records every lecture and provides a bank of free textbooks. I have tried skipping class to go through the slides before listening to lecture (2x speed) so that I can just jot down what was not on the powerpoint. But this process is draining and frustrating, again because of how bad the professors are and how frequent mistakes pop up.

Many people have told me to learn on my own with textbooks. The thought of using a textbook or commonly recommended resources like BRS, supplemented with videos and First Aid is rejuvenating. The prospect of just focusing on "what I need to know for boards" is pretty cool and it lets me get familiar with the resources for when I do actually start board prep. But, since I primarily learned by listening to lectures, I have no skills with a textbook. Furthermore, professors test mainly off of their slides and a few points made during their lecture. Being a neurotic type A person, I am too nervous about those few points that are made in class but might not be in the slides or textbook.

What do you recommend? Are there resources that would allow me to completely drop lectures and not have to listen to recordings (Lecturio, Najeeb, etc, DIT, etc)? What if the professor teaches a couple things that are not in those resources? If I do go the self teach route, as ridiculous as it sounds, how do I even use a textbook/videos? Do you create your own slides as you are reading? Do you take notes after every paragraph/section?

Thanks in advance.

I'm going to be frank. Your thoughts here are a complete waste of energy. You aren't the first person to think they loved science in undergrad to then experience this. Chances are your undergraduate professors weren't amazing, but they could afford to spend lots of time explaining basic concepts while a day of medical school has enough to cover in an undergraduate unit exam. As for sources, stop looking ahead. You don't need BRS/First Aid or any of these "rejuvenating" sources. They're meant for someone who has already learnt the material as a memory jog.

Couple tips:
1.) Keep your head down and don't make excuses about course note quality.
2.) The Golden Rule is # of repetitions x engagement level = higher exam scores. Your job is to figure out whether that's maximized with Anki, just sitting and re-reading your course notes, or something else. Don't be worried if you never find a routine. It happens.
3.) Everything you learn in pre-clinical years will be applicable to your wards and boards(Step 1/2/3, residency, and even fellowship boards). At this point, you just can't properly perceive which minutiae are important. That will come as a second year when you start preparing for Step 1 on top of classes and start doing questions.

I know this comes off as really mean, but I had a similar outlook when I started and what your thinking of doing may sound good, but it's not the right way to get it done. Sometimes, the more frustrating things seem, the more you're learning.

EDIT: If you must use a source to make yourself feel good about it, as @bashwell says, Beyond The Boards and First Aid Rx videos are what I've heard are good if your on a 1.5 yr. curriculum or such. Don't use textbooks. The goal is not to replace your course material with an alternative comprehensive source, but to find ONE source that goes through all the high yield information you will need for Step 1.

 

[NotYou20]

Did you not use lectures at all? what resources did you use besides powerpoints?

I do the same thing as that poster. We get lecture notes that are somewhere between ten and twenty pages per 1 hour lecture. I try to learn everything on them. I don't even bother listening to lectures in second year and it works well. If you're stuck with just PowerPoints it probably won't work

 

[Goro]

I highlighted and underlined certain points to draw your attention to the important portions of this long post 🙂. I appreciate your time.

I started my first year of medical school about 1 month ago and quickly learned that there is NO WAY I can study like how I did for undergrad.

I killed undergrad by simply listening to lectures and transcribing them into notes. My college had amazing professors so it worked out well and I never had to use a textbook.

There is not enough time to do that with med school material. Additionally, Ive never experienced such TERRIBLE lecturers/slides. I don't mean to disrespect anyone, but most of them have thick accents and seem unprepared for class. I bet they are amazing scientists and very nice people, but they are absolutely cannot teach. It seems like they are throwing random bits of information at us. Often the material is wrong. In fact, my entire class has a FB group where we share notes, ask questions etc. and we had to create a spread sheet to collaboratively note the mistakes that professors made in their lectures/slides.

I grew passionate about research and medicine because of how interesting my undergrad professors made it. Here, the professors are so bad that they make me bored of science. The only bright side is the school records every lecture and provides a bank of free textbooks. I have tried skipping class to go through the slides before listening to lecture (2x speed) so that I can just jot down what was not on the powerpoint. But this process is draining and frustrating, again because of how bad the professors are and how frequent mistakes pop up.

Many people have told me to learn on my own with textbooks. The thought of using a textbook or commonly recommended resources like BRS, supplemented with videos and First Aid is rejuvenating. The prospect of just focusing on "what I need to know for boards" is pretty cool and it lets me get familiar with the resources for when I do actually start board prep. But, since I primarily learned by listening to lectures, I have no skills with a textbook. Furthermore, professors test mainly off of their slides and a few points made during their lecture. Being a neurotic type A person, I am too nervous about those few points that are made in class but might not be in the slides or textbook.

What do you recommend? Are there resources that would allow me to completely drop lectures and not have to listen to recordings (Lecturio, Najeeb, etc, DIT, etc)? What if the professor teaches a couple things that are not in those resources? If I do go the self teach route, as ridiculous as it sounds, how do I even use a textbook/videos? Do you create your own slides as you are reading? Do you take notes after every paragraph/section?

Thanks in advance.

Read this:
Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2017 edition) (Cue the gnashing of teeth and wailing from FA evangelists)
My own students seem to love Najeeb and Sketchy. FA Cases and USMLE Secrets look pretty decent as review books.
We have recorded lectures, so most of the students simply watch those at 1.5-2x speed.
I suspect that you have to start somewhere with a first pass of the material. You just have to find what works for you.

 

[CharlieBillings]

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[FlowRate]

I simply have to highlight stuff that other people posted.

Your job right now is to figure out how to do well on your school's exams. The courses at my school were varied by professor, so it was not a one-size solution. Some courses you needed to review lectures, some you needed to read the syllabus. There were none that I would have felt comfortable trying with just step 1 study materials.

Ideally, you learn things in somewhat more detail and with more explanation before trying to re-learn those things using UFAP. Otherwise whole sections of First Aid don't really make "sense" outside of just being things that you memorize.

 

[LyMed]

Mind if I ask how FA +google/youtube worked out? 230+?

Yes, but I should state that I also went to class and did lectures.

 

[intubesteak]

I did an experiment in the last block where I did not listen to a single lecture. Instead I just read the textbook(s), did my FC cards, did a ton of Qbank questions, and THEN read through the PowerPoints. Also threw in pathoma and goljan but it didn't add a too much meat for me. I basically did my own thing for a whole week before looking at class notes. I read through the PowerPoint a total of 4 times for the whole block (usually it would be more like 7-8x). Lo and behold, I got the same score(ish) I usually get (top 10-15%). It was sooo much more enjoyable this way. My school's problem is they don't want to overwhelm us with TMI...which sucks for people who like to learn the reasons why, instead of just memorizing.

I'm guessing you're in the basic sciences now. What gets taught is pretty variable here because its such a large cannon/subject. Once you get into organ systems, you will find that medicine is medicine, no matter what source you use. Like to get deep into molecular mechanisms and stuff? Robbins is awesome. Want a better clinical picture? Use an internal medicine book. Either way with enough repetition, you will learn everything you need/want to know. This is just my way of doing things, not necessarily the best way, but it has been the path of least resistance and most enjoyable so far. I have changed up my study strategy almost every block and I'm in the same range every time on the tests... so it probably doesn't matter what you do, as others have noted just DO IT WELL.