How's this for studying?

[sbuxaddict]

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Hi everyone,

I'm in my third day of classes and already feeling a little overwhelmed. I would really appreciate some study tips, because I can already tell that my undergrad techniques take too much time. The curriculum is integrated so we learn a lot of different subjects at once. Here is my potential plan for studying each day, can someone please comment on it? Thanks so much!

Review lecture notes prior to class
Active listening during lecture, take down major keypoints on notes provided
Review lecture and make notes/review of lecture material. Rewatch lecture if missing information.

I used to take notes in class on my laptop and then handwrite the PPT information and my notes a few days before an exam and study off of that. I can already tell rewriting notes is going to be a waste of time, but I have difficulty focusing and learning without writing it out by hand. Once I do that, things come so easily but it's very time consuming. Does anyone have any tips in regards to that? Would really appreciate it, thanks!

 

[dentalduck15]

The first thing that I do when I am in the same situation is consider the differences between the classes that I am taking. Some classes will require more active participation that others. Try recording the lectures too, it helps so much, especially when things get more hectic. Talk to your instructors and ask their advice also, sometimes they can clue you in on their way of teaching and you can decide from that a new approach to take. Also, see what other people in your classes are doing and then see what works for you. Adopting a new way to study might take a long time.

Since you say that you are being taught different subjects at once I would make sure to clearly label what subjects go where and them have a brief understanding of each from the textbook or notes. Be sure to ask for help when needed. I am shy sometimes and for a long time I failed to ask instructors for help. When I decided that it was taking to long for me to get through some materials by myself, I started to ask for help and quickly saw the improvement.

Also, when you are studying material that seems to be broad ranges, have one or two study friends that you can DISCUSS the material with. Sometimes when I have topics that are hard to remember I like to have conversations about them because that will help me remember them better.

Hope I helped you some.

 

[sinombre]

Unfortunately learning how to study for medical school is kind of a trial and error process. I used to do basically what you did, and abandoned it completely for a flash card based method, which ended up working out extremely well. I did almost 100% of ms1 with flashcards.

 

[operaman]

Agreed, it's trial and error. I am still amazed at the diversity of study approaches that seem to work for different people.

Do what you know works, but scale it up. At least at first, plan on studying like it's your full time job, so 8-10 hours per day (class counts as part of that). Maybe more at first. Better overkill than underprepared for the first exam.

As you get comfortable, start adding some different approaches and see if one of them works better.