M1s scoring above average?

[BeachBaby]

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Hi! I am M1 and am still trying to figure out a study method. For those of you who are scoring above average, what is your method or what advice would you give? I am in a systems based curriculum.

 

[Azete]

I'm an M2, but the best thing I learned last year is repetition > thoroughness. Don't let those 1 or 2 questions per test trick you into thinking you need to know every line of every slide; stick to the high-yield stuff, and see it as many times as you can.

 

[whatisthisstuff]

I am an M2 now but I was scoring average M1 year until the 2nd half of the year when I changed my study method up and started getting Honors.

1. Stay home and watch lectures on 2x speed. Gives you more time for everything. Save time driving, parking, etc. You are able to use your breaks to actually break (not just 10 minutes to maybe run and pee). I was already doing this primarily, but commit to it fully. You are not being lazy, you are being more efficient with your time. Light lectures you can literally breeze through while others you will have to pause and rewind a million times (another plus: you can rewind a million times if you miss something).
2. Import slides into note software and take notes on slides. I used to hand take all my notes but there will always be random details that you don't think are really important. Your only hope is that your brain just kind of picks it up by passing through the slides enough times. Also writing with your hand gets tiring and really time sucking.
3. Pay attention when watching lecture. This is the best part about watching at home imo. You can do it on your own schedule. If you aren't paying attention then don't waste your time.
4. Anki - This should probably be higher because it was the biggest change for me. Use it. It makes memorizing all the little facts and bits of information easy. That way when you are studying you are putting concepts together. I used to hand make flash cards and then wait and try to cram them right before the test with very mixed results. Also makes course finals a breeze. I made my own 1st year but if I was to go back I would do as I do now...Use the Brosencephalon deck and pull out the relevant cards every time you cover something. EX: You cover Multiple Sclerosis = Go search for Multiple Sclerosis and change the deck of all the cards into a "Current test" deck. Basically you are searching key words. Sometimes can be tricky but you'll get the hang of it. More time efficient than making all your own cards and his deck is alot easier to keep up with for the long term since its all based off FA and Pathoma. If you have random details your lecture mentions but isn't in the deck then make a card for it. Anatomy stuff you'll probably have to make your own cards since FA is limited there. This took some trial and error so find what works for you. Theres a slight learning curve but once you figure it out it is one of the most time efficient ways to long term retention.
5. Practice questions
6. Task oriented studying - don't just sit there and read. Draw stuff out. Do questions. Put time limits on yourself. Whatever you have to do to study efficiently. I've made my best test grades when I've been busy the weekend before a test because I make myself study efficiently.
7. Do things that you enjoy. M1 is not that bad and you should have a fair amount of free time. A good habit of exercise and enjoyable things will pay dividends. Your life will not start once your done with Med School. This is your life too.

 

[Ayy_MadScientist]

I am an M2 now but I was scoring average M1 year until the 2nd half of the year when I changed my study method up and started getting Honors.

1. Stay home and watch lectures on 2x speed. Gives you more time for everything. Save time driving, parking, etc. You are able to use your breaks to actually break (not just 10 minutes to maybe run and pee). I was already doing this primarily, but commit to it fully. You are not being lazy, you are being more efficient with your time. Light lectures you can literally breeze through while others you will have to pause and rewind a million times (another plus: you can rewind a million times if you miss something).
2. Import slides into note software and take notes on slides. I used to hand take all my notes but there will always be random details that you don't think are really important. Your only hope is that your brain just kind of picks it up by passing through the slides enough times. Also writing with your hand gets tiring and really time sucking.
3. Pay attention when watching lecture. This is the best part about watching at home imo. You can do it on your own schedule. If you aren't paying attention then don't waste your time.
4. Anki - This should probably be higher because it was the biggest change for me. Use it. It makes memorizing all the little facts and bits of information easy. That way when you are studying you are putting concepts together. I used to hand make flash cards and then wait and try to cram them right before the test with very mixed results. Also makes course finals a breeze. I made my own 1st year but if I was to go back I would do as I do now...Use the Brosencephalon deck and pull out the relevant cards every time you cover something. EX: You cover Multiple Sclerosis = Go search for Multiple Sclerosis and change the deck of all the cards into a "Current test" deck. Basically you are searching key words. Sometimes can be tricky but you'll get the hang of it. More time efficient than making all your own cards and his deck is alot easier to keep up with for the long term since its all based off FA and Pathoma. If you have random details your lecture mentions but isn't in the deck then make a card for it. Anatomy stuff you'll probably have to make your own cards since FA is limited there. This took some trial and error so find what works for you. Theres a slight learning curve but once you figure it out it is one of the most time efficient ways to long term retention.
5. Practice questions
6. Task oriented studying - don't just sit there and read. Draw stuff out. Do questions. Put time limits on yourself. Whatever you have to do to study efficiently. I've made my best test grades when I've been busy the weekend before a test because I make myself study efficiently.
7. Do things that you enjoy. M1 is not that bad and you should have a fair amount of free time. A good habit of exercise and enjoyable things will pay dividends. Your life will not start once your done with Med School. This is your life too.

Any recommendations for note software? I am assuming this is for writing notes on the computer with a stylus or typing additional notes?

 

[sovereign0]

I watch lectures from home on 2x speed, slowing it down for high-yield slides and anything complicated that needs explanation. I annotate directly onto the pdf using an app called Drawboard. It usually takes me 30min or so for a 50 minute lecture.

Then I sit down and make some dank Anki cards for each lecture, and review them as I go. The goal is usually to keep up with lectures within a day, and review cards on a rolling basis. Making cards for a single lecture can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. I make cards "actively", so if it's a complicated or multi-step fact, I might draw it out or look stuff up to solidify my understanding.

The day before the exam I'll usually do my deck for the block on cram mode, slowly, and try drawing out pathways and tables of high-yield info on a whiteboard, and try to do as much as possible from dry recall.

This is what works for me, but I feel like as long as you emphasize active recall of the information, you can do well. Anki lends itself well to that, but I'd say only half my class uses a flashcard-based system.

 

[whatisthisstuff]

Any recommendations for note software? I am assuming this is for writing notes on the computer with a stylus or typing additional notes?

I use OneNote. And I have a junk computer so no stylus. It'd be cool but not sure how much I'd use it. I just import the slides and then it leaves some space to the right where I type. Sometimes a little and sometimes a bunch. I randomly rewrite stuff just to keep my mind engaged. You can draw with the mouse but I just do that to randomly circle things. Also a major plus for keeping things organized. Have notebooks for each block, tabs up top for each test and tabs to the right for each lecture...all available at anytime. Wayyy better than carrying around entire handwritten notebooks or having to search and pull up the slides every time.

Some of this is probably "Duh" to some people but I had 4.5 years between undergrad and med school so I wasn't well versed in some of these things.

 

[HybridEarth]

I make outlines of every lecture in my own words with the least amount of words as possible without compromising the content.

Go to lecture, take notes. Then I go through the lectures again but a little slower. Finally, I make the outlines.

In the mornings, I review as many outlines as I can for an hour and a half or so prior to my next lectures.

Once I finish a content "block" (i.e., something there is actually a section for in BRS or other test books), I do all the practice questions.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Foot Fetish]

Skip all non-mandatory classes, convert all powerpoints/lecture notes into flash cards, memorize flash cards, do practice problems from high-quality sources (professor's practice exams being #1).

 

[drdking]

M1 scoring above average, I'd hazard a guess and say top 15% but it's a pass/fail scoring so I can only guess based on average exam score and standard deviation.

Firstly, please understand that everyone is different. The people before me in this thread mostly talked about how they listen to podcasted lectures, or how they take notes. That is NOT how I do it. Out of my classmates who I know get around the same or better scores on exams no two people are the same.

Second, assuming you're passing there is nothing wrong with whatever score you're getting. Please remember that even being in med school puts you in the top of the top percentage of people in this county. That being said, if you think you can do better then, **** yeah, keep working to improve.

My personal method:

I am a priest of Anki
95% of my studying is either Anki or Firecracker
I attend almost* every lecture
I take my notes in a word doc in the form of Anki questions, as soon as a lecture ends I add them into my deck
The majority of my Anki cards are screen shots of my instructors powerpoints to save time
Image Occlusion Enhanced is your best friend. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1111933094
Before we begin a new block I make an Anki deck based off of First Aid
I edit that deck based on what is and isn't covered in lecture, i.e. if a topic that First Aid cares about isn't covered I remove it from my deck, if a topic is covered that First Aid doesn't care about I add it to the deck
Do your deck EVERY day. I can't stress this point enough. The entire point of spaced reputation is based on doing the questions EVERY day.
Be HONEST. if you don't know the complete answer to your question mark it that you got it wrong so you can practice
If you don't know how to write questions seek help, I have a background in teaching so I write my questions a very specific way that is designed for how I retain information, not everyone recalls information the same way

*Some of our profs do nothing but read from their slides, this is a personal waste of time so I just take the lecture time to grab a coffee and make my anki cards based on their slides.

 

[CharmanderMD]

I've always felt like lectures are a waste of time. I read whatever material we're covering in my favorite textbooks and skim over course slides to make sure I know what they're talking about. What works for me is seeing the same material presented in a bunch of different ways so I'll often read multiple sources instead of just drilling crappy slides into my head. Works for me but I know plenty of people are really anti-textbook which I've never understood.


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[coldcase331]

The biggest advice I can give is to ask M2's about their experiences and how they did well in a course. We can all tell you to use Anki, study hard, blah blah blah. The bottom line is that every school teaches/tests differently, and the best advice is going to come from those who have gone through it themselves.

 

[Ayy_MadScientist]

I use OneNote. And I have a junk computer so no stylus. It'd be cool but not sure how much I'd use it. I just import the slides and then it leaves some space to the right where I type. Sometimes a little and sometimes a bunch. I randomly rewrite stuff just to keep my mind engaged. You can draw with the mouse but I just do that to randomly circle things. Also a major plus for keeping things organized. Have notebooks for each block, tabs up top for each test and tabs to the right for each lecture...all available at anytime. Wayyy better than carrying around entire handwritten notebooks or having to search and pull up the slides every time.

Some of this is probably "Duh" to some people but I had 4.5 years between undergrad and med school so I wasn't well versed in some of these things.

Thanks for sharing 🙂
I am definitely going to learn how to use one note.

 

[AggieDoc45]

I've always felt like lectures are a waste of time. I read whatever material we're covering in my favorite textbooks and skim over course slides to make sure I know what they're talking about. What works for me is seeing the same material presented in a bunch of different ways so I'll often read multiple sources instead of just drilling crappy slides into my head. Works for me but I know plenty of people are really anti-textbook which I've never understood.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Agree with this 100%, I do a first pass through a textbook before I get into the slides. It definitely helps thoroughly understanding a topic in a way slides just don't allow for.

 

[Fancy_Feast]

M1 scoring above average, I'd hazard a guess and say top 15% but it's a pass/fail scoring so I can only guess based on average exam score and standard deviation.

Firstly, please understand that everyone is different. The people before me in this thread mostly talked about how they listen to podcasted lectures, or how they take notes. That is NOT how I do it. Out of my classmates who I know get around the same or better scores on exams no two people are the same.

Second, assuming you're passing there is nothing wrong with whatever score you're getting. Please remember that even being in med school puts you in the top of the top percentage of people in this county. That being said, if you think you can do better then, **** yeah, keep working to improve.

My personal method:

I am a priest of Anki
95% of my studying is either Anki or Firecracker
I attend almost* every lecture
I take my notes in a word doc in the form of Anki questions, as soon as a lecture ends I add them into my deck
The majority of my Anki cards are screen shots of my instructors powerpoints to save time
Image Occlusion Enhanced is your best friend. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1111933094
Before we begin a new block I make an Anki deck based off of First Aid
I edit that deck based on what is and isn't covered in lecture, i.e. if a topic that First Aid cares about isn't covered I remove it from my deck, if a topic is covered that First Aid doesn't care about I add it to the deck
Do your deck EVERY day. I can't stress this point enough. The entire point of spaced reputation is based on doing the questions EVERY day.
Be HONEST. if you don't know the complete answer to your question mark it that you got it wrong so you can practice
If you don't know how to write questions seek help, I have a background in teaching so I write my questions a very specific way that is designed for how I retain information, not everyone recalls information the same way

*Some of our profs do nothing but read from their slides, this is a personal waste of time so I just take the lecture time to grab a coffee and make my anki cards based on their slides.

I don't know how I didn't know about image occlusion before! Can't wait to try it out 🙂

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Hi! I am M1 and am still trying to figure out a study method. For those of you who are scoring above average, what is your method or what advice would you give? I am in a systems based curriculum.

review everyday and don't take "day offs" for dumb reasons. keep your head down and your work ethics high. really try to immerse yourself about the workings behind the materials instead of just surface understanding. don't compromise on your own study time and really develop a habit of reading a few exams ahead.

 

[malamia]

What works for me: I found that a study group works wonders if done correctly. Find classmates who study at your same pace, study independently together and quiz each other when you find things you feel you might forget. Repeat these questions until you're sick of them. Review daily and focus on repetition. Weekends are for re-reviewing and practice questions. I personally hate reading text books and focus on the slides, supplementing with BRS (mainly in Physio). Sometimes I watch lectures 2x if the power points sucks. I also like to write little details I forget on a notepad and read that several times.

For me, repetition and pop quizzes throughout the day are key. I guess flash cards could serve a similar purpose.

 

[Affiche]

- Textbooks > lecture slides
- Anki (bro's dec specifically, edit/add as needed)
- As many practice questions as possible

Textbook reading ensures I understand so I don't memorize. Anki ensures I memorize what I understand. Practice questions identify any gaps in knowledge and prepare me for exams.

 

[Ayy_MadScientist]

- Textbooks > lecture slides
- Anki (bro's dec specifically, edit/add as needed)
- As many practice questions as possible

Textbook reading ensures I understand so I don't memorize. Anki ensures I memorize what I understand. Practice questions identify any gaps in knowledge and prepare me for exams.

Where do you get your practice questions from?

 

[CharmanderMD]

Where do you get your practice questions from?

What classes/ system are you in?


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[Affiche]

Where do you get your practice questions from?

I'm in a systems based curriculum, so I use rx and kaplan along with classes.

 

[Ayy_MadScientist]

What classes/ system are you in?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I am starting school in the fall & am trying to get familiar with good resources for studying in med school (I didn't know what sketchy micro was or anki was till like this week). 🙄

 

[CharmanderMD]

I am starting school in the fall & am trying to get familiar with good resources for studying in med school (I didn't know what sketchy micro was or anki was till like this week). 🙄

Ah okay haha, a lot of the traditional resources are a lot better for second year like Rx and Sketchy (at least at my school... we don't start path, micro, or pharm until near the end of first year).

For first year though if you get a fresh copy of lippincotts biochem the scratch off code gives you a ton of free biochem questions and, similarly, the scratch off code for Netters gives you access to a lot of good anatomy questions. They were both resources that I really liked that people don't seem to be too aware of. BRS physio has a lot of great physio questions too!


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[Ayy_MadScientist]

Ah okay haha, a lot of the traditional resources are a lot better for second year like Rx and Sketchy (at least at my school... we don't start path, micro, or pharm until near the end of first year).

For first year though if you get a fresh copy of lippincotts biochem the scratch off code gives you a ton of free biochem questions and, similarly, the scratch off code for Netters gives you access to a lot of good anatomy questions. They were both resources that I really liked that people don't seem to be too aware of. BRS physio has a lot of great physio questions too!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Physio: guyton and hall/ pretest/ brs (meh)

Anatomy: grays/ u mich

Embryo: lippincott/ brs (both kinda suck but there is no good embryo Q source out there, imo)

Biochem: lippincott

Immuno: just memorize that boring ****

Histo: see immuno

Thank you both!!! 😀

 

[hiphopcrates]

M1 scoring above average, I'd hazard a guess and say top 15% but it's a pass/fail scoring so I can only guess based on average exam score and standard deviation.

Firstly, please understand that everyone is different. The people before me in this thread mostly talked about how they listen to podcasted lectures, or how they take notes. That is NOT how I do it. Out of my classmates who I know get around the same or better scores on exams no two people are the same.

Second, assuming you're passing there is nothing wrong with whatever score you're getting. Please remember that even being in med school puts you in the top of the top percentage of people in this county. That being said, if you think you can do better then, **** yeah, keep working to improve.

My personal method:

I am a priest of Anki
95% of my studying is either Anki or Firecracker
I attend almost* every lecture
I take my notes in a word doc in the form of Anki questions, as soon as a lecture ends I add them into my deck
The majority of my Anki cards are screen shots of my instructors powerpoints to save time
Image Occlusion Enhanced is your best friend. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1111933094
Before we begin a new block I make an Anki deck based off of First Aid
I edit that deck based on what is and isn't covered in lecture, i.e. if a topic that First Aid cares about isn't covered I remove it from my deck, if a topic is covered that First Aid doesn't care about I add it to the deck
Do your deck EVERY day. I can't stress this point enough. The entire point of spaced reputation is based on doing the questions EVERY day.
Be HONEST. if you don't know the complete answer to your question mark it that you got it wrong so you can practice
If you don't know how to write questions seek help, I have a background in teaching so I write my questions a very specific way that is designed for how I retain information, not everyone recalls information the same way

*Some of our profs do nothing but read from their slides, this is a personal waste of time so I just take the lecture time to grab a coffee and make my anki cards based on their slides.

M1, top 15% of class (by standard deviation guessing as well), and this is pretty much my exact same strategy. So now, n = 2, at least. 🙂

 

[deferment baby]

How did everyone learn how to use Anki properly? Did you look up a YOutube video or something?

If I have access to Bros deck, is it east to add or remove cards or even copy/transfer cards into another deck?

Is onenote used for iPad or surface pro?

 

[deleted709753]

I'm doing very well first year.

This may not be the most applicable to you, because I'm in a mixed PBL lecture curriculum, but here's another perspective.

I know I'm in the minority, but I don't use flashcards at all. I read textbooks and do practice problems. For lectures, I just go through lectures, slide by slide very slowly. I try to understand most everything on the slide. I look things up I don't understand. I've spent up to three hours just reviewing one 40 lecture powerpoint in the first pass, because I look up a lot of things before moving on. Repetition is key for lectures. But I just start slowly, and each successive review, it takes less time. But you want to understand it first, without brushing the details under the rug, thinking you're going to come back to it later ... so later on come exam/finals time, you're not blank staring at the lecture and saying to yourself--wtf was this lecture about?

I don't use first aid, sketchy, pathoma, osmosis videos, or any other board review sources. The only resource I use similar to those are Goljan audio lectures in my car. My whole approach is, when you were studying for your undergrad bio, chem, physics classes, were you using Anki and examkrackers MCAT prep books for your school exams? Probably not right. So I just try to understand each organ system on a deep level, so I actually understand what's going on and can solve problems and retain concepts, rather than memorizing. I hate memorizing.

This strategy has been very good for me for school exams. Even though I'm not using the trendy material like pathoma/sketchy, I'm still doing very well in our end of unit USMLE review sessions where we do practice problems together.

I read Costanzo. Read 2/3 of Lily's for cardio in cardio block. Read 2/3 of Rennke in renal. Read between 5-8 full chapters of Big Robbins, and still going strong. I use Big Katzung for pharmacology. Junqueira. CMMRS for micro. etc. etc. I refuse to read Moore's for anatomy though. The gist is, I read books. It takes me forever to read, im a really slow reader, but I believe I'm studying effectively. It's a really slow starter--reading from the textbook, but come finals week, it pays off and I actually get plenty of sleep and don't need to cram. If I were in a 100% lecture curriculum, I would not have enough time to read as much as I do now, and I would just focus on the lecture powerpoints.

Lippincott Q&A practice problems are the best, because they are tough tough. I use lippincott q&a micro, histo, biochem, anatomy and pharm. They're all separate books. I just search the pdf for practice problems. e.g., I search amiodarone or klebsiella, and do all the practice problems and read all the solutions-every time it's mentioned. The Q&A series really hits the high yield stuff that shows up on my school's exams.

But by far, by FAR, my most favorite question book is Robbins Review of Pathology 4th edition. That book is the boss of practice problem books. They are super hard, but DAAAAANG. they are really good questions. The solutions are the best part of the book.

tldr; I try to focus on understanding, rather than memorizing. My memorization comes with doing practice problems. I don't flashcards or board review sources, instead I read textbooks, do practice problems, and spend time understanding lectures (slowly at first).