Without sounding trite --- you'll have to find what works for you. Whatever it takes to get the information into your head in detail so that you can instantly recall it and answer 3rd order questions.....Ok, second order questions for sure and some 3rd and 4th. More 3rd and 4th when you get to the end of year one and from what I've heard, all of year 2.
Now, on a personal note, I've tried a whole bunch of different methods. In undergrad, all I had to do was read the book once and I was good (4.0). Well, let's just say that was NOT a successful strategy in medical school.
What I've found that works for me....Do the assigned reading BEFORE class or at a minimum that same day. Pay attention in class, look for what the prof emphasizes. Oh, yeah, start studying for the next exam the day you take the previous one.
After class, make whatever notes you need to integrate the material and then start committing it to memory. Yeah, rote memorization. If you get asked where the aorta branches and becomes the common iliac, you should spit that out like you know your parent's address.
That's day one. Do the same for day 2 and then review the notes and memory work from day one along with that. Keep going like that until the exam.
If you've got a lab with the course, go to the lab. Get your hands dirty and hold the structures. Ask yourself or get your tankmates to ask questions about what vessels, nerves, etc. feed those structures. What secretions do they have, what's the histology of the structure, etc. What are the orienting landmarks of the structure. Do that at LEAST 3 times with everything you're responsible for before the next practical. If at all possible, get one of the anatomy professors to go to the lab with you and walk you through the information AFTER you've had time to study and can ask intelligent questions.
Continue ad nauseum until you have your exam. Then start all over again.
Should take you about 4 to 5 hours a day at least and then plan on 12 hours each day on weekends.
Also, get your paws on some old exams or test bank questions or buy the Kaplan Q Bank questions for Physio. By the time the day before the exam comes, you should have ALL of your studying done and then spend the time split between reviewing and doing questions. Doesn't matter if you get them right, just do them so you can see how they'll be coming at you. Most people say to do this all along but I never had time for that.
It's a lot of fun, no joke.
) I end up not taking notes in most lectures and just reading the power points and teh text books and the BRS for most of the classes. And I have to attend class since I go to VCOM (although this year alot of us have not been attending all the classes)
