Med School Studying

[Dr Dazzle]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi guys,

I will be starting in the fall, and am looking for some advice, ideas and tips on how to best approach note taking, organization and studying for classes.

Traditionally, I am a pen and paper person, who needs to print out all the notes and use physical folders to organize by subject. This has worked best for me in the past, because oftentimes by taking notes on the computer, I don't seem to retain as much when reviewing before exams. I learn better when actually writing and highlighting on paper while studying and then later reviewing.

My concern with med school is the massive amount of notes printing and organizing the information in big folders. With so many notes, I'm afraid I won't be able to stay organized, and will have to carry massive folders with printed notes. Pretty inconvenient it seems.

Is there a better way to approach med school classes? What has been your guys' experience? Especially those who prefer writing?


Thanks!

 

[Fatalis]

I study the same way. You wont need to carry around huge binders. What you do is make note packets [the printed notes stapled]. Only carry the packets you know you will be using for that day+ review sheets+ books. Then on the weekends when your review old stuff just bring the extra packets.
As for studying techniques, everyone has something different. In undergrad I read the material until it stuck. In med school I draw out concept maps, use the comp to type bc of time limitations. I am sure you will find your happy middle. Remember, you got accepted so you must be doing something right in terms of studying.

 

[jules14]

I personally prefer to take all of my notes electronically by annotating pdf's, but I think there are certain classes where it just doesn't work as well as handwriting on paper, e.g., anatomy. In that case, I used a binder and 3-hole punched all of the notes. To keep it from getting too heavy, I would take all the notes out at the end of a block and start over for the new block.

Just grab some 1.5" or 2" binders and you'll be fine.

 

[sazerac]

OP, I used to study like you in undergrad. Then medical school started. By October I could not get into my apartment because it was full of paper, and I was getting notices from the fire marshal that my apartment was a serious fire hazard. So I went digital, bought an iPad and never looked back. I can still take notes, flip through slides, etc. Sometimes I still scribble in a paper notebook too, but I've used less than 50 pages per year doing that.

I'm not advocating you purchase a digital tablet right now. Just keep doing whatever worked for you in the past, and if it is not compatible with medical school you'll know soon enough, and you can make adjustments then.

 

[Kal EI]

I know I did whatever during M1 but I had to adapt for M2.

You need to be fluid, inefficiency won't hurt until M2 so keep fine tuning.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

I know I did whatever during M1 but I had to adapt for M2.

You need to be fluid, inefficiency won't hurt until M2 so keep fine tuning.

How did you adapt?

 

[D P356]

OP,
I'm a repetition guy. The instructors usually give out note packets. Some are good, some are not. If they were good, I'd highlight and read over them as much as I could tolerate. My strategy was to buy them, 3-hole punch them and put them in a 2" binder. It seems like you had success by writing/typing your notes. Dance with the shoes that got you here; you will customize your study habits throughout school.
You'll get to know folks at your school who are a year ahead of you, ask them what worked for them. They will tell you which resources were helpful for exams. I will go ahead and tell you... do practice tests and practice questions AND don't fall behind on your material.

Concerning Gross anatomy, keep up with the course. After your group has completed the lab for the day (there will be 4-5 people per group, and each lab will take about three hours), you can individually move to another cadaver and run through that day's list on that cadaver. When you get home that night, look at the list of structures that you went over earlier that day. Try to visualize what you saw as you go through the list, like a mental flash card. My advice would be don't leave the lab until you have 'rapid fired' the structure list in your dissection guide (which will be provided/bought) multiple times. Go in on the weekends and run through the structures from the previous week. Yeah, you'll be there for an hour or two on Saturday morning, but then you get to watch college football for the rest of the day.
Repetition is essential. You will be able to adapt WHEN you are getting swamped; it happens to everyone. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

 

[Kal EI]

How did you adapt?

Don't worry.

You're not going to be successful by finding the best approach before school starts - that's the whole point.

Be ready to work hard on day one. Try your own approach and keep adapting.

The people who do well usually have the best work ethic or are incredibly smart. Either way, it has little to do with researching strategies before med school.

 

[yehhhboiii]

Tip: relax. School hasnt started yet. First semester is all about finding out what works best for you. Try anki, try writing notes, try typing notes on the pdf. You will figure out what fits your style

 

[exquisitemelody]

All I can say right now is try what you've always done. When that doesn't work, come back and let us know, and we can give you better advice. It's hard to tell you before you've even started what you should do, so the best thing to do is do what you've always done - you'll quickly realize if it works or doesn't, and when it doesn't, then you'll know how to ask for help better.

I started out annotating PDFs and studying from the computer, but it wasn't working for me, so halfway through the year, I switched to paper and pen, and it worked better for me in terms of taking notes. I used anki since I'm a flashcard person. I generally printed 6 slides/page/side, and yes, I did carry around a binder with the notes. I didn't think it was that cumbersome since I don't do much walking during the day.

TLDR - do what you did in undergrad. When it doesn't work, ask upperclassmen for suggestions or come back here.

 

[thenameismac]

Did you guys ever get burned out by your studying methods (i.e. paper and pen) but know no other method worked for you? What did you do then?

 

[exquisitemelody]

Did you guys ever get burned out by your studying methods (i.e. paper and pen) but know no other method worked for you? What did you do then?

Burned out? No - the opposite happened for me actually. For class, when I had my computer out, it was distracting - I could surf the internet or I could not pay as much attention. But I was able to pay more attention when I did just pen and paper for class - I didn't have my computer open.

Once I had class notes, then I would go over them, try to understand it, then make flashcards (anki - computer flashcards). I would use a whiteboard to write and rewrite things because I felt that's what helped it stick.

I will say that the way I was using the flashcards probably isn't the best, and it's definitely hard to make the flashcards then force yourself to go back over them...maybe that's what you mean by burned out? But I dunno...it's med school. You gotta do what you gotta do. There's no choice. You just do it.

 

[exquisitemelody]

yo, dr dazzle...your inbox is full. can't respond to your message. since others may be interested, i'll just post my response here:

I've always been a flashcard person ever since middle school - it's always been the way I learned. So, from that point of view, Anki was extremely helpful for a number of reasons:

1 - computer flashcards - much faster than hard copy cards! I also paid for the phone app so I could review cards on my phone
2 - many students have a tendency to study things they already know. Anki helps prevent you from doing that - it makes you study what you don't know
3 - it makes my class notes searchable - if i come across a term i think i've heard before, i can just search my anki cards and find it.
4 - it was really helpful for using pictures and stuff (super helpful for anatomy and histo)


Do I think it was helpful? Yes. The times that I didn't use Anki, I performed worse on the test.

Was it time consuming? Yes. But how you study and how much time you're willing to study is a personal decision. Med school is time consuming...that's just a fact that is going to have to be accepted. Because I don't have many other responsibilities or priorities, I was okay with spending a lot of time making the cards and studying the way I studied. But it may not work for someone else. That's something you'll have to decide once you get to med school.

I was able to make flashcards for almost every fact that I needed to know this year. I don't know if I'll be able to do the same second year...we'll have to see.

If you do decide to use anki, here's some advice on how to make cards:
1. Don't put too much information on one card.
2. As much as you can, try to make the cards "stand alone", ie, if you had to read that card out of context, you'd still understand what was meant.
3. Review the information and come to a good level of understanding of the information BEFORE you make cards. Don't make cards then try to learn. I'd do that, and I would do well on the test, but then I'd forget it later. Try to at least get the big picture and use flashcards to drill everything into your head.
4. Find a way to organize your cards and class notes. My method: I'd used a tag named "TMSK01b" where tmsk=musculoskeletal module; 01=first day of that module; b = second lecture of the day. Then on my computer, the notes would also be called 'tmsk01b.' That way, if I found a card I didn't understand, I'd know which lecture to look at.

Just a fair warning...anki is the least user friendly program EVER. But once you get over the learning curve, it's a pretty powerful tool.

 

[tranquilo]

yo, dr dazzle...your inbox is full. can't respond to your message. since others may be interested, i'll just post my response here:

I've always been a flashcard person ever since middle school - it's always been the way I learned. So, from that point of view, Anki was extremely helpful for a number of reasons:

1 - computer flashcards - much faster than hard copy cards! I also paid for the phone app so I could review cards on my phone
2 - many students have a tendency to study things they already know. Anki helps prevent you from doing that - it makes you study what you don't know
3 - it makes my class notes searchable - if i come across a term i think i've heard before, i can just search my anki cards and find it.
4 - it was really helpful for using pictures and stuff (super helpful for anatomy and histo)


Do I think it was helpful? Yes. The times that I didn't use Anki, I performed worse on the test.

Was it time consuming? Yes. But how you study and how much time you're willing to study is a personal decision. Med school is time consuming...that's just a fact that is going to have to be accepted. Because I don't have many other responsibilities or priorities, I was okay with spending a lot of time making the cards and studying the way I studied. But it may not work for someone else. That's something you'll have to decide once you get to med school.

I was able to make flashcards for almost every fact that I needed to know this year. I don't know if I'll be able to do the same second year...we'll have to see.

If you do decide to use anki, here's some advice on how to make cards:
1. Don't put too much information on one card.
2. As much as you can, try to make the cards "stand alone", ie, if you had to read that card out of context, you'd still understand what was meant.
3. Review the information and come to a good level of understanding of the information BEFORE you make cards. Don't make cards then try to learn. I'd do that, and I would do well on the test, but then I'd forget it later. Try to at least get the big picture and use flashcards to drill everything into your head.
4. Find a way to organize your cards and class notes. My method: I'd used a tag named "TMSK01b" where tmsk=musculoskeletal module; 01=first day of that module; b = second lecture of the day. Then on my computer, the notes would also be called 'tmsk01b.' That way, if I found a card I didn't understand, I'd know which lecture to look at.

Just a fair warning...anki is the least user friendly program EVER. But once you get over the learning curve, it's a pretty powerful tool.

Great advice. Anki on!

 

[Dr Dazzle]

yo, dr dazzle...your inbox is full. can't respond to your message. since others may be interested, i'll just post my response here:

I've always been a flashcard person ever since middle school - it's always been the way I learned. So, from that point of view, Anki was extremely helpful for a number of reasons:

1 - computer flashcards - much faster than hard copy cards! I also paid for the phone app so I could review cards on my phone
2 - many students have a tendency to study things they already know. Anki helps prevent you from doing that - it makes you study what you don't know
3 - it makes my class notes searchable - if i come across a term i think i've heard before, i can just search my anki cards and find it.
4 - it was really helpful for using pictures and stuff (super helpful for anatomy and histo)


Do I think it was helpful? Yes. The times that I didn't use Anki, I performed worse on the test.

Was it time consuming? Yes. But how you study and how much time you're willing to study is a personal decision. Med school is time consuming...that's just a fact that is going to have to be accepted. Because I don't have many other responsibilities or priorities, I was okay with spending a lot of time making the cards and studying the way I studied. But it may not work for someone else. That's something you'll have to decide once you get to med school.

I was able to make flashcards for almost every fact that I needed to know this year. I don't know if I'll be able to do the same second year...we'll have to see.

If you do decide to use anki, here's some advice on how to make cards:
1. Don't put too much information on one card.
2. As much as you can, try to make the cards "stand alone", ie, if you had to read that card out of context, you'd still understand what was meant.
3. Review the information and come to a good level of understanding of the information BEFORE you make cards. Don't make cards then try to learn. I'd do that, and I would do well on the test, but then I'd forget it later. Try to at least get the big picture and use flashcards to drill everything into your head.
4. Find a way to organize your cards and class notes. My method: I'd used a tag named "TMSK01b" where tmsk=musculoskeletal module; 01=first day of that module; b = second lecture of the day. Then on my computer, the notes would also be called 'tmsk01b.' That way, if I found a card I didn't understand, I'd know which lecture to look at.

Just a fair warning...anki is the least user friendly program EVER. But once you get over the learning curve, it's a pretty powerful tool.

Thanks for the insight! My main concern is the amount of time it takes to make cards. I have it downloaded but never really used it, and opted for index cards closer to exams. Of course, never used those after the exam. Was that the same for you. You never went back to review Anki cards once the test for that section was over?

But I think it's worth it to have a record with electronic cards provided that they are good and concise. Also, can Anki be used for all subjects equally well?

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Don't cram. It worked well for me in the second half of first year, but it does take a toll on your mental health.

I also suggest getting a copy of First Aid and annotating it while going through your preclinical years.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

Don't cram. It worked well for me in the second half of first year, but it does take a toll on your mental health.

I also suggest getting a copy of First Aid and annotating it while going through your preclinical years.

Annotating with what? Your class notes will probably be much more dense than what is in FA. It seemed like an outline or study guide.

 

[paul411]

Thanks for the insight! My main concern is the amount of time it takes to make cards. I have it downloaded but never really used it, and opted for index cards closer to exams. Of course, never used those after the exam. Was that the same for you. You never went back to review Anki cards once the test for that section was over?

But I think it's worth it to have a record with electronic cards provided that they are good and concise. Also, can Anki be used for all subjects equally well?

In my experience, creating flashcards is time consuming and low-yield in the long run. It's not a bad study method, but your time can be spent more efficiently. Look for publicly available flashcards people have already made on Quizlet, FlashcardDB, Anki decks, etc. I found public decks for my course lectures that upperclassmen had made on Quizlet. Also, Firecracker is basically a giant collection of flashcards that is comprehensive and especially useful later (M2 onwards) for Step 1 prep.

 

[exquisitemelody]

Thanks for the insight! My main concern is the amount of time it takes to make cards. I have it downloaded but never really used it, and opted for index cards closer to exams. Of course, never used those after the exam. Was that the same for you. You never went back to review Anki cards once the test for that section was over?

But I think it's worth it to have a record with electronic cards provided that they are good and concise. Also, can Anki be used for all subjects equally well?

I did have a hard time going back and reviewing cards once the section was over. However, i think I'm going to try to do it this year since it'll help with step review. But hey, at least you have the cards for reference if needed, and since they're computer cards, you don't have a box full of index cards.

i found physio was a hard subject to make anki cards for. that would be the one subject that if nothing else, you HAVE to understand it somewhat before you make cards. the cards will help you memorize the gritty details, but you have to know the big picture, which is hard to capture with cards.

If I could be the perfect student with Anki, what i would've done was cross reference class notes with first aid and tag all my class cards that overlapped with first aid with some special tag so after the test, i could pull those cards and use those for step study. but going to class+studying+making cards...i couldn't find the time/energy to add that extra step. but if you did, AND you forced yourself to do some review every day...i bet you'd kill step 1.

The blog post that convinced me to keep up with anki:
http://drwillbe.blogspot.com/2011/08/anki-guide-for-medical-students.html

I think he posts on sdn too...

 

[exquisitemelody]

In my experience, creating flashcards is time consuming and low-yield in the long run. It's not a bad study method, but your time can be spent more efficiently. Look for publicly available flashcards people have already made on Quizlet, FlashcardDB, Anki decks, etc. I found public decks for my course lectures that upperclassmen had made on Quizlet. Also, Firecracker is basically a giant collection of flashcards that is comprehensive and especially useful later (M2 onwards) for Step 1 prep.

I won't disagree that anki is not the most time-efficient method of studying, but I think there's value in making your own cards. A classmate and I actually tried sharing decks - he'd take one lecture, I'd take another and then we'd swap. We ended up stopping that because we made cards differently, and I ended up having to make more cards than necessary - I didn't make cards for things I thought I already knew.

Making the cards forces you to go through the material again. You may not know it after making it, but at least you've been exposed to the material one more time.

 

[cbrons]

Hi guys,

I will be starting in the fall, and am looking for some advice, ideas and tips on how to best approach note taking, organization and studying for classes.

Traditionally, I am a pen and paper person, who needs to print out all the notes and use physical folders to organize by subject. This has worked best for me in the past, because oftentimes by taking notes on the computer, I don't seem to retain as much when reviewing before exams. I learn better when actually writing and highlighting on paper while studying and then later reviewing.

My concern with med school is the massive amount of notes printing and organizing the information in big folders. With so many notes, I'm afraid I won't be able to stay organized, and will have to carry massive folders with printed notes. Pretty inconvenient it seems.

Is there a better way to approach med school classes? What has been your guys' experience? Especially those who prefer writing?


Thanks!

If i printed all the notes the professors put up on line I would have killed so many trees.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

If i printed all the notes the professors put up on line I would have killed so many trees.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[evilbooyaa]

If i printed all the notes the professors put up on line I would have killed so many trees.
Cut the big ass photo

Pssh noob at level 25 with blink only. No boots? Sitting on 8.3k gold omg feed more stupid brazilian brbrbrbrbr huehuehue

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Annotating with what? Your class notes will probably be much more dense than what is in FA. It seemed like an outline or study guide.

Various little tidbits you pick up from your dense notes, like little pearls of wisdom. I'd rather have all those pearls in one book rather than have to sift through my old notes come Step 1 prep time.

Old notes are for the bonfire. 😛

 

[cbrons]

Reactive Armor so op no survivability items needed on T-saw anymore!

 

[evilbooyaa]

Reactive Armor so op no survivability items needed on T-saw anymore!

Well until late game

 

[cbrons]

Well until late game

I still go arcane boots, to bloodstone, to bkb and then situational from there

 

[SilverCat]

This is a technique I'm going to try that I got from another med student:

1.) read over the upcoming lecture slides- outline major ideas of that lecture
2.) listen to lecture- either on video or live
3.) make a one- page outline of major concepts of lecture- this forces you to memorize certain details, since you can only fill the front and back of one sheet, look up things you don't understand
4.) study these sheets at the end of the week, and before exams- reduces the volume of information you'll need to study

I've always hated making flashcards, but I think I'll try them when it comes to memorizing lists of things, like drugs, proteins, vitamins, etc.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

This is a technique I'm going to try that I got from another med student:

1.) read over the upcoming lecture slides- outline major ideas of that lecture
2.) listen to lecture- either on video or live
3.) make a one- page outline of major concepts of lecture- this forces you to memorize certain details, since you can only fill the front and back of one sheet, look up things you don't understand
4.) study these sheets at the end of the week, and before exams- reduces the volume of information you'll need to study

I've always hated making flashcards, but I think I'll try them when it comes to memorizing lists of things, like drugs, proteins, vitamins, etc.

Sounds good!

 

[Anastomoses]

This is a technique I'm going to try that I got from another med student:

1.) read over the upcoming lecture slides- outline major ideas of that lecture
2.) listen to lecture- either on video or live
3.) make a one- page outline of major concepts of lecture- this forces you to memorize certain details, since you can only fill the front and back of one sheet, look up things you don't understand
4.) study these sheets at the end of the week, and before exams- reduces the volume of information you'll need to study

I've always hated making flashcards, but I think I'll try them when it comes to memorizing lists of things, like drugs, proteins, vitamins, etc.

Reading ahead - when you can pull it off - is always a great idea.

 

[hmockingbird]

This is what I did/plan to keep doing (I'm an entering M2), but honestly, I would not try to decide on a method before you start. Something different is going to work for everyone, so it's good to be open to a lot of ideas, and you can't really know what works for you until you confront the material.

For the initial exposure to the material, I take handwritten notes. This is either from the class notes or the lecture if I like the lecturer (if I didn't like them the first day they taught I don't keep going). I tried highlighting, I didn't learn as much. I tried taking written notes on the printed class notes/slides, again didn't retain as much. I sometimes type these notes up on the computer, especially when my hand gets really tired (haha) and that's OK but I feel like for me there is something about physically writing down information that makes it stick better. I go through a lot of notebooks and pens... But it works for me and easier than carrying around the big class note packets.
The only time I don't plan on using this strategy again is when we're given a list of stuff that is pure memorization, like this past year with antibiotics. I don't think I ever used my handwritten notes because it was too much to just get pure recall out of in that format. I used a pre-made chart instead and did a lot of organizing which I'll explain later.

For review I do a few things:
-Use pre-made study guides from upperclassmen. These are good when I need a quick reference, or have already studied a lot and just want to read another person's perspective to maybe pick up things I didn't emphasize myself. I also used these more for pure memorization subjects because it saved time; I was just going to make the same chart myself.
-Highlight important points in handwritten notes. This allowed me to sort-out the "key points" as well as create a shorter "study guide" version of my notes for closer to the test.
-"Organizing". My friend who does the same thing calls this "maps" but they aren't always maps haha. Anyway what I will do is kind-of like another poster above, take a piece of paper and try to get an entire unit to fit on there. Sometimes I do concept maps, sometimes I do flow charts, sometimes regular charts, drawings for anatomy - it all really depends on what fits the material, but I would try to find a way to outline it that really brought all of the material together in a way that made sense to me. For the pure memorization stuff, I would make lists where I grouped the items together by different characteristics because I knew that was how they would be tested on (eg all the antibiotics with a specific side effect) but that wasn't as easy for me to pick up on when I was just reading through the notes or even doing individual flashcards. For things like identifying a type of tissue I'd make a flow chart with questions to rule out one at a time. For the different types of hepatitis I made a chart comparing them based on cells it affects, genus, typical source (foodbourne, needles, etc), how it's spread, stuff like that. Etc. I make these with gel pens to make it kind-of fun hahaha. Oh and I took pictures of them on my phone in case I ever forgot them or on the off-chance I was bored waiting at the car shop or whatever and wanted to study!
-Study group... once we knew the material on our own my friends and I would get together and quiz each other and draw outlines/drawings on whiteboards.
-Practice questions. Most of our professors provided practice questions but you can also get books of them. I would do all of these at the start of studying for a test and rank how I did on each unit. I would go back and study the worst units the most and then go back and do the questions again. Then I would move on to the "medium" ones and maybe just review the highlighted sections of my notes for the questions I did well on. I tried to do all of the practice questions at least twice before every test. If I was good with the ones school gave us and had time, I would go to a review book.

In terms of a timeline I would reread my notes on weekends and start making "maps" then. I'd try to make sure I didn't have any material I didn't understand before I started studying for a test so it would truly be review instead of trying to teach myself something new. This didn't always work out but I tried haha. I started really studying maybe 5 days before the test and that's when I would do practice questions, meet with my friends, and do a lot of rereading of my notes (highlighting if I hadn't started doing that already) and maps.

This year I am going to try to add First Aid to the review process.

I always took handwritten notes and did practice questions from high school on but the "maps" thing is new to me. I have never been a flashcard person and I tried them during anatomy but felt like I wasn't getting much out of it. I also tried making my original notes as concept maps, but I found that I needed to really digest the material first before I could try to re-organize it that way and for me that was a better way to review than to learn something new. And I found that concept maps didn't work for every type of material, sometimes a different type of chart worked better. You might find your existing study method works for you, you might find you need to add something to that, and you may find that you do something else entirely. It can also vary by class, too - like for an obvious example, I drew more diagrams during anatomy!

 

[evilbooyaa]

I still go arcane boots, to bloodstone, to bkb and then situational from there

Honestly haven't played him enough to have a solid item build. Got him once on a random and did decent with some garbage item build without even hitting a single hookshot through an enemy. That ult is all sorts of nasty.

Anyways, on topic

Reading ahead - when you can pull it off - is always a great idea.

Whole heartedly agree w/ this. It's hard to do most days, but if you can do it prior to watching a lecture (live or on a computer) it'll hopefully reinforce your understanding.

 

[shibby1111]

How do you combine directional terms and is there a systematic way of naming joints? For example, how do you know whether to say lumbosacral or sacrolumbar? Why is it sacroiliac instead of iliosacral? What about anteroposterior or posteroanterior?

 

[evilbooyaa]

How do you combine directional terms and is there a systematic way of naming joints? For example, how do you know whether to say lumbosacral or sacrolumbar? Why is it sacroiliac instead of iliosacral? What about anteroposterior or posteroanterior?

Generally is more proximal first (lumbar before sacral, sacral before iliac) and anterior before posterior.

Consider naming stuff from top down. Probably doesn't work for everything, but should be a general rule. Anyways, this shouldn't be a super major focus of your studies.

A quick google search makes it sound like either term is kosher (lumbosacral or sacrolumbar and sacroiliac and iliosacral).

 

[shibby1111]

thanks. i just realized i asked anteroposterior vs posteroanterior, which is pretty dumb. i meant to say anterosuperior or superoanterior. i get the jist, though.

 

[mehc012]

I won't disagree that anki is not the most time-efficient method of studying, but I think there's value in making your own cards. A classmate and I actually tried sharing decks - he'd take one lecture, I'd take another and then we'd swap. We ended up stopping that because we made cards differently, and I ended up having to make more cards than necessary - I didn't make cards for things I thought I already knew.

Making the cards forces you to go through the material again. You may not know it after making it, but at least you've been exposed to the material one more time.

I've found that so far, creating the cards is what makes the information stick in my head. I usually don't need to review the cards at all right after I've made them. In fact, I changed the 'Learning' intervals so that I didn't have to see all of the damn things 80x after making them...it was just too time consuming. Now I make them, then the next day I do a big cram session and go through all the new ones (usually a few hundred) and then they get popped into the regular cycle.

In general, I've found that making templates for each kind of structure or concept helps me sort out which information I should be focusing on when I review those, and helps me parse through all of the info in the book. The real benefit for me is that making the cards myself forces me to organize all of the information in my head and decide which concepts/factoids are the important ones. That's half the battle in learning, and I don't get the same results from using pre-made cards. I have to review those ones frequently, and I never end up with the same solidity of knowledge as when I make the cards myself. Plus, they usually come with a crap-ton of cruddy tags that don't fit my system at all and clutter up my Browser!

 

[JM26]

I really struggled my first year of med school, barely passing because the methods I used in undergrad did not work at all. I actually went to a med school study skills class and that was a lifesaver.

Some of what I learned dealt with making notes more visual and using pictures - I used to have pages and pages of notes but didn't know how to memorize or keep things organized in my head. Using youtube is actually helpful when you are learning about diseases - just seeing people with the disorder helps encode it in my brain.

Just my two cents...

 

[Dr Dazzle]

I really struggled my first year of med school, barely passing because the methods I used in undergrad did not work at all. I actually went to a med school study skills class and that was a lifesaver.

Some of what I learned dealt with making notes more visual and using pictures - I used to have pages and pages of notes but didn't know how to memorize or keep things organized in my head. Using youtube is actually helpful when you are learning about diseases - just seeing people with the disorder helps encode it in my brain.

Just my two cents...

Would really appreciate more insight regarding what strategies worked for you. Did most of you guys start condensing info into study guides before exams? How did you go about it?

 

[exquisitemelody]

Would really appreciate more insight regarding what strategies worked for you. Did most of you guys start condensing info into study guides before exams? How did you go about it?

Our school has a detailed syllabus that lists out all the learning objectives. Before some of the tests, I would go over this and make sureI could answer all of the questions. If your school provides the same resource, you can use it as a guide to make your own study guides.