Method of Studying for Year 1 and 2

[JackMcCoyDA]

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Hey guys, I've been looking up ways on studying and I've come across a method that I think will work for me. Please let me know what you think and also feel free to add any of your own tips as advice.

I will try to pre-read the material before lecture and attend. After lecture, I will actively take notes and try to master the information covered in class that day. That will follow through the typical Monday through Friday with any free time being devoted to resting or shadowing.

On Saturdays and Sunday I would only take the notes that I've written from the week's work and review that extensively. After my first week of medical school, I would use a part of Sunday to study the notes from the previous week's lectures.

For clarification, I would like to point out that by "study" I mean actively study which means drawing flow charts, re-listening to lectures and answering test questions. The weekends would be mainly for review with the bulk of my learning occurring throughout the week.

One question I do have is in regards to reviewing information that are more than a week in the past when it gets later in the semester. How would one go about reviewing information just for the sake of keeping it fresh knowing that everything in medicine builds and builds.

Any advice, critique, or suggestions would be very welcomed. THANKS! 🙂

 

[Fiddlergirl]

I'm not going to specifically critique your plan because I don't know which school you're going to, or what will work for you. I will say that you need to be prepared to be flexible. I started out making review sheets, and then realized that wasn't working for me. I ended up just reading the notes through three or four times for each exam. Don't be completely devoted to a single study plan, because chances are it won't work quite the way you think it will.

 

[Rollo]

Sounds like a good plan. Try it out and see if it works for you. Most people will refine their studying habits multiple times during the first year so don't worry if you find out it doesn't work for you.

As far as reviewing old material, if the material hasn't been covered in another lecture again then I'll review it. Most of the times though, my review of old material consisted of doing test questions. It was only the day or two before the exam, that I would actually look at my notes as part of final review.

 

[NTF]

I will say that you need to be prepared to be flexible.

👍
Everyone is different and different classes require different things. You'll be tinkering most likely for the first couple sets of exams. I think everything you mentioned is a good start. It's a good idea to go gangbusters in the beginning until you learn to streamline your studying. There are a few of my classmates who are study machines that kept a schedule like that all year. But for most, a schedule like that would eventually burn them out.

One piece of advice: Don't reinvent the wheel all the time. Make use of available outlines (from classmates and upperclassmen - they're always floating around), powerpoints, online resources, board review books, and adapt them to fit your needs. It's often too time-consuming to create review materials de novo.

 

[JackMcCoyDA]

I will remember to remain flexible in my study habits. I have always had a problem of not knowing when I know enough so I tend to go overboard in some regard.

If it helps with any advice at all, I will be attending UT Southwestern's Medical School in the Fall. Thanks again!

 

[radiodoc99]

System based approach with a binder where you put all your notes in one place is best. Your class lectures, books, blogs, podcasts and exams. All in one binder for each subject. Only add what you need to cram or feel you will need for boards. Spaced learning, flashcards, littner method all work. Keeping a weekly calendar with topics to review is helpful. Spend time on checking off things you accomplished and get into the habit of benchmarking yourself. For example, today you read 20pages and did 20 questions but do it for a week or several weeks. It will keep you on track. Spend time on your weaknesses. Not on cramming details and seek help from tutors or professors early.

 

[sideways]

What you'll find is that medical school doesn't give you the luxury to go overboard in the sense that one can go overboard in undergrad. In undergrad you can get seriously anal with learning material for an exam. Draft all sorts of elaborate study aids and walk into an exam pretty confident that you know everything.

Medical school, on the the other hand, is designed in such a way that you simply can't do that. There's too much info coming at you too quickly. You may come into med school with the best of intentions, but I can assure you you will end up walking into at least one important exam with a furiously tightened sphincter.

So yeah, like everyone else said, different classes, even different exams in the same classes, may require different tactics. Drafting a study sheet for each exam is impractical and if you do that for every exam, I'll be reading about you in the newspaper in a year.

I know the tendency is to try to figure it all out before you begin. But to echo the collective wisdom reiterated every year on this site: you can't figure it out now. Savor the free time you have like a steak made of nubile teenage women and gold. Then come day 1, hit the ground running.

Good luck.

 

[da8s0859q]

Most people will refine their studying habits multiple times during the first year so don't worry if you find out it doesn't work for you.

For sure. Flash cards, review sheets, repeated re-reading, doing practice questions, writing practice questions, quizzing each other... just pick what comes comfortable to you, but don't be afraid to change things like the others are saying if you're not scoring as well as you'd like to be, given the amount of time you're putting in. It might take several exams to get a feel for this.

I can assure you you will end up walking into at least one important exam with a furiously tightened sphincter. ... Savor the free time you have like a steak made of nubile teenage women and gold.

Hahah, /like

If it helps with any advice at all, I will be attending UT Southwestern's Medical School in the Fall. Thanks again!

Okay, I'm in Texas too, and this isn't necessarily UTSW-specific, since every school has "these people". One of the oft-repeated bits of advice on SDN is that at some point, it's best to focus on what you're doing, and forget what those around you are doing. I'm sure UTSW is a great school and isn't nearly as over-competitive/gunnerish as horror stories suggest, but reputations like that generally have an itty-bitty sliver of truth somewhere -- so be careful about letting the hyper-intense folks rub off on you when they start talking about THEIR way of studying, THEIR study habits, all that. They are not you.

Anyway, congratulations 👍

 

[JackMcCoyDA]

Thank you all for your input. I honestly was not the best undergraduate student so I really want to change things up for medical school. I will definitely try different methods and stay the course even if my results aren't what I'd like at first.

The advice from radiodoc99 was awesome and I will definitely try to implement that. Fortunately for me, I was invited to participate in the Summer Enrichment Program at UT Southwestern so I can start trying these methods out on my classes there. UT Southwestern also makes our first semester classes to be pass/fail in order to help even more so with transition.

Thanks sideways for your input. I think it's important for me to know that things MAY change when I start and I probably will have to change to adapt to the pace of the courses. I guess I'm just going to try to have a gameplan for the most part of what is important, a daily routine that I could stick to that will keep me above water while I try to figure things out.

Thanks for the advice Exi. Continuous self testing is something I will most definitely implement as soon as possible. And you're right, going to UT Southwestern is very intimidating but I've tried to remind myself to only focus on the material in trying to master it to the best of my ability. If I really tried to focus on my classmates, I would be ridiculously outmatched. What medical school in Texas are you going to?

I really want to shoot for very high test grades but if I feel like I'm learning the material to a great degree even though I'm not scoring that well, I'll be fine with that. Just as long as I survive being pimped during my rotations and show a good strong work ethic and passion for medicine, that may be enough to get me into the residency of my choice (or close).

 

[ChubbyChaser]

] with any free time being devoted to resting or shadowing.

I dont like this...skip the shadowing and do something fun.

 

[RySerr21]

your schedule is missing something very crucial - time for a life. You can study hard and still enjoy yourself. Just make sure you dont lose site of that. Your study habits will likely change. You may find out that going to class isnt working for you. Thats fine. Also, reviewing the previous week is only going to go on for so long before you stop. There is so much information that you simply just wont care enough to do it. The stuff that overlaps youll see again and again and in that sense you are reviewing it. But as far as just planned in time to review old stuff - no way. Do your best to learn it well and move on. The important/relevant stuff will come up in other courses. The irrelevant/non-clinical stuff that they make you learn for no reason you can just drop out of your head the second you take the test.

 

[JackMcCoyDA]

Thanks Ryan. BUMP!