MS1 and MS2 with A and/or B average--please share your study method(s)

[loltopsy]

I forgot to mention. As tempting as it is, never pull all nighters. It's not worth it unless you know you're that type of psychotic person that can pull it off and still function at near 100% the next day. I only know one person that can do this, and it's nuts. That being said, normal people need sleep. I know another guy who pulls all nighters, and in the morning, can't hold simple facts in his head because he's so fried. He then does terrible on exams and can't figure out why despite everyone telling him to slow down. Don't be that guy.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DermViser]

I forgot to mention. As tempting as it is, never pull all nighters. It's not worth it unless you know you're that type of psychotic person that can pull it off and still function at near 100% the next day. I only know one person that can do this, and it's nuts. That being said, normal people need sleep. I know another guy who pulls all nighters, and in the morning, can't hold simple facts in his head because he's so fried. He then does terrible on exams and can't figure out why despite everyone telling him to slow down. Don't be that guy.

Wow, such a sad case.

 

[Shaq]

turn your computer off. take your syllabus out. read slowly and carefully. try and understand what you are reading, don't passively read. lots of people read passively so they have to make multiple "passes" through the syllabus. If you read it correctly, you need to read it once and review once very quickly before the exam.

 

[ChEMD]

turn your computer off. take your syllabus out. read slowly and carefully. try and understand what you are reading, don't passively read. lots of people read passively so they have to make multiple "passes" through the syllabus. If you read it correctly, you need to read it once and review once very quickly before the exam.

Gotta disagree with this. The average med student can't learn the level of detail needed to do well on an exam with just two looks at a set of material. Now if your only goal is passing, it may be a different story. But even then, only seeing material twice doesn't bode well for long term retention.

 

[dyspareunia]

turn your computer off. take your syllabus out. read slowly and carefully. try and understand what you are reading, don't passively read. lots of people read passively so they have to make multiple "passes" through the syllabus. If you read it correctly, you need to read it once and review once very quickly before the exam.

That's what I do, but I also do a lot of supplementation with board review materials. All together I probably see the "high yield" information 4-5+ times before an exam.

1. Lecture
2. Reading notes on my own after lecture
3. FC, FA, whatever book I'm using in the block
4. Rx and/or whatever question book I'm using in the block
5. Re-reading lecture notes the weekend before the exam for random minutiae

If I went to Baylor I would probably cut out #5.

 

[Shaq]

Gotta disagree with this. The average med student can't learn the level of detail needed to do well on an exam with just two looks at a set of material. Now if your only goal is passing, it may be a different story. But even then, only seeing material twice doesn't bode well for long term retention.

If you read the material once or twice carefully, it is basically the same as reading it 5 times passively. I read stuff 1-2x and easily break 90% on exams. Granted I take about 3 times the amount of time to do one pass of the material. My point is the quantity of "reads" is not as important as the quality.

As far as the issue of long term retention, once again reading material passively won't allow you to retain anything. I know people who read the exam material 9 times before a test and do just as well as me, or marginally better.

 

[ChEMD]

If you read the material once or twice carefully, it is basically the same as reading it 5 times passively. I read stuff 1-2x and easily break 90% on exams. Granted I take about 3 times the amount of time to do one pass of the material. My point is the quantity of "reads" is not as important as the quality.

As far as the issue of long term retention, once again reading material passively won't allow you to retain anything. I know people who read the exam material 9 times before a test and do just as well as me, or marginally better.

Obviously it's important to try to understand everything you're reading and not just gloss over it, but I think you may be an exception. It's been shown that one of the most effective ways to learn is through spaced repetition. No matter how well you understood something the first time you went over it, most people tend to at least partially forget it if you don't review it. This typically takes multiple reviews over an extended period of time to truly commit something to long term memory. Props to you though if you can fully retain something long term by only looking at it twice, but I think you may be the exception, not the rule.

 

[dyspareunia]

Obviously it's important to try to understand everything you're reading and not just gloss over it, but I think you may be an exception. It's been shown that one of the most effective ways to learn is through spaced repetition. No matter how well you understood something the first time you went over it, most people tend to at least partially forget it if you don't review it. This typically takes multiple reviews over an extended period of time to truly commit something to long term memory. Props to you though if you can fully retain something long term by only looking at it twice, but I think you may be the exception, not the rule.

But spaced repetition isn't the same as rereading the syllabus 5 times.

 

[ChEMD]

But spaced repetition isn't the same as rereading the syllabus 5 times.

You're right, there are many different techniques, with rereading the syllabus being one of them. Other people use notes, make flash cards, use other review materials, etc... My point is, for your average student it takes more than two passes over material to retain it long term, no matter how much time you put into understanding it. Now I suppose there are people with an exceptional memory that can, but that is not the norm, and I just don't want future med students to think that two passes (regardless of the method) is going to be enough for your average person.

 

[pathologyDO]

That's what I do, but I also do a lot of supplementation with board review materials. All together I probably see the "high yield" information 4-5+ times before an exam.

1. Lecture
2. Reading notes on my own after lecture
3. FC, FA, whatever book I'm using in the block
4. Rx and/or whatever question book I'm using in the block
5. Re-reading lecture notes the weekend before the exam for random minutiae

If I went to Baylor I would probably cut out #5.

This is my approach right here. I have found that relying solely on the powerpoints or lecture notes provided to us is a good way to not do well on exams. By integrating other books like FA, BRS review, hell even youtube videos on the subject, by integrating these together you learn the major points and you see the information in different ways which I find helps with retention and understanding.

Our school keeps telling us that seeing the info 5x is ideal, but I usually only see it 4x.

B student

 

[sinombre]

How so? Didn't say I was going to blow off medical school.

P's = MD's

Are you in medical school already? "Just passing" in med school is very different than "just passing" classes in undergrad. Especially when you first start... because you have no idea how much effort it really takes to pass. We have giant (~8-9 week) blocks with only one final at the end. Our first block average was in the mid 70s, with a very small standard deviation. Not many people broke into the B range, and nobody got an A. Fortunately we're on a pass/fail and non-ranked system.

 

[solitarius]

Are you in medical school already? "Just passing" in med school is very different than "just passing" classes in undergrad. Especially when you first start... because you have no idea how much effort it really takes to pass. We have giant (~8-9 week) blocks with only one final at the end. Our first block average was in the mid 70s, with a very small standard deviation. Not many people broke into the B range, and nobody got an A. Fortunately we're on a pass/fail and non-ranked system.

If you're right, then I'll obviously put in the effort to pass. If the effort needed to pass is < 100%, I'll do that. Simple really. We'll see how it goes.

 

[rodmichael82]

Can some MS1 and MS2 who have been racking up As/Bs in med school share the way they have studied to get these grades? I am about to start med school and my friend who just finished MS2 told me he studies 5+ hours EVERYDAY just to be average in his class. That scare the bejesus out of me because it is hard for me to retain a lot info after studying for more than 6 hours...

It really depends everyone is different. M1 year I would study 4-5 hours a day every day even on weekends and scored in the low 90s. First semester of M2 year I studied a bit more 5-6 hours every day and still scored the same. Then during second semester I quit studying and just started cramming mainly because I'm sick and tired of books. I don't study for 2 weeks and then cram the entire last week and I'm still scoring roughly about the same. You just have to experiment and see what technique and amount of hours work best for you. One technique could get you one student mid 90s and another fail. Either way I have come to realize after almost 2 years that personally for me medical school is all about that last week grind, you really don't need to study every day just have to be able to put in your all that last week. I'm talking about studying 10-15 hours/ day like the world is about to end lol

 

[dyspareunia]

You're right, there are many different techniques, with rereading the syllabus being one of them. Other people use notes, make flash cards, use other review materials, etc... My point is, for your average student it takes more than two passes over material to retain it long term, no matter how much time you put into understanding it. Now I suppose there are people with an exceptional memory that can, but that is not the norm, and I just don't want future med students to think that two passes (regardless of the method) is going to be enough for your average person.

I agree that seeing the material more than a couple of times is necessary for most of us. I guess I was getting at the fact that going through the syllabus more than twice is different than seeing the information more than twice. I think I posted above how I study, but basically it's lecture, syllabus x2, and board prep/questions the rest of the time. Essentially my view is that getting big picture (and some detail) from board prep stuff puts you in a position to learn/memorize professor-specific-minutiae much more easily.

Using renal histology as an example, we were expected to know the epithelial types for each part of the nephron and while I had classmates making all kinds of tables, flash cards, etc all I did was learn basic idea of each part of the nephron and then take a look at the syllabus. So, if you know that the PCT is where most reabsorption occurs then you know it's cuboidal with tons of microvilli and basal infoldings. If you know that the descending limb is for water reabsorption then you know it must be simple squamous, etc. In other words, while some of my friends were splitting time between trying to memorize the details and actually learning the nephron, I just learned the nephron and the details fell into place; much less stressful. In fact, I'm pretty sure all my friends think I'm really dumb and near the bottom of our class because whenever they ask me questions about details 3+ days before an exam my answer is always "I don't know"... because I don't.

So it's all about your approach and how you choose to learn the material. Different strokes, but at the end of the day your goal should be to maximize efficiency. There's tons of time as an M1 to go through the syllabus 5+ times because really that's all you have to learn. Based one everything I've heard about M2 I'm pretty confident when I say that the 5+ times strategy isn't going to work if you also plan on doing step 1 prep during the year.

 

[ChEMD]

I agree that seeing the material more than a couple of times is necessary for most of us. I guess I was getting at the fact that going through the syllabus more than twice is different than seeing the information more than twice. I think I posted above how I study, but basically it's lecture, syllabus x2, and board prep/questions the rest of the time. Essentially my view is that getting big picture (and some detail) from board prep stuff puts you in a position to learn/memorize professor-specific-minutiae much more easily.

Using renal histology as an example, we were expected to know the epithelial types for each part of the nephron and while I had classmates making all kinds of tables, flash cards, etc all I did was learn basic idea of each part of the nephron and then take a look at the syllabus. So, if you know that the PCT is where most reabsorption occurs then you know it's cuboidal with tons of microvilli and basal infoldings. If you know that the descending limb is for water reabsorption then you know it must be simple squamous, etc. In other words, while some of my friends were splitting time between trying to memorize the details and actually learning the nephron, I just learned the nephron and the details fell into place; much less stressful. In fact, I'm pretty sure all my friends think I'm really dumb and near the bottom of our class because whenever they ask me questions about details 3+ days before an exam my answer is always "I don't know"... because I don't.

So it's all about your approach and how you choose to learn the material. Different strokes, but at the end of the day your goal should be to maximize efficiency. There's tons of time as an M1 to go through the syllabus 5+ times because really that's all you have to learn. Based one everything I've heard about M2 I'm pretty confident when I say that the 5+ times strategy isn't going to work if you also plan on doing step 1 prep during the year.

Definitely, I'm a huge advocate of learning concepts before details. Regardless of what materials you use, it's much more enjoyable and less stressful to learn how and why everything works instead of memorizing small details that you don't understand without reasoning through them.