Need help with a study method!

[minou_minou]

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I need some help figuring out how to study in medical school.
I will be starting my 2nd year in the fall. I struggled alot as a M1 b/c I could never figure out how to study. I know it depends on learning style, etc, but I need some hard core study tips. My background is engineering, so I am not so good at just reading and remembering.
Can you guys and gals give me some ways of studying that work for you?

Thanks alot!

 

[thackl]

I struggled alot as a M1 ........My background is engineering

Not used to hearing that. What specifically gave you trouble? Give examples.

 

[minou_minou]

I guess I felt like I was covering everything, but I think my problem was committing it to memory. Whether I made study guides or notecards, I never did as well as I liked.

 

[Paws]

Hey Minou,

I hear you on this one. I know for me, and a lot of my classmates, we all tried everything we could think of to figure out good study methods. By the end of the year I realized that every block would be different and that I should not be hung up on the numbers so much as: am I learning the material and do I feel I could be a good clinician based on what I knew. In other words, I tried to study for ME, and not so much for the abstraction of the numbers.

It kind of changed things and shifted the focus back onto what was really important to me. Plus, it took the intensity off of "oh my gosh, am I like, at the top of my class?" and put it back onto "holy cow! I can't believe I am allowed to study this stuff all day long and that I am going to be a doctor!" Then I began to enjoy it alot more as well, and - surprise! - I found I was doing alot better.

Ironic, but there it is. Just like when I did my pre-requs. I tried to focus less of the number grades and more on 'do I know and understand the material, and can I apply it in many different situations?' And that actually helped me to do BETTER - when I stopped trying to be top of the class, or whatever, etc.

Keep trying dude, you'll find what works for you - 👍

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

I need some help figuring out how to study in medical school.
I will be starting my 2nd year in the fall. I struggled alot as a M1 b/c I could never figure out how to study. I know it depends on learning style, etc, but I need some hard core study tips. My background is engineering, so I am not so good at just reading and remembering.
Can you guys and gals give me some ways of studying that work for you?

Thanks alot!

I have the same background, and had some trouble with M1 as well. I'm just not used to the memorization.

Here's my plan for M2. What does work for me (but is time consuming) is writing my own multiple choice questions for each concept/fact and then inputting the questions into a computer program. It makes for a quick review, and depending on how evil your questions are, a firm base of knowledge.

Other engineers at my school advocate the "write everything down verbatim a million times" method. Still other do flash cards.

Hope that helps.

 

[n0chi]

im in the pre-med track with science classes and i still cant memorize stuff... so dont just think its your engineering background thats doing you in... lol.
i dont often score well on questions that jsut ask you to memorize a fact... but believe it or not there are a lotta bio concepts as well... so i get by no those hehe.
later.

 

[jojo14]

What works for me the best is finding one or two study resources and just using those over and over. I think it is really easy to become over-resourced with the variety of medical books/board review books out there and you end up spreading yourself too thin with nothing of substance to show for it.

So from my designated study resource (e.g. BRS pathology, esp during second year) I would create my own study notes, usually on blank computer paper and write everything I thought was important down from my books/class notes, which unfortunately takes a lot of time but really helps me. Hopefully I would have my sheets done around 3 days before an exam and then I would go over it as many times as I could. I also read BRS path chapters over and over. I tried to do some every day after classes. My grades in 2 year went up a lot after I started doing this, so it did work for me. I hope this helps you!

 

[Paws]

Okay, Paws here again. Hard core study tips? I try and read to understand several times (like I read big Robbins for path a couple of times), then towards the exam I do the lists (pharm or micro is a great example of the list thing) or I just straight out do the memorization stuff on sheets of paper. Walking down the street with flashcards, on the bus or where ever. This way, if the memorization part fails me in the exam, then the reasoning part can save my tuckus. 🙂

 

[pikachu]

I wasted a lot of time writing out flash cards. typing questions is a little faster. what really worked for me was doing lots of practice questions out of the available series - Pretest publishes some good question books as does Appleton and Lange. Some of the Lange series (like their Micro review text) also have sets of multiple choice questions at the very end of the book. Good luck.

 

[thackl]

What works for me the best is finding one or two study resources and just using those over and over. I think it is really easy to become over-resourced with the variety of medical books/board review books out there and you end up spreading yourself too thin with nothing of substance to show for it.

So from my designated study resource (e.g. BRS pathology, esp during second year) I would create my own study notes, usually on blank computer paper and write everything I thought was important down from my books/class notes, which unfortunately takes a lot of time but really helps me. Hopefully I would have my sheets done around 3 days before an exam and then I would go over it as many times as I could. I also read BRS path chapters over and over. I tried to do some every day after classes. My grades in 2 year went up a lot after I started doing this, so it did work for me. I hope this helps you!

This is exactly what I do, except for making note sheets from books. I just use a review type book if something isn't making sense.

 

[Anka]

As I read, I shut my eyes every so often and ask, for example, "OK, what are the three characteristics of cirrhosis?" and then answer it to myself, then "And which parts do which?" It keeps me on task, plus it helps with organizing it in a way that I can understand/remember [not engineering, but a math background... we're even worse for not memorizing, I think]. I tried writing out questions, but it took so long that I couldn't get through all the material.

The other thing is -- you just need to spend a lot of time staring at the material. There's no substitute for flogging yourself through it again and again, whatever the happy geniouses might tell you.

Anka

 

[fun8stuff]

As I read, I shut my eyes every so often and ask, for example, "OK, what are the three characteristics of cirrhosis?" and then answer it to myself, then "And which parts do which?" It keeps me on task, plus it helps with organizing it in a way that I can understand/remember [not engineering, but a math background... we're even worse for not memorizing, I think]. I tried writing out questions, but it took so long that I couldn't get through all the material.

The other thing is -- you just need to spend a lot of time staring at the material. There's no substitute for flogging yourself through it again and again, whatever the happy geniouses might tell you.

Anka

wow, i could have written this exact same post- my story (only for undergrad). Writing out questions worked great for me in 200-300 level bio classes, but after i got into the higher level 300 and 400+ classes, it took too much time to write out questions, so i would do just as anka said, which worked great.

then, after i had worked through the material at least once (most of the time 2-3 times), i would go back through the notes for a final time and make notes of things that i was having a hard time remembering. This way after going through 100-150 pages of notes, i might have a notebook page or 2 of things i still didnt quite know, then i would focus on learning what was on the notebook page(s) up until right before the test.

 

[fun8stuff]

also, there was a really good post on here like a year ago about a particular study method... i forget the name, but what it entails is...

1) first going kinda of quickly over your notes and focusing on understanding the major points
2) second, go over evrything and try to understand a litte more in detail
3) focus on understanding the minutia and review major points


this is what i would do a lot of times and then on the 4th time make the notes on the points that i still didnt know.

 

[drjeni2b]

Students often think that studying for hours and hours by reading and rereading notes is the most important thing. I beg to differ. What you need to do after you have input (reading of your notes) is have some OUTPUT. This is not merely trying to think of your notes but involves actual RECALLING of the information verbally or in a written manner. You can whisper it to yourself, yell it in the confines of your own apt or write it down from memory. Whatever you do make sure you have output everytime you put something in. Good luck!

 

[Ramoray]

well first off 2nd year is a whole diff ballgame than 1st year. I found first year complete rote memorization with the excpetion of physiology. I hated it, found it difficult, and didnt enjoy it. Second year is completely different. There is alot less to memorize straight out. You can understand alot more and use the understanding to make memorizing whatever you have to. The exception is micriobiology and of course alot of pharm. But path and all the clinical stuff i really memorized very little. Also remember you have step 1 at the end of the year. Strive to learn this year as much as you can and dont owrry so much about knowing all the small details for your test. You may see others in your class do better in class who memorize all the random details your profs give you but if you spend your time learning pathology from a good srouce and learning clinical stuff the right way, it will be alot less painful, will do you more good for step 1 and will bew more important in the end.
You will have to see how you learn best, if it is from lectures or books. Personally i read Robbins all year over and over. I thought it was a great book and i learned alot. some hated it, most didnt read it but i loved it.