New study method.

[MCATISEZ]

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Hi all!

I am an M1 just started organ systems - cardio to be specific - and I've been trying to change my study methods. I have been doing quite well with my old study methods (at least in other modules), but I find them to be way to time-consuming and I am not sure that they are going to be the best come boards time.

I used to watch all my schools lectures on single speed, make anki cards, and go through them the day I make them. Then keep up with all my reviews (uncapped) until the day of the test. This worked well.

Now I am just getting frustrated doing this because it is taking so long and I am focusing on so much minutiae (which will get my points on my school exam). Focusing on school lectures has also been fairly glum, since I feel the quality of the lectures aren't the best at times.

Of course, I am noticing that some board material is not covered in my school lectures and some seemingly super high yield points are not as emphasized (although covered).

I have started watching the relevant boards and beyond videos for the lecture that I am going to be watching and making Anki cards. Then zipping through my school lecture on double speed adding any minutiae (at least so I can look at it and be somewhat familiar for the school exam). I then go through my anki cards/reviews and time permitting watch Pathoma/Sketchy videos (often on 1.5x-2x since I am fairly familiar with the material)

This does not really save me much time (it works out to roughly the same), but at least I feel like I am focusing on more relevant material.

Tldr; Focusing less on school lectures, emphasizing B&B, Pathoma, and sketchy.

Anyone do anything somewhat similar or have any suggestions as to what may be best in terms of efficiency, success on school tests, and most importantly Step I eventually?

 

[libertyyne]

i do something similar. I do all the zanki deck related to that subject, then three days before the exam i focus on exam minutae. Average has been in the 90's but sometimes you get screwed when the class material doesnt line up. I watch all the school vids at 2.5 to 3x. I will occasionally make a deck with school minutae that i delete after the exam.

alternatively, most of the time if you learn the school material you can blow through the zanki deck or lightyear deck fairly quickly.

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Hi all!

I am an M1 just started organ systems - cardio to be specific - and I've been trying to change my study methods. I have been doing quite well with my old study methods (at least in other modules), but I find them to be way to time-consuming and I am not sure that they are going to be the best come boards time.

I used to watch all my schools lectures on single speed, make anki cards, and go through them the day I make them. Then keep up with all my reviews (uncapped) until the day of the test. This worked well.

Now I am just getting frustrated doing this because it is taking so long and I am focusing on so much minutiae (which will get my points on my school exam). Focusing on school lectures has also been fairly glum, since I feel the quality of the lectures aren't the best at times.

Of course, I am noticing that some board material is not covered in my school lectures and some seemingly super high yield points are not as emphasized (although covered).

I have started watching the relevant boards and beyond videos for the lecture that I am going to be watching and making Anki cards. Then zipping through my school lecture on double speed adding any minutiae (at least so I can look at it and be somewhat familiar for the school exam). I then go through my anki cards/reviews and time permitting watch Pathoma/Sketchy videos (often on 1.5x-2x since I am fairly familiar with the material)

This does not really save me much time (it works out to roughly the same), but at least I feel like I am focusing on more relevant material.

Tldr; Focusing less on school lectures, emphasizing B&B, Pathoma, and sketchy.

Anyone do anything somewhat similar or have any suggestions as to what may be best in terms of efficiency, success on school tests, and most importantly Step I eventually?

I did that and it took forever to make cards. Our school has quizzes every week so ill focus on the zanki cards for that block (usually they line up really well), and then a couple days before the quiz ill go through the lectures and make anki cards on the smaller details they may quiz on. It usually ends up taking me an hour or 2 to make cards for the entire week because so many are already made with zanki. So far its helped this block and I'm able to do wayyyyyyy more cards this way than before when i relied solely on making them

 

[Gurby]

Tldr; Focusing less on school lectures, emphasizing B&B, Pathoma, and sketchy.

Anyone do anything somewhat similar

Only literally every med student at every P/F school.

 

[Goro]

Hi all!

I am an M1 just started organ systems - cardio to be specific - and I've been trying to change my study methods. I have been doing quite well with my old study methods (at least in other modules), but I find them to be way to time-consuming and I am not sure that they are going to be the best come boards time.

I used to watch all my schools lectures on single speed, make anki cards, and go through them the day I make them. Then keep up with all my reviews (uncapped) until the day of the test. This worked well.

Now I am just getting frustrated doing this because it is taking so long and I am focusing on so much minutiae (which will get my points on my school exam). Focusing on school lectures has also been fairly glum, since I feel the quality of the lectures aren't the best at times.

Of course, I am noticing that some board material is not covered in my school lectures and some seemingly super high yield points are not as emphasized (although covered).

I have started watching the relevant boards and beyond videos for the lecture that I am going to be watching and making Anki cards. Then zipping through my school lecture on double speed adding any minutiae (at least so I can look at it and be somewhat familiar for the school exam). I then go through my anki cards/reviews and time permitting watch Pathoma/Sketchy videos (often on 1.5x-2x since I am fairly familiar with the material)

This does not really save me much time (it works out to roughly the same), but at least I feel like I am focusing on more relevant material.

Tldr; Focusing less on school lectures, emphasizing B&B, Pathoma, and sketchy.

Anyone do anything somewhat similar or have any suggestions as to what may be best in terms of efficiency, success on school tests, and most importantly Step I eventually?

OK, I'll bite. How do you, as an M1, know that Board material is not covered?

 

[MCATISEZ]

OK, I'll bite. How do you, as an M1, know that Board material is not covered?

I’m not sure what’s so ridiculous. If something is in every review source but I never see it that module I think that is a fair assumption. In other modules people have asked faculty and they have said that there just isn’t time to cover certain things. Moreover, some upper class men agree.

Now that is not to place blame on my school. The material is vast and I think a lot of faculty really do try and integrate what is important for boards and what they think is clinically important for us to know. Overall I’d say 90 percent of the material does line up.

What I call minutiae may very well show up on the exam. It just does not seem to be the first or second thing people generally try and study.

 

[Goro]

I’m not sure what’s so ridiculous. If something is in every review source but I never see it that module I think that is a fair assumption. In other modules people have asked faculty and they have said that there just isn’t time to cover certain things. Moreover, some upper class men agree.

Now that is not to place blame on my school. The material is vast and I think a lot of faculty really do try and integrate what is important for boards and what they think is clinically important for us to know. Overall I’d say 90 percent of the material does line up.

What I call minutiae may very well show up on the exam. It just does not seem to be the first or second thing people generally try and study.

One of the curses of medical education is that minutiae shows up on exams. Ditto the professor's own research. I'm glad to see that you're using more than one research; there are too many FA True Believers.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Are you still making your own cards based on lecture? I dumped this and save a ton of time, and basically have been scoring the same or better on exams.

Do Zanki deck, watch lectures 2.5-3x speed, outline anything important from lecture, practice questions.

 

[MCATISEZ]

One of the curses of medical education is that minutiae shows up on exams. Ditto the professor's own research. I'm glad to see that you're using more than one research; there are too many FA True Believers.

The professors research?!? That is not likely unless the research is really relevant right?

Luckily our faculty do not do this for the most part. That would be incredibly frustrating.

 

[MCATISEZ]

Are you still making your own cards based on lecture? I dumped this and save a ton of time, and basically have been scoring the same or better on exams.

Do Zanki deck, watch lectures 2.5-3x speed, outline anything important from lecture, practice questions.

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to incorporate Zanki into my school material. I could go through the Zanki deck for say cardio, but I will not have time to keep up with school material.

The main problem is the order the school may cover material vs. the order Zanki does. If a module has 2 exams, I do not know how I can focus on just Exam 1 or Exam 2 material because Zanki cards cover both - but I do not have time to cover all the material for both exams prior to exam 1. Sorry if that was confusing but let me know if you guys have any suggestions. I do like Zanki and want to incorporate it, I just cannot see how to do it effectively.

 

[Goro]

The professors research?!? That is not likely unless the research is really relevant right?

Luckily our faculty do not do this for the most part. That would be incredibly frustrating.

Multiple SDNers have reported their professor's teaching their own , non-clinically relevant material. A colleague of mine who went to Stanford in the 1980s said that his professors used to do the same thing!

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to incorporate Zanki into my school material. I could go through the Zanki deck for say cardio, but I will not have time to keep up with school material.

The main problem is the order the school may cover material vs. the order Zanki does. If a module has 2 exams, I do not know how I can focus on just Exam 1 or Exam 2 material because Zanki cards cover both - but I do not have time to cover all the material for both exams prior to exam 1. Sorry if that was confusing but let me know if you guys have any suggestions. I do like Zanki and want to incorporate it, I just cannot see how to do it effectively.

Does your school teach different subjects of the block first? For example, when we did cardio we learned physiology, then some pharm, then a handful of path, then pharm/path incorporated. Zanki is split into blocks by physiology, pharm, and path so its not too hard to follow along. And occasionally ill do cards before we've learned about them in lecture, which isn't that big a deal. Its not perfectly aligned but it does well enough

 

[MCATISEZ]

Does your school teach different subjects of the block first? For example, when we did cardio we learned physiology, then some pharm, then a handful of path, then pharm/path incorporated. Zanki is split into blocks by physiology, pharm, and path so its not too hard to follow along. And occasionally ill do cards before we've learned about them in lecture, which isn't that big a deal. Its not perfectly aligned but it does well enough

Unfortunately no. It seems to be randomly distributed.

I could do what I am currently doing, but instead of making cards from scratch, I could search keywords through the Zanki deck and just move them into a separate deck. I am not sure how much that will boost my efficiency but it could help.

I do somewhat feel like I actually learn by making the decks myself. I type out things in ways that make sense to me (my anki deck literally becomes my notes - I do not take notes other than through making these Anki decks)

I am willing to adapt though! Med school seems like you just have to constantly adapt your study methods.

 

[MCATISEZ]

Multiple SDNers have reported their professor's teaching their own , non-clinically relevant material. A colleague of mine who went to Stanford in the 1980s said that his professors used to do the same thing!

I can understand and have seen them throw some factoids about their research in if it was somewhat related to the clinically relevant material. But having entire lectures on just minutiae of their research isn't cool.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to incorporate Zanki into my school material. I could go through the Zanki deck for say cardio, but I will not have time to keep up with school material.

The main problem is the order the school may cover material vs. the order Zanki does. If a module has 2 exams, I do not know how I can focus on just Exam 1 or Exam 2 material because Zanki cards cover both - but I do not have time to cover all the material for both exams prior to exam 1. Sorry if that was confusing but let me know if you guys have any suggestions. I do like Zanki and want to incorporate it, I just cannot see how to do it effectively.

What I (try) to do is be a system ahead when it comes to Zanki, so I've already seen all of the cards for a system before we start it. That way, during the system I'm on my way to maturing the deck. I have fallen a bit behind on this, but I agree that it's annoying to sift through Zanki looking for stuff that's relevant to our classes. Fortunately for me, a class member makes Brainscape flashcards for all of our exams and shares them with the class, so I can use those for school-specific stuff. If you can find a way to get a class ahead with Zanki, it may solve your issues.

 

[7331poas]

The first thing you need to do is ignore everything that school administrators and professors say. If you have mandatory lecture, turn your ears off.

Next, download anki + zanki and do the cards for your particular block. Go through first aid and watch all the boards/pathoma videos for the block. Next, and only if you have to, go through your school slides a few days before the test. If you can get away with passing the test just off First Aid, then do that.

If your school is P/F, then just pass. Do not worry about your grades. Just know the board material.

 

[MCATISEZ]

What I (try) to do is be a system ahead when it comes to Zanki, so I've already seen all of the cards for a system before we start it. That way, during the system I'm on my way to maturing the deck. I have fallen a bit behind on this, but I agree that it's annoying to sift through Zanki looking for stuff that's relevant to our classes. Fortunately for me, a class member makes Brainscape flashcards for all of our exams and shares them with the class, so I can use those for school-specific stuff. If you can find a way to get a class ahead with Zanki, it may solve your issues.

I have no way of even understanding how someone could begin to do this. There is so much material in just one organ system. Perhaps if you rely on Zanki as your only source. Or if you pre studied a whole module before starting med school.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

I have no way of even understanding how someone could begin to do this. There is so much material in just one organ system. Perhaps if you rely on Zanki as your only source. Or if you pre studied a whole module before starting med school.

I started over winter break...I figured I may as well keep doing Zanki. We had wrapped up renal before break, and our next class in the spring was GI. So I just started going through those cards. I'm behind now as class has started in full force again, but it's what it is. My curriculum is broken down into normal anatomy/phys M1, path M2, so I only have to go through the physio subdecks right now. It works for me!

 

[MCATISEZ]

I started over winter break...I figured I may as well keep doing Zanki. We had wrapped up renal before break, and our next class in the spring was GI. So I just started going through those cards. I'm behind now as class has started in full force again, but it's what it is. My curriculum is broken down into normal anatomy/phys M1, path M2, so I only have to go through the physio subdecks right now. It works for me!

Ahh! My curriculum has them both together (we also seem to do the Organ Systems in the complete opposite order as you) - so unfortunately I do not see that working for me. I'll try searching Zanki for key words and throwing some into my self-made decks to save time and focus on more "high-yield" material though. My goal is to make it through all the Sketchy, Pathoma, and B&B videos for what I'm learning once if not more (depending on how relevant it is to my school material) prior to finishing my modules.

Maybe this summer I can spend more serious time reviewing the material (only summer off!) while managing some research.

I love how what we learn for the most part module to module in medical school seems to build on or somehow relate to one another. It constantly keeps you in tune! The thought of Step 1 is just scary at the moment (I'm sure tons of M1s feel this way though). It'll work out.

On another note, I remember hearing so much from you while we were applying to school. Very happy to hear you adapting so well and getting in the groove of things. Thanks for the advice!

 

[7331poas]

If you can pass your class exams without studying the slides or doing their cards, make it happen.

Just my 2c

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Ahh! My curriculum has them both together (we also seem to do the Organ Systems in the complete opposite order as you) - so unfortunately I do not see that working for me. I'll try searching Zanki for key words and throwing some into my self-made decks to save time and focus on more "high-yield" material though. My goal is to make it through all the Sketchy, Pathoma, and B&B videos for what I'm learning once if not more (depending on how relevant it is to my school material) prior to finishing my modules.

Maybe this summer I can spend more serious time reviewing the material (only summer off!) while managing some research.

I love how what we learn for the most part module to module in medical school seems to build on or somehow relate to one another. It constantly keeps you in tune! The thought of Step 1 is just scary at the moment (I'm sure tons of M1s feel this way though). It'll work out.

On another note, I remember hearing so much from you while we were applying to school. Very happy to hear you adapting so well and getting in the groove of things. Thanks for the advice!

I remember you as well 🙂 We're almost through a whole year!