Reading vs. Writing

[JustSomePreMed]

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When you guys are going through First Aid, are you mostly just reading and hoping you retain it? Or writing things down? (e.g. copying salient points down on that same page just to make sure you emphasize them, writing them down on a dry erase board or notebook paper, etc).

I find that for classes, I take a lot of handwritten notes because otherwise I don't retain much. I'm deathly afraid that I'm going to struggle in my Step I prep if I'm just passively reading and then trying to answer questions . . . but copying everything down by hand certainly isn't feasible either.

Suggestions?

 

[turkeyjerky]

Hopefully, you've already learned it all once by the time you start studying for the usmle. Then it comes back to you once you read it. That's the point of studying for 40-60 hours a week for two years.

You just don't have time to copy every thing down. Just like you don't have time to read Robbins or other textbooks. You refresh your memory by reading a review book, then consolidate it by doing questions.

 

[Rabbit Hole]

Minimize the time you spend on making notes as much as you can especially if you're one of those people who go into a trance mode of writing and hours later you haven't learned a thing. Just try to get used to underlining and highlighting. UW has a highlight option and I use that when I review and only make notes on the "educational objective" if I have to. I had my FA spiral bound instead of 3-hole punched so that I can't add pages to it. The only additional notes I'm making is only on the space provided.

Use your time wisely and figure out what works for you-- have a couple of days in your schedule as "buffer" so that you can adjust accordingly.

turkeyjerky has it right on -- refresh with review book, consolidate with questions. Rinse & repeat.

 

[greg1184]

If something catches my attention, I write it down. But I absolutely did not write down EVERY disease that Goljan mentions that is not mentioned in First Aid. Epic waste of time. Most of my notes come from USMLE World. That may be worthwile getting down.

 

[illixir]

The only writing i do in first aid is stuff that I get from other high yield sources that isn't there. Only really stuff from Uworld and DIT to be specific. It's getting cluttered enough just doing that, occasionally i'll just write a key word or two to the side a second time if there's something important.

 

[kryptik]

if you can memorize every diagram in FA you will be in great shape, i think thats easier to do than trying to memorize the entire book