Study Advice for 1st years?

[BuckleyGirl]

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Anyone have any study advice or organizational advice for first years? Like, should we rewrite our notes each day after class, or read before each lecture, or how to use our time wisely??

I'm just trying to figure out how best to organize my study time!

Any suggestions would be great!

 

[sumstorm]

Just finished the first week, and the best advice I have received is use a method you feel comfortable with, and stick with it. That a lot of first years waste time switching between methods trying to find the 'best' method, especially in anatomy. Also, be willing to try someone else's method, but if it doesn't work for you from the beginning, don't try to force it. In a class of 80, I am observing at least a dozen distinct methods of learning anatomy.

If you have never taken a learning style quiz, now may be the time. If you are visual, use visual methods (picture flash cards, drawing, diagrams, cartoons, photographs, etc), if you are audial read/repeat out loud, write, diagram with words, describe, if you are tactile, spend time in the labs, model things in clay/putty, etc.

As for reading before/after class that probably depends on you, the class, and your situation. I normally prefer to read before class, but because orientation overlapped starting classes, I didn't have a chance to get organized, so it just didn't happen. Don't plan on reading everything. Our instructors 'assign' or 'suggest' 3-6 chapters a night.

Also, if you have an organization system that you are comfortable with, this may not be the time to change it.

For me, one of the BEST things I am doing is laminating the diagrams/illustrations the instructor has for lab so that they don't get nasty during cadaver dissections. Also, can write on them with dry or wet erase markers. And I brought a waterproof journal and pen to wet labs/dissections to note things down. I also use onenote on my laptop and I take 95% of my notes on my tablet pc. Others are completly paper oriented.

Review daily, don't get behind. Find out from upperclassmen at your school what matters and what doesn't. If you have something you are deficient in (such as microbiology) address the deficiency early....get help BEFORE you are desperate for it.


Not that any of that means much, it is week 1 for us.

 

[quakk]

i was reading on this just last night. here's a brief summary article:
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles.html

it's just one, but i've read a lot about this recently, and much of the literature supports these assertions.

what i found useful in the first three years of the course here was...

1. i ask a lot of why questions. don't just accept what they tell you. understand why it works, why it makes sense. most things make perfect sense when you think about them.
2. i learn the meanings of word components. prefixes, roots and suffixes. it's a lot easier than learning the meanings of all those words, because you can deduce their meanings instead.
3. i found it extremely helpful to read material before lecture. as sumstorm suggested, that's not always possible. the key to this is, as with 1, read for understanding. it takes a lot of time and effort, but is worth it in the long run.
4. if i can put things into context, i have a far better chance of remembering them. seeing something in real life has a strong concretising effect for me. actively solving eg clinical problems gets me thinking about not only the material presented, but how to use it.

it does take a lot of time, but it's worth it. and i have built solid relationships with my lecturers by asking hard questions. they generally hate it when you stump them with a question, but they respect you for it.

these are just some of my experiences. i try to memorise as little as possible and instead rely on my reasoning ability to solve problems. that may work for some. it is a bit of a rogue approach.

 

[Angelo84]

What has worked really well for me is reading before class, and reviewing all lectures at the end of the week. In my experience I couldn't both review daily and read for the next day--too much material but reviewing on the weekend works well. What to focus on is going to vary by professor. Talking over things with friends works really well for me. For anatomy teaching it to other people really works!

 

[Bill59]

Different students learn best in different ways. Some study well in groups others do better on their own. Some are good at rote memorization, others are better understanding concepts. Some get a lot out of lectures others don't.

But the most important thing for anyone is don't get behind. Vet school material is not inherently difficult, like say astrophysics. Rather it's the tremendous volume of material that's the problem. Most students who get in trouble are students that tend to put things off, figuring they can catch up later. That may work well in undergraduate. The problem in vet school is by the time you try to catch up on what you should have learned last week, there's a whole bunch more stuff coming at you this week.

So I agree with others, have some sort of schedule from the start and stick to it. That doesn't mean you can't take a day off here and there -- everyone needs a break now and then. But you just can't get behind.

 

[VAgirl]

What has worked really well for me is reading before class, and reviewing all lectures at the end of the week. In my experience I couldn't both review daily and read for the next day--too much material but reviewing on the weekend works well.

Fantastic idea, thank you. I'd been struggling with that one. I managed to do both for a good chunk of first quarter, but couldn't maintain it for 2nd and 3rd quarter unless I let the rest of my life take a back seat, and that wasn't an option. You idea of how to split reviewing and reading ahead never occurred to me, but I think it's going to be just the ticket. Thanks!!

 

[VAgirl]

Another thing that I would add is that if you can find a way to understand something rather than just trying to memorize it, it'll make things so much easier. There's only so much junk you can cram into your head. If you have a way of organizing and understanding that material, it'll work much better. Sometimes the professors gave us this and other times my study partners and I had to work out why a given bit of information made sense within the context of everything else we were learning. Helped cement things pretty well.

Mnemonic devices are also awesome. Yours, others, whatever you can make work for you. Some of the mnemonics for the 12 cranial nerves are just awesome, too. Very dirty. 😀

 

[meadow36]

Another thing that I would add is that if you can find a way to understand something rather than just trying to memorize it, it'll make things so much easier. There's only so much junk you can cram into your head. If you have a way of organizing and understanding that material, it'll work much better. Sometimes the professors gave us this and other times my study partners and I had to work out why a given bit of information made sense within the context of everything else we were learning. Helped cement things pretty well.

Mnemonic devices are also awesome. Yours, others, whatever you can make work for you. Some of the mnemonics for the 12 cranial nerves are just awesome, too. Very dirty. 😀

This is very true. For anatomy, become VERY familiar with cranial/caudal/proximal/distal/ etc. There are some people in my lab who are stuggling b/c they are not quick enough to assess direction. Mnemonics are great, but even better is if you can look at the big picture and actually understand it.

 

[Angelo84]

Fantastic idea, thank you. I'd been struggling with that one. I managed to do both for a good chunk of first quarter, but couldn't maintain it for 2nd and 3rd quarter unless I let the rest of my life take a back seat, and that wasn't an option. You idea of how to split reviewing and reading ahead never occurred to me, but I think it's going to be just the ticket. Thanks!!

Good luck with it! It has worked well for me. The one thing I have found is that if I don't do my review of the week "on time" it is next to impossible to catch up with it the next week. I learned this around thanksgiving of first year. We had three days of class and I had fun at thankgiving and didn't do my review. It was really hard to get through those extra three days in addition to the whole next week of stuff the following week.

 

[BuckleyGirl]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! I'm definitely a visual learner, so the idea of flash cards with pictures on them will be a great help. I was wondering how to read for the lectures and review, and splitting it up sounds like it will work the best instead of trying to fit it all in.

THANKS!!! 👍

 

[rileyroo]

this is a great thread topic. i'm not in vet school yet, but i hope to remember some of these recommendations should they ever decide to let me in. 😉

sumstorm - the laminating suggestion is fantastic. i don't think i would have ever thought of that.

angelo - i might try to use your method this fall to see if it works for me at the undergrad/prereq. level, and perhaps it will benefit me in vet school eventually.

 

[ShelterGirl]

Two things that helped me -

1. This isn't study advice per se, but helped me a lot. Try to limit the number of activities and electives you jump into right off the bat. Give yourself a quarter or semester to get into a groove, and then you'll be better able to gauge your capacity. Its super easy to overcommit!

2. I have a small white board and colored dry erase markers. It worked really well for drawing metabolic pathways as well as sketching muscles and bones. I love pictures 🙂

 

[twelvetigers]

2. I have a small white board and colored dry erase markers. It worked really well for drawing metabolic pathways as well as sketching muscles and bones. I love pictures 🙂

I love this idea! I'm planning on making myself a 'study room' at the house because the idea of spending most of my life in the cold, brightly lit library in uncomfortable chairs just makes me sad. I'm going to have a nice paint color, a huge computer desk with lots of surface area, a comfortable computer chair, a lounge chair with an ottoman, and a small table next to it at the right height to set a drink, a laptop, another book, etc.

Also, I already have a dry erase board, but I'll get some more colors of markers, and I'm also going to get some corkboard squares and figure out a nice way to put those up on the wall, so I can look at things I've pinned up too.

Add a giant bookcase and a nice rug and I think I'll actually enjoy my time in there, even if I'm studying! I just need my speakers playing some nice classical music, and maybe a coffee maker for easy access...

Anyone jealous? I'm actually pretty excited. Now I just need to get IN so I can utilize it.

 

[DVMorBust]

Two things that helped me -

1. This isn't study advice per se, but helped me a lot. Try to limit the number of activities and electives you jump into right off the bat. Give yourself a quarter or semester to get into a groove, and then you'll be better able to gauge your capacity. Its super easy to overcommit!

2. I have a small white board and colored dry erase markers. It worked really well for drawing metabolic pathways as well as sketching muscles and bones. I love pictures 🙂

Both awesome suggestions that I'm trying out. Roommate and I are going to do something along the lines of what twelvetigers was saying - just a portion of our living room, but we're hoping to get our hands on a giant whiteboard at some point.

Also, side note, I've been looking at crepe hair tutorials and totally thought you said you had a small white beard...confused the heck out of me for a second. "How does a small white beard help with studying? Like a soul patch, or a goatee? Where do I get one?"

 

[twelvetigers]

LOL! If I wake up with a small white beard one day, I'm going to the doctor.

However, it's possible that having said beard WOULD help with studying... perhaps I should rethink this...

😀

 

[oregonhopeful]

I randomly had this fear that I was growing a moustache recently. I'm not, but I spent about half an hour and subsequent days peering at my lip in the mirror to try to decide if I saw any black hairs. I decided I would not be happy with a moustache and would bleach.

Anyway, the white board thing is what got me through some harder detailed classes because I would write the pathways on my white board and erase/repeat. I also discovered (randomly) that if I broke my notes up into sections and then read them and summarised them without looking at them I learned details really quickly. Usually I did this while walking which I don't recommend unless you like black eyes.
I'm going to try to set up a really comfy study spot too. It's of utmost importance to be happy where you're studying. Of course my study spots require ready access to drinks. 😀

 

[mistifical]

Somebody briefly mentioned this, but I thought I'd elaborate since it is what I do. My study partner and I get together and go talk through the lectures as we study. We take turns explaining concepts and making sure to understand why they make sense. It's helped both of us a lot... we often get silly and on exam day it becomes "oh yeah we were talking about this when she said _____ as I was drinking and spit soda everywhere..." So that's helpful too. Doesn't work as well for classes like anatomy or parasitology... but definitely "teaching" things to other people helps reinforce it in my head, even if it's not something I understand right away, we work through it and put all the pieces together.

Also, if you have opportunities to get into the teaching hospital DO IT. One of our clubs gives students the opportunity to volunteer in the SA ICU for a couple of hours. You can't guarantee that there will be a patient in there that will demonstrate the clinical relevance of what you're learning in the classroom, but when there is it is really really helpful.

 

[Kat0303]

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a huge piece of whiteboard material. My husband did this in undergrad and basically had an 1/2 of an entire wall that was whiteboard material. It is super cheap too. Waaaay cheaper than buying a traditional whiteboard from walmart or an art store or something.

 

[chris03333]

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a huge piece of whiteboard material. My husband did this in undergrad and basically had an 1/2 of an entire wall that was whiteboard material. It is super cheap too. Waaaay cheaper than buying a traditional whiteboard from walmart or an art store or something.

There is also white board paper that sticks to walls by static so you can completely cover your walls in study material *not that I ever did that cough* then just tear down the papers and put up new ones, so you can save the ones written on for study material *technically you could put them on the ceiling so you can stare at them once you are too tired...not that I ever did that either*👍

 

[sumstorm]

There is also white board paper that sticks to walls by static so you can completely cover your walls in study material *not that I ever did that cough* then just tear down the papers and put up new ones, so you can save the ones written on for study material *technically you could put them on the ceiling so you can stare at them once you are too tired...not that I ever did that either*👍

Not that I ever did this, but the laminate sheets also adhere temporarily to shower walls...and work great in a pool lounger as well. 😛

Ok, so here is another tip: learn your class mates. It is amazing what classmates will come up with. I just learned thoracic limb nerves in a couple minutes because some other students had made a dance about the thoracic limb nerves. The dance used hte parts ot the body innervated by a nerve with a motion that suggested the name.

IE accessory n = 'walk like egyption' movement from the 'bangles' (an accessory) using the accessory innervated muscles.

Or, radial innervated muscles with a pumping arm action (like a 'yes, did it' motion, or a jerking on a chain motion) ending with a wrist flick. extensors.

I had mnemonics for arterial paths that poked fun (lightly) at students/skeletons/instructors.

Another student had awesome visuals for muscles of the antebrachium. All of these together were awesome for learning the material.

We also share a lot of stuff here....electronic flash cards, study sheets, diagrams, etc. putting together a google group with shared resources hsa been EXTREMLY helpful.

 

[Trilt]

There is also white board paper that sticks to walls by static so you can completely cover your walls in study material *not that I ever did that cough* then just tear down the papers and put up new ones, so you can save the ones written on for study material *technically you could put them on the ceiling so you can stare at them once you are too tired...not that I ever did that either*👍

Where would one get this whiteboard paper? (/what is the real name for it?)

 

[chris03333]

Where would one get this whiteboard paper? (/what is the real name for it?)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0EM25GDS0AWNGHWV9660

 

[Airborne Vet]

For most classes, I've used notecards to study. For me it's the same thing as rewriting my notes, just in a form that also allows me to quiz myself prior to an exam.

For other classes, like anatomy or histology, notecards were a waste of time. For those, there are usually good sources on the internet to study structures and whatnot.

 

[VeganChick]

What has worked really well for me is reading before class, and reviewing all lectures at the end of the week. In my experience I couldn't both review daily and read for the next day

Not yet in vet school, but while taking pre-reqs, I found that often reading the material after the lecture helped a lot. Since the books often went into more detail than the lectures did, I found that I could use the post-lecture reading to better understand and supplement the lectures and it was usually easier going afterwards anyway.

We'll see if that still works starting later this week...😀

 

[4paws]

So far what I've been doing is getting together with my study partner (just 1 person, we both have very similar learning styles), and we go through 1 class a night during the week. We explain things to eachother and clarify anything that we have questions about. Then on the wknd, I do solo study time. By then everything has been made clear and all I have to do is commit it to memory.

Haven't had my 1st round of tests yet, so can't swear by this method, by it seems okay so far.