Study from power point presentations...

[BestDoctorEver]

Any good tips to study using power point presentations! I have been reading review books to study as a MS1 and it does not seem to work so well since I have been getting mostly C and B. I have ignored the PP slides because I have never studied that way in undergrad, but a few classmates told me they study from these PP and it has worked for them... What are the best ways to study from these PP presentations?

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[LostinLift]

Take notes, summarize, review, quiz yourself, explain it from memory, teach it to others.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Take notes, summarize, review, quiz yourself, explain it from memory, teach it to others.

Most of my prof are not good--explanations suck! The slides are kind of summary of stuff from the book, so it's almost impossible to condense them... It is hard for me to get how people do so well studying from the PP presentations when these questions are somewhat tricky and even ask sometimes about minutiae...

 

[TheShaker]

Any good tips to study using power point presentations! I have been reading review books to study as a MS1 and it does not seem to work so well since I have been getting mostly C and B. I have ignored the PP slides because I have never studied that way in undergrad, but a few classmates told me they study from these PP and it has worked for them... What are the best ways to study from these PP presentations?

😱😱😱 Not studying from the class slides/lectures is suicide at my school. I upload my slides onto OneNote and elaborate as they lecture. This works better if you're streaming. Reading review books might give you a basic concept but a lot of the exam points are tied up in minutiae.

 

[Lysinee]

I convert all PPTs to PDF and annotate them. The best program for annotating is Foxit Phantom.

Plus, PDFs are much easier to view and work with on tablets.

 

[zegrated]

1. Go to class/watch lecture. Pay attention and actually annotate the slides, especially things that aren't explicitly stated in the ppt. You want to save yourself as much time as possible when you get to study time, and your own notes can really help with recall when you're reviewing later. See a list of **** that you know you're going to have to memorize at some point? Make a quick mnemonic for it. This works for me. I'll remember it a week later when I'm reviewing if I make an effort early.

2. I then like to make a HEAVY first pass through the material (first pass = first time going through slides myself). Usually I'll write down everything on the slides in my own words. Think of easy ways to remember things (mnemonics, charts, etc). If it's anatomy I'll hand draw pictures of structures. I'll start making connections within lectures and between lectures, which helps reinforce the material. When I say heavy first pass, I mean heavy. I'll typically spend 3-4 hours per hour of lecture, sometimes more.

3. This is now the part where I pack the information into neat and tidy little folders in my head that I can retrieve easily during a stressful exam. Typically I do this the day before an exam (however I go to a school with weekly exams so if you go to a school with block classes w/more material on each test then maybe give yourself a couple days for this). QUIZ YOURSELF. This cannot be stressed enough. If you do not know the material cold, you do not know it well enough. Passively flipping through ppt slides without actively trying to recall the material is a sure set up for disappointment. WRITE CONCEPTS OUT FROM MEMORY WITH NO AIDS. This is the only true way to tell if you really do know your stuff. Typically after 1 more pass through the material I feel about 80-90% confident, and after another pass about 90-95%.

This is my method, and others may vary. I know some people like to do a very quick read through for their first pass, but this never worked for me and I always felt it was a waste of time. But whatever works for you.