Study methods?

[niptooth]

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Hi all,

So I'm real excited about going to dental school this coming fall, but I was just curious about how students actually study for class? I realize that studying habits/methods differ on an individual basis, but I'd like to have anybody and everybody's opinion on what they think the most efficient way to study in dental school is. Be it reading textbooks, looking through class power-point slides, group study....what's the most efficient method?
It would be helpful if there are any UCLA d-students that can also comment on this too, since I will be attending UCLA in the fall and would like to know how the new curriculum's going.

On a related note, how helpful is it to study a little dental anatomy/head and neck anatomy before actually going to school? I've heard some people on this forum say it's helpful, while others say that you'll get enough studying in school. Now, I'm not talking hardcore studying, I'm all for relaxing, but I guess just so it's somewhat familar.

Thanks and I would really appreciate everybody's opinions!

Cheers

 

[Beatles0467]

My personal way to study is making notecards. I'll go through all the powerpoint slides and make notecards for everything - this takes by far the bulk of my "studying time". By the time I've made all of them, I know the stuff semi-well, probably enough to pass already, and then I have a nice little stack of notecards I can go through to keep studying. I usually go through them and slowly weed out the ones I know until I know all of them. It also provides a nice way to study for boards later if you keep them and keep them organized by subject and such as you can just pull them out, pick the 20 cards or so from every exam you took that you might think is crucial for boards and voila! Just thought I'd share my way, I know it won't work for everyone.

For oral/dental anatomy, I would say its up to you. Do not try to get into the details too much but it couldn't hurt if you familiarize yourself with the absolute basics before starting: buccal v. lingual, mesial v. distal, tooth numbering systems, etc. It would probably give you a small advantage early on and let you get terms ingrained in your mind early. But definitely do not try to get into all the morphologies and whether the mesial or distal pit is more facial from the occlusal view of #28, etc. - don't torture yourself!

 

[niptooth]

Thanks for your input Beatles!
Personally I like writing things down too, but it just gets so time-consuming! But I've heard of this program (don't know if it's specific to Macs only) that creates little notecards and you can add pictures, type on the front and back, and print them out if you want a hard copy. And I didn't even think about using them for the boards. I'm going to seriously consider that as a study aid, since it seems so useful.

Any other dental students with advice on studying? Much appreciated!

 

[charlestweed]

You will have classes from 8-5 Monday-Friday. By the end of the day, you’ll be so exhausted that you won’t have much time to study on your own. When I was at UCLA, we had note pool; so there was a notetaker for every single lecture. Because of the notepool, I was able to skip most of the science classes and used the time that I saved to either rest or study. For me, I study better when I am not tired. There’s no point of showing up for class and not being able to stay awake in class.

 

[Beatles0467]

I just want to strongly agree that there is absolutely no point in going to some classes so don't convince yourself you should out of guilt. There will undoubtedly be some science classes where they give you all the powerpoint handouts ahead of time and the professors don't tell you or test you on anything that's not on them. So why go? People do all the time and they end up sleeping or doing the crossword or spacing out, etc when they could use that hour to study the material actually or take a break. I'm not saying skip every class but be reasonable, if the professor's not adding anything to your knowledge by lecturing, then there is no point in wasting the hour.

 

[reapply2007]

Agreed. Go hit the gym or something otherwise useful. If the test questions are all off the powerpoint then do yourself a favor and go hit the treadmill with a printout of the slides.

 

[Slack3r]

How common are the note taking services? Also, do schools offer podcasts/video recordings of lectures?

 

[ou_jay]

It is very important to ensure that your mind is capable of absorbing information when you study. Otherwise study time is just wasted. Some people in my class studied constantly. They shorted themselves on sleep and exercise and did poorly despite studying 40-50 hours per week because they were always to run down to learn.

I did very well in dental school and on written boards. It was not because I am the smartest person in my class but because I managed my time well.

My priorities were as follows. First, I also made time for my family every Friday night and Saturday night and Church most Sundays. Then it went: exercise, sleep, studying.

Frequent, short study sessions are more effective than long ones. Also, remove all distractions. I studied at the library away from family, pets, tv, etc. When it was study time I gave 100% to studying. When it was family time, I gave 100% to my family.

After being in class from 8-5 you are too tired to study. I took advantage of this opportunity to exercise. I would workout for about an hour after class without looking at notes. My brain would rest while my body exercised. Then I would study from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Then I went home and slept. I studied all day Saturday and a half of Sunday. I would also squeeze in about 1 hour before class and 30 minutes at lunch.

I only studied 16-18 hours during the week and then another 10-12 on the weekends, but the time was efficiently used because I wasn't too tired to learn and I got more results from this time than classmates who put in more time.

I just did a rough calculation. Dental school took me approximately 12,000 hours.

 

[SoonDent]

I'll reccomend the best book I ever read on the subject of studying:

How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport I think it's about 10 bucks on Amazon.

It's written by a college student who interviewed other students at Ivy League schools who acheived high grades without locking themselves in the library for 12 hours a day (grinders). it gives great tips on how to prioritize and review for exams as well as a philosophy for studying habits. It helped a lot.

PS - If you read the book you might only have to lock yourself in the library for 11.5 hours a day. 🙂