Study skills/strategies

[leagall]

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I am a first year medical school student. All my classes have a list of objectives along with the assigned reading. So far, my study strategy has been to do all the textbook readings and mark off areas in the text that correspond to the objectives. I then later go back and type out all of the objectives. This is taking me a long time and I am following behind in some of my classes. Should I continue with this strategy? I don't know whether or not it is most efficient. But at the same time, I think if I went to bed later or woke up earlier, I wouldn't fall behind.

Thanks

 

[OberynMartell]

For what it's worth, when I tried to type out the answers/explanations to all the "learning objectives" for anatomy, I did worse than I did when I simply read the note packet. You're right, it does take a long time, and you're really only answering those specific questions and probably not grasping the overall concepts. Try it out if you want, but I never bothered with the learning objectives again in other cores and did MUCH better. At least in my school, read all the notes and supplement what you don't quite understand with other sources (Wikipedia, Textbooks, Review books, etc.)

 

[oceanillusion42]

You will eventually get a feel for different classes/professors as you go along... generally I will study a topic the day of the lecture and try to gain an overall understanding of the concept. I use class preparation guides (objectives, etc) as well as note taking in specific emphasized areas during the lectures to get what I think the professors "highlights" are. I will supplement anything confusing with textbooks, review books, etc depending on the specific topic. (A lot of times it isnt necessarily the concept I'm having trouble with, but digesting it all... in cases like this soemtimes First Aid will have a silly mneumonic or way to put it all together).

I will study the days topics based on any handouts, powerpoints, notes I took.

I will repeat this process for the next days lectures, and then take the weekend to go in depth in areas that I found difficult or couldn't quite grasp.

Once you start taking exams (even though it may cost you a grade or 2), you will figure out what works best by trial and error and see that maybe you should spend more time studying lectures vs. text because you lost points or vise versa. Either way, study hard and it'll all come together for you

 

[FutbolFanatic88]

I am a first year medical school student. All my classes have a list of objectives along with the assigned reading. So far, my study strategy has been to do all the textbook readings and mark off areas in the text that correspond to the objectives. I then later go back and type out all of the objectives. This is taking me a long time and I am following behind in some of my classes. Should I continue with this strategy? I don't know whether or not it is most efficient. But at the same time, I think if I went to bed later or woke up earlier, I wouldn't fall behind.

Thanks

IMHO textbooks are lower yield/more inefficient because of the sheer time it takes to digest/synthesize the info from them. At my school at least (don't know if you guys have full note packets provided) the notes pretty much always suffice, and usually are a MUCH quicker way to learn the material. I'd suggest that unless you are completely lost on the topic being lectured to skip the textbook reading and study your note packet (if your school provides them) with a focus on objectives, as they're usually used by lecturers to show students the meat and potatoes of topics anyway

 

[leagall]

IMHO textbooks are lower yield/more inefficient because of the sheer time it takes to digest/synthesize the info from them. At my school at least (don't know if you guys have full note packets provided) the notes pretty much always suffice, and usually are a MUCH quicker way to learn the material. I'd suggest that unless you are completely lost on the topic being lectured to skip the textbook reading and study your note packet (if your school provides them) with a focus on objectives, as they're usually used by lecturers to show students the meat and potatoes of topics anyway

My school doesn't provide a note packet. They provide a list of objectives for all the subjects and then provide a list of required textbook readings we are expected to do.

 

[Morsetlis]

My school doesn't provide a note packet. They provide a list of objectives for all the subjects and then provide a list of required textbook readings we are expected to do.

Oh dear god
😱

 

[Brotato]

My school doesn't provide a note packet. They provide a list of objectives for all the subjects and then provide a list of required textbook readings we are expected to do.

Wow that is incredibly lazy of them. Is there note-taking service at least?

 

[FutbolFanatic88]

My school doesn't provide a note packet. They provide a list of objectives for all the subjects and then provide a list of required textbook readings we are expected to do.

Well that sucks Nvm then lol

 

[NickNaylor]

My school doesn't provide a note packet. They provide a list of objectives for all the subjects and then provide a list of required textbook readings we are expected to do.

What about lectures? We don't have syllabi or effective note packs either for most courses, but the lectures are suitable stand-ins.

(sent from my phone)

 

[notbobtrustme]

IMO, from the first week of class, powerpoints > notes > lectures > textbooks. We have access to previous year's tests and it seemed that most questions were lifted from either the powerpoints or notes. The lecture is there to help you understand both. I haven't bought nor touched a textbook yet and M2s were pretty adamant about not needing textbooks for first year classes.

 

[link2swim06]

I made it through the first 2 years of med school without touching a textbook.

OP, go buy some review books (like BRS or lippincotts) so you at least can get the basics...you can add details and notes to them as you go.

That is ridiculous your school doesn't put together notes or something to study from...

Between powerpoints and review books...that should be enough.

 

[kpcrew]

I made it through the first 2 years of med school without touching a textbook.

OP, go buy some review books (like BRS or lippincotts) so you at least can get the basics...you can add details and notes to them as you go.

That is ridiculous your school doesn't put together notes or something to study from...

Between powerpoints and review books...that should be enough.

I was going to do this but then I found out that we need books like Wheaters to look at the pictures that our notes reference.

 

[achamess]

See if these help you. Good luck!

Study Skills

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