For sure I'm no one to be given advice on study skills, but I'll go ahead and throw in my 2 cents. In undergrad I was really into highlighting important information and making hand written notes for later review, but as soon as I started med school things changed completely. I got really lazy and stopped making hand notes and highlighting altogether. For one, I found that if I sat and highlighted different texts and later made notes, I would lose too much valuable time. So instead, all I do now is sit down and read, read, and re-read the material... more for understanding than memorization. I try to keep memorization to a minimal when studying, but of course, there're some classes that require only memorization (e.g., memorization, histology and embryology), but for courses like Biochemistry, I did strictly understanding, and later on, memorization wasn't required too much because if you have a firm grip on the material (i.e., pathways, etc.) you won't have to memorize that much before the exams. For Physio, all i did was read Costanzo (her textbook) 3-4 times and picked up her BRS physio book 2 nights before my exam and scored a 60 out of 60 on the mid-term.... but repetition is key for everything.
You won't really figure out what'll work for you untill you have to study for each subject, but until then, keep an open mind and be sure to practice different study techniques until you find the one that'll work for you. You might love highlighting, underlining, or re-writing what you just read after each section, or you probably won't do a thing and just read and read and read and read. I don't usually pay attention during lectures, I can't.... I get too sleepy and tired.... but I have to be present because most professors are very gun-hole about attendance, so I usually study best at home during my own time.
Best of luck and don't be scared to try new things out.
