Study Skills

[Finn]

I will apply to med school in the Fall of 2003 and in the mean time I am studying for the MCAT, taking Organic Chem and reading books on spead reading, mind mapping, and memory enhancement. Has anyone out there come across any cool or useful ways to assimilate, retain and retrieve large amounts of info?? If so, what works for you?

Thanks for your responses!

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[brownemily22]

i type out a study guide for myself. for some reason, the actual act of typing or writing down information makes me remember it. this works for my roomates too.

 

[DoubleDoctor]

Yea, I totally agree. I always write out my "study sheets" of the most important concepts and facts. For some reason, I can then picture it in my mind when I need to recall the info. I definitely think that writing it out helps. Plus it gives you a quick reference when all the sudden you are walking into the test and think you have forgotten something.

As far as the speed reading etc. you may be overdoing it. I tend to read very fast because I am an avid reader, but I had classmates that did alot of that stuff and it really didn't help them that much. Remember that for the MCAT, much of it is application of knowledge, not memorization. I found having a broad knowledge and understanding how to apply that knowledge more helpful than just memorizing. Take hormones for example,
knowing their names and where they come from is important but most of the questions are going to be on how they act in the body
and the changes that occur due to their action.

 

[Street Philosopher]

if you think the information is important, then you're more likely to remember it. i think...

 

[exigente chica]

Wll just being the anal person that I am, I:

Have a notbeook for notes that I take in class
A seperate notebook that I re-copy my notes in from class
a notebook from my tutoring session
adnd then a paper I write out all the important stuff on that I should know
Not to mention the highlighted pages in the book

It really depends on what type of learning style you have. Mine is obviousl reading /writting. do what workd for you. Writting it over and over hepls me out and flascards..

Good luck

 

[jwin]

as someone mentioned the mcat is not about memorization. while you certainly need to have certain things memorized, the test is more about application and problem solving than blind recollection. so make sure you know the necessary facts, but i would also work more on problem solving skills by doing sample problems and tests.

 

[jwin]

to emphasize this point, i have a friend who got a 12 (88-95th percentile i think) in the bio section without ever having taken a bio class. she received this score soley based on her reasoning ability

 

[Dr. Wall$treet]

OK first off a 12 is a 92nd to 97th perecentile. 11 is the 85th to 92nd. But if find that impossible to belive and i think it is crap when people say you dont have to memorize thigns for the mcat. Given maybe not straight memorization rather yoiu need to KNOW about how things work. You need a TON of memorization and how to apply it if you want to do well. I could see on biology it not being as much of a problem but for the free standing questions you need to knowi t. And if you missed all those a 12 is not possible so your friend never taking a bio would miss most of those so a 12 is very unlikely But for the ochem part, you NEEd to know how ochem rxns work, and that only happens from memorization than application. Also the physical sciences.. that is PURE memorization> I mean you must know what happens under what circumstances, it is not reasoning.. well unless you are familar with quantum physics and particle theory wihtout having had memorized them. I think that is bull when i hear you dont have to learn ALOT of facts and everything for the mcat. You dont need to know the small details but still must memorize alot of detail.. if you want to do well. Your friend did not get a 12 if she NEVER had any type of bio.. that is pure bs.. no ochem either? how did she answer all the ochem.. before i took ochem i missed every ochem problem i ever tried on practices.. anyway.. memorize and learn alot.. then apply it to do well.

 

[jwin]

if you read my post, you will see that i do not deny that some things need to be memorized. the point i am making is that the test is not based solely on memorization. if this were true, then it would not be passage based and the person who studied the most would score the highest. we both know neither of these is true. as for my friend who you deny her score, think what you will but it is true. i did not say that she did not have a single ochem class as i would classify those as "chemistry" classes. i said that she did not have a single biology class which is true. she has an innate ability to reason. she got a 36 on the ACT and a 1600 on the SAT. i am not implying that everyone has the ability to get a 12 without a bio class; it is simply an illustration of how the test caters to those who reason well.

 

[athena21]

Mega Reading and Mega Memory!!! Use them and change the way you read and remember in a good way! The library might even have them so check it out!

 

[Finn]

That is all good advice and I appreciate it.