Studying class powerpoints beforehand?

[OneSummerPhoton]

Hi everyone. OMS-1 here started last week and I am trying to get into the groove of studying/reviewing.

I'm still trying to figure out how to go about effectively learning the material and being prepared for class.

I feel like I'm spending so much time looking over the next class' material. So my questions for everyone are:
A) Do you read the materials for the next class beforehand?
B) Do you skim or actually read/analyze the material for next class?
C) If so, what do you do? Read the powerpoints? the related textbook chapters?
D) Is there an average amount of time you spend on pre-class studying?

Thanks in advance

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Schwifty]

Also an OMS-1 that started 2 weeks ago. I’ve found it useful to skim the PP for main topics before watching the lecture. I’ve also found that going to lectures is a waste of time and it’s better to just use recording. But again, I just started.

 

[Spectreman]

School admin and academic advisors love to tell students they should thoroughly study packets and ppts before lectures, but I feel this is totally unrealistic in medical school. I think most students learn in 2nd year that the most effective way to spend your time is to “board prep” early in a unit. Plow through Pathoma or whatever, try to learn the system you’re studying in 2-3 days, then lectures make more sense and you pick out the high yield much easier.

As an M1 I would totally pre-study with boards and beyond for biochem and physiology. Anatomy/Histo is really best learned from the prof. But yeah, don’t pour more than a 10ish minutes into pre-studying a given class lecture/handout.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Nothing destroys you more than trying to study ahead in a class only to find out you learned unimportant info that the professor tells you not to worry about in class. Speaking from personal experience here.

If you prestudy, do it from board material only. That stuff is stuff you definitely need to know.

 

[hungrydoc710]

Nothing destroys you more than trying to study ahead in a class only to find out you learned unimportant info that the professor tells you not to worry about in class. Speaking from personal experience here.

If you prestudy, do it from board material only. That stuff is stuff you definitely need to know.

This.
Look at BnB / Sketchy / Pathoma
Actual important resources that will help you on Boards.

 

[OneSummerPhoton]

Thank you all for the advice! I'll probably skim them over and use BnB!

School admin and academic advisors love to tell students they should thoroughly study packets and ppts before lectures, but I feel this is totally unrealistic in medical school. I think most students learn in 2nd year that the most effective way to spend your time is to “board prep” early in a unit. Plow through Pathoma or whatever, try to learn the system you’re studying in 2-3 days, then lectures make more sense and you pick out the high yield much easier.

As an M1 I would totally pre-study with boards and beyond for biochem and physiology. Anatomy/Histo is really best learned from the prof. But yeah, don’t pour more than a 10ish minutes into pre-studying a given class lecture/handout.

Nothing destroys you more than trying to study ahead in a class only to find out you learned unimportant info that the professor tells you not to worry about in class. Speaking from personal experience here.

If you prestudy, do it from board material only. That stuff is stuff you definitely need to know.

This.
Look at BnB / Sketchy / Pathoma
Actual important resources that will help you on Boards.

 

[Hippocrates II]

I agree with everyone else on here. If I could do M1 over again, I would hustle through the associated zanki deck and whatever videos (pathoma, B&B, etc.) correlated with it, and then do the lectures. At my school, the lectures are so detailed that I missed the forest for the trees in so many classes. I barely have a functioning understanding of how the immune system, endocrine system, etc. work because from day 1 I was studying them under a microscope.

 

[bioarchaeologist]

I'm starting my third week and so far I have completely stopped coming to non required lectures and only watch recordings at 1.6x. I got a B&B subscription so if I don't understand something I simply find the corresponding video and watch that instead of stressing about every little detail on the slides. I also switched to Anki-ing the big ideas on the ppts and whatever else the professor said they "want" us to know. My next test is coming up so we'll se how this works out, but I was less stressed than I was the first week when all I used where school materials. Get supplementary materials like FA or B&B. They are making life so much easier atm.

EDIT: Did so much better on my test with this method so maybe I found my groove? Or not. Or maybe just until MSK starts and I start drowning in my tears again

 

[DameJulie]

When do you start pre-studying for boards using FA, BnB and Zanki? I started a few weeks ago, and already felt overwhelmed by the Anki cards in my classes.

Hasn't downloaded/subscribe any prep material yet...I hope I am not behind

Also, how do you incorporate BnB video watching/note taking/Lightyear Anki already in Fall of M1? For example, I have ~6 hours of lectures to watch per day in addition to make my own Anki cards for classes. Feels very hard to squeeze in more time for more videos. Any tips on how to handle this? Maybe wait until winter break to start BnB and focus on class now?

 

[fldoctorgirl]

When do you start pre-studying for boards using FA, BnB and Zanki? I started a few weeks ago, and already felt overwhelmed by the Anki cards in my classes.

in addition to make my own Anki cards for classes

Day 1, by using pre-made Zanki instead of making your own cards. This solves both of these problems.

 

[OverlyRomantic]

When do you start pre-studying for boards using FA, BnB and Zanki? I started a few weeks ago, and already felt overwhelmed by the Anki cards in my classes.

Hasn't downloaded/subscribe any prep material yet...I hope I am not behind

Also, how do you incorporate BnB video watching/note taking/Lightyear Anki already in Fall of M1? For example, I have ~6 hours of lectures to watch per day in addition to make my own Anki cards for classes. Feels very hard to squeeze in more time for more videos. Any tips on how to handle this? Maybe wait until winter break to start BnB and focus on class now?

I'm confused by this, so I just want to clarify - Don't do both Zanki and Lightyear! Pick one or the other. As for the cards, only unsuspend the cards which you have covered in lecture. That way even though you're board studying, you will also be studying for classes. The week before/of a test, look over your class powerpoints for anything high yield that you think the professors will test on.

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

I'm confused by this, so I just want to clarify - Don't do both Zanki and Lightyear! Pick one or the other. As for the cards, only unsuspend the cards which you have covered in lecture. That way even though you're board studying, you will also be studying for classes. The week before/of a test, look over your class powerpoints for anything high yield that you think the professors will test on.

Yup, this is actually great advice. This is what I did my second year and it worked out well. Also my grades did not suffer at all (even if they did I wouldn't have cared and neither should you).

 

[DameJulie]

Yup, this is actually great advice. This is what I did my second year and it worked out well. Also my grades did not suffer at all (even if they did I wouldn't have cared and neither should you).

When you started Zanki in your 2nd year, did you feel behind at all? Like people who started from M1 already had thousands of cards completed and matured.

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

When you started Zanki in your 2nd year, did you feel behind at all? Like people who started from M1 already had thousands of cards completed and matured.

Not at all. If you are in a traditional curriculum, the stuff in 2nd year is by far the most HY and relevant to Step 1 and you have more than enough time to mature Zanki or Lightyear. Just be consistent about it and don't be afraid to suspend cards you think are irrelevant or too easy, there are a lot of them.