So is this all it takes for you to memorize the necessary material for the exams? Or do you go over notes 5+ times with an applicable review book (Netters for anatomy, Lippincott for biochem) and find that after all that repitition you've memorized all of the necessary things?
8 weeks of Biochem and Cell Bio start in August and I'm starting to be scared out of my mind that my brain just won't let that much information "stick" in that amount of time. Especially if I have to memorize the structure of.. well.. everything.
As far as anatomy is concerned, yup, thats all it takes. Netter is not a review book; its an atlas - it helps you visualize the anatomical relationships that are written in the notes. This strategy works for acing coursework, but you wont remember the fine details after the year is over. The Step 1 exam doesnt have such minute details in terms of anatomy. As far as Biochem, our assigned textbook WAS the lippincott biochem review book. So, the prof's lectures were all summaries of what the book said. When I first started, I'd read the whole chapter then look at the notes, just to realize that the notes were really good by themselves. So I just read the powerpoint notes like 5-8 times for each biochem exam. If I didnt understand something, then I will open up the text. I plan on using these notes for the step 1 too, as I annotated these notes as the year went by.
You dont have to memorize the structures in medical biochem - that stuff isnt high yield, as far as my medschool profs say. At the most, you need to recognize the structures of the amino acids, but other than that, memorizing structures isnt very useful, as you will soon see.
Yeah bodonid's method doesn't scare me as much. 4X through the material before an exam seems possible. How the hell do you have the time to go through it 10X?
I do it whenever I have time - on the bus, during lunch, weekends. It's possible if you sincerely wanna learn the material thoroughly. I ended up getting honors in Anatomy, so this strategy works as far as i could tell.
I did this exact thing religiously and it worked like a charm. Let me add that there should be a specific cycle for doing this.
First pass - the day you've had the lecture
Second pass - the next day.
Third pass - on the weekend where you go over every lecture for the week and try to integrate across different disciplines.
Fourth and fifth passes - right before the exam to get some last minute points.
I found the multiple pass approach worked for all subjects. You add new details every time you go through the material. You will transition from having a superficial understanding, to a really deep understanding of the material. It's really cool.
I agree with this schedule too. I also agree that you start with big, superficial concepts/structures, and add details to your mental representation, each time you go over the notes/material again.
🙂
Do you just do this with lecture notes? When do you try to fit in reading the textbook?
For anatomy, I only did this with lecture notes. I only read the text book for specific sections that were unclear or incomplete in the notes (you'll start to get a feel of when a section of notes is complete or incomplete, trust me). Then, I'd annotate my notes from reading the textbook, so by the time im studying for exams, I'd just use my notes. I hardly ever used the textbook though (except for helpful tables, pictures, or the parasymp/symp nerve pathways).
