Studying strategies

Started by DDSdag
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DDSdag

DDSdag

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Hi,

During undergrad, I was able to do well by simply taking notes on all the powerpoint slides and rereading the assigned chapters. However, I have heard that during the first year of dental school there will be 80+ powerpoint slides leading up to an exam, so I am almost certain that my studying strategies for undergrad will have to be altered to do well in dental school. What are some of the studying strategies some of you use?

Thanks!
 
I asked my big sib and other upperclassmen about the professors....their teaching style...the material that would be asked on the exams (lecture material only or lecture + textbook, or both) etc. Some professors suggested us to read book but they ended up testing us only the material that were covered in the lectures. That's why it's important to asked the upperclassmen, who already took the classes.

For our class, we elected a notepool chairperson, who assigned each of us to take turn to take note for the entire class. With this very useful notepool service, I only had to take notes twice or 3 times per quarter. I didn't have to wake up early to go to classes. I used the time that I saved to sleep, do research, do lab work, and study for board exams. For most of the exams, I studied from the lecture notes that were taken by my classmates and the lecture handouts. For classes like histology, radiology, microbiology, gross anatomy etc, I had to read books because there are a lot of pictures in them that I needed to know for the exams.
 
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More like 40-80 slides per lecture in some classes, with 8-14 lectures per exam every 1.5-2 weeks for just one of several classes. Some classes are a lot less, but classes like anatomy, physiology, micro, etc. cover a ton of material. You prioritize the 5 credit science classes more than the 2 credit seminars. It sounds insane, but remember that dental school becomes your full time job, You don't lose 30 hours a week at work like you might right now. Fact is, you'll probably "work" more hours on school than you currently do at school+work, more of what is now free time will become study time. Should just naturally happen as long as you stay aware of how much material you still have to get through and how many times you want to review it in however many days before the test.

A lot of lectures build on each other, you'll often find that a few lectures in to a new unit, you don't really need to read the first 3 powerpoints again because you've just reviewed and added on as you go. Also, everyone you're with every day has the same classes and the same tests at the same time. It's easy to coordinate studying with others if that helps you.

I personally recommend you don't take notes at all (as in writing out the content of the lecture) because the powerpoints should already be your notes. Better to pay attention to what the lecturer highlights as important, if you even go to lectures. I modify powerpoints during lecture to clarify wording or add examples or highlight what might be a test question, but I type very little.

charlestweed is absolutely right about talking to upperclassmen, but definitely also be aware that things change from year to year. Test 2 could have been subjects C and D for them, but for you it's B and C just because the course schedule changed. Just cause D2s say test 2 was easier than test 1 doesn't mean you can study less, the course director may make it more difficult on purpose because the previous class had a really high average on that one test.

Probably already wrote too much, but honestly it mostly it comes down to time management. Study however you like as long as it works. If you want A's, just make sure you actually look at EVERYTHING at least once, hopefully twice, three or four times if you can, and be prepared to give up fun for studying sometimes. If you're fine getting B's and C's, you can loosen up a bit on that, but the brain has to review to retain, or it just thinks the stuff it saw once isn't important and dumps it.
 
Some strategies that I recall:

- If you're in a 10 week course, form a group of ten people so you only have to go to class for that week (notes) IF the class even needs notes
- Extension of the above: avoid useless classes to study or do clinicals
- Powerpoints are good enough for most classes
- Ask upperclassmen about classes. If you are in a good dental school, there's typically compiled information passed down from class to class. Only takes one person to ruin that system though.
- If your class/school is not that organized or you have an aforementioned person that ruined the system, joining a clique or being part of one helps tremendously. Unfortunately, many of these groups are ethnic, and if you're not one of them, it's harder to be part of their group.
- If you're a crammer, just take the week before off exam week to study, you can relax or do other relevant work the rest of the time. I was a crammer, so that's what I did, study the week before exam week and study during exam week between exams. Exam week, study/take tests 23 hours a day, sleep 1 hour per day for 6-7 days.
 
lwergod said:
wtf? people thought I was crazy waking at 5am 6 days a week to do cardio, but that is a whole new level of crazy.
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It's only 1-1.5 weeks per quarter/semsester. Rest of the time is chill-mode. Why study the whole time and end up forgetting a lot of the material by the final weeks when you can cram as much as of that information as you can in the final week and imprint it into your brain based on an intense studying schedule.

Once your brain has been force fed to learn and interconnect everything that you're cramming, it all feels like one massively large subject (dentistry) and you can feel the aura of dental knowledge flowing through you as you take the exam (either that or the feeling of sleep deprivation).
 
TanMan said:
Some strategies that I recall:


- Ask upperclassmen about classes. If you are in a good dental school, there's typically compiled information passed down from class to class.
- joining a clique or being part of one helps tremendously. Unfortunately, many of these groups are ethnic, and if you're not one of them, it's harder to be part of their group.
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Interestingly .... my school had this situation also. A certain clique (more religion than ethnicity) that had compiled information carefully passed down from multiple past years. I was not part of this.
 
2TH MVR said:
Interestingly .... my school had this situation also. A certain clique (more religion than ethnicity) that had compiled information carefully passed down from multiple past years. I was not part of this.
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Yep, there was one religious group as well. There were the LDS, Persians, Asians, Frats, Latinos, Koreans, and maybe one or two more that I can't recall.
 
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