The next level of grades

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MSUSpartan642

GO GREEN!
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Just a preface: I'm not complaining at all and am actually pretty happy with myself and my grades so far.

I seem to be completely stuck at getting B's in every class. Now I'm happy with this to an extent but I'm wondering what if any of you have any tips for moving these B's up a lil bit 🙂
 
Just a preface: I'm not complaining at all and am actually pretty happy with myself and my grades so far.

I seem to be completely stuck at getting B's in every class. Now I'm happy with this to an extent but I'm wondering what if any of you have any tips for moving these B's up a lil bit 🙂

Figure out what your weaknesses are and hit those harder. Find ways to become more efficient so you don't have to kill yourself to get A's.

If you have any type of access to your exams after taking make the most out of it. Talk with upper levels at your school about the specific nuances of different classes. Speak with receptive profs about your problem areas.
 
Study less. worked for me
 
Make sure you get through the material at least 5 times prior to the exam. Seriously.
 
Don't check your work on exams.

50% of the time I talk myself into changing to an incorrect answer.

There are a lot of people that finish our exams in literally 30 minutes (Most are 50 Q M.C.). They must just read and mark the first thing that comes to mind. I take the whole time to review in case I made any stupid mistakes tho. Only change if I'm 100% I was wrong before.
 
Study less. worked for me

College is not medical school.

OP: I'd vote for faster, but more frequent, passes through test material. And maybe using Rx / World / GT question banks to try and solidify things. Practice questions won't lie to you about whether or not you really know something as well as you think you do.
 
I've found that my mistakes are either on questions asking about something I don't know or on questions in which I reason too hard and talk myself out of the right answer. I'd suggest trying to study less--just the main ideas emphasized and details relating to them--and not rechecking answers if you're fairly sure that you know the correct answer...
 
Make sure you get through the material at least 5 times prior to the exam. Seriously.

Not necessarily. Some stuff sticks a lot better than others. It just depends. Wasting time reviewing stuff you know cold repeatedly is inefficient.

If you know something WELL after reviewing it twice then a third time before the exam is all you need.

On the other hand there can be problem areas where you may need to review it 7 or 8 times
 
Not necessarily. Some stuff sticks a lot better than others. It just depends. Wasting time reviewing stuff you know cold repeatedly is inefficient.

If you know something WELL after reviewing it twice then a third time before the exam is all you need.

On the other hand there can be problem areas where you may need to review it 7 or 8 times

This. Adaptive studying + question banks for review = the way to go for me.
 
Are question banks something that I should be doing as a MS I?

Our curriculum included some path, pharm, micro, etc. in the second half of M1 -- I didn't do questions then, but I would have if I'd thought to. We did do some organ system work late in the year, and I did start to do questions then.

I'm just selective about how I study. I would much rather spend time reading and re-reading notes provided by lecturers and trying to connect the dots in my head, think things through, figure out how to remember things I just can't get to stick, etc., than I would spend time making flash cards or doing Gunner Training flash cards or anything like that. So for me, doing questions is just another way to study interactively and pick up how the information I've studied recently would be presented in vignette form -- which is a big part of our exams here, and needless to say, it's huge on Step 1.

And like I was saying, practice questions won't lie to you about whether you really know your **** or not. I started with GT with the intent of saving Rx and World for the time leading up to the test.

At this point, since Step 1 is just around the corner for me, question banks are becoming a little more important every day. 😎
 
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