Tips on studying/note taking in PT School?

[Dodds08]

Hey guys. This question is directed towards graduates of PT school or those currently attending. I come from the old school where we took notes with pen and paper lol. I did this through my undergraduate career and have been successful with it. I am wondering how you guys are taking/took notes in your PT schooling career. I notice a lot of people with tablets or other mechanisms with styluses. Looks like it makes things very convenient and is great for organization. Is this the way to go in PT school?

I hear PT school is tough. Any advice for adequately getting the most out of study hours? Flash cards for anatomy? I have been out of undergraduate for a year and a half now and fear that I have lost my studying rhythm lol.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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[NewTestament]

I definitely recommend a laptop. Ditch paper notes. They're harder to organize and they take too much space. Keep all your notes and assignments on your laptop or tablet. Listen well in class, write down the things your professor emphasizes, and then add those to the note packet provided by your professor. If you study the notes you take in class as well as the note packet, you can't lose. Take good notes during the lab too. Some professors will ask questions about techniques and procedures.

 

[noyceguy]

I didn't take notes in PT school very much and did fine. I just paid attention in class and then read the professor's powerpoints for the test.

 

[Azimuthal]

I didn't take notes in PT school very much and did fine. I just paid attention in class and then read the professor's powerpoints for the test.

That's a horrible idea to test out. Chances are, if the OP was taking notes beforehand, that's how s/he learns. Fewer people can do that than traditional note taking, especially of they were not an ATC, exercise science or kinesiology major. If I did that I'd be out of PT school already. Some of our professors did not give much in detail within their power point slides. I did find it easier to write the main take home points on the .pdf of the 6 per page slide printouts on my iPad and do the required readings based on the syllabus.

 

[02143]

I have done a mixture of handwriting and typing notes for PT school. I prefer to hand write notes (using shorthand and abbreviations), because if I don't, I find myself monotonously typing without actually processing what is being said. I also struggle to recall information when I just type it. However, with some professors, it is extremely difficult to keep up if you are writing notes by hand. In those cases, I use my laptop, but then I will hand write all of my notes into a study guide later on. For me, this ensures that I still process the information and it allows me to present the information in a way that works for my brain (which doesn't always line up with how the professor will write out the information). My favorite professor provides a very detailed outline of all of her lectures, so in her class, I hand write my notes and later compare them to her notes (adding or taking stuff out depending on the events in class).

My advice: At first, I would stick to what has worked for you in the past. Chances are, your classmates will be posting study guides on your class google drive, so if you miss something, you can reference that. If you begin to find that you're more frustrated with not being able to keep up with handwriting notes, then maybe try to transition to something such as a tablet. Maybe its just me, but I didn't want to mess with what has worked for me all the way through college and change all the sudden to a technique that I wasn't sure would allow me to learn as efficiently... just a personal opinion though!

 

[noyceguy]

That's a horrible idea to test out. Chances are, if the OP was taking notes beforehand, that's how s/he learns. Fewer people can do that than traditional note taking, especially of they were not an ATC, exercise science or kinesiology major. If I did that I'd be out of PT school already. Some of our professors did not give much in detail within their power point slides. I did find it easier to write the main take home points on the .pdf of the 6 per page slide printouts on my iPad and do the required readings based on the syllabus.

Doesn't work for everybody. Sometimes I found that trying to write and listen at the same time is not possible. So I just listened and remembered. I mentioned it because I did better this way than by trying to take notes. It is possible the OP might want to try it out and see it it works. Not everyone learns the same way.

 

[Dodds08]

I definitely recommend a laptop. Ditch paper notes. They're harder to organize and they take too much space. Keep all your notes and assignments on your laptop or tablet. Listen well in class, write down the things your professor emphasizes, and then add those to the note packet provided by your professor. If you study the notes you take in class as well as the note packet, you can't lose. Take good notes during the lab too. Some professors will ask questions about techniques and procedures.

Not all of my classes had powerpoints that the professor lectured off of. The ones that did though, I noticed a good amount of people hacking away at their keyboard taking notes on powerpoint slides. Seemed to have worked well for them. What programs have you used to take notes? Evernote? Or just the basic Microsoft word?

 

[rltruong]

each person studies a little differently so you really have to just experiment and see what works best for you. I don't take much notes in class but we are provided with power points so i usually just print them out 6 to a page and write down anything important i hear. If the ppt is unclear i usually look it up in the book to get a better picture.

But what works best for me is reading the slides before hand so that when we actually do have lecture/lab its more of a review than a lesson. i find that being up to date makes me feel behind.

 

[jdaniels360]

If you're looking for apps, notability is phenomenal!!

 

[NewTestament]

I still use Microsoft Word, but to take notes I usually use Adobe. The note packets are usually PDFs and these days you can add text to a PDF. It's a wonderful feature.

 

[lcs2074]

Doesn't work for everybody. Sometimes I found that trying to write and listen at the same time is not possible. So I just listened and remembered. I mentioned it because I did better this way than by trying to take notes. It is possible the OP might want to try it out and see it it works. Not everyone learns the same way.

You could also get a voice recorder and ask your professor if they mind you recording them. Then you can make sure you didn't miss anything, and can even listen/study while driving to/from school or wherever.

 

[NewTestament]

You could also get a voice recorder and ask your professor if they mind you recording them. Then you can make sure you didn't miss anything, and can even listen/study while driving to/from school or wherever.

I tried recording lectures for a while and I've concluded it's a waste of time. You can listen to the lecture a second time and you might hear two things you didn't hear the first time. If you have a question, ask the professor later. Recording lectures promotes passivity.

 

[noyceguy]

I tried recording lectures for a while and I've concluded it's a waste of time. You can listen to the lecture a second time and you might hear two things you didn't hear the first time. If you have a question, ask the professor later. Recording lectures promotes passivity.

This goes against my policy of disagreeing with everything you say, but I actually agree with this one. Why would you listen to 6 hours of lecture x 5 days a week = 30 hours of recorded lecture on top of class and projects. You'd never get anything done. I know it sounds crazy but if you just pay attention in class you can learn a lot if not most of the material. Now with Gross Anatomy that is not the case but it is for a lot of classes.

 

[okramango]

Hey guys. This question is directed towards graduates of PT school or those currently attending. I come from the old school where we took notes with pen and paper lol. I did this through my undergraduate career and have been successful with it. I am wondering how you guys are taking/took notes in your PT schooling career. I notice a lot of people with tablets or other mechanisms with styluses. Looks like it makes things very convenient and is great for organization. Is this the way to go in PT school?

I hear PT school is tough. Any advice for adequately getting the most out of study hours? Flash cards for anatomy? I have been out of undergraduate for a year and a half now and fear that I have lost my studying rhythm lol.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

A lot of people in my class take notes with pen and paper. If that works for you, there's nothing wrong with it! For me, it depends on the class. I have a tablet with a stylus, and use the Lecture Notes app to take notes on my professors' powerpoints for certain classes. Usually for more complex classes, I prefer to take notes on paper, so that I can see it all at once without having to scroll through a screen. I also like having the tablet at school so I can look things up while studying, in class, or during group projects when needed. I never type notes in class (I'm from the old school, too, and I can take written notes faster than I can type). Later I go through my notes and type them out, which helps me process the information through my brain, organize it, and write it all out in my own way. A lot of people might find this too time consuming, but it's worked really well for me so far in PT school.

In terms of study styles, everyone learns a bit differently. Some of my classmates used flashcards all the time, but flashcards did nothing for me. You can experiment with different study styles until you find what's right for you.

 

[PTMattI]

I enjoyed making flashcards for anatomy and reading over them while walking around the neighborhood.... staying active while learning at the same time haha. Sitting for 6 hours a day killed me!

 

[The Corpus Lab]

As an anatomy professor I suggest several things to my students. First is to take meticulous notes during class (pen and paper are great, especially the pens that are 4 in 1). This allows for you to highlight important points given during lecture as well as questions to ask after class. I then suggest that my students rewrite their notes and include supplemental information from their textbook. Once your notes are tight you can then create detailed flashcards that review each lecture and subject. I also recommend that my students purchase Netter flashcards or some equivalent brand. I find that the coloring books are very time consuming but the anatomy flashcards save time and help with memorization. They also have other subjects such as histology and physiology.

 

[jdaniels360]

The corpus lab, there's simply not enough time in the day to do all that. Most current PT students would agree with me.

 

[noyceguy]

As an anatomy professor I suggest several things to my students. First is to take meticulous notes during class (pen and paper are great, especially the pens that are 4 in 1). This allows for you to highlight important points given during lecture as well as questions to ask after class. I then suggest that my students rewrite their notes and include supplemental information from their textbook. Once your notes are tight you can then create detailed flashcards that review each lecture and subject. I also recommend that my students purchase Netter flashcards or some equivalent brand. I find that the coloring books are very time consuming but the anatomy flashcards save time and help with memorization. They also have other subjects such as histology and physiology.

This is totally never gonna happen. Wow, that is so much work spent not actually memorizing the material. It's much better to take ONE source of information like book or powerpoints and sit there and learn it just as it's written. spend less time organizing the material and more time actually learning it.

 

[Azimuthal]

This is totally never gonna happen. Wow, that is so much work spent not actually memorizing the material. It's much better to take ONE source of information like book or powerpoints and sit there and learn it just as it's written. spend less time organizing the material and more time actually learning it.

+1. Personally, I would like some time to absorb material from other classes as well. But like every other professor, their course, "is the only course". The only class I have ever rewritten notes for was gross anatomy and that was because the professor gave us no handouts (except a muscle manual) and I needed something in my own format to study with in cadaver lab.

 

[Dodds08]

LOL! I can see you guys as my classmates sitting next to me. My undergrad anatomy professor suggested something similar. We all looked at each other and laughed and said ya thats not going to happen. I had to be very precise with my time as I had other responsibilities outside of school and I had to dedicate time to learning the material as opposed to organizing as you guys have eluded too.

No offense professor... thank you for your suggestions though. Great conversation btw, Im going to keep all of your recommendations in mind when I get blasted this fall.

 

[runner21]

LOL! I can see you guys as my classmates sitting next to me. My undergrad anatomy professor suggested something similar. We all looked at each other and laughed and said ya thats not going to happen. I had to be very precise with my time as I had other responsibilities outside of school and I had to dedicate time to learning the material as opposed to organizing as you guys have eluded too.

No offense professor... thank you for your suggestions though. Great conversation btw, Im going to keep all of your recommendations in mind when I get blasted this fall.

Where are you going to school this fall?

 

[khakipants]

I used One Note (PC only). It worked great. You can upload power point presentations or just write on a document. After the PP is uploaded, you can type next to the slide. You can also record audio (which helped me a ton with Neuroscience). You need to type to keep up instead of writing. Also, paper takes up too much space.

 

[DPTRVTCCRP]

I used paper notes, but also had my iPad with me. I like the colors in the images. Our instructors usually printed out the PPTs for us, I always downloaded a copy which I either printed out or took notes on. I also had a recording pen (live scribe) and a recorder which helped me when studying. Good Luck, whatever works for you is the way you should go.

 

[Schland]

I'll just add if you take notes electronically that you should get an external hard drive and save on there frequently. My computer crashed toward the end of 2nd year and I had last saved my info a little over halfway of 1st year. All my stuff was gone. Thankfully my friend had all her notes and let me have them but it was not fun.