To dental students: How helpful can taking notes be in DS courses?

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Jessi4eve

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They way I have received good grades in undergrad has always been taking notes, reading only the lecture emphasized subjects in the textbook , and then pulling up an A or sometimes a B. This has quite worked for me in undergrad, but I am curious to know whether this technique is going to be useful at dental school. Do you guys simply read the whole textbook for every class, or there are classes which you can handle pretty well with taking notes only, and not even reading the book?
Thanks all.

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They way I have received good grades in undergrad has always been taking notes, reading only the lecture emphasized subjects in the textbook , and then pulling up an A or sometimes a B. This has quite worked for me in undergrad, but I am curious to know whether this technique is going to be useful at dental school. Do you guys simply read the whole textbook for every class, or there are classes which you can handle pretty well with taking notes only, and not even reading the book?
Thanks all.

i just take notes when they say "this'll probably be on the test"
 
In some classes, my own version of the technique that you describe has worked well. In others, I can count on having to know basically everything that is in the books, regardless of whether or not it was presented in class.

If professors upload PowerPoint presentations to class websites, it is useful to have a laptop to annotate the slides during lectures.

In any event, though, no matter how much work you did in undergrad, you'll end up doing much more in dental school. As a post-bac, I had one semester where I took 4 bio classes (two mid-level, two upper-level), worked hard to nail down every point I could get, and got a GPA of >4.0. Believe me, not a day goes by where I'm not nostalgic for that semester...
 
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In some classes, my own version of the technique that you describe has worked well. In others, I can count on having to know basically everything that is in the books, regardless of whether or not it was presented in class.

If professors upload PowerPoint presentations to class websites, it is useful to have a laptop to annotate the slides during lectures.

In any event, though, no matter how much work you did in undergrad, you'll end up doing much more in dental school. As a post-bac, I had one semester where I took 4 bio classes (two mid-level, two upper-level), worked hard to nail down every point I could get, and got a GPA of >4.0. Believe me, not a day goes by where I'm not nostalgic for that semester...

I've heard you guys have the first two years so tough over there in Columbia. Another question: What are the types of questions on the test of most courses? Mutliple choice type questions or essay questions?
Thanks again:D
 
powerpoints with typing notes at the bottom. i have only had to use one book so far.
 
They way I have received good grades in undergrad has always been taking notes, reading only the lecture emphasized subjects in the textbook , and then pulling up an A or sometimes a B. This has quite worked for me in undergrad, but I am curious to know whether this technique is going to be useful at dental school. Do you guys simply read the whole textbook for every class, or there are classes which you can handle pretty well with taking notes only, and not even reading the book?
Thanks all.


step back for a moment and realize you're asking for something that doesn't have an answer.

Everyone has their own style. Each professor has his or her own style. Some professors will want you to take notes. Some will give great outlines. Some will give great powerpoints. Some will give horrible outlines that you need to augment. Some will test right out of the textbook.

You have to take it class by class. Dont worry about it now. You'll quickly figure it out once you start school. Although I will say one thing. You will be very busy so "recopying" notes after class isn't a realistic option.
 
step back for a moment and realize you're asking for something that doesn't have an answer.

Everyone has their own style. Each professor has his or her own style. Some professors will want you to take notes. Some will give great outlines. Some will give great powerpoints. Some will give horrible outlines that you need to augment. Some will test right out of the textbook.

You have to take it class by class. Dont worry about it now. You'll quickly figure it out once you start school. Although I will say one thing. You will be very busy so "recopying" notes after class isn't a realistic option.

Exactly!!! Plus, if you have a good upperclass mentor (if your school has a mentoring program in place,) then the mentor will also help guide you in the direction are searching right now. They will let you know which classes to take notes in, which books to buy, which classes are worthless to attend, etc. As lopsywine stated above, each class, prof, school, etc will be different. Learn to adapt and seek advice from upperclass students and you will be fine once you start d-school. Until then, RELAX!!!
 
I've heard you guys have the first two years so tough over there in Columbia. Another question: What are the types of questions on the test of most courses? Mutliple choice type questions or essay questions?
Thanks again:D

Except for anatomy identification exams, which are in short answer format, all exams are completely or mostly multiple-choice. Some quizzes and exams have incorporated a few short answer questions.
 
As for taking notes, start with doing what you did in college with suggestions from upperclassmen. You can hardly go wrong with taking your own notes because it is an active form of learning (rather than just reading), and active learning is what you need to do to retain the most information.
 
You can ask upperclassmen, but be forewarned that some of the upperclassmen are borderline failing and some are outstanding. And you may not know whom is which. There IS somewhat a different study style to dental school. If you go to a medical dental school, there is a DRASTICALLY different study style. In a time constrained situation, certain study methods are more effective than others, and it somewhat depends on your learning modality - top/bottom, or bottom/top. Depending on which of the two you are, you attack the material in a slightly different manner. Studying in a way that suits you plays the biggest part of learning. I won't get into the details, but the method of study determines if you're struggling, average, or top. It's not about how smart you are. It's about studying in a manner that suits the material and time requirement of the course.
 
A great benefit of dental school is that they provide powerpoints on the internet.

Then you can look at them on your laptop while a prof reads them to you.

This prevents notes being necessary.

Good luck!
 
i just take notes when they say "this'll probably be on the test"

It may seem suprizing, but this happens frequently.

I notice one professor walk over to her podium, ruffle some papers for a couple seconds, then mention something specific that doesn't really fit with the flow of what she was talking about before. To me this indicates time to write that down ; )

Hooray for anti-intellectualism!
 
At Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine, our professors type our notes for us for every lecture. Everyweek the school prints these notes for us in a huge packet, and put them in our mailbox for us to pick up to bring to lecture.

The notes that the professors wrote are so detailed that there is not that much to write down during lecture. We just study what is on the notes.

The text books are just for reference. I think most of us rarely look at our textbooks except for maybe anatomy and pathology.

So yah, each school is different.
 
Use what works for you now, but use it a lot more often in dental school.
 
one note by microsoft has saved me in dental school.

every single class has powerpoint lectures you can download off blackboard. I just import them into one note and type away. The powerpoints are just oulines though, and all the details come from the presenter, so you must take notes. I cant imagine how much paper I have saved by using one note.
 
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