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Hey guys,
The major concern I have (after searching the countless threads), is regarding my approach to Step 1 based on my personal learning style. I guess you after reading the threads, you see so many resources and review series books outside of First Aid, 2012, which I bought, and I think the most important thing I want to do (during this spring break and upcoming summer perhaps a few hours a day) is approach (and yes, I realize studying at this point is simply too early), is not so much do a bazillion problems but more importantly, getting all my study materials/notes organized based on what I have learned so far (biochem, anatomy, physiology, embroylogy, histology)
So what exactly is my learning style? I think personally for me, what disgruntles me the most for med school exams/tests (i.e. in anatomy) in general is having an inundation of information from different review books. You know how people say you learn to study better/become more efficient with your learning style? Well my learning style I have to come to realize is studying my own notes while having appropriate visuals right next to me. I didn't realize this until my last exam. For example, annotating my Thieme anatomy atlas with little visual embryo, histo, and clinical correlate tidbits in the space I had to work with was AWESOME. For example, say I was looking at the pancreas...it was so effective for me to look at a structure, draw a little histo representation, an embryo correlate, and a clinical correlate (i.e.- the Moore blue boxes or pink boxes from BRS anatomy). I think this was super effective because there was only so much content to know from the anatomy, embryo, and histo angle that they all fit on the several pages of the atlas and it was great to just read all MY notes on one frame. Contrast this to referring to your slides, notes, review books, etc...Not sure what it is, but I think reading your own notes and representations while having everything condensed helped me so much in absorbing the material
With this in mind and from people (particularly 2nd years with a similar learning style/notion of learning), who are in that Step 1 phase, what do you recommend as a reasonable approach for Step 1? I always feel like studying is divided into 3 phases: 1- getting your notes condensed and comprehensible in your own way of learning 2-reviewing notes and 3- doing problems. In my case, all I want to do at this point is perhaps do the first step of getting my notes condensed to facilitate my workload down the road where I'm just reviewing and then doing problems. I realize most people annotate First Aid, but there something about going back to your old notes and reviewing stuff (i.e- in using your own shortcuts, mneumonics) that wires you to retain your notes, at least for me. What should I do (based on the subjects I have completed and the stuff I am about to embark on- microbiology,immunology, path, etc...) since I'm really trying to think of the best way for me at this point then doing what many other people have done.
Thanks.
The major concern I have (after searching the countless threads), is regarding my approach to Step 1 based on my personal learning style. I guess you after reading the threads, you see so many resources and review series books outside of First Aid, 2012, which I bought, and I think the most important thing I want to do (during this spring break and upcoming summer perhaps a few hours a day) is approach (and yes, I realize studying at this point is simply too early), is not so much do a bazillion problems but more importantly, getting all my study materials/notes organized based on what I have learned so far (biochem, anatomy, physiology, embroylogy, histology)
So what exactly is my learning style? I think personally for me, what disgruntles me the most for med school exams/tests (i.e. in anatomy) in general is having an inundation of information from different review books. You know how people say you learn to study better/become more efficient with your learning style? Well my learning style I have to come to realize is studying my own notes while having appropriate visuals right next to me. I didn't realize this until my last exam. For example, annotating my Thieme anatomy atlas with little visual embryo, histo, and clinical correlate tidbits in the space I had to work with was AWESOME. For example, say I was looking at the pancreas...it was so effective for me to look at a structure, draw a little histo representation, an embryo correlate, and a clinical correlate (i.e.- the Moore blue boxes or pink boxes from BRS anatomy). I think this was super effective because there was only so much content to know from the anatomy, embryo, and histo angle that they all fit on the several pages of the atlas and it was great to just read all MY notes on one frame. Contrast this to referring to your slides, notes, review books, etc...Not sure what it is, but I think reading your own notes and representations while having everything condensed helped me so much in absorbing the material
With this in mind and from people (particularly 2nd years with a similar learning style/notion of learning), who are in that Step 1 phase, what do you recommend as a reasonable approach for Step 1? I always feel like studying is divided into 3 phases: 1- getting your notes condensed and comprehensible in your own way of learning 2-reviewing notes and 3- doing problems. In my case, all I want to do at this point is perhaps do the first step of getting my notes condensed to facilitate my workload down the road where I'm just reviewing and then doing problems. I realize most people annotate First Aid, but there something about going back to your old notes and reviewing stuff (i.e- in using your own shortcuts, mneumonics) that wires you to retain your notes, at least for me. What should I do (based on the subjects I have completed and the stuff I am about to embark on- microbiology,immunology, path, etc...) since I'm really trying to think of the best way for me at this point then doing what many other people have done.
Thanks.
