How do you study for med school????

[sunnyside]

Hello all,

I just finished 1st term and I didn't do as well as I hoped...I thought after midterms I would have figured out how to study for med school but apparently I still haven't got it. I wanted to try different things out this summer but I don't even know where to start! I was wondering how y'all study or what was the most efficient for you b/c I study all day, barely ever go out, and I still know less than my classmates who are at Bananas every other day. I want to review all of 1st term material and know it down cold. I got the First Aid book, so I guess that's a good start? Any advice will be great thank you!!

[NYladoo]

Hello all,

I just finished 1st term and I didn't do as well as I hoped...I thought after midterms I would have figured out how to study for med school but apparently I still haven't got it. I wanted to try different things out this summer but I don't even know where to start! I was wondering how y'all study or what was the most efficient for you b/c I study all day, barely ever go out, and I still know less than my classmates who are at Bananas every other day. I want to review all of 1st term material and know it down cold. I got the First Aid book, so I guess that's a good start? Any advice will be great thank you!!

I believe Rokshana answered this on a thread somewhere. Go search her posts (it make take some time) and you will find a good guide.

[argazul]

here you go http://www.valuemd.com/ross-university-school-medicine/153032-studying-advice.html

rokshana's and other people's study schedules and study advice.

[NYladoo]

I was feeling generous so I did a quick search and found the post:
rokshana (http://www.valuemd.com/members/rokshana.html) http://www.valuemd.com/images/statusicon/user_online.gif
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Originally Posted by johnritter http://www.valuemd.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.valuemd.com/st-georges-university-school-medicine/151400-help-i-bombed-unifieds.html#post768127)
Hey guys,unified scores came out in full yesterday and i did really really bad,40-50% across the board,i have 2 weeks exactly untill midterm starts,so not only do i have to keep up with everything but revisit 4 weeks of pre unified material too!!

unifieds are meant to be a wake up call, so stop going to all the parties and start studying!!!:-D (j/k)

Quote:
Im feeling in dire straights here,can anyone offer any guidance? Do you think 2 weeks is enough time to cover enough to pass the midterms? should i focus more on recent material and hope preunified stuff doesnt come up? I was thinking of skipping lectures to find the time and hoping i can get by with private study :confused:
i can see the cram mentality creeping in!! NO!! don't skip class--what makes you think studying by yourself is gonna help you??You didn't know the material for the unified, what makes you think you can teach yourself the material?? Lectures (esp in 1st term) do serve a purpose.

you need to take a good look at what your study schedule has been, how you are studying, and what you are studying.

1st evaluate your study schedule. Do you pre read and post read the lecture material? Everyday? Everyone is different, but pre/post reading is reinforcement of the material- a small bit at a time- the more you go through it, the more you will retain each time.

2nd evaluate your study tools. Are you going to DES sessions? Again for some this iworks, others not so much, but I would suggest testing out a DES session for the class(es) you are weak in; however, do not substitute DES sessions for actual study time! Some people will go to every session and think that that is enough- NOT! Do you utilize your classmates? I am a firm believer in group study- not too big a group- 2-3 people, more than that and it becomes a social event, not a study group. How you do it is up to you- some people like meeting once or twice a week to bounce questions and topics off of each other, others will meet for an hour every night to just go over the days lectures.

3rd evaluate HOW you study. THis is probably the hardest part. Just reading or memorizing the material isn't going to cut it...1st term is high volume, but nothing compared to what you will see later-- if you don't learn now how to absorb the material, know what details to memorize and what is fluff, and how to get the big picture and truly understand the material so you can reason the answer out, med school is going to be hard the whole time.
The more interactive you make this, the better- flash cards are good- writing them yourself is better, but there are good ones for sale. This is good for those factoids that you just have to know...it allows you to break down the info in managable portions.
The course objectives are there for a reason- you should go over them over the weekend and write them out if need be- makes sure you are on track for what you need to know.

Also you need to utilize the office hours and review sessions that the profs have available. Histo has a review session every thurs (if this hasn't changed) on the weeks material, Dr.B in anatomy had review sessions during his office hours (his method is socratic, but it makes you learn and you will realize that you know more than you think!).

Med school is NOT about getting the highest grade- it is NOT the goal!!! Med school, esp basic sciences is about truly understanding the material that you are being taught and to be able to use the knowledge to reason out problems...IF you can do this, then high grades on exams will be the by-product.

This was my study schedule for 1st term (but i'm not a morning person and am a lecture person)

Mon-Fri - Lab/Lectures for the Day- attended ALL of them- finish by 5pm

Mon-Thurs 5-7pm - run errands, have dinner, down time

Mon- Thurs-7pm - 12(or 1)am- sit down and study
1st post read the days lectures- this takes more time than pre-reading- spend time going over thing that weren't clarified in lecture. Have available a text or review book to consult (this is where studying with people can help- if I didn't understand something, I asked someone else explain it). Read through the objectives to make sure i hit them- if there was a weak one i would star it for the weekend-Usually this went form 7-11pm. Next is the pre-read for the next days classes-just read the lecture notes for the next day- no highlights and read over the objectives.

Modified this schedule to attend any review sessions i needed to go to.

Fri night-saturday- time off- if i needed to catch up on something or it was the weekend before exams the saturday would be utilized for study, BUT the fri night was ALWAYS a night off (we would go to dinner at a different restaurant each week).

Sunday- big review day!! I would read over all the notes for the week (spending more time on the things that i was weak on). I don't make my own notes, but this is a good day to make those if you use them. This is the day too where I would do textbook reading for the classes (I am a book person, so this helps me)- so I would start~ 12noon and the 1st half of the day would be dedicated to textbook reading. Then would take a couple hours off for dinner(5-7pm) and then the second half would be for reviewing last weeks notes and then the last hour (11-12 or 12-1) would be for pre-reading the notes for monday. Again room was made for any weekend review sessions or groups study sessions.

I would usually be back in my room by 1am and would watch some TV for an hour to decompress and be in bed by 2am. I was lucky and my labs weren't til 10am so i got plenty of sleep(until they flipped anatomy lab on me- ugh!, but still got about 5 1/2- 6 hours on those days).

now that i have given you some angina, take a deep breath and realize the unifieds arent gonna kill your grade, but it shouldn't be taken lightly either. If you keep up, then by the time you are sitting to study for the exams, it will be all review!

[sunnyside]

thanks you two!!! :)

[dunsoon]

My advice:
-Get enough sleep - a minimum of 7 hours.

-Identify any distractors, i.e. if having your computer with you while you study involves a lot of time pm-ing or surfing, don't bring your computer. Leave your cell phone at home. If you study with friends but tend to spend more time chatting, try studying on your own. etc.

-If studying on your own didn't work, form a study group.

-I found moving off campus helpful

-Don't stress out about reviewing term 1 stuff systematically right now. Focus on term 2 stuff, some of which will require you to look up term 1 stuff, so you will re-learn in that way. Trying to go back and review the whole term is inefficient and will distract you from term 2

-Make your studying as active as possible- it dramatically improves your efficiency

-Pay attention in class

-Don't perseverate on one topic because you're not getting it at that moment. Set a time limit and then move on. If you have time later, you can go back to that concept. I saw a lot of people spend too much time trying to nail down a concept, exhausting themselves in the process, and not finishing the material.

[WannaBdoc25]

Are all the classes on audio file? and are the lectures really helpfull.

[Kongakut]

For 1st term, the lectures for each class were videotaped and were posted in a timely fashion (anatomy was usually up the same day or next day). So, if you never went to class, you could still watch them in the comfort of your dorm or apt if needed. PC users can also speed up the lectures so it cuts the time of the lecture in half. Mac users will be getting that capability in the future.

I was mixed on the lectures. There is a point when you realize who is going to waste your time or confuse you and who is really good and has great clinical photos. So, I went to about 75% of them and watched some of the remainder but there were some I did not attend or watch online and just studied during that time instead. I think toward the end of the term, the lectures were about 60-70% attended.

[WannaBdoc25]

what about the other terms, are video or audio provided?

[bkshah]

Listen.. If you want to do good at SGU, Listen to audio lectures that they post online.. If you listen to each lecture twice I gurantee you you will not do bad. No way. Every professor that rights a question for an exam covers that question during lecture in one way or another (why because they know if the students do bad the onus is on them). Its hard to just pick up the notes and read the power points and try to make sense of it. If you go to the book, it maybe toooo indepth, and if you go to BRS its not too helpful because BRS is more for someone who already has a good knowledge bout that material.

SO please listen to every lecture on sonic foundry for every class twice and believe me it will stick into your head if you are paying attention when listening. Sometimes you may think you wont remember it, but when u go take an exam, and see the multiple choice you will hear the professors voice in your head and it will come back to you..

[bkshah]

another thing i find helpful is you listen to the class lecture on sonic foundry right, and then get the kaplan dvd's for USMLE and listen to the same topic on THE Kaplan DVD's. The topics covered are pretty similar to SGU topics if not exact. That way you get two different yet similar perspectives on the same topics and the highlights will just stick into your head. For example, if you are doing histo Male reproductive tract, listen to that on SGU's sonic foundry, and then listen to it on Kaplans USMLE anatomy and histology DVD. Again it will stick like glue to your head.


However you willl have to go through the process of getting the videos first. and also the notes that correspond witht he KAplan videos.

Good luck.

[spreebee]

You want to do good? This is what I've tried this semester and it's working so far....

After every lecture day go through all that days notes and make sure you know all of it cold before you go to sleep (sometimes you might get done by 7-8 p.m. other days 2 a.m.)... Use references to back up the notes where you don't understand the material.... On the weekends, cover all of that weeks material atleast one time.... For me, I have a test comming up in a week so I'm on my 17th straight hour of study (now Im done)... I knock out the new class material that is going to be covered during the week before the exam on the weekend so all I need to do is review and focus on old material all week and then smoke the exams (this method helps prevent the feeling of being unprepared)....After the exam is over, time to party or relax....

[canman]

You want to do good? This is what I've tried this semester and it's working so far....

After every lecture day go through all that days notes and make sure you know all of it cold before you go to sleep (sometimes you might get done by 7-8 p.m. other days 2 a.m.)... Use references to back up the notes where you don't understand the material.... On the weekends, cover all of that weeks material atleast one time.... For me, I have a test comming up in a week so I'm on my 17th straight hour of study (now Im done)... I knock out the new class material that is going to be covered during the week before the exam on the weekend so all I need to do is review and focus on old material all week and then smoke the exams (this method helps prevent the feeling of being unprepared)....After the exam is over, time to party or relax....

Good advice! thats what i did too, and that how many med students study! on thing i also did that i found very helpful was not to study the night before the exam. i just chilled and watched movies which relieved the stress.

[WannaBdoc25]

I'm trying to judge if I can handle med school and do really well. How many hours would you say you spend a day studying or going to class? also how much time does that leave for sleep?

How much material do you cover in a week?

[argazul]

if you read through the schedule on the first page you will have a good idea about daily routine. I have heard that most people easily get 6-7 hrs of sleep daily, workout for an hour or so, and manage to study 4-6 hrs outside of class daily.

[WannaBdoc25]

I would need a lot of adderal to function and pay attention on 6 hours of sleep.

[kryptik]

I would need a lot of adderal to function and pay attention on 6 hours of sleep.
adderall can cause depression in some people, are you already on it or plan on using it?

[xentar]

I would need a lot of adderal to function and pay attention on 6 hours of sleep.

try some triple combination therapy:
coffee + motivation + discipline

you don't need adderall for medical school...you need a sanity check (http://theunderweardrawer.homestead.com/twelvemedstudents.html):)

[sunnyside]

shah, as a first termer you used the USMLE videos???

[sunnyside]

and where do you get the kaplan dvds? (for a reasonable price)

[Wh0Kares]

Listen.. If you want to do good at SGU, Listen to audio lectures that they post online.. If you listen to each lecture twice I gurantee you you will not do bad. No way. Every professor that rights a question for an exam covers that question during lecture in one way or another (why because they know if the students do bad the onus is on them). Its hard to just pick up the notes and read the power points and try to make sense of it. If you go to the book, it maybe toooo indepth, and if you go to BRS its not too helpful because BRS is more for someone who already has a good knowledge bout that material.

SO please listen to every lecture on sonic foundry for every class twice and believe me it will stick into your head if you are paying attention when listening. Sometimes you may think you wont remember it, but when u go take an exam, and see the multiple choice you will hear the professors voice in your head and it will come back to you..

i have to disagree. i stopped going to lectures after the second week of school..never listened to any of em...i sitll dunno alot of the anatomy profs that supposedly taught lectures and i did well in all subjects...so u cant say u have to listen to lectures to succeed...everyones different...i found lectures a complete waste of time and i used those 4 hours of lecture time to study on my own..
but hey try everything thats been suggested in this post...one of will finally work for you =]

[dunsoon]

i have to disagree. i stopped going to lectures after the second week of school..never listened to any of em...i sitll dunno alot of the anatomy profs that supposedly taught lectures and i did well in all subjects...so u cant say u have to listen to lectures to succeed...everyones different...i found lectures a complete waste of time and i used those 4 hours of lecture time to study on my own..
but hey try everything thats been suggested in this post...one of will finally work for you =]

Wh0Kares, while I am impressed that you have managed to entirely self-teach yourself first term of basic sciences, I don't think it's good advice to tell a student who is struggling that abandoning classes is the way to go. MOST people in med school need some sort of instruction - otherwise we would all just take correspondance courses to get our MDs. Benefits of going to class: the professor will sometimes explain a concept to help you understand it, put it in context to understand why it's important, tell you a story to help you remember it, and then tell you if it's going to be on the test. Of course, not all professors are good but the majority at SGU are good enough that their courses are worthy of attending or watching. For God's sake, you are paying all that money for instruction, why not get your money's worth??

[NYladoo]

Wh0Kares, while I am impressed that you have managed to entirely self-teach yourself first term of basic sciences, I don't think it's good advice to tell a student who is struggling that abandoning classes is the way to go. MOST people in med school need some sort of instruction - otherwise we would all just take correspondance courses to get our MDs. Benefits of going to class: the professor will sometimes explain a concept to help you understand it, put it in context to understand why it's important, tell you a story to help you remember it, and then tell you if it's going to be on the test. Of course, not all professors are good but the majority at SGU are good enough that their courses are worthy of attending or watching. For God's sake, you are paying all that money for instruction, why not get your money's worth??

Exactly. You're goal is to retain knowledge and apply it to board exams and patient care in the future, not only to do well on SGU exams.

[kananaskis_girl]

Wh0Kares, while I am impressed that you have managed to entirely self-teach yourself first term of basic sciences, I don't think it's good advice to tell a student who is struggling that abandoning classes is the way to go. MOST people in med school need some sort of instruction - otherwise we would all just take correspondance courses to get our MDs. Benefits of going to class: the professor will sometimes explain a concept to help you understand it, put it in context to understand why it's important, tell you a story to help you remember it, and then tell you if it's going to be on the test. Of course, not all professors are good but the majority at SGU are good enough that their courses are worthy of attending or watching. For God's sake, you are paying all that money for instruction, why not get your money's worth??

sorry, I kinda disagree as to what you are paying the money for, I'm paying to get the MD after my name, not to sit and listen to crappy profs. As soon as I found out lectures were a waste of time FOR ME (please realize that I understand this method may not work for everyone) it freed up a lot of my time for more effective studying. Granted, a few of the profs are decent, and every once and a while they get a fantastic VP, but that's a rarity at SGU. A student who is struggling with the basic sciences needs to go down to DES and talk with one of the advisors there to help get them on the right study track. In fact, a student who attends all lectures and labs and who is still doing poorly may benefit from going to less lectures...it all depends on learning style. I know that I am not an auditory learner, and so, lectures don't really work for me unless there are a lot of visual aids, hence, I hardly attended any classes at SGU. This may be the case for this student, maybe they would benefit from a smaller class environment as provided by DES tutoring sessions, or maybe some one-on-one time with the profs outside of class. I actually can't imagine how people managed to go to every class and lab in basic sciences while studying outside of that...I would have burnt out if I hadn't cut all those classes. And, sorry Dunsoon, but in the classes I attended where the prof stressed something was going to be on the exam, it never was and it lulled people into a false sense of security, as evidenced by the enormous amounts of complaining from my classmates after a few of our exams. Whereas, the people who didn't go to class didn't hear "you only need to know this page", so we studied the entire packet and did well with no complaints. My advice to the OP is to head down to DES and make an appointment to speak to an advisor regarding study habits and methods, as well as to make appointments with the department heads of the classes they are struggling in to see if the profs have any advice for them as well. Everyone is more than willing to help out but you need to be proactive in seeking it out, they're not going to come to you. Good luck with the rest of basic sciences, you'll find your groove eventually!

[stateofequilibrium]

Everyone has their own different method. It's really up to the individual to try different things out (that make sense) and find what works best for them. The bottom line is, they should be finding out whatever it takes to memorize the material cold.

The questions should rarely be tricky. Mostly everything is a "do you know it or not" type question. If you feel like you REALLY do know the material cold, then the problem could be in the way you're taking the exam, and not your knowledge. Or it could be both. Do some practice questions then look at the answers/explanations and find out why you're picking the right or wrong answers.

[dunsoon]

sorry, I kinda disagree as to what you are paying the money for, I'm paying to get the MD after my name, not to sit and listen to crappy profs. As soon as I found out lectures were a waste of time FOR ME (please realize that I understand this method may not work for everyone) it freed up a lot of my time for more effective studying. Granted, a few of the profs are decent, and every once and a while they get a fantastic VP, but that's a rarity at SGU. A student who is struggling with the basic sciences needs to go down to DES and talk with one of the advisors there to help get them on the right study track. In fact, a student who attends all lectures and labs and who is still doing poorly may benefit from going to less lectures...it all depends on learning style. I know that I am not an auditory learner, and so, lectures don't really work for me unless there are a lot of visual aids, hence, I hardly attended any classes at SGU. This may be the case for this student, maybe they would benefit from a smaller class environment as provided by DES tutoring sessions, or maybe some one-on-one time with the profs outside of class. I actually can't imagine how people managed to go to every class and lab in basic sciences while studying outside of that...I would have burnt out if I hadn't cut all those classes. And, sorry Dunsoon, but in the classes I attended where the prof stressed something was going to be on the exam, it never was and it lulled people into a false sense of security, as evidenced by the enormous amounts of complaining from my classmates after a few of our exams. Whereas, the people who didn't go to class didn't hear "you only need to know this page", so we studied the entire packet and did well with no complaints. My advice to the OP is to head down to DES and make an appointment to speak to an advisor regarding study habits and methods, as well as to make appointments with the department heads of the classes they are struggling in to see if the profs have any advice for them as well. Everyone is more than willing to help out but you need to be proactive in seeking it out, they're not going to come to you. Good luck with the rest of basic sciences, you'll find your groove eventually!

Well, perhaps things have changed in the few short years since I was in basic sciences. In my day, most people attended classes, and notably, most of the good students attended classes. And when the professors said something was important, it was. Perhaps if your professors are all so bad that attending class is a waste of time, you should do something about it. Because you ARE paying for their salaries. I personally do not think it's ok for me to spend tens of thousands to have to teach myself to be a doctor. Of course, it's common sense that if a lecturer is SO BAD that you come out stupider than you went in, then perhaps it's a waste of time to go to that particular person's lecture but can you seriously tell me that's how ALL the courses are at SGU? If so, I am sad for you all.

As for the OP, while of course I agree they should go to DES to get help (since that's the whole reason for its existence) I really doubt DES is going to tell them to attend fewer classes. And yes, maybe this particular person is exactly like you and Wh0Kares and cannot learn in class but I am saying that in general, telling people to not go to class is not good advice.

[bkshah]

i have to disagree. i stopped going to lectures after the second week of school..never listened to any of em...i sitll dunno alot of the anatomy profs that supposedly taught lectures and i did well in all subjects...so u cant say u have to listen to lectures to succeed...everyones different...i found lectures a complete waste of time and i used those 4 hours of lecture time to study on my own..
but hey try everything thats been suggested in this post...one of will finally work for you =]

Hey.. man.. my bad i didnt mean to say You need to attend class to do good. You can definitely not attend class or not listen to lectures and still do awesome like you did.

BUt what i meant to say is, if you listen to lectures atleast twice attentively you will definitely not do bad.. Even if the professor is crappy..

And yes its preference, I would rather listen to audio visual for 1 hour then read notes or textbook for one hour..

[kananaskis_girl]

Well, perhaps things have changed in the few short years since I was in basic sciences. In my day, most people attended classes, and notably, most of the good students attended classes. And when the professors said something was important, it was. Perhaps if your professors are all so bad that attending class is a waste of time, you should do something about it. Because you ARE paying for their salaries. I personally do not think it's ok for me to spend tens of thousands to have to teach myself to be a doctor. Of course, it's common sense that if a lecturer is SO BAD that you come out stupider than you went in, then perhaps it's a waste of time to go to that particular person's lecture but can you seriously tell me that's how ALL the courses are at SGU? If so, I am sad for you all.

As for the OP, while of course I agree they should go to DES to get help (since that's the whole reason for its existence) I really doubt DES is going to tell them to attend fewer classes. And yes, maybe this particular person is exactly like you and Wh0Kares and cannot learn in class but I am saying that in general, telling people to not go to class is not good advice.

I know, and that's why I said in my post that it worked FOR ME....all advice is subjective, what people think may be good advice for some, may not work for others. This is why I DID NOT tell the OP to stop going to classes, I just said that it's what helped me out, MY advice was to go to DES and to talk with the profs one-on-one, so the OP could get specific advice geared towards them and their own set of personal circumstances. And, you have to admit, that is good advice....on this forum we know pretty much well nothing about how the OP studies and what may be more effective for them or not, so telling them to watch every lecture twice, etc, etc, may actually be bad advice for the OP. The DES people are trained in assisting with these problems and those are the best people to turn to in this situation, along with the heads of department.

And, strangely enough, a number of the top performers in our class decided not to attend lectures b/c we felt it was a waste of time. And yes, we have been complaining about it, but it's difficult when the school has profs that are so entrenched in the sub-culture that no-one would ever think of replacing them with newer and better people. The only thing we can keep doing is writing comments on the evaluation forms and hoping one day that some of the profs will retire or leave of their own free will b/c they'll obviously never get fired for just poor evaluations. I find it funny that you suggest that " [we] should do something about it", like I'm on the hiring committee or something. There's not a whole lot that we can do about stuff like that, and now that I'm in 3rd year and have survived the inane babblings of the majority of the profs down there, it's no longer my responsibility to get them replaced, I wrote enough eval's in my time in Grenada. And, like everything I say on this forum, that's just MY opinion, I'm sure people liked lecturers that I thought were horrible beyond belief, and quite the opposite, I probably liked some lecturers that others did not. For me, down in Grenada, I viewed my tuition as the price I had to pay to take the USMLE's, not as the salaries of the lazy people who can't be bothered to write new test questions since the mid-90s...it kept me from getting really pissed off that I was paying so much money for such half-a**ed teaching.

[shadyhtown]

Are the video lectures the exact same thing you heard in the morning from that professor, or are they pre-recorded?

[Kongakut]

They are recordings of the classes that day. They are not pre-recorded.

[elite.medicine]

I suppose everyone has his/her own style of learning. For me, pre-reading the material before the lecture (for previewing what's coming up) then attending the lecture (helps with understanding the material) and then postreading the material (for memorization) is the best way to go. Yea, I am one of those who always go to the lecture, but that's just me.

[skittles]

what works for me:
skimming through the stuff before the lecture, going to EVERY lecture, i have to hear it from the professor because i suck at learning everything on my own (it takes a lot longer and wastes a lotta time for me)...i didnt really find any of the professors here that bad, u just have to figure out their teaching style and go with that (which isnt too bad)...also attend the review sessions by the professors...from my experience what theyve stressed has always showed up on the tests, i wouldve been lost if i didnt get their guidance...notes are pretty good, i mean theres only so much they can do, they cant spoon feed u everything, the rest is on our own...i always reviewed the days stuff that day and on the weekends, reviewed the weeks stuff...also used the brs and pretest for practice questions...this helped me do well :)

[cooolguy]

hmmmmmm. i dont preread because i think its a waste of time but I do attend lectures. I study after class and then go to bananas at night....story of my decel =(......

just kidding. Just study a lot, thats what I do

[WannaBdoc25]

So every single lecture in the school is available on audio to listen to? can it be put on your ipod and is it clear?

[mortigitempo]

So every single lecture in the school is available on audio to listen to? can it be put on your ipod and is it clear?

Most of the lectures are worthless. Some of the powerpoints have cool pictures.

There was an old retired anatomy professor from some uni in Cali who came to Grenada twice a year with his wife (who sadly passed away a few years ago) to lecture us students. He once told me that you could never teach anatomy or anything in medicine to a medical student from powerpoint. His theory was that you can get any idiot off the street to read a powerpoint presentation, but only a few can really explain and TEACH the material. I don't think its a SGU thing, but more of how our education system has become lazy. Just slap on a powerpoint presentation, show some cool pictures, and voila, you are a lecturer.

I had a few attendings during clinicals who were money. They'd spend like 10 minutes explaining a detailed topic that the profs in basic sciences would spend weeks trying to convey to us.

[Kongakut]

So every single lecture in the school is available on audio to listen to? can it be put on your ipod and is it clear?

Every lecture is videotaped (prof behind a podium or near the lectern). In conjunction with the videotape, the powerpoint slides are also synchronized so you can really watch the whole lecture. The only thing you miss is if the prof goes off camera and role plays or something. But you still hear them because they have a microphone on. I think they are working on podcasts - maybe they had them already?

[Ishie1013]

If they have podcasts, anyone know how to get em? Since they won't show the powerpoints for path anyway, I'd rather listen to the lectures while I'm out walking.

My study methods are terrible, and I don't recommend anyone uses them, but they seem to work pretty well for me. Each class has a different method (some audio lectures; some flashcards; some book reference; some note reading, some wiki supplement); most studying is done between the hours of 8 PM and 4 AM, and I haven't been to lecture since Sonic Foundry started up.

Not that I would recommend this to anyone having trouble. I think the best thing is to be adaptable though. Some people have an idea that you should almost be "paid" for your time by a grade, and are afraid to abandon study methods that are extremely time consuming, but don't work for them (like "I'm going to transcribe every page of the textbook!"), or that aren't class specific (for me, making flashcards for micro was really helpful, but not really for path, since path is more integrative/conceptual, rather than pure memorization).

[shadyhtown]

Every lecture is videotaped (prof behind a podium or near the lectern). In conjunction with the videotape, the powerpoint slides are also synchronized so you can really watch the whole lecture. The only thing you miss is if the prof goes off camera and role plays or something. But you still hear them because they have a microphone on. I think they are working on podcasts - maybe they had them already?

Role plays? What goes on - he lies down and acts out the patient? :confused:

[shadyhtown]

If they have podcasts, anyone know how to get em? Since they won't show the powerpoints for path anyway, I'd rather listen to the lectures while I'm out walking.

Does path have no powerpoints at all even during the live lecture, or is it just not shown in the recorded lectures?

[Ishie1013]

Live lectures, yes; recorded lectures no.

[Kongakut]

Role plays? What goes on - he lies down and acts out the patient? :confused:

Anatomy profs occasionally acted out various neurological deficits, enticed students to mime the female reproductive tract, and another department prof famously ranted at tardy students, or just liked to troll the stage. The camera guy occasionally followed them around.

[WannaBdoc25]

at a point are cadavers seen.

[Kongakut]

The role playing was during lectures, not labs.

However, various lab prosections were also online for viewing which involves the prof pointing out the important structures you needed to know for lab. For the next term, they are re-doing them all over the summer so you will have them straight away as soon as you start, where my term got them late for the 1st half of the term and about 3 weeks into the second half of the term. I found them very helpful.

[shadyhtown]

Do professors care if we show up for their lectures or not? Is attendance graded, or considered during evaluation? I like to learn on my own time, and if I can have access to the lectures online I'd much rather sit in my room and watch it (with the ability to pause, fast-forward, go back, or skip parts) than sit a room with 400 other kids straining to get the best look at the professor/slides.

[Ishie1013]

That's been my perspective on it.

They tend to take attendance in the labs, but not in lectures; too cumbersome. Some departments or professors are more into people attending, but with Sonic and once you start getting near exams, those lectures start getting pretty sparsely attended.

[PikachuMan]

I find Sonic Foundry too sketchy to depend on. Lecturers like to do funny things like take off the mic and say, "is it better if I shout?" a bit too much. And of course getting packets and case studies and such is harder.

Besides that, I just don't find it as efficient as it would have been if I went to lecture (especially for morning sessions). The cortisol surge in the early morning helps tremendously with learning, even with a little bit of sleep deprivation thrown in. I'm much more mentally active during live lecture as well, so I play around with the information and form those neat little interconnections to help with long-term memory.

On a more human level, though, it's still 4 hours of work to slog through; might as well get it done in one solid block and leave the rest of the day for whatever I feel like. If I try to do the Sonic Foundry thing, I end up spending 2 hours per lecture (pausing, rewinding, getting a snack, etc), which cuts into my free time. That's just unacceptable, imo.

---
Other study methods I find useful:

-Preview lecture notes. (i.e., skim them for topics and big-picture points).

-Integrate new information wherever possible. See a story and not disjointed bits of information.

-Postview lecture notes (i.e., mentally go over every bit of information you gleamed from the lecture by corresponding it with the lecture slides). This shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, so the break in-between lectures is a perfect perfect time to do this.

-Drawing mental concept maps and repeating them over and over. I do this in the bus stop and when I'm in the can. Works well for dealing with lots of information, like learning neurotransmitters or amino acids.

-Go over everything before going to bed. It's vital you go over the information within 12 hours after your first exposure to it. The school really stresses that you do this.

There are some things that people do that I just don't find worthwhile. Highlighting takes quite a bit of time to do.. and that's time that could have been better spent learning the information outright. Passive reading is also a pretty inefficient thing to do.. grab a pen and start scribbling notes in the margin, or draw big arrows and flow charts and all that. Use the information, not just read it.

--
But hey, that's just what works for me. =\

[elite.medicine]

I find Sonic Foundry too sketchy to depend on. Lecturers like to do funny things like take off the mic and say, "is it better if I shout?" a bit too much. And of course getting packets and case studies and such is harder.

Besides that, I just don't find it as efficient as it would have been if I went to lecture (especially for morning sessions). The cortisol surge in the early morning helps tremendously with learning, even with a little bit of sleep deprivation thrown in. I'm much more mentally active during live lecture as well, so I play around with the information and form those neat little interconnections to help with long-term memory.

On a more human level, though, it's still 4 hours of work to slog through; might as well get it done in one solid block and leave the rest of the day for whatever I feel like. If I try to do the Sonic Foundry thing, I end up spending 2 hours per lecture (pausing, rewinding, getting a snack, etc), which cuts into my free time. That's just unacceptable, imo.

---
Other study methods I find useful:

-Preview lecture notes. (i.e., skim them for topics and big-picture points).

-Integrate new information wherever possible. See a story and not disjointed bits of information.

-Postview lecture notes (i.e., mentally go over every bit of information you gleamed from the lecture by corresponding it with the lecture slides). This shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, so the break in-between lectures is a perfect perfect time to do this.

-Drawing mental concept maps and repeating them over and over. I do this in the bus stop and when I'm in the can. Works well for dealing with lots of information, like learning neurotransmitters or amino acids.

-Go over everything before going to bed. It's vital you go over the information within 12 hours after your first exposure to it. The school really stresses that you do this.

There are some things that people do that I just don't find worthwhile. Highlighting takes quite a bit of time to do.. and that's time that could have been better spent learning the information outright. Passive reading is also a pretty inefficient thing to do.. grab a pen and start scribbling notes in the margin, or draw big arrows and flow charts and all that. Use the information, not just read it.

--
But hey, that's just what works for me. =\

That's a great way to study. Thanks for the tip...

[mcsarpanch]

That's been my perspective on it.

They tend to take attendance in the labs, but not in lectures; too cumbersome. Some departments or professors are more into people attending, but with Sonic and once you start getting near exams, those lectures start getting pretty sparsely attended.

Yeah I could have guessed that lol

I dont like sonic, especially when the mic suddenly fails, all u see is the lecturer waving their hands around (i dunno if this happens regularly, has happend in one of our lecs tho). Also, you can only hear the answer to questions, and not the questions being asked since the only person wired up is the lecturer, that sucks sometimes

[mcsarpanch]

at a point are cadavers seen.

From week one all the way throughout the first term

[WannaBdoc25]

I just finished reading a book on medical school and I am fearing this whole cadaver thing. I hope I get used to it and assume I will.

[argazul]

which book? medical book that scares people about anatomy? is this the one about UMDNJ students?

[dunsoon]

I just finished reading a book on medical school and I am fearing this whole cadaver thing. I hope I get used to it and assume I will.

Not sure what book you read but regardless, your fears are normal and understandable. I myself was seriously terrified of the whole experience (and I wanted to go into pathology!) - but you will find that it's not as bad as you think and that everyone has the same fears.

[argazul]

maybe just look at some of the anatomy dissection websites to get you prepared. Even looking at the videos helps a little bit in preparation.

[jaywalk81]

no matter how much you study ...there are and will be 3 times in your medical career that you will forget or wont know/remember anything
1) before med school
2) before start of clinicals/beginning of 3rd yr
3) beginning of residency training


i can attest to the first two so far...im sure i can attest to the 3rd one in 2 yrs also

[CANeh]

for first year, my experience is you simply study and understand the notes and you should do fine in all the classes. Except maybe Pulmonary Physio (I hate you). Immuno needs some decoding and so does parasitology.

Also med school is all about self teaching. At least that is the impression I got. The material we cover and tested on is pretty good... hard core actually. I compared it to friends MD curriculum in US and Canada and we covered more or less the same thing (97% identical). Except we had bioethics and Community preventative medicine which they did not have in first year.

[WannaBdoc25]

Im not very outgoing, which is weird because my friends all know me as very fun, I fear ill end up with out a study group.

[Kongakut]

I'm like as introverted as you can get and I found an awesome study group. Try to do it as soon as you start though because clicks form usually within the first 2 weeks. If you live on campus, it should be much easier.