Study Tips

[hopeful786]

Hi,

I want to start a thread where people list their study techniques, because studying hard is important but studying smart is more so. Please share your strategies so that myself and others benefit from this information.

I will start off, I usually highlight a lot, and use yellow for words that I am familiar with and green for words that I am not and then go back and reread and concentrate on the green words.

[bigkap87]

For a class I usually keep two sets of notes, lecture notes and also notes I have taken when reading. The notes I have taken when reading are concepts or terms I am unfamiliar with and therefore saves time when reviewing as unnecessary material is not included. I also learn a bit by writing some of these words or concepts when I write.

[arkaleel]

heh, um...yeah i got a few study tips i used in undergraduate...might be kinda strange but it really really worked..at that time. borrowed it from a psychologist/metaphysicist kinda thing. anyway, this is how it goes

first, it is generally a wise thing to reread ur notes immediately after class just so its fresh in ur memory and u know what u meant by what u wrote ( never did it but i hear its awesome)

when u decide that its time to study, read ur notes and ur textbook very quickly. the purpose of this is so that u convince urself that its really not that much/difficult and that u give urself a general view of the topic so that u recognize things later when u actually study to memorize.

this is where it gets kinda strange:
when it comes time to actually study, rock ur upper torso back and forth in a soft way that establishes a rhythm that will put u in a concentrated state of focus. rocking allows u to remove distractions and lets u get in a zone (its called alpha state or beta state..dont remember which). so i usually do that for about 30 minutes and then i get up and walk around or meet friends and then i do it again for 30 minutes until i finish.

like i said, very strange.

[DSMMD]

This is what worked for me. Each person is different.

First off, read the material before class. This way when the professor is talking you have some idea as to what they are talking about and rather than writing down everything, you can just jot down notes.

Next, when I was there, they really did not have power points with notes it was a lot of writing. My understanding is that this may have changed. But, I would actually write my notes in class and then go home that night and either rewrite them so they were organized how I liked them or I woudl type them out. I really think that this helped. THere are studies that show that the sooner you can do some form of active learning with it, the more you retain.

The next thing I will say is forget about Black Mondays. They are just a scare tactic in a sense. The way that you should approach things is that every single day that ends with a "y" is a black day. If you think that you have an exam every day and are prepared to take one every day, then there is no problem when it comes to those Mondays. The key is to learn the material, not simply memorize it. Integrate things. SO, if you are studying anatomy and something comes up that deals with physiology or histology, etc, don't say I will get to it later, look into that info.

Lastly, don't ask your professors, "What do I need to know for the exam." The bottom line is that medicine is an ever growing field. You can't ask a patient, "What do I need to know to treat you." Let's face it, nobody will ever know everything there is to know about medicine to learn as much as possible.

So, in summary.
COme to class prepared
Rewrite or type your notes
Study and learn on a daily basis
Black MOndays are overrated
Suck it up and study hard.