What's the volume of lecture notes from a course like Biochem or Anatomy after two hours of lecture? Assuming ppt slides, are there about 120 slides total after each lecture? Is the material easy to understand or..?
Regarding midterms (two month's into the material), how does one retain the information or even review 4k worth of slides (600+pgs)? Not to mention the amount of info from other courses as well?

You just identified the biggest problem in medical school.

The material is not difficult but the volume is insane.

The best advice I can give is to keep on top of your work and not let it pile up. If you fall a week behind (depending on the subject) it begins to get really, really difficult to catch up.

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Yeah, it makes sense. It's not that bad to go through ~ 3-4 weeks and have an exam, but to double that for every course seems really tough. I've read that one should review the day's material that day and the next as well (to refresh), and then review the whole week's material that week, and then the month's material at the end of the month. Does that seem to be efficient? I've read that one should make condensed notes as well, which is a really good idea, but we'll see how that plays a role with time.


Thanks again for all your responses.

Maybe at Sgu, but at Georgetown about 25-35 slides/hr. We did have one real gunner that did a 28 page transcription of a 1 hr immuno lecture for note service---let me tell you, they garnered more ire than the haphazard 5 pages of notes many provided.

Retention, depends on cramming vs. daily studying and no doubt personal abilities.

Good luck,

Jackb

what i did for first term was i would as much as i can pre-read that days materials before the lecture start. then i would sit thro the lecture and after the lecture i would review that days lectures. so in 1 day i would at least have gone thro the materials 3 times. and then a the end of the week i would go over that weeks materials during the weekend. so in 1 week, i will have at least gone over the materials 4xs

of course by the end of the term and when by the time 2nd term came around i have forgotten most of the stuff. but by doing the DES sessions this term, a lot of the stuff in biochem and especially inanatomy have came back for good and inmy long term memory now. its just really constant repeating and repeating and when you can actually teach the material to others, it really helps yourself to memorie the stuff as well

great advice posted here, thanks. so since the tough part is mostly memorization of a huge amount of material, are the exams usually straightforward? (as opposed to the mcat's dreaded passage format or conceptual problems)?

Do what Jay said. And you vet people too.

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"I am serious, and DON'T call me Shirley"

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in general, questions are ALL multiple choice or matching or someething simlar to that. questions can range from short stems, ie which of the following is the structure of cytosine) to stems 3-4 sentences long. by second year everything comes in the form of a clinical vignette ie.
"24 y/o male sgu student with 1 day history of migraines and not feeling well. history reveals that patient has a biochem test in 1 hour, what is the most likely cause of the patients symptoms?

most are straight forward and easy, some are difficult but can be reasoned out, others u will say to yourself "what is this question asking"?, "we never covered this"?, "they said this wouldnt be on the test"!

-T-

Pre-read, go to lecture (or don't depending on you), re-read, and review constantly.

The anatomy notes are not too bad, light if anything (the course notes, not the powerpoints). Biochem is another story. Bring a 4" binder and some Xanax.

yep what jaywalk said is the best plan there are also a lot of review sessions and tutors.. repetition is key. You'll be surprised at how much actually sticks, or you might be surprised how much actually doesn't stick. I would say the tests don't get hard until you get to 4th term. Up until 4th term all the questions are either 1st or 2nd order with some, very few, 3rd order questions thrown in. 4th term you will start to see mostly 2nd and 3rd order questions. This will be the hardest thing you will ever do, but it won't get easier.

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SGU-SOM, Class of 2010
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