catlover235 Posted July 30, 2013 Report Share Posted July 30, 2013 Hi there, I'm starting to get organized for med classes to start in August at UBC and am trying to figure out a study strategy. In undergrad I took notes on print outs of slides and then put those notes onto electronic flash cards which I studied the heck out of. I'm thinking this possibly isn't the best way to study in med school and am curious to hear about people's strategies. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted July 30, 2013 Report Share Posted July 30, 2013 It took me a few semesters to get into a routine that worked for me - but I would go to lectures with the slides (as a PDF on my iPad), then I would annotate the slides with anything the lecturer said that wasn't written on the slides. Then I would go home and hand write a new set of notes combining the information so that I had a single set of master notes with all the information. If there was an independent learning or something else, I would make notes for that too. Then I studied by reading the notes aloud to myself, making up sample questions that I thought might be asked, and re-writing or drawing pieces that were especially hard to remember. Some people would probably find that to be overkill and prefer to only focus on high yield information, but I like to have all the material together. That's just my style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catlover235 Posted July 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2013 Thanks so much for the reply ellorie! Did you type on your ipad to annotate the slides or did you write with a stylus? Also, did you find yourself using textbooks at all to create your combined set of notes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted July 30, 2013 Report Share Posted July 30, 2013 I typed - I have one of those attachable keyboards, which I really like. The app that I use is iAnnotate PDF but I know other people use others. Textbooks I have to say I didn't use much - if there was an assigned reading I would skim it and if there was something huge in there that I felt was missing, I might make a couple extra notes, but for the most part I focused on the class material. I don't know if other schools test more heavily from the textbooks than Western does though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
criselda Posted July 31, 2013 Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 I took handwritten notes, back when the faculty provided the majority of the slides on paper (now its switching to electronic format so iPads and the like are more popular). At the end of the week I sat down with the given week/PBL objectives and typed out weekly summaries incorporating info from lectures, labs, useful images from textbooks, and PBL research, making sure I addressed the objectives completely. Sometimes I'd spend the weekend doing other more entertaining things but as long as I caught up eventually I didn't have a problem. At the end of the term I just studied from those summaries... which was great because I wasn't lugging around binders of notes or textbooks. Plus it was focused on the objectives which are mostly what's examined (for us anyway). In terms of actual studying I'm more of a read-to-myself kind of person, but I will draw out flow charts or anatomy/other images as needed. Towards the end of the 2 years I was using StudyBlue more often for image-based studying like histology, and it worked well for that. However I'm personally not a flash card person so I stuck to my paper summaries for the majority of my studying. A friend of mine does a similar thing but instead of typing up objectives she wrote them all up on flash cards, in question+answer format. I personally was in awe of how she did that so well and so promptly (she was often more caught up than me!) but I also know she dedicated a lot of time on them. But they did work for her, and so if you want to stick to flash cards it could still be worth your time. You will likely get access to a folder with old week objectives all typed up (mostly complete and accurate) by members of previous classes, which may help you as well. Not sure how applicable these would be for the new curriculum but they were good for me in terms of pre-reading for each week under the old curriculum. A lot of people forego writing up their own summaries and instead studied the previous class' work. Hope that helps, I'm going into my third year at UBC this September so if you (or any of your classmates!) have any more questions about school feel free to PM. Don't forget to enjoy the rest of the summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herewego Posted July 31, 2013 Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 Everyone keeps mentioning this curriculum change and everything will be different. What exactly does "everything will change" entail? I am confused since our MEDICOL has all the same blocks so I am doubtful it will be that different. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerena Posted July 31, 2013 Report Share Posted July 31, 2013 Everyone keeps mentioning this curriculum change and everything will be different. What exactly does "everything will change" entail? I am confused since our MEDICOL has all the same blocks so I am doubtful it will be that different. Thoughts? Hm my understanding is that curriculum renewal will be for the 2018s. http://cr.med.ubc.ca/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma Posted August 4, 2013 Report Share Posted August 4, 2013 I think that if you got into med school, it means your learning strategy must be very good as well:) My strategy in med school was to not put off anything and study every day. I usually spent between 5-8 hours a day studying, outside of classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeyDLuffy Posted August 4, 2013 Report Share Posted August 4, 2013 I think that if you got into med school, it means your learning strategy must be very good as well:) My strategy in med school was to not put off anything and study every day. I usually spent between 5-8 hours a day studying, outside of classes. 5-8hrs a day in med? Which school are you attending? That seems like a lot more hrs than what most of my seniors do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma Posted August 4, 2013 Report Share Posted August 4, 2013 I'm a resident now and went to a med school in Quebec. Yep, 5-8 hours a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted August 4, 2013 Report Share Posted August 4, 2013 Good grief. I was doing 1-2 hours at MOST on weekdays but spending most of the weekend - probably 8 hours Saturday and another 8 Sunday. Other people preferred to work hard on weekdays and take weekends off. On the week before an exam I was doing more though - probably closer to 3-5 hours per day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma Posted August 4, 2013 Report Share Posted August 4, 2013 In Quebec, we don't have the pass or fail system, so we have more incentive to study more in order to get good grades. Here's proof that I'm not the only one who studied so much lol http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47493 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharmingHedgehog Posted August 7, 2013 Report Share Posted August 7, 2013 I found writing on the slides during lecture the most helpful, simply because I wouldn't be tempted to go on the internet and not pay attention. I came into med with some background on most major blocks, so for those blocks, I made notes on specific areas not known to me previously for exam purposes. For areas which I had absolutely no prior knowledge (e.g. MSK), I took notes in class, but also spent about 1-2 hrs a day going over the anatomy stuff, and just saying everything out loud, and reviewing with my roommate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted August 7, 2013 Report Share Posted August 7, 2013 Memorization stuff: Intelligent/adaptive flashcard software like jMemorize or Anki. These programs track your learning + reinforce detected weak areas until you have them down solidly. I'd take notes from textbooks and powerpoint in the form of question/answer on flashcards and then review those daily. Conceptual things: Read over and over from many different sources/angles until you understand it, and can teach it to others, and reproduce that information in your own words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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