The Student Room Group

Medics: how do you study?

Hey everyone. I am currently a 1st year medical student and I've really been struggling with my study technique. I'm finding it difficult trying to learn everything, especially pathways/cycles and antimicrobial stuff. I have been writing notes from lectures (they get put up online) but I feel like I am just copying things down and that nothing's actually going into my head. I've got 3 weeks to learn two major parts of my 1st year course but I honestly feel like I know nothing. How have you guys been studying to actually retain information?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
make flash cards see how that goes
Reply 2
Flashcards - TURN EVERYTHING INTO FLASHCARDS

What I do for things I find particularly difficult/important
1.Watch/read/listen etc. to lecture, jot things down
2. Write everything you can remember without looking at lecture
3. Re-write notes, with things you've missed out

Also...

Giant mindmaps, with coloured sharpies. => lovely looking poster at the end+writing in pencil before re-wriring in marker = double revision.


The above's holiday revision kinda thing where I've got time.

Usually, just a flick through notes and writing out lectures in my own format, with as few words as possible, is what I do.
Reply 3
Original post by eventidexc
Hey everyone. I am currently a 1st year medical student and I've really been struggling with my study technique. I'm finding it difficult trying to learn everything, especially pathways/cycles and antimicrobial stuff. I have been writing notes from lectures (they get put up online) but I feel like I am just copying things down and that nothing's actually going into my head. I've got 3 weeks to learn two major parts of my 1st year course but I honestly feel like I know nothing. How have you guys been studying to actually retain information?


get a piece of paper and write the cycle down. Fold over said piece of paper, close the book and try to write it down again, look at the book to see if you got it write. Fold the paper again and write it down again. Repeat daily.
Reply 4
Gonna disagree with lots of other medics here, but personally I can't stand flashcards. I think Sambo2's method above is more similar to what I do. Dry, tedious and repetitive yes, but it works simply through brute force.

For me, the key is constant repetition over a long period of time. I find it very difficult to cram medical science* as it's just such a vast and (sometimes) non-intuitive subject. I find I need to review my notes over a period of at least 6 or 7 weeks before the exam - writing things out and drawing mindmaps can also be helpful. But the key thing is timing and repetition imho - just reading through it all day after day and week after week just makes it stick eventually.

I don't know if this is a "smart" or "efficient" way of learning, but I passed all my pre-clinical exams with high marks so it worked for me. But if you're a first year, you could experiment with different styles of revision...repetition, flashcards, recording stuff, etc...eventually you'll figure out what works for you :smile:


*Sociology, psychology, ethics etc is saved for the week before the exam - screw spending weeks on that stuff :p:
Reply 5
Original post by Democracy
Gonna disagree with lots of other medics here, but personally I can't stand flashcards. I think Sambo2's method above is more similar to what I do. Dry, tedious and repetitive yes, but it works simply through brute force.

For me, the key is constant repetition over a long period of time. I find it very difficult to cram medical science* as it's just such a vast and (sometimes) non-intuitive subject. I find I need to review my notes over a period of at least 6 or 7 weeks before the exam - writing things out and drawing mindmaps can also be helpful. But the key thing is timing and repetition imho - just reading through it all day after day and week after week just makes it stick eventually.

I don't know if this is a "smart" or "efficient" way of learning, but I passed all my pre-clinical exams with high marks so it worked for me. But if you're a first year, you could experiment with different styles of revision...repetition, flashcards, recording stuff, etc...eventually you'll figure out what works for you :smile:


*Sociology, psychology, ethics etc is saved for the week before the exam - screw spending weeks on that stuff :p:



I concur with this.

Initially I thought it was long, dry and a waste of time. It still is dry, but for myself, repetition is also key. I've never been able to cram for any exam let alone medicine. I feel I need time to firstly understand the topic, then review it enough times so that I can recall it to the standard that I've written it out.
I didn't do flashcards and was like sambo2. I'd read stuff and then try and write down what I'd read from memory, or try to think of a question on it and answer it without looking at the notes. It is difficult because it is just memory and hard work not logic. You have to do small chunks regularly, and try and get past papers.
We had lots of small tests at very regular intervals in biochem and anatomy which encouraged you to work consistently. I found these the hardest subjects to learn. We also tested each other.
Reply 7
Flashcards are good for facts and discrete pieces of information that you want to cram. They don't work so well for concepts or understanding.

For pre-clinicals I think a good way to understand processes is to make annotated flowcharts. A leads to B, which causes C to release D, resulting in E, etc. Once you've got the flowchart as you want it (I like using colours and a variety of different resources, so by the end of the year I have a colour-coded, synthesised set of flowcharts for most of the major topics), you can then start the process of memorising: write it out as you remember, see where you missed/failed to understand, go over those bits again, proceed to write it out again, etc.
(edited 10 years ago)
Ugh flashcards. Had to spend all of preclinical listening to people whine about how behind they were in making their flashcards. To me, it always seemed like a massive waste of time to spend 20 minutes robotically writing up a single lecture. Especially when it would take about 30 seconds to flick through the obviously examinable material in the .ppt.

I might just be an autistic ****er, but all I did was sit in lectures, pay attention then read the slides in the run up to exams. I made no notes, cards or whatever and I did more than alright without all of the stress and pain of making ****ing flashcards.

People seem a bit afraid to give these methods up and subsequently don't realise that they would get the same benefit from just reading the slides. In fact, I find it more helpful because I can remember the format of the slides, the font, colour, where the text on the slide was, images used etc. These all seem to work as memory aides when you're trying to recall info in the exam. Compared to flashcards which all look identical.

Dunno, maybe I'm just a 'visual learner'/sperglord.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by shiggydiggy
Ugh flashcards. Had to spend all of preclinical listening to people whine about how behind they were in making their flashcards. To me, it always seemed like a massive waste of time to spend 20 minutes robotically writing up a single lecture. Especially when it would take about 30 seconds to flick through the obviously examinable material in the .ppt.

I might just be an autistic ****er, but all I did was sit in lectures, pay attention then read the slides in the run up to exams. I made no notes, cards or whatever and I did more than alright without all of the stress and pain of making ****ing flashcards.

People seem a bit afraid to give these methods up and subsequently don't realise that they would get the same benefit from just reading the slides. In fact, I find it more helpful because I can remember the format of the slides, the font, colour, where the text on the slide was, images used etc. These all seem to work as memory aides when you're trying to recall info in the exam. Compared to flashcards which all look identical.

Dunno, maybe I'm just a 'visual learner'/sperglord.

I think you're right in terms of exams. This is a good way to do well in tests. Not sure it's ideal for more long-term pursuits. I do totally agree about the flashcard stuff though.
Reply 10
Original post by shiggydiggy
Ugh flashcards. Had to spend all of preclinical listening to people whine about how behind they were in making their flashcards. To me, it always seemed like a massive waste of time to spend 20 minutes robotically writing up a single lecture. Especially when it would take about 30 seconds to flick through the obviously examinable material in the .ppt.

I might just be an autistic ****er, but all I did was sit in lectures, pay attention then read the slides in the run up to exams. I made no notes, cards or whatever and I did more than alright without all of the stress and pain of making ****ing flashcards.

People seem a bit afraid to give these methods up and subsequently don't realise that they would get the same benefit from just reading the slides. In fact, I find it more helpful because I can remember the format of the slides, the font, colour, where the text on the slide was, images used etc. These all seem to work as memory aides when you're trying to recall info in the exam. Compared to flashcards which all look identical.

Dunno, maybe I'm just a 'visual learner'/sperglord.

I'm the same, though with an inconvenient habit of sometimes falling asleep in lectures. I have never really been one for making vast quantities of revision notes, I just read and make sure I understand what I'm reading, and most of it sticks.

I only write out things where there are lots of little details to remember e.g. during my recent exams I had cards with tables for the molecular structure, boiling points, SVP, MAC etc of all the volatile agents (who wants me to draw out and explain the difference between isoflurane and enflurane? Anyone?! No?!?) or for the pharmacological properties of opioids, induction agents, muscle relaxants etc. I also practised drawing out the common graphs we were likely to get asked about, though I think that might be an FRCA-specific thing. I don't make reams of notes routinely.

I also think you absolutely must not underestimate the importance of doing bucketloads of practice questions, especially for MCQ-type exams.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Kinkerz
I think you're right in terms of exams. This is a good way to do well in tests. Not sure it's ideal for more long-term pursuits. I do totally agree about the flashcard stuff though.


I agree 100% in the sense that we are here to learn how to be good doctors and not just pass exams. But I think my method works more so for this purpose. You get what you need for the exams and you can focus on the things that are clinically useful.

The people who obsess over the flashcard stuff tends to also be the people who go nuts memorising gene translocations, histological minutiae, and other nonsense which ultimately may only win you a single mark in an exam and isn't really that useful for an FY1. Cba with that. Often they can recite the krebs cycle off by heart but they couldn't recognise a DKA if it came up and slapped them in the balls.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 12
Definitely depends on you as a learner.

For me, I feel like lectures give me a vague impression, a bit like abstract art. It's useful having been to them in the sense that you know the whole thing was red with a squiggle of black, but don't ask me specifics about what it meant or where all the dots go.

The key to retaining something is understanding it and fitting it into the big picture in your mind. On that basis, ditch the lecture slides because they just list stuff but don't explain it in a way where your brain goes "oh wait, that actually makes sense".

Go out, get a relevant textbook and just bash through it. I make notes from textbooks and because unlike lectures they explain a lot more of the why, how etc. than just listing things, I find it sticks in my mind a lot better. Then I condense my notes into another set of better notes (which = re-revision) and do past paper questions. I should also point out that I do this in the few months before final exams each year rather than all year, because otherwise I'd forget it.

Flashcards really aren't my thing either. Memorising discrete facts doesn't work for me, I have to fit them into some kind of context in my mind. Stuff like the Kreb's cycle etc. I used to draw. I actually managed to get all of the relevant metabolism onto a single piece of card once, and basically just sat in the exam visualising how it looked. I still feel like I know sod all about it, but there are some things where it's just too much content to understand and you do have to try and just jam it in as random facts with arrows between them.
Same with mind maps. I spent ages making them one year and realised I couldn't recall them at all because I'd made so many and they all essentially just look the same, so visualising them in the exam was a massive fail.

What I would say is that the methods I used at school are still working for me now. You've already got tried and tested methods from A Levels or the IB or whatever. Don't let other people and their revision methods put you off - the people who work all year in the library, the ones who live their lives flashing cards at themselves - if those people are not = you, then don't try to become one of them. Is my advice :P
I used to have to get my own version of things into my head from the textbooks and not from the poxy worksheets or whatever the teacher had given us, and basically revised for my finals like that. The same is still true today. Or was for pre-clin/BSc type stuff. When you get to clinicals the whole thing changes in terms of how you receive information, how you're assessed, availability of past Qs etc., but you don't have to worry about that yet!
(edited 10 years ago)
Out of the revision period, I have taken to making notes from the textbook and putting them in a folder with the lecture slides. Often the stuff they examine us on is in the lecture slides, but the textbook info often helps me understand it more.

As for revision, post-it notes and posters :biggrin:

After going over the lecture, I condense make a poster on it. Once I've got it in my head, I'll condense the lecture further down into a post-it note or two and walk around the room trying to recite the main points, using the post-it note as a prompt if needs be.
Then in the exam I'll try to imagine the post-it note of prompts if I get stuck.

It worked for my mid-semester assessment but the results aren't out for our end of semester exams yet so I can't say exactly how well it works. :tongue: & I'm only a first year too so chances are my technique will change!

Depends on you, though. Things tend to stick in my head if I can visualise it or I've walked around muttering about it for half an hour, but I know someone who just... reads.
Preclinical Years: I just read a textbook and tried to understand/remember it. Better still, I also read lecture notes; everything you will be examined on is in them (technically speaking). Served me quite well in Years 1 and 2. For anatomy, I drew it all out. Effort, but efficient.

Clinical Years: I actually put a bit more effort in these years. Watched videos (Dr Najeeb), read the Cheese and Onion and bought crap loads of EMQ/SBA books for exam practice. I made illustrated A3 notes on all topics using videos, textbooks, the internet etc. I'm a visual leraner so drawing things out just helps things stick in. Each A3 sheet is essentially all I need to know fr that topic so makes for easy and efficient revision. It took forever to make each one (a couple of hours for each one and I've done close to 60/70 of these), but it certainly helped with remembering facts. Oh and illustrations make your notes look pretty. :camp:

In all seriousness though, experiment. See what works for you and just stick with it.
Original post by Helenia
I'm the same, though with an inconvenient habit of sometimes falling asleep in lectures. I have never really been one for making vast quantities of revision notes, I just read and make sure I understand what I'm reading, and most of it sticks.

I only write out things where there are lots of little details to remember e.g. during my recent exams I had cards with tables for the molecular structure, boiling points, SVP, MAC etc of all the volatile agents (who wants me to draw out and explain the difference between isoflurane and enflurane? Anyone?! No?!?) or for the pharmacological properties of opioids, induction agents, muscle relaxants etc. I also practised drawing out the common graphs we were likely to get asked about, though I think that might be an FRCA-specific thing. I don't make reams of notes routinely.

I also think you absolutely must not underestimate the importance of doing bucketloads of practice questions, especially for MCQ-type exams.


I would love to be doing this right now - however we don't seem to be given any (Y1-Soton). We were emailed 1 practice paper to understand the 'format' but I wish I could be testing myself on questions to see how my knowledge compares etc :frown:
Original post by shiggydiggy
Ugh flashcards. Had to spend all of preclinical listening to people whine about how behind they were in making their flashcards. To me, it always seemed like a massive waste of time to spend 20 minutes robotically writing up a single lecture. Especially when it would take about 30 seconds to flick through the obviously examinable material in the .ppt.

I might just be an autistic ****er, but all I did was sit in lectures, pay attention then read the slides in the run up to exams. I made no notes, cards or whatever and I did more than alright without all of the stress and pain of making ****ing flashcards.

People seem a bit afraid to give these methods up and subsequently don't realise that they would get the same benefit from just reading the slides. In fact, I find it more helpful because I can remember the format of the slides, the font, colour, where the text on the slide was, images used etc. These all seem to work as memory aides when you're trying to recall info in the exam. Compared to flashcards which all look identical.

Dunno, maybe I'm just a 'visual learner'/sperglord.


I'm the same. I read the lecture material, books and the like. It's in a concise form, coloured and very time efficient.When I'm reading something about something I enjoy i always retain, the same with medicine. As long as I give a damn, it will stick. Always linked to interest/pressure.
Reply 17
I'm also a first year but I think I've worked out a system. Like a lot of people, I learnt things at A-Level by doing lots of past papers. It was pretty much the only useful revision I did. I've only been given one practice exam for this semester so I've had to kind of make my own. As I go through a lecture I write questions about the bits I find hard in a document about that subject. I have one document for each subject (eg anatomy, physiology etc). Then, every few lectures I go through in that subject I try and answer all the questions for that subject a few times if necessary. Then the next time I'm going over the same questions another few times and the repetition seems to be keeping things in my head. It's hard to know how well it'll work until I do that practice paper though...

Original post by Lionheartat20
I would love to be doing this right now - however we don't seem to be given any (Y1-Soton). We were emailed 1 practice paper to understand the 'format' but I wish I could be testing myself on questions to see how my knowledge compares etc :frown:


Thought I should quote you :P. I'm also a year 1 medic at Southampton so am trying to deal with the same problem! I'm wondering if there's some old past papers locked away on the old medics site. They'd presumably contain N&L sections too but it would be something.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 18
Thanks guys for the advice so far! I've been finding it quite difficult to concentrate at lectures at times (falling asleep at least once a day is the norm for me...) as I'm not the type of person who can just listen as someone rambles on for an hour about something. They've given us learning objectives so I've been writing notes on answering the objectives on my laptop which I find has been working better than when I wrote them out. When I was doing my Highers/AHs the only revision I did was exclusively past papers, and I can't find any online esp since all my exams are MCQs. I think I might try the post-it method as writing down too much information often doesn't go into my brain.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 19
Original post by Democracy
Gonna disagree with lots of other medics here, but personally I can't stand flashcards. I think Sambo2's method above is more similar to what I do. Dry, tedious and repetitive yes, but it works simply through brute force.


Same, hate them. They take ages to make, are normally scruffy, and you don't learn anything while making them.

I learn by writing as much as I can down from memory, then rewriting it adding in what I forgot. This works for dry text, or for cycles/diagrams etc.

I also try to make mnemonics out of things, or otherwise easy-to-remember links between facts.

And finally, I don't write revision notes - I either scribble all over the relevant text book or lecture notes. Very occasionally I'll make my own hyper condensed notes. With text books I also tend to highlight the relevant stuff so I don't read paragraphs and paragraphs of useless dross over and over (e.g. learning big Robbins and Coltran for Path)

Quick Reply

Latest