revision at vet school

Hey! I also had that issue in first year, I made flashcards but then never used them because who wants to look at 50 flashcards per lecture aha. This year I instead made summary tables per topic (not per lecture, I summarise all of them together in as little tables as possible which also helps to make links etc) which I find so much easier to go through and remember and it means there is not little details everywhere. It is a bit harder for anatomy, e.g. for our head fortnight I did just mostly have diagrams because wasn’t sure how to put it into tables, bur for example for muscles which you need an origin insertion action innervation for etc it works well, as does for example things like repro where you can put in a structure/attachment and then say what it does/describe it. With the tables I can either test myself by filling in blank tables and correcting them or I just make very quick notes from them rather than lectures. I sometimes do use other things, e.g. concept I’m not sure on a quick YouTube video is good (there are also channels which do dissections), I like drawing anatomy (even if it’s rough on a whiteboard/my tablet) or looking at some books like dissection of the dog, VIN the website has some good anatomy tools. I still feel I could tweak my ways of doing things but I feel I understand things so much better this year than in first year by changing from flashcards. And during term my “work” rather than revision, I make hand notes on paper on every lecture and I try to do this before the lecture happens so if I do go in I can follow it better, some lectures I’ll just listen and some I get the LOs and type as they are said etc, although personally I’ve worked out I don’t learn great from listening so I only come into lectures if I feel I will focus and it’ll benefit me.

But don’t doubt yourself! I think first year is hard as there is SO much brand new content thrown at you to just remember, and as you said I get the feeling that everyone first says “just get into vet school” and once you’re there you’re like ah, I do also now need to pass it 😂 I didn’t actually enjoy first year at all because of that but have enjoyed second much more where things have become quite more linked etc. Just do your best, you do retain more than you think, don’t compare yourself to your peers, remember 50% is all you need - our lecturers say any % over 50 is wasted going out/relaxing time!