study habits of medical students.

Anonymous asked: hi… i’m a firstie and all this studying is getting a little bit over my head, i don’t know whether i should study anat, or physio or bio-chem, how many hours would be enough or whether i would understand certain topics if i don’t know the topics related to it. i am soooo confused. what’s an ideal time table n good habits for medical students to follow?

Hi anonymous! 

The first year of med school is always the scariest. There’s so much to learn and it’s completely different to anything else and it all feels out of context. Unfortunately, there’s no secret formula for studying medicine. (I wish there was. My life would be so much easier if I could learn via diffusion.)

My tips:

• Aim to do a little bit of studying each day, even if it’s just revising notes from the afternoon’s lectures or reading some anatomy. Little things add up, and you’ll be surprised how much you learn. 
• Flashcards are great for rote learning. I swore by flashcards when I was learning sociology and key symptoms, and you can pull them out at any time. I was clearly the coolest kid in surgery last year, whipping out my flashcards between cases. 
• Use colours. Bright colours can make even the most boring of notes more exciting. (I currently take a subject regarding administration in health care. I can only make myself study it because I’m allowed to use pretty colours for the titles.)
• Diagrams and pictures! Anything that is conducive to being in a flow-chart or diagram should be. It forces you to think about the information, and makes a great revision tool come exam time. 
• If you are going to highlight, write notes in the margins to summarise, otherwise you’re going to have to read the text again. 
• Have a to-do list and set deadlines (realistic deadlines, of course). Nothing gives you a greater sense of achievement than crossing something off your to-do list. 
• Give yourself a break occasionally. Go watch Scrubs. It technically counts as studying, right? 
• Talk about what you learn. Teach your goldfish anatomy. Interpret blood films for your computer screen. Get your friends to test you and have debates over the ethical issues of medicine. 

Those would be my tips for studying medicine—also, these are the things I wish someone had told me in first year. I almost failed my first mid-semester exam in med school because I had no idea what to study or how to do it, so I really hope these help you! 

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   Eat. Pray. Study.

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