Personalize these model schedules to fit your unique professional, familial, and social demands. When creating your schedules based on these models, don’t forget to prioritize sleep and other activities aligned with self-care.
Watch this informative video on Time Management with Dr. Philip
Do you believe that you are a poor test taker? Please, challenge that limiting belief! It’s possible that you could use some help with MCQ strategies and analyses.
Watch this informative video on MCQ Dissection Strategies with Dr. Tjiparuro
Medical school is not undergrad! It is unlike any learning experience you have had to date. To be successful in medicine, it requires that you take specific approaches to learning and applying the curriculum. You must learn the sciences behind learning the medical sciences.
Watch this informative video on study strategies with Dr. Modise
I know! I know! You have no time to sleep the studying required to do well in medical school! Often times medical students do not prioritize sleep, but getting adequate sleep is critical to your learning and application of the content. Studies have shown that sleep aids in memory consolidation; it improves procedural memory (like doing an excellent physical examination for OSCE exams) and declarative memory (like remembering all those pathways in biochemistry). Do your best to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night!
Check out these great apps to help track your sleep patterns
Concept maps are a great learning tool to help organize and summarize information via an illustrative format. Mind maps make a quick and easy resource for reviewing material, and they are great at connecting different systems. How do you connect pathophysiology with clinical medicine? Draw a mind map!
One of the best ways to learn is to teach! Choosing a partner to study and teach the content can improve your comprehension! Study sessions with a study buddy extend beyond someone to sit with at the library. Your study partner should meet you online or in-person for productive sessions that include difficult preassigned topics. For example, in Monday’s class, you had a difficult time understanding the Frank-Starling law. Convey this to your partner, then meet up for your scheduled session to discuss this topic.
Yes, you read correctly! Studying for long periods at a time isn’t an effective way to learn and retain information. Set your study time for 30-50 mins then take a break for 10 minutes. Short incremental breaks will help with maintaining focus. Let those ten minutes count by going for a quick walk or grabbing a snack. Do not look at your social media accounts because your break has the potential to expand from ten to thirty minutes or longer!
What’s the best way to remember a song? Put it on repeat and space it out over time! It’s the same for learning complicated biochemistry pathways. Give yourself at least five opportunities to review the material before an exam. That may seem a lot considering the amount of information you may need to get through during a semester, but with pre-work and small groups, you have three remaining review times. It is best to revisit the materials with no more than 48-hour gaps. Spaced learning doesn’t mean that you must reread the textbook. You can reexamine your notes, create mind maps, use flashcards, or answer and review MCQs.