sweetlittlefairytale245 asked: Hi, if you don't mind me asking, what are study strategies/plan do you find effective for you? Sorry for taking your time and thank you for creating such a lovely and inspiring blog! :D

sweetlittlefairytale245, nice to hear from you again! And thank you for the compliment, it means a lot. :)

Don’t apologize, this is a great question. Because as you can imagine, everyone’s got their strategies and skills when it comes to studying!

I’ve talked ad nauseum about my preferred study environment,  which is one of my study strategies for getting into the zone. :)

Since getting into medical school, I’ve changed my study habits several times. I have to say that what works for me now is somewhat different from what I used to do in undergrad. Nowadays:

1. I go to class and listen. I don’t take too many notes when in lecture. Notes I do take are in flowchart, brainstorm, or outline format.

2. Sometime later in the day, I go back to the notes I took in class and transfer them to my catch-all notebook. This notebook contains only synthesized information (ie. charts, venn diagrams, compare and contrasts, pictures with labels) from lecture, notes, and internet. If I do use a textbook, it’s either because I want to copy the table or picture they have. I don’t use textbooks much. This takes up the bulk of my study time. I want to create (med student terminology alert) high-yield notes through which to study. High yield=most testable, important info in the least amount of time.

3. Review. I take my small notebook from Step #2 everywhere. I add to it, read it in while I’m waiting, etc. Because it’s very portable, I force myself to review constantly. That’s really the hardest thing. We’re given so little time in med school to digest information that any time you can spare has to be given to preview, view, and review of material.

4. Study buddies. I am a part of multiple study groups. I know who I prefer studying with late at night, on weekends, casually, seriously, when I’m not motivated, when I need to talk, when I’m getting serious, or when I really need a friend and study-buddy combined (each situation? different person).

5. Take care of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. This was the best study strategy I adopted. Why? Because everyone has the brains in med school, but not everyone is healthy, which takes you all the way. This includes: exercise, eating healthy, taking breaks, relieving stress appropriately, spending time with loved ones when you can.

6.

Seriously. As I learned, if you don’t treat yourself, no one will. And don’t feel guilty when you do it! I learned how to relax without feeling like I was a bad person for not studying. Very important. :)

Hope this helps, thank you again for the question!

Love,

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