How To Study In Medical School-Firstly, we want you to have in mind that you didn’t get into medical school by mistake. If you’re in medical school today, it’s because of your hard work and dedicating your college years to study and discipline.
However, being a medical student is not the same as being an undergraduate student. The skills that brought you to the level you are now may not be the ones you need to succeed in this new phase of your life.
Unfortunately for some crammers, cramming is not going to be of any help to you in medical school. You should first of all bear in mind that the volume of information that you will receive and memorize in medical school is much greater than in college. To succeed, you do not only need more time but also you must be disciplined enough to for better time management.
The second thing you should know about medical school is that it is not like college, where you forget all you’ve learnt after the exam, medical school is stacked with cumulative content, meaning the information you learned beginning from your first year remains relevant for months and even years to come.
Thirdly, you must know that, you don’t only need to remember the information, but you should be consistent in updating it as new research (which you must be able to keep up with) makes some of the things you learned more relevant than others and at the same time makes other of the things you’ve learned out of date.
So In this article, we will be taking you through some of the key tips on how to study and succeed in medical school.
Now let us head right into the article proper…
How To Study In Medical school
· Review every day
One of the major keys to better studying is to set out time to review all what you have learnt every day. Make sure you do not cram before your exams at all costs. Cramming is never a right way to do well in your studies or in your exams as it actually increases your chances of forgetting the information you’ve memorized during test prep time. Going through your notes regularly and understanding the information clearly will help solidify the concepts in your m memory and will make it easier for your brain to retrieve it when you need to.
· Set out academic goals
If you desire to do well in medical school, another thing you must do is to set academic goals for yourself because it will increase your focus and help you stay motivated to study. Goals are so important to give you a direction towards what you want to achieve. Setting goals gives you a sense of responsibility to achieve the goals you set for yourself.
As must as you want to succeed, do not set an unrealistic goal, let your goals be simplified, challenging, realistic and specific. As a motivation, you should have a reason you want to achieve this goals and this will help you to study even at times when you don’t feel like it.
Your goals should be jotted down and pasted in a place where you will always see them as it will help you to remember what you are supposed to do.
· Prepare a study schedule
Another thing you should engage in if you to achieve your academic goals is to plan on how you can achieve them and creating a study schedule is the way to do that. A study schedule is a great way to help you set out time to study.
You can set out a number of days, hours with the courses you want to study for each day. With the help of a study schedule, Studying can become a part of you and it will also curb procrastination.
Make sure your study schedule is well organized in a way that it will not collide with your normal daily activities, make it very flexible and let it flow with your activities.
To create a good study schedule as a medical student, you should know and understand your normal day to day activities and know how to organize and set the schedule.
· Know and understand your priorities
As a student in medical school, it is very vital that you understand your priorities. It is a form of discipline because it helps you know what is more important and what is less important, and will also help you plan your schedule according to how important your activities are.
Knowing how important and yet limited time is, you will have to spend more time on relevant things to get better results.
· Know the best time and best way to study
knowing the best time to study, will also help you know how to create your study schedule because the best time to study is the time you will be able to read for long, understand and process better.
When you are able to process what you are studying better, you will be able to stay focused and study for a long time. So analyze yourself and find out if you study well at night, early mornings or after school.
But you just have in mind that the brain assimilates information better when it is well rested and recharged.
· Don’t spend all your time studying but always study
Study does not always mean that you spend all your day studying neglecting every other thing including rest, when we talk about studying, what we mean is that you should set out time to study every day. So as a medical student, you should time allocated every day for studying.
So when planning your study schedule, you can set out about two hours to each course you will be reading for that day and then you can try studying for 6 to 7 hours. But make sure that you have study breaks in-between your study hours because this will help give your brain time to relax and refresh.
· Find the best place to study
If you really want to study in medical school and become a better medical student, I advise you find the best place where you can study without any form of distractions so you can concentrate better. When you study in a quiet and peaceful environment, it helps your brain stay settled and focused so you can study better and effectively.
So try looking for a quiet and peaceful study place to help you study better in medical school. You can choose to study in a library, a hall or a garden where you don’t have too many people coming around.
· Always concentrate when studying
Distractions are one of the major things that deprive you from studying better, and that is why you must do all you can to wade off distractions when studying so you to concentrate better.
There are so many things that could steal your attention and distract you when studying, things like your phones, computer and some other gadgets. So to help you concentrate better, you can trying switching off your phone and do not keep it close to you keep so that you will not be tempted to pick it up.
· Organize your time properly
If we neglect the importance of time management then this article us incomplete because every medical student is expected to learn and develop this skill. Time management will help you avoid procrastination and use time wisely.
You should know how to plan and set time for everything you do and know what to do and why you should do it. Time management is an integral part of self-discipline because for you to understand the value of time and that it is limited, you must be disciplined enough to always work with time and stick to the time set out for every task.
· Write down what you have studied in your own words
As you study, try to take down notes in your own words to help you remember what you have studied. Writing down what you have studying in your own words will you a better understand what you have studied and help you remember easily.
· Create or join a study group so as to share ideas
This is a very good way to study in medical school because when you study with friends, you all can exchange ideas and opinions and also discuss how and what you understand from a topic or course.
A study group is a great way to help carry everybody along and this will also make studying more interesting and fun, yet the group shouldn’t involve many people to avoid getting distracted when studying. A study group will also help you study easier and learn faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spaced Repetition
To memorize faster, students can also make or purchase flashcards for self-testing. Using this technique can help you practice easily, because it enhances both memorization and skill acquisition.
Medical students can study for 8 hours, including time spent in class. You can cultivate a habit of heading to the library after class every day and studying in the same place. Although, it often depends on which year they are in (first year or final year), how far or how close exams are, and the student’s motivation to study.
Final Note
Every students in any field of study should see studying as part of the reason they are in school and as for students in medical school, it is even more important.
We have provided some top tips to help you study in medical school and come out with good success, however you must always be ready to learn and also learn from your errors because it makes you become better and sound at what you do.
Reference
msdmanuals.com – How To Study In Medical School
bemoacademicconsulting.com -How To Study In Medical School
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