MD Incoming M1 worried about how to study

[Lifeblood_20]

I am about to begin med school in a month and am freaking out a little bit. I hear from my friends who have gone through med school that there is so much information and how you always feel like you're behind. I am a year out from college and I feel like my studying brain cells have all turned into mush. In undergrad, flashcards never worked for me. Can I survive med school without Anki? Also, I know this was a bad habit, but in college, I procrastinated HEAVILY and mostly studied for exams the night before. I never needed to study every day on a regular basis or follow a study schedule. I know this won't fly in med school.

Looking for any study tips/routines you can throw my way. TIA.

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[Schwifty]

Can you do it without anki? Sure, I know people who did it without anki. But the majorly of the people I know use it a lot. I hated flash cards in undergrad but anki was my main study tool through preclinical years. Also, procrastinating won’t work in med school. There is no time and you will still feel like you are behind no matter how much you study. But you get used to it. Just don’t freak out, try different study methods your first few months and eventually you will get the hang of things.

Give anki a try for like a month, but defiantly get in the habit of studying daily. Also, having a good routine like when to wake up was really helpful for me.

 

[stickgirl390]

Anki isn’t just flash cards, the spaced repetition and efficiency is what makes it perfect for med school curriculum

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

It's doable without Anki (I'm very vocal about that), but you will need to find SOMETHING that works for you. Maybe it's whiteboards, maybe it's practice questions, maybe (most likely) its a combo of several things.

 

[Goro]

I am about to begin med school in a month and am freaking out a little bit. I hear from my friends who have gone through med school that there is so much information and how you always feel like you're behind. I am a year out from college and I feel like my studying brain cells have all turned into mush. In undergrad, flashcards never worked for me. Can I survive med school without Anki? Also, I know this was a bad habit, but in college, I procrastinated HEAVILY and mostly studied for exams the night before. I never needed to study every day on a regular basis or follow a study schedule. I know this won't fly in med school.

Looking for any study tips/routines you can throw my way. TIA.

Congrats on the accept!

Read this:

• Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2018 edition)

 

[drstranger]

There are a lot of YouTubers that put out good videos on study skills for med school. I would not follow any of them to the T but It gave me some good ideas of things I could add to make my study skills better. If you get easily distracted there are Pomodoro timers that are either web browser add ons or apps that can block everything so you have to focus on studying to prevent procrastination.

 

[acstylin]

Anki is to flash cards as an iPhone is to a landline.

If you’re only using Anki as a flash card system, you’re doing it way wrong. There are countless add-ons that greatly enhance the learning process. Pre-made decks with images and links to sources are priceless. I use the AMBOSS add-on constantly. It highlights words in its database so I just have to hover over them and a cornucopia of information is available instantly with cross-references, pictures, definitions, etc. I’m pretty satisfied with my use of “cornucopia” btw.