Trouble with retaining large amounts of information and regurgitating on exams

[deleted1145671]

Hey guys, so I am struggling a bit with the amount of information I have to learn for med school.

My study schedule:

1. Make anki cards (image occlusion) for all lectures to absorb the info first
2. Review the ppts in numerical order
   1. This is something I hate from Anki because it does not show things in numerical order. I need to make a story in mind to memorize, so I have to review the PPTs for the second run thru
3. Third run thru: Review ppts manually again

But on the exams, I find myself having a tough time regurgitating this volume of information. It is a lot, and I feel I always know around B range for the exam but I am not sure how to kick it up to an A?



I'm missing the problems with more application and pulling small details. It's frustrating because I will study and try hard, but still not be able to make the A.

Any advice?

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[Goro]

It appears that you are binging and purging by engaging in passive, not active learning.

Read my post on success in medical school.

And get rid of the anki cards, because you're learning from them, only memorizing.

 

[Goro]

And nothing wrong with B grades either

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

How are the "learning specialists" or similar resources at your school? They may be able to help a lot more because they have access to your academic record and can listen to you describe your study strategies over the course of 30 mins rather than just want can be summarized in a forum post.

That being said, you've identified a huge problem even in your brief post: if the anki isn't a linear story, it doesn't make sense. Make it make sense before you spend any time making anki cards. You might find after you've digested the info that you only need to make 50% as many cards because you've made more of the info make logical sense to you and thus can circumvent the memorization process. Or, in the course of going over the material you may learn some of it and not need to make certain cards. That's a huge time saver that will give you more time to review properly or get some of your free time back.

Minimize the amount of anki cards you make. from personal experience, the time to active learning ratio on making anki cards is not favorable. To quantify it, I would often spend 2 hours making anki cards for 1 lecture hour. When I was using the Feynman technique, it would often take me 2 hours to get 3 full passes over an hour of lecture material. The way I was using anki, I would spend 5-6 hours studying a day to get 70's. With Feynman, I would spent 2-4 hours studying per day and get 80's.

I agree with Goro, none of your passes sound like much active learning is going on. Image occluding powerpoints requires minimal critical thought about the material - you're basically just reading. What are you doing when you "review" the powerpoints? You want to avoid reading over and over and, instead, test yourself. You want to be able to recite the main ideas and key details from each powerpoint without referring back to the powerpoint. Maybe just the main ideas for first pass, details later.

Are you making anki and only going over it one time (#2 from your OP)? That would almost defeat the purpose. The time consumption of making anki is an investment in your ability to use those cards over and over again, through to step 1, on anki's spaced repetition algorithm.

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Don’t just use image occlusion. Pose a question to yourself on anki and then answer it. Image occlusion only works in an anatomy ID.

 

[the shretiology]

I made cards during lecture capture using zanki style (short, bite-sized, cloze important concept) so by the end of lecture my notes were nicely packaged ready for memorization (understanding part mostly done). As I cranked through cards understanding would come. I used anki as intended: daily use doing all assigned cards. Schedule in order created rather than random so things are numerical as you stated. Image occlude tables.

Example: In the proper clinical context, suspect {{c2::AVRT}} when you see a narrow-complex tachycardia, and the ECG in sinus rhythm (when converted) shows {{c1::WPW}} (pre-excitation)

Extra: P waves are difficult to distinguish the difference between AVNRT and AVRT(+pic with ecg tracings/ nodal reentry diagram)

This worked very well for me. I only used anki, rarely anything else like supplemental videos. I’ve scored 100% on exams (averages low 70s) and got 100th percentile on step. You just have to find what works for you - this method may NOT work for you if you cannot time manage it given your specific schedule, but thought I’d share.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Do you have essay exams or multiple choice exams. This matters drastically. Are you using PowerPoints to test yourself? Write what’s on the PowerPoint before looking

 

[aduuubacsi]

Seem like you're only reviewing but not doing practice problems.

 

[operaman]

Lots of good advice already shared. From what you’re saying, you’re struggling more with application than knowledge retention. If that’s the case, then practice questions can be very helpful. You can find lots of subject specific questions in various qbanks and boards review sources.

Something else I found helpful was to study with some friends and make up our own questions. The truth is there are only so many questions that can be generated from a given topic. Infinite ways to dress it up, but a finite amount of testable information. As you start getting practice writing a question, you’ll begin to think like a test maker and that can help focus your study and help you anticipate better. By the end of M2, I could usually anticipate about 80% of the exam almost verbatim, and the rest was close enough that I could still reason through the answer.

I used the Anki approach described above and had similar success with it banging out 100% on exams, but I gave it up because it was too soul crushing for me. By better focusing I could cut my study time down substantially, actually enjoy the material, and still score in the low to mid 90s. If you’ve got the fortitude to truly use anki well and stick with it, then it is arguably the most powerful study tool ever. In the end, I used anki more for rote memorizing things like microbes or drugs. Path and physiology and the like seemed better suited to more of a conceptual approach.

 

[rebuilteva]

I made cards during lecture capture using zanki style (short, bite-sized, cloze important concept) so by the end of lecture my notes were nicely packaged ready for memorization (understanding part mostly done). As I cranked through cards understanding would come. I used anki as intended: daily use doing all assigned cards. Schedule in order created rather than random so things are numerical as you stated. Image occlude tables.

Example: In the proper clinical context, suspect {{c2::AVRT}} when you see a narrow-complex tachycardia, and the ECG in sinus rhythm (when converted) shows {{c1::WPW}} (pre-excitation)

Extra: P waves are difficult to distinguish the difference between AVNRT and AVRT(+pic with ecg tracings/ nodal reentry diagram)

This worked very well for me. I only used anki, rarely anything else like supplemental videos. I’ve scored 100% on exams (averages low 70s) and got 100th percentile on step. You just have to find what works for you - this method may NOT work for you if you cannot time manage it given your specific schedule, but thought I’d share.

This is the way. Strongly recommend cloze deletions as the best way to make Anki cards that enable understanding.

 

[PandaBaer]

Disclosure: I don't use Anki

Anki should be focused on helping you memorize discreet facts, it does nothing for understanding.
I am much more of a process and relational thinker, so I try to form networks of concepts, hiearchies of terms/physio/path, and algorithms of treatments.

Lastly, the final stretch leading up to every exam is just grinding out practice problems; school, peer, or 3rd party. Ideally, you would write them as you read/review each lecture and then go through them again before the exam.

 

[the shretiology]

Disclosure: I don't use Anki

Anki should be focused on helping you memorize discreet facts, it does nothing for understanding.
I am much more of a process and relational thinker, so I try to form networks of concepts, hiearchies of terms/physio/path, and algorithms of treatments.

Lastly, the final stretch leading up to every exam is just grinding out practice problems; school, peer, or 3rd party. Ideally, you would write them as you read/review each lecture and then go through them again before the exam.

Sure at face value anki seems only good for memorization, but as you work through concepts things become interconnected. Soon after a few reviews these concepts are in your memory to connect. You just have to use it actively and can’t expect things to click by doing a card in 3 seconds because you got it right. I’m not just a high test scorer who regurgitates facts, I’ve been globally successful using it.

 

[oldman]

Do you have access to old test questions? We had question banks from prior years to study from. One way I used to study for the tests was to make a whole new set of notes based on the notes/lectures I already had. By summarizing the material over again it helps to formulate the concepts in my head. I also was very regimented with studying every day until about 11PM where I'd take a Saturday night off to relax. The other thing I found helpful is to have a solid study partner where you could argue and discuss concepts. A huge study group I found less efficient. I also went to a school where the classes were basically just pass fail. This leads to a few important concepts - what do you call the person who finished last in their class of med school? - doctor. Also P = MD.

 

[Tama234]

Hey, I’m not a medical student, but I also have the same issue as you. My memory and motivation is not very good, so I’ve created this format to help me study and actually retain information without being insanely bored. It’s not that complicated as it seems, let me know if I you need me to clarify. I could always show pictures, if necessary 😃.

Materials

Scissors

Flashcards with lined paper

Favorite pen (the only reason I say this is because I write better with a colored gel pen, which makes me love looking at my notes and motivates me to study)

Tips:

Use a cloze sentence generator to fill in the spaces

Blot out info on diagrams and separate the diagram into 4 sides. Make a mini word bank for each side. Think of the heart.

Don’t try to fit too much information in one box. Continue the rest in the next boxes.

So for bio I had a lot slides for one topic, so instead of keeping all the “flashcards” together, I kept them in their own groups. Then I folded each group together and labeled them. So if you need a quick study on certain topic, it’s much quicker than shuffling. I was thinking about making them alphabetical to make it easier for revision.

Write neatly!!! Sloppy notes don’t look aesthetically pleasing so it’s a instant bore.

I know this sounds confusing and probably dumb but it’s worth a shot.

I’ve implemented using music to drown out my thoughts and distractions, use old school flash cards (fold loose leaf paper in half and cut the sides) which in my opinion is better than regular flash cards; since 1, all the information for one subject is in one area making it more organized, and 2, it’s not as intimidating compared to 150 flash cards for one topic. This method isn’t as effective with quizlet or digital notes. In this order: Writing, reading them aloud, and practicing active recall gives my brain no choice but to remember. After this process, I test myself using a cloze sentence fill generator that leaves parts out of the sentence to fill out. And if I really need to, I write all the information I know onto notes prior to pasting onto the cloze sentence generator. And making questions might help.

 

[wook]

I agree with Goro, none of your passes sound like much active learning is going on. Image occluding powerpoints requires minimal critical thought about the material - you're basically just reading. What are you doing when you "review" the powerpoints? You want to avoid reading over and over and, instead, test yourself. You want to be able to recite the main ideas and key details from each powerpoint without referring back to the powerpoint. Maybe just the main ideas for first pass, details later.

What Goro and Tragic discuss. Active learning seals the knowledge in. Passive learning information disappears quickly.