MD What do you actually mean by reading the material multiple times

[alaaz]

So for me i really don't know how to memorize
I used to do this , read a certain paragraphs 3x and then repeat it in my mind while.looking away then gobto the next paragraph
While this is a form of active recall ( sort of ), it's time consuming and after like 10 min top i forget what i have just learned

So why do you mean by reading , is it just reading the words on the text book several times or what ??

PS : i don't do well with anki and frankly most of the material in my country does not lend itself to anki properly

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[Domperidone]

generally it means, to understand the material.
texts are a means of explaining things.

not necessarily to memorize.

if it's not your forte, the alternative would be doing questions.
reading the answer keys if you get them wrong. and remembering why you got it wrong. etc.

 

[alaaz]

generally it means, to understand the material.
texts are a means of explaining things.

not necessarily to memorize.

if it's not your forte, the alternative would be doing questions.
reading the answer keys if you get them wrong. and remembering why you got it wrong. etc.

The problem is in our college we have too little practice questions so we have to mainly rely on text books and powerpoint slides

 

[Kkshake]

I like to incorporate as many types of learning as possible, and it is time consuming but helps me remember. So I read a chapter, take notes on the chapter, voice record my notes so I can listen especially during times when I'm driving, and find practice problems for application of the material.

 

[Domperidone]

The problem is in our college we have too little practice questions so we have to mainly rely on text books and powerpoint slides

Welp, then create your own questions for each other.
Use google images.

Download questions or resources off the internet.

Pool together money and buy a qbank to share.
Old fashioned way, form a study group and quiz each other. Talk to each other. Unless it becomes too distracting.

Trouble shoot. problem solve.
the rest of your life is going to be about this anyway.

resources..if you look at it this way, are endless with the internet now anyway.
things like Utah webpath are free. if you can't afford to buy books that are solely focussed on questions.

i don't really see it as an excuse or reason - saying your college only has textbooks and powerpoint slides. you could apply that to most medical schools in the world.

 

[DO2015CA]

find pictures in your text book and be able to explain the main points of the picture. The author put that picture in for a reason, and they seem to put figures for the most important points. If you can explain a concept then you understand it

 

[ACSurgeon]

So for me i really don't know how to memorize
I used to do this , read a certain paragraphs 3x and then repeat it in my mind while.looking away then gobto the next paragraph
While this is a form of active recall ( sort of ), it's time consuming and after like 10 min top i forget what i have just learned

So why do you mean by reading , is it just reading the words on the text book several times or what ??

PS : i don't do well with anki and frankly most of the material in my country does not lend itself to anki properly

Read the material quickly to get a global understanding of what's being discussed. Ideally this is done before the lecture.

Then, read the material 2-3 more times to really solidly everything.

The most important step is understanding the big picture. Then, during subsequent reads you try to memorize the little details, but within the context of the global picture, not as isolated details.

Subjects such as pharm and micro that are memorization intense require more time memorizing.

Whatever you do, don't get stuck on a paragraph or page or even lecture. It's important to finish the material

 

[DO2015CA]

Read the material quickly to get a global understanding of what's being discussed. Ideally this is done before the lecture.

Then, read the material 2-3 more times to really solidly everything.

The most important step is understanding the big picture. Then, during subsequent reads you try to memorize the little details, but within the context of the global picture, not as isolated details.

Subjects such as pharm and micro that are memorization intense require more time memorizing.

Whatever you do, don't get stuck on a paragraph or page or even lecture. It's important to finish the material

for pharm and micro do sketchy. it hits all the important details without all of the frustration that comes with memorizing them

 

[gapyearguppy]

So for me i really don't know how to memorize
I used to do this , read a certain paragraphs 3x and then repeat it in my mind while.looking away then gobto the next paragraph
While this is a form of active recall ( sort of ), it's time consuming and after like 10 min top i forget what i have just learned

So why do you mean by reading , is it just reading the words on the text book several times or what ??

PS : i don't do well with anki and frankly most of the material in my country does not lend itself to anki properly

Trying to understand material paragraph by paragraph especially on the first read sounds insane. Read the chapter or the section through one good time so that you have a good idea of the big picture, then go back and do all that paragraph by paragraph detail building if you want.

 

[Username555]

I've noticed that spaced repetition has always been effective for me. Reading the same thing 2 or 3 times in the same sitting doesn't do much for me because I end up forgetting it the next day anyway.

I usually go through the material a first time, and if possible review it quickly the next day but if not then go through it again a second time that weekend, and then go through it quickly a third time before the test.

Most of my learning actually happens in the second run thru, because with the first run thru I've kind of primed myself and gotten the big picture, and the second time I pay attention to the details and really memorize. However, my second pass still goes faster than my first because I'm familiar with the material by this point.

The third time is just a really quick, final pass to make sure I got everything down and didn't miss anything. Usually won't take more than 15 minutes per lecture.

This has served me decently well so far, as most times that I've followed thru with it, I've done several percentage points above the class average. Rarely though I end up scoring right around the class average. When I don't follow thru with it and get lazy though I do poorly.

 

[DrDarce]

Read the material quickly to get a global understanding of what's being discussed. Ideally this is done before the lecture.

Then, read the material 2-3 more times to really solidly everything.

The most important step is understanding the big picture. Then, during subsequent reads you try to memorize the little details, but within the context of the global picture, not as isolated details.

Subjects such as pharm and micro that are memorization intense require more time memorizing.

Whatever you do, don't get stuck on a paragraph or page or even lecture. It's important to finish the material

@alaaz What lazymed said is what I found to be what works best for me, and I'm notoriously bad at memorizing crap. It'll be tempting to try to memorize all the details on the first read through but that's very time consuming and inefficient in my experience. Reading a paragraph 3x and trying to recall it seems crazy, especially if it's your first time going through the lecture. Don't get bogged down in the details too much in the first pass, you need to trust that once you understand the big picture it will be much easier to memorize the details. You'll notice by the third pass you'll have most of the material down and the details that seemed overwhelming at first will make sense within the big picture. The key to victory is to really understand the big picture and not try to look at things as isolated facts to memorize.

 

[Redpancreas]

So for me i really don't know how to memorize
I used to do this , read a certain paragraphs 3x and then repeat it in my mind while.looking away then gobto the next paragraph
While this is a form of active recall ( sort of ), it's time consuming and after like 10 min top i forget what i have just learned

So why do you mean by reading , is it just reading the words on the text book several times or what ??

PS : i don't do well with anki and frankly most of the material in my country does not lend itself to anki properly

To efficiently repeat-read, you should focus on numbers of days something is read over the course of a class/rotation rather than how many times something is read during one sitting.

Listen to what's been said above about first pass being big picture, and multiple passes being used to stuff the details in. When you're on your 2nd/3rd pass, resist the urge to skim because if your brain has skimmed something before, chances are it will skim them again. Also this has been discussed up top, but I'm going to emphasize it, because I would have benefited greatly if I heard while starting. What counts as one rep is finishing the material (section, chapter, etc.). Do not re-read a sentence more than once if you don't understand it. People who over-fixate on details worrying that understanding every little thing tend to over complicate things which can lead to inefficiency and exam failures. Pretend that it's a test and you need to complete it within a time limit. Most the time, what you're fixating on is either explained later, was due to fatigued-misreading, doesn't make sense based on your junior medical student context, or doesn't make sense in the first place. It's sometimes frustrating because sometimes there are small things that ought to be stopped and contemplated due to implications. Differentiating those from useless information will only come with experience in medical school. If you're super worried about not understanding a detail, write a one word prompt per misunderstanding and review the handful when you're done by asking someone. If no one has an answer, you're overfixating of focusing on a useless detail.

Also, in my experience, the least reliable form of studying is re-writing or outlining what I'm reading. Now if I outline, it's just to have the cognitive feel of writing something down. I'm never going to rely on my own transcribed notes because they miss too much.

 

[alaaz]

@alaaz What lazymed said is what I found to be what works best for me, and I'm notoriously bad at memorizing crap. It'll be tempting to try to memorize all the details on the first read through but that's very time consuming and inefficient in my experience. Reading a paragraph 3x and trying to recall it seems crazy, especially if it's your first time going through the lecture. Don't get bogged down in the details too much in the first pass, you need to trust that once you understand the big picture it will be much easier to memorize the details. You'll notice by the third pass you'll have most of the material down and the details that seemed overwhelming at first will make sense within the big picture. The key to victory is to really understand the big picture and not try to look at things as isolated facts to memorize.

To efficiently repeat-read, you should focus on numbers of days something is read over the course of a class/rotation rather than how many times something is read during one sitting.

Listen to what's been said above about first pass being big picture, and multiple passes being used to stuff the details in. When you're on your 2nd/3rd pass, resist the urge to skim because if your brain has skimmed something before, chances are it will skim them again. Also this has been discussed up top, but I'm going to emphasize it, because I would have benefited greatly if I heard while starting. What counts as one rep is finishing the material (section, chapter, etc.). Do not re-read a sentence more than once if you don't understand it. People who over-fixate on details worrying that understanding every little thing tend to over complicate things which can lead to inefficiency and exam failures. Pretend that it's a test and you need to complete it within a time limit. Most the time, what you're fixating on is either explained later, was due to fatigued-misreading, doesn't make sense based on your junior medical student context, or doesn't make sense in the first place. It's sometimes frustrating because sometimes there are small things that ought to be stopped and contemplated due to implications. Differentiating those from useless information will only come with experience in medical school. If you're super worried about not understanding a detail, write a one word prompt per misunderstanding and review the handful when you're done by asking someone. If no one has an answer, you're overfixating of focusing on a useless detail.

Also, in my experience, the least reliable form of studying is re-writing or outlining what I'm reading. Now if I outline, it's just to have the cognitive feel of writing something down. I'm never going to rely on my own transcribed notes because they miss too much.

Why outlining is inneficient ?? It's not like when i outline that mere act will make me memorize faster , no but i see it ad a mean to remain focused so when i outline keywords it's just that i do not wondrr and i start thinkinf of otherstuff

For me i just read something twice :
A sentence is most of the time full of crap that complicate things

 

[firstaidforever]

Plain/active/whatever reading never worked for me. I tried it on a few tests and got low 70s. When passing is set at 70 and class average hovers around 85.

I switched to handwriting and making my own notes. Same amount of studying, scores shot up to low 90s.

Writing things out by hand does miracles to retaining info.

 

[alaaz]

Plain/active/whatever reading never worked for me. I tried it on a few tests and got low 70s. When passing is set at 70 and class average hovers arou

I switched to handwriting and making my own notes. Same amount of studying, scores shot up to low 90s.

Writing things out by hand does miracles to retaining info.

I end up taking notes as i read ,irredable noted and u end up throwing them

It's not like summarizing , is that what you do ?

 

[firstaidforever]

I end up taking notes as i read ,irredable noted and u end up throwing them

It's not like summarizing , is that what you do ?

I'd cut ~30% of the powerpoints that were useless and literally write everything that mattered in my own words/format. Then I read my own notes and highlight what I couldnt recall (~40%). Then I do a second pass over the the highlights. If I couldn't recall things still, I'd write them again into a second set of ultra summarized notes.

At this point, 300 slides (edit: 300 pages, that had 4 slides per page. ) and a full day of material have been condensed into 3-5 pages. Then I just spend an hour reading, reading, and trying to recite those 3-5 pages until those factoids stuck.

It was a lot of work, but definitely worth the boost to my class rank and step 1.