<p>Can you guys post some good study habits or strategies students can use to get prepared for college (undergrad) and med school that has been useful or has worked for you guys?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. With enough posts we could maybe make this an IMPORTANT: thread!</p>
<p>well one thing that took me a yr to learn in college was...if you want to study efficiently....GET OUT OF YOUR ROOM....i even had a single freshman year but being in a dorm in general when ur trying to do work does not work at all, unless of course u r one of those people who are anti-social or very very disciplined. </p>
<p>Also, something i'm sure u didnt expect to hear but, everyone needs a break! take time to relax or u will quickly burn out.</p>
<p>My son has found out the same things Shraf discovered--go to the library to study, otherwise someone is always banging on your door or ringing your phone and when you start to lose focus take a break and do something physical --play a quick basketball game, lift weights go for a jog or meet up with friends for a bite to eat.</p>
<p>Thats a good idea, going to the library to work or just getting out of your dorm, in general.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have any helpful strategies or habits?</p>
<p>don't procrastinate. i know it's hard but you can make it easier on yourself by studying little bits here and there so you don't have to take an all-nighter. for example, if you're watching tv, every time commercials come review those flashcards. a good thing that helps me too are creative ways, like recording a vocab lecture on a tape, that way when you're jogging you can focus less on when you're gonna throw up (in my case ;D) and more on the that test in two days...</p>
<p>sometimes i dont understand why some college's dont have their libraries open passed midnight lol</p>
<p>Do intense premeds involved in so much stuff- 2 lab courses, research, hospital volunteering, have trouble with social life and making friends?</p>
<p>some do. and those are the kind of premeds i dont like to be around and the kind who, if you talk to, u notice that they are socially awkward and are usually pretty selfish and overly competitive. It is very important to balance your social life and your work and if you are premed you should really not have trouble with that. My description is usually true of premed engineers that i know so it could be the combination that makes them like that.</p>
<p>what's the best way to just study?? sure reviewing materials over and over again is helpful but sometimes it just doesn't work... especially for things like physics...any advice??</p>
<p>You'll want to work a wide variety of practice problems.</p>
<p>indeed.....</p>
<p>and also, it depends on what kind of person you are. Some people find writing things down useful, maybe flashcards. Definately summarize things and i'm not a big fan of text books unless there is something you really dont understand or you want to look for more detail...otherwise text books are usually too dense and make you lose focus of the practice problems.</p>
<p>is it helpful to go to Office Hourse even if you know the material?</p>
<p>no, that'd be a waste of time and a waste of other ppl's time and probably gonna be obvious to the prof that u r trying to just suck up.</p>
<p>There is a great book lots of ppl on CC recommend.</p>
<p>I got myself a copy but haven't had the chance to really read it, but
from all the reviews they say that it very practical tips that helps you
maximize your ability to study while spending minimal time in doing so.</p>
<p>I have an idea, but it might not work for you. Record yourself or a friend asking questions with a short pause after each one so you have time to answer. Wright all the answers on note cards in sequence with the questions. Then while you are walking around you listen to the questions and answer them. It is similar to just using flashcards but the idea of using sound also the help you exercises a different portion of the brain increasing memorization (also hearing yourself or a friend is funny to listen to and invokes better memorization). It takes some time but it is worth it.</p>
<p>Are there any other ways you could improve memorization skills?</p>
<p>Well I do not know everything but places I ahve read have made it sound like this. Your brain has different parts for different uses. When you listen to somthing as in a recording, then study somthing by reading it, then study it by experiancing it you can memorize whatever it is much easyer than if you were just sitting somwhere reading it and studying. Basic idea, use differnet methods to study, use diferent parts of your brain and take breaks (oh ya and do not procrastinate). besides that it is up to you to make the best of your studying time. Hope this made sense and will help you out. If it did not just private message me and I will try to explain it better.
God bless,
Tony</p>
<p>Tonypecc makes a good point with memorization. To put this in the perspective of neurobiology, when you are trying to store memories, the recall process activates the part of the brain that received the stimulus (i.e. if you are reading a text, the area of the brain that is activated is the occipital lobe, which is also what is activated on a test when you are trying to recall the memory). Of course, not every stimulus can be translated. However, one technique is to activate both the occipital lobe and temporal lobe (used in audition) by reciting out-loud what you are reading. Another great way to memorize information is to test your ability to approach the idea from multiple angles. Don't just know definitions for a concept, be able to apply it, be able to hear the definition and go back to the idea. When you can integrate your memories, you strengthen your ability to recall because you are using all areas of your brain.</p>
<p>This hasn't been BUMPed in a while..</p>
<p>i found that my memory can be improved by exercise
i don't know if it's just me, but the things i tend to remember the most are the ones that were accompanied by an emotional stimulus -- sometimes the stimulus comes from saying "wow, this stuff is like really awesome!" and then on final exam you're sure to rememeber it ... but few things are like that, studying will get very boring at times ... with exercise it feels like my adrenaline levels go up and coupled with a meal (to get those sugar levels up) my memory is much improved in the next 2 hours ...</p>
<p>by this time you probably know if you learn most my hearing or seeing -- if you learn most by seeing, you can rememeber things better if you read stuff over and over again -- some people like to take notes ... but i discovered that notes can be a waste of time (extensive notes that is) -- you know how people like to color-code them and write in full sentences and re-write basically the whole chapter and such (especially girl err on this)? ... well, the truth is that time goes by, and if you spend a lot of time reading and also writing things down, you might not cover all the reading and you might not have time to review all your notes at least 3x </p>
<p>so the solution is to take minimal notes and spend most time trying to stuff everything into you memory and not into your notebook -- by the time an exam comes, you will be using you memory and not your notebook to write it up -- so why even bother trying to re-write every important thing when it will be your memory you'll be using during exam? -- never start taking notes if you feel you're severely behind on reading -- instead read the material at least twice</p>
<p>also i found out that reading a number of books helps -- undergraduates usually treat the course textbook as if it is the holy bible -- they hold on to it tightly and read only what is written there (and even cite it in their homeworks and exams when they have memorized it to the point that some people memorize the bible)</p>
<p>however, no book is perfect -- that is why we have a number of books written on same subject, so that they'll complement one another ... if you read from a number of books, you will have a more complete picture of things, how everything fits together -- plus the professor might assign the textbook because of whatever deal the school had with the publishers, or because he liked it, which means that it does not have to be the very best textbook for you to learn from</p>
<p>also studying in summers (not just working) helps ease entrance into new academic year -- study for whatever courses you'll be taking so that you'll be ahead of everyone else (at least initially)</p>