Frequently Asked Questions & Concerns
Topic: "It takes too long to do this active studying thing."
If your studying isn't giving you the results you want, there is a very good chance you need to integrate the material and retain it better. Identifying the "necessary" information and organizing it in summaries, diagrams, and charts is the best way to do this! They do take time to create, but your time investment pays off when you are studying for exams! Be sure you aren't recreating the wheel by simply copying over perfectly good charts from the text or syllabus. Photocopies work well when you modify them to your needs, such as using a different color of ink to highlight important modifications. When creating your own, use bits of time (15 to 30 minutes) during the day and the time you previously used for passive studying.
Topic: "I still need to go over my notes and/or recopy them."
Your notes are the complete rough draft of the information. Your summaries are the final draft with the "necessary" information organized for integration and easy memorization. Don't worry about your notes being pretty, just make sure they’re well labeled and cross-indexed.
Topic: "I don't want to go to lecture."
We don't recommend skipping the lecture, since you are missing the first chance to hear all the details and review the big picture. The lecture is also the best place to find out what is likely to be on the exam (see FAQ below), which depends a lot on context and emphasis is often not available if you just study from the posted slides, even if you do listen to the podcast. The information flow rate in medical and pharmacy schools is a lot higher, and the analysis by the lecturer is a valuable tool you should use, not ignore.
The above answer applies here, too. If you do skip lecture for whatever reason, don't forget you need to review the analysis and the lecture provided. This would then add to your study time since you need to organize and memorize more of the material that you missed.
Topic: "How do I know what will be on the exam and practice for it?"
Don't save quiz questions or practice questions to test yourself just before the exam!!! It is then too late to modify your studying. You may do well and be complacent or do poorly and be a nervous wreck. So what? Practice/quiz questions are a guide for studying and the same question can be used multiple times. It's not about knowing the answer - it's about knowing how to analyze the material! Not sure what to know from a lecture after you have created your "rough draft"? Look at the practice questions from that lecture. Don't worry about answering them, just think about what type of material you need to know and how questions might be asked. As soon as you have created the summary for a particular topic — before you have done the active memorization – look at the questions on that topic again. Do you have the information needed to answer them (and any variations you could imagine from the "wrong" answers") in your charts? If not, modify your chart. If you want, try answering them after you have memorized the material in the chart, but do so thoroughly (see the question below). Having it all memorized may only happen the night before the exam, and that is too late to be of use.
As described above in 'But I need to save...', don't save them to test yourself!! Efficient use of quizzes or practice questions requires analysis, not just finding the right answer!
- Analyze the exam question, don't just count how many you got right. Whether or not you got the question right, analyze it thoroughly.
Topic: "I need help with my test-taking strategies."
Test-taking strategies can always be improved and can help the student display what they really do know, but usually, most of the problem is due to passive studying strategies.
- In many cases, the student understood general concepts but did not retain enough facts clearly enough to analyze and answer the questions. Medical and pharmacy school requires a much greater level of clarity of information than undergraduate classes. Definitions must be precise, and equations must be correct. Knowing how much detail to learn is difficult and varies with each class; quiz and practice questions can be helpful (another reason to use them early) as well as listening to the professor's emphasis during lecture (this often takes attention and practice, since each lecturer's style differs).
- In many cases, the student doesn't realize the difference between "familiarity" with the logic provided by someone else and synthesizing the material well enough to apply it to new situations. "Going over notes" only helps with "familiarity". Organizing the material in charts or diagrams requires synthesis and integration and helps identify connections in the material that will allow you to eliminate incorrect answers quickly and accurately or identify the correct answer.
- More difficult exam questions often require working through multiple equations or multiple steps in a complex pathway. This type of analysis is difficult to do rapidly for the first time, especially under the pressure of an exam. Quiz and practice questions can provide examples and should be used to work out methodical approaches that allow you to answer that style of question. Such methodical approaches need to be worked out ahead! Yet another reason to use quizzes and practice questions during studying, not saving them for the night before the exam.
Students also frequently give more validity to impressions of "what your body wants to do" or "what the cell wants to do" than to know the relationships or equations that describe reality.
Slow yourself down by underlining, boxing, or circling relevant information in the question and jot down any useful equations or quick lists in the margin as a reminder.
- Try to have a "back-up" alternative logic to verify your answer; emphasizing organization and connections during studying helps this technique a lot.