![]() One of the biggest advantages of group study is the ability to teach what you have learned. Groups larger than this have severely diminishing returns because you will get distracted, and your productivity will plummet. That being said, groups need to be small. In a group study, reviewing material is slower, but the main benefit is working through and reinforcing difficult concepts while also keeping you motivated and sane. Maybe a little bit more time studying solo. Group versus solo studying: Are you studying by yourself or with other people? My split varied, but it was roughly 50/50. However, many people get easily distracted at home, which is why they prefer the coffee shop or library since it helps them focus on the work at hand. This area requires more personalization, so it's key that you figure out what works best for you.ĭo you prefer coffee shops and libraries, or studying at home? If you've seen the video of my workspace, then you understand why I love working at home. Old practice tests or practice quizzes from your professor are also fantastic resources. ![]() You can do practice questions from the textbook or online services. You need to memorize the information actively. Creating this chart was enough to improve my understanding of the concepts, and now I also had an excellent study tool to review later. I would take the extra time and effort to extract the relevant information and organize it in a chart format. Let's say I was comparing macro-minerals like sodium, potassium, and chloride in the GI system. For example, I loved creating tables and charts. Instead, you will be doing the difficult task of synthesizing the information in your own words, diagrams, or other study aids. Again, as an active process, this isn't going to be just copying and regurgitating information. Second, organize the information in a way that you understand. To employ active learning, you must continuously be sorting information and assessing its relative importance. The First Step is to identify what is important. Information and Steps 3 and 4 are about reviewing and reinforcing the information. There are four steps we must address actually to use active learning. ![]() Active learning is more challenging it's less comfortable but is ultimately much more effective. It's easier, requires less effort, and overall is just more comfortable. You could also just put the relevant sentence or two on a card, and then put all of the excess stuff in the "extra" box so that it pops up for review when you answer the card, but putting it in the card makes it more likely for me to actually take the time to review stuff when I'm rushing to get through my cards.The default studying pattern we all employ is passive learning. In fact (and this probably isn't the best way of doing things, but whatever), for long processes or complicated concepts where it's helpful to have a lot of information in one spot for future reviews, I'll make a really long card with all the relevant information I need and then the cloze the heck out of it, so that for some cards I have almost 20 individual clozes per card. For physiology, it's more conceptual so I've found myself using more cloze deletion cards. When anatomy hit, I found online textbooks to be very helpful because I could screen capture an image and use image occlusion to make cards out of it. "List the 4 steps of xzy," "What is abc?"). I started out making a lot of basic flashcards (e.g. If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them below in the comments section and I may add them to the post later on.Ī: Depends on the class/topic/how I'm feeling that day/etc. ![]() So take everything below as more of a starting point than as Anki gospel. There is no “right” and “wrong” here – there are certainly more or less optimal ways to use the program, but ultimately it comes down to what works best for you – and what is best for you may not even be using Anki in the first place, depending on your study style. It’s important to note, however, that Anki is an extremely versatile tool, and though I use it in certain ways, the way I use it is far from the only way to do so. Because I think Anki is awesome (though certainly not the only way to study for medical school – or study anything else, for that matter), and because if one person has a question, then usually there are several others with the same question, I’ve decided to write up a brief “Anki Q&A” based off of questions that I’ve received or I've seen commonly asked online. Since I've started using Anki and writing about it on this blog, I’ve received a few questions about how I use it on a daily basis.
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