How to become a highly effective medical student

[nighthawk]

Hi there, I have scoured the forums and found them very useful; however, I don't have an answer for my situation.

In order of priority, what tools/habits do I need to become a more effective medical student? Specifically in terms of efficiency of reading dense medical textbooks, improving concentration and retention, diet..etc

Just to clarify my situation, I just completed my 1st year of medical school. It went well, but it was not as efficient as I wanted to be.

I want to be to the point where I can study 12 hours a day with maximum efficiency and concentration.

Please help!

[RT Wolf]

Have you tried learning memory techniques, such as from The Memory Book or something?

My personal favourite idea is to help me understand stuff, if you don't od it already is to relate parts to a whole. I do this by creating diagrams, mind maps or just imagining the whole and where the parts fit in. If you're familiar with the link system, then you can link things in a branching pattern. I dunno how applicable this is to your material.

I dunno if this the following is applicable either, but I'll give it a shot:

Scott H Young » How to Ace Your Finals Without Studying

He's also written another post about this and a short ebook.

Find out what your main modality is, out of visual, audiual or kinesthetic (feelings). I learn best with vision, so I draw lots of diagrams and stuff I can remember later or use to help trigger recall. Remember, our minds work associationally, when you're learning something new, if you relate it to something you alreday know, you have a trigger for that piece of knowledge.

Re sleep and stuff:

Get consistant sleep and find out how much you need. for me, I need 9 hours of sleep and I wake up at 7:45 pretty much every day. Have beeen for almost a year now. This works really well for me.

Diet wise, stay away from sugary stuff and simple carbs (junk food and pop). Caffiene isn't a great idea, either. Complex carbs are a good idea. Stay away from heavy meals, and especially meat-heavy meals, if they make you sleepy like they do me. Other than that, you'll have to experiment with different foods and figuring out how you feel after eating them and for how long. Develop an internal self-awareness for that.

I tend to study in 25-30 minute blocks with five minute (or however long I need to get my mind clear enough to study again). I have a little oven timer which I use to tell me my time's up, so I can more easily enter a flow state while studyin without having to wonder and check the time. During your breaks, you might want to meditate, go for a quick run or just do something to shut down your brain and let it relax.

Another thing I just learned about from a blog post is to try to replicate the exam room situation as much as possible. I haven't tried it personally but from my understnading of psychology, this seems very plausible.

Other than that, develop an internal awareness of your state and use that to test out things. Being able to tell when you need to take a break cause you're feeling hazy and brain-blocked is a very useful skill.

And congratulations on getting into med school and doing well your first year.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Sometimes I'll use an affirmation at the beginning of my study period, something like: I'll study effectively for the next 25 minutes and then take a relaxing break. During my study period, I am concentrating fully and learning quickly. I dunno how useful it is, but I figure it can't hurt and it takes a few seconds.

You might want to look at photoreading, even if its just the book. Might help.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by nighthawk

I want to be to the point where I can study 12 hours a day with maximum efficiency and concentration.

Hi Nighthawk. Are you sure you need to study 12 hours a day? What if you could perform better without having to study a full 12 hours by using more effective methods?

Here is a thread I started about doing well in school: http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/p...eves-blog.html. Perhaps some of the info may be useful to you.