9 Study Techniques that got me through Cambridge Medical School *science-backed*

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❤️ Today I'll share 9 study techniques that helped me to get through the 6 years of Cambridge Medical School. This video has been requested quite a bit in my DMs - so here you go! I hope these tips help you to study smarter, instead of harder! :)

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» Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 Study Smarter Not Harder
01:28 Eat the Frog + Active Prioritisation
03:16 Study Intervals
04:35 "Understanding First" Framework
05:42 Feynman Technique
06:41 Practice Testing + Active Recall
08:25 Beat the Forgetting Curve with SRS
10:00 Memorisation Techniques
11:23 Plan and Track your Progress
13:15 Reassess and Course Correct

~References~:
Bacon, Pamela L. (2017) "Effective Studying is a Science, Not an Art: Teaching Students Scientifically-Based Study Techniques," *Headwaters*: Vol. 30, 44-58.
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14, 4–58.
Brown, P.C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

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[nicetomeetyou]

whenever you watch youtube videos put the speed at least at 1.5 or 2 times normal speed. you safe a lot of time and still get all the content

[strategoscastaneda]

1. Eat the frog. First thing in the morning. The most challenging topics. Focus on my weakest points or the most difficult ones. 80/20%.

2. The Pomodoro Technique. Which involves 25 minutes of work time and intensive study followed by 5 minutes of a break and this is repeated. An article on MIT says, study for 50 mins. and take a break of 10 mins. If I find something very mentally taxing, then, setting a shorter duration and doing a short burst of intense work, often works better for me.

3. Aim for understanding first then memorization.

4. The Feynman Technique. Which is teaching the topic or concept to somebody in a simple and clear way. If you are on your own and you don't have anyone else with you you can just try explaining it out loud as if there were another person.

5. Practice Testing. Try to take information out of your brain by actively recalling it. (Flashcards).

6. Spaced Repetition. How you can beat the forgetting curve. We forget pieces of knowledge unless we revise that.

7. Leveraging Some Memorization Techniques. Mnemonics. Mind maps. Include a photo or maybe something that reminds me of a story that's related to that piece of vocab or that sentence. ***.

8. Make a Study Schedule and Track your Progress. Get your brain feel ready to learn.

9. Keep reassessing how it's going and adjust what's not working. Look after your self. Self-care. Exercise, eat well, sleep. Take care of your well-being. Study smarter not harder. 😎

[Poojasharma-xtpu]

1.Take study intervals
2.understanding is the first framework
3.Feynman technique
4.Practice
5.beat the forgetting curves ...with SRS
6.Memorisation techniques
7. Plan and track your progress
8. Reassess and course correct
That was all in this helpful vdo 🙂

[LisaHeidel-nx]

Watched a TED Talk by Douglas Barton recently about what top students do differently in order to get good grades. He conducted studies in which he investigated the influencing factors of successful students and found out that the one thing all top students had in common was doing practice exams before the real exam.
They also wrote their timetable differently: While mediocre and bad students put in first when they are gonna study, the top students put in when they're NOT gonna study. They modeled the studying around their lives, not the other way around.
Hope this helps!

[relaxinglabvideos]

To the person reading this who may be tired of studying but HAS to;

sometimes, before studying, you need to remind yourself what you're doing this for.

you're doing this so you can enjoy your life later.

you could even be doing this in hopes of going to university and partying the heck out of a Friday night.

you'll get there
you can do it.
let's try to make it together, eh? smiles and offers you a hand


fix your posture,
unclench your jaw,
relax your muscles,
breath in,
and breath out.
repeat with me;
"I got this!"

Damn right! you HAVE got this. believe in yourself <3

Now, let's get studying!

don't forget to drink water!

[Megatron]

I'm 43 years old and going back to graduate school after working for 17 years. This video was super helpful! I wish I knew these techniques when I was an undergraduate. You should really consider teaching medicine in the near future. You would be an excellent lecturer.

[Jere]

Congratulations on your passing Med school, and thanks for your study tips! The Lord bless you in your career!

[seyma]

1.eat the frog, focus on difficult tasks
2. Pomodoro technique 25 min study 5 min break
3. First understand it then memorise it
4. Feynman technique teaching to someone who has little knowledge about the topic
5. Practice technique Flashcards quiz, u can see if the answer was correct -> feels like a game
6. Spaced repetition
Flashcards
7. Memorisation cards
8. Mind maps
9. Study schedule
10. Checking your well being

[zz-dvyz]

Hi! Hi! I’m 15 years old, and I have always been a good student, but this semester I really want to challenge and improve myself, so I’ve been looking for tips like this.
I really found this video helpful, thank you so much, you are beautiful!

[rosia_li]

Hey Izzy! congrats on passing all your medical school exams !! :D I've just finished my first year at Trinity Hall doing medicine; also watched you in Beauty and the Yeast- you were soo great!!! Thanks for these tips, hopefully they'll come in handy for passing second year too haha :)

[pmhwong]

You bring up an important point in this video.
Schools don't teach kids "How to learn".
This is what I believe should be among the most important things to learn in school, even more so than school subjects.
We really need to update school curriculum to incorporate this early on.
That would make a historic impact to evolving education.

[literature.lover]

Congratulations Izzy. I studied physics, did just bachelor degree, then learned software development on my own and I have 3 years developing android apps. Now I'm studying chinese language, besides my native language I can speak english and italian. I also studied a little bit korean but I think chinese is more better in terms of opportunities. I wake up early in the morning and I study chinese for about 30 minutes before starting work. Your videos are awesome, and I'm applying your techniques.
Studying harder is very bad, I was good at mathematics and physics, and also after 3 years I can remember most of the topics. I studied about 3 hours per day.
Chinese is very difficult but it is possible to learn it, I don't expect myself to be fluent but to achieve after six month a progress.

[k.t.]

I really like the Feynman technique personally. I do believe that I understand topics more when I try to teach them to someone who doesn't have the same level of understanding of a certain topic than I do!! Because of this, you can't use ANY terminology(because they won't understand what you're talking about). Not using jargon also helps you out as well, because most of the time when people overly use terms, it's because they don't know what the fuck they're talking about(let's be real). ALSO, THE ABSOLUTE BEST ADDITION TO TEACHING SOMEONE, IS TO ACT AS THOUGH YOU'RE TEACHING A YOUNG CHILD!! KIDS ARE CURIOUS AND THE ALWAYS ASK THE QUESTION "WHY?"; and you don't stop until you can fill in all the gaps within your understanding. If you can't answer all the question, go back and study until you are able to answer them all. When you can answers these questions then you truly UNDERSTAND the material. Also, if you study to understand and NOT memorize, you'll remember the information longer (aka- store it in your long-term memory)THE RESULTS ARE INCREDIBLE!!

[bigbendbom]

Congratulations on having now graduated! I can confirm that all of the techniques you mention worked super well for me. I've always been lucky to succeed fairly effortlessly in my studies and I now realize that it's mostly thanks to the methods I've been using. The only thing I would add to this list is: if you can, pair up with someone who learns differently than you, and collaborate. I've always been very good at understanding what was being taught orally in class but that came at the cost of my notes, which were always very concise. Pairing up with someone who liked taking comprehensive notes allowed me to get solid written material, based on which I could explain to them the subject in return. It was always a win-win as we would both get better grades than if we had been studying on our own.

[FarzanasLaw]

This is the most comprehensive study video I have ever seen!

[jadenephrite]

Thank you, Izzy, for your video. For those who are unfamiliar with mnemonics @ 10:08, a famous example in mathematics is the sentence "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" which is used for remembering the order of performing operations in an algebraic equation such that first operate from left to right on those terms within Parentheses, next the Exponents, then Multiplication or Division, and finally Addition or Subtraction.

[devinmusicstudio]

Nice video with great methodology for study or work. Personnaly, I have developed the "Strawberry" technic : 10 min work - 50 min break or sleep. Bibi the seal behind you seams to know this technic. It works for me too. 😅

[alexcampbell]

Thank you Izzy for the effective learning & study tips! I’ve heard about half of these study tips already but the way you presented them and some samples you mention was really helpful. So, I’m even recommending this one of the best summary of study tIps to my daughter! 😊 As you see, I’m a dad who still likes to continue learning even if I’m in my 50s 😊 Take care and all the best to you! I wish more people discover your YT channel and learn from the valuable tips you shared!

[malama]

Appreciate your content. I learned Mandarin back in high school (many years ago) and trying to pick it up again so I can be comfortable and conversational when traveling. Appreciate your encouragement and techniques for accelerated learning. Cheers!

[ertw]

Thank you for sharing Izzy! Re tip #1, I would personally do the easy tasks first. The reason is if you get stuck on a difficult task, then you have no time to do the easy ones. FYI only. Cheers. :)