Clinician's Corner: Tips on how to study smarter

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[billkuo]

In summary: 1. Find a good place to study, it can can be consistent, it can be alternating 2. Plan what you want to study first thing in the morning, not too many, and base on what you are curious about, and what you are worried about, or spaced repetition/revision 3. Start studying by first trying to answer some questions, even if you have no prior knowledge, to get into active learning / searching for answers 4. Find the best resource to answer your specific questions/ knowledge gaps (eg. book, website, videos)
5. estimate time required to learn the topic, and plan short breaks in between (eg. 2 min every 30 min study)

[terrybejot]

Some things to add to his video for everyone here. Distractions - it must be a quiet place. You cannot have competing input into your brain. Do not study in bed. Your brain thinks it is time to fall asleep. How- focus on your best learning ability - reading, video, auditory - one is your main learning avenue but use all three to keep your brain engaged. Attention span: most people can go 45-50 minutes so stop after 50 minutes and take a 10 minute break. The break can be doing chores, socializing, or running the stairs(more on this later). Material - plan your study hour on what you want to learn that hour. Make notes, cards, etc ahead of time. Group study - have a group study planned once a week and ask each other questions - a small group is best 4-5 people. All of the above is to focus on UNDERSTANDING the material. You study to understand then have your group question your understanding. Having a group keeps you on task or you get kicked out of the group, . Once you understand the material it is time for MEMORIZATION. Memory requires intensity and repetition. How can you put information into your brain so it stays there? First - you need to exercise. Cortisol helps your attention and memory. Highest when you awaken, then drop with bumps late in the afternoon and then one late at night. Get up early and study!! at least two hours before class. drink coffee - have a protein bar. Caffeine helps with memory. Good nutrition helps also. Before 3 pm is for understanding the material. After class around 3 pm you will crash and you need to go exercise and exercise hard - intense training for at least 1 hour, preferable 2 - lift weights. The intense exercise will improve your attention span until the late evening. Socialize for supper and eat well. Study at night in 1 hour shifts until 9pm. Do something fun for 1 hour (TV, socialize, etc) - no alcohol. GO TO BED by 10 pm. You do not want to be awake when the 11 pm cortisol bump occurs or you will be awake until midnight and you will not be able to get up at 5AM. Get up early and repeat what you did last night. The evening material is put in your short term memory and the morning material puts it into long term memory. Use mnemonics to help memory. On graphs - think of a graph as a potato or carrot or what ever it looks like. I don't have references but when I took Psych the professor and I looked up a lot of this stuff. It really helped me.

[benderbg]

The best way to prepare for exam is to know what professors want from you. No matter how thick the books are they always like to repeat same groups of questions. It takes way less effort to learn the test than to learn the book. Make friends with older students. Information is power.

[drshohinidas]

I like studying but i don't like studying for an exam

[sushi]

My biggest challenge - not able to figure out how much time to go through a subjext. It becomes too overwhelming when I look at it all and then I procrastinate :(

[moxynova]

Damn! The 'study using questioning' method is revolutionary. THANKS!!!

[doctorofmedicine]

Very lucky i got ur channel since my 2nd year MBBS ...
Love from kashmir

[rainuthomas]

I used to start with watching videos. But after sometime yes I do feel passive and sleepy. Now I will try starting with questions and then hunt for answers. Also thanks for the tip of calculating time before starting especially with videos. Ur advices are really motivating sir. Thanks a lot and I don't know how to tell how much I love osmosis. Keep up the good work.

[vague-]

Hi, usually I study in an open place, like garden or in my home but in the yard, + like to have pencil to determine the very important things + having schedule is one of the most fundamental things to do also before start to study. ✨

[matthewseinfeld]

The thing that works for me is getting hyped about the topic. For example, I wanted to learn about thyroid surgeries. So the night before, when I've completed everything, I'll look at the books I have, the pictures, the headings, sometimes a small paragraph. (since I know I must get excited, so I've already prepared some general questions in mind beforehand, so browsing over actually works!) I don't close the book when I sleep. Then, the next morning, as soon as I get up, I start the process again for a few minutes. After that when I'm taking a bath or having breakfast I'm just pumping myself up because I know I'm going to learn something really exciting.
This worked for me when I couldn't manage Microbiology syllabus in 2nd year. Just devoted 3weeks to it and before I knew it I had already become quite strong at the subject! (Divided it like Bacteriology, Virology etc. for doing them on separate day(s).)
Hope it helps. Thanks Osmosis for the continuous support through these videos:-)

[beatrizferraz]

It helped me a lot! I used to study in a completely silent room, now I listen to white noise while I'm studying and it really helps me to concentrate better :)

[vannleofoldMD]

The moment i heard he struggles with renal physio... same feels bruh

[dwightsbeats]

Its interesting because I have always learned best through just being asked questions and finding answers...and seeing traditional academic setting I thought I was silly for this and I found my self struggling to ACTUALLY learn because it doesn't feel like a traditional setting in a academics is taught this way. It feels so much like...you go, they read you info, and you leave...somewhere along the lines it became so disengaging. College now is hardest for me because it's so much of, show up, be fed info and leave and take an exam. They don't give practice problems or homework anymore (at least in what I experience lately) and I don't know where to get actual questions for practice or actual thinking (with answers provided at some point). Anyways, I am glad to see someone else bring credence to this way of studying.

[Bouthaina]

I wish there was a channel about dentistry studies like osmosis 😢

[drinaciofernandes]

Really helpful. I used to study at library, but now I prefer studying at home.

I really need to work on the spaced repetition.

[josephphiri]

My name is Joseph Phiri from Southern Africa Zambia, I am clinical officer student second year.
Thanks for your help, your videos are really helpful
I study very well in a quite environment
I ask myself before studying how and what am I going to study
Before I study I start by watching a video first and go to the notes or search more information on Google and in
I take each and every video as my personal video, there is no different between me here in Africa and someone in America or China studying medicine internet has made things very much easy

[chronicallyonline]

As a medical student, I think the most difficult thing that I face is finding the right motivation to study. I'm in first year MBBS, so basically everything is new to me and the course is so wide and deep that right now I'm literally drowning. I'd really like to know how you deal with this. Also, another issue that I have is the competitiveness, I'm not talking about the examination competition, but rather how much course so and so person has covered, you get what I'm saying? It's a big issue since it ends up making me very anxious about the way I'm proceeding and studying. So we have our finals coming up and it'd be awesome if you could give some advice on how to deal with this and how to study right before finals because in this video, I think it requires a hella lot more time and I only have a couple of weeks to cover the entire year worth of studying.

[alexmaclean]

Thanks, having done a fair amount of study...on study I wasnt expecting much, but really enjoyed your video. My key tips that keep me retaining information. 1)Look up all the words in the dictionary (from the word "To" to the obvious complex ones): This appears so simple and obvious but a lot of people just gloss over half the words they can't define, the result is getting to the end of the page and having no idea what you just read. Make a few sentences with your new word, Taking the time to at least clarify takes little time, improves your vocabulary and when you get good at it, forgetting the page you just read will be a forgotten problem of the past. 2) Draw pictures, like lots of them, I have an entire book dedicated to drawing out concepts and dry reading like the immune system, the prof I got it from calls them 'mind maps'. At first I thought it would slow me down but in the end I feel its actually sped me up long term and my memory retention is better. 3) Videos, I youtube a shit ton, in fact I often youtube a short video about compartment syndrome or whatever before I sit and read through my chapter on compartment syndrome, it makes the reading come together conceptually a lot easier. And finally just echoing the video, yeah a solid schedule and study space is key. Not my ideas, I took a course Called funnily enough "The Basic Study Manual" which basically tripled my study skill and turned my grades around.

[remybeans]

So excited you guys are so close to a million subscribers!

[ericamartinez]

Great for ALL healthcare students!! I use these with my nursing students - Thank you Osmosis!! ✨❤️✨❤️