Two weeks until I start PA school. Yikes! Anxious, nervous, excited, terrified… these are just some of the emotions I’m feeling at the moment. I turn 34 next week and start graduate school the week after. The next two years will teach me how to be responsible for the lives and well-being of other people. Sounds simple enough to me.
I think the one thing I’d like to nail down before schools starts is how I’m going to, well, actually learn and study. And one of the big questions is what will I be doing while I’m actually sitting in class. I have class from 8-5 every day with an hour break in between. Now, I know eventually the structure won’t just be lecture; I’ll be in the anatomy lab, learning clinical skills, in the simulation labs etc. So that’s good. Still, that’s a long time to even be sitting down and I think my attention span has been absolutely zapped by technology.
So, what’s the best way to learn and study? Beats me. Does anyone, really?
I came across a video called “The Biggest Myth in Education” by YouTube channel Veritasium. It states that learning styles traditionally have been broken up into four types: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. Basically the conclusion was… these are all bogus. Everyone learns basically the same way, and the answer is our learning styles are a combination of all of these and in fact, the best way to learn is to use multiple learning approaches.
Before even delving into debunking those learning styles, I found that what works for me is to stand up, grab a marker by a whiteboard, turn on a video camera (or have an audience of fellow students) and do my best to push information outward, rather than focus on cramming it inward.
There’s this idea behind the flipped classroom which, to me, just meant that the student now has to do work before class, in class, and after class. In all of my pre-med studies, I was able to fully prepare for a lecture, one time. In Biology 1, there is one chapter, on viruses, that I was able to read the entire chapter, and go through an entire flashcard deck by the book publisher, before going into the lecture. I think that’s the ultimate, having not only seen the material once, but testing myself on the concepts before hearing the information in lecture format; apparently you learn more from taking tests than any other form of studying .
For most of my studies, lectures have almost been just a thing that exists… at the end of the day the exam is what you need to tackle. Whether or not you find the lecture helpful is up to you, but do you really need it? It appears that most of the learning, which really is just retention to pass an exam, happens outside of the classroom. I think the real benefit of showing up to class is to get to know your professor, a real person, the person who is writing your exam. It’s developing that relationship so you can go to them with questions; is this going to be on the exam or not? Whether you are actually gathering and retaining information from that lecture is another thing. And whether or not you are remembering anything from that exam before you cram your head full of the next exam’s material is another problem entirely.
I made dozens of videos in pre-med, just grinding through topics and trying to quickly turn learning into teaching. The more props, models, etc. I can use, the better. I call it physical learning. I enjoyed recording myself as well, as evidenced in my YouTube channel. It’s not just about turning learning into teaching, it’s about turning teaching into performing. There’s also magic behind, “Hey, I understand this topic right now. Let me capture the magic of what I understand now. When it comes time to study before the test, the best way to refresh your memory is to learn it from a past version of yourself.
The most surprising and powerful study technique I’ve discovered is clearly the Memory Palace. Not only have I used this to memorize the Top 300 Prescribed US Medications, but now the 12 cranial nerves as well, using the Dunder Mifflin layout from The Office. I had been trying to memorize those for years, and committed them to long term memory in 23 minutes. The big question, is how to apply the memory palace to more complex topics. For me, it’s very binary right now. I’m essentially encoding two words + their function/class, but a lot of times I’m getting that from the suffix. The other thing, is I can recall the entire list, from scratch. Using a flashcard is already giving me half of the information, which I don’t think is bad particularly, as long as I go back and do the reverse. But doing an entire recall is much more powerful. I recently made just a simple set of mnemonics for white blood cells. After working on this, I immediately recalled it, and then recalled it the day after. Honestly, I think that’s plenty for an exam. I probably don’t have time for a memory palace so unfortunately I need to rely on short-term memory techniques. If I make videos, though, I can refresh my memory for the long-term!
How would I memorize the steps of Glycolysis, for example, using a memory palace? Well, each step would be planted in a spot. But how would I memorize… the blood vessels of the body, or the symptoms, presentation, medications, etc. for a certain illness? Would an entire room be… pneumonia, and each location would be one of the parameters? I mean, I guess that would work fine. I will see what I can do and report back!
Through all of my research, the ideal study structure would look like this:
Wake up at 5AM, hydrate, and get some exercise before you start the day; wait an hour before any caffeine intake.
Stick to your sleep schedule religiously, 7 days a week and get 7.5 hours of sleep per night.
Preview any information before you encounter it in full form, whether that be reading something, or listening to it in a lecture. This can be as easy as glancing through the slides, reading chapter headings, bolded terms, etc.
Read the information on paper when possible.
Handwrite notes on paper when possible.
As you are writing down key notes, look away from the page and try and recall what you wrote.
Sit in the front center of the class.
Recall information later in the day.
Recall information the day after.
Recall information the week after.
Teach the material and record your teaching or do it live in front of other students.
Test yourself above all other aspects of studying.
Interleave with other topics or other activities; if something isn’t sticking or you hit a road block, switch to something entirely different.
Study in different areas, alone, and with a group. Mix it up.
Use the Pomodoro method and be strict about it.
Exercise. I mean just glance at this Wikipedia page.
Eat BDNF foods, which stands for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein involved in memory and learning. Berries, dark chocolate, and coffee are some examples.
Succeed.
Sounds pretty simple to me ;)