Study Tips 101
- Sasha Hudson
- Jan 6, 2021
- 8 min read
*Please know that the tips I give in this post are what has specifically worked for me. Remember that what works for one person may not work for the next. So my first word of advice is to tweak the suggestions to your liking and find what works for you.*
So I am always asked "Sasha, how do you study for this class". Studying to me is like an art form, your technique is something that you've personally curated in order to be successful in your classes. If I am being 100% honest...I did not learn how to effectively study until fall 2017...my second to last semester at Michigan State. I was taking gross anatomy, biochemistry, bioethics, and brain & behavior psychology. According to my advisor it was one of my toughest semesters and she was shocked to see that I received a 4.0 in anatomy and 3.0 in biochemistry. That was my first semester ever making the Deans list at MSU too. So how did I do it? What changed between 2013 and 2017?
I stopped believing that things would come easy to me and I started putting in the effort to get the results I wanted (granted...human anatomy actually did come easy to me). I had always spent time in the library but it was often time wasted. I stopped trying to study with people and started going by myself. That semester I was in the library every. single. day. Including weekends. It got to a point that someone I knew saw me there and asked "you still go here?" Like guys...I even stopped going out, because that was one of my downfalls the previous years. I stepped down from leadership roles and put sorority related activities on the back burner. I desperately needed to focus on school. The only times I went out: homecoming and MAYBE once a month (and that's a huge maybe, it was so long ago I don't remember).
So back to my study tips: first, your technique may change for each class
For my anatomy class, we were given a laundry list of learning objectives for each unit. It had been suggested to go through those when studying so I would actually make a study guide out of them. The thing about anatomy, it's mostly memorization, which is something I've always been good at (my line sisters will tell you LOL). So I would go to every class, I participated in the TopHat questions (we used this at MSU as one way to track attendance, helllooooooo clicker questions?). The homework was centered around virtual cadavers and were a huge way to study and get familiar with the body parts we were responsible for learning (exposure, I will come back to this tip). At the end of each unit, I would review my homework and work through my learning objectives/study guides. And guess what...anything I studied from that list showed up on the exam. Another technique I incorporated into studying was teaching other people, especially non-science people. Showing someone which bone is the fibula vs tibia really helps you visualize things. And I know I'm not the only one who did this: during exams, you would see other students using their hands and pointing at different body parts to bring back that memory.
Biochemistry for me was online and we weren't given learning objectives. And this was my second time taking the class in undergrad...so I HAD to do something different. Probably the most important thing was to stay on top of lectures. I would print out the slideshows for each lecture (3/page with space to write on the side) so that I could have them available when watching lectures and I watched about 3 videos a day (or whatever was suggested). I actually would watch my videos on at least 1.5x speed sometimes 2x because my professor also provided transcripts if needed. She offered practice problems/questions for almost every unit and I made sure to do those a week before my exams to test my understanding. For this class I attended a few study sessions as well.
As you can see, I often had to change gears when studying because what worked for anatomy was not going to work for biochemistry. Even when comparing to my other 2 classes where studying was more about reading the textbook. This leads me to tip #2.
My second tip: make a study schedule.
If I were to show you my Google calendar...you would think that I'm crazy and super particular about everything. That's because I am. My second year at MSU, fall 2014 *eyeball emoji lol*...I was taking organic chemistry and I completely missed/slept through my first exam. The details on how are irrelevant, but ever since then I have been afraid of missing something big. So even to this day, I plug everything important into my google calendar and I also keep 1 or 2 back up physical planners. At the start of the semester I go through my syllabi and the first thing I do is write down every exam date and quiz date. I learned in undergrad that you should be spending at least 3 hours/credit hour studying outside of class a week (for online classes this does not include watching lecture). So that means for a 3 credit class, you're spending at least 9 hours a week studying at home. I would figure this out for all of my classes and then spread that time out for the week and break them up into study blocks (this also works for MCAT studying or any standardized test). You often hear that people with anxiety appear to be control freaks, but it's usually stemming from a need to be well organized. I'm sure my google calendar and planners would overwhelm someone else.
On my google calendar, things would be color coded and titled differently. For biochemistry, if I was to be watching lectures then thats what the block would say, if I were to be studying it would say that instead. If there were certain chapters to read I would write that down, something like "read chapter 1-3" and that way material gets broken up too.
I tried my best to stick to my schedule but don't stress yourself out if you can't. For me, I had to download an app that would keep me off of my phone while I studied. If you're in STEM or pre-med, your study blocks can be as long as 4 hours, break that time up. Maybe every hour take a 10 minute break. Have your snacks available or study somewhere close to a coffee shop (sparty's in the library was my favorite). For someone with anxiety, I am heavy on the routine. I went to the same spot in the library every time, I rarely studied anywhere else, and I always made sure it was the quiet side.
The bottom line to this: study schedules work wonders. They don't have to be as detailed as mine, but something that can give structure for your days really does take away the stress of needing to study. You end up being more prepared for a study session and less like you're just all over the place.
Tip #3: exposure method/question based studying
This is actually a technique I learned while studying for the MCAT that has been helping me in graduate school. Almost every medical student will tell you this is important.
Anyone who is pre-med, you have to expose yourself to the exam style itself. So this tip may not be for everyone. What I mean, it is not enough to just "know" the material. While MCAT studying, you're going to have to incorporate practice questions into your studying and full length exams. It helps you get used to the question style. When studying for these upper level science courses, the same applies. Now, this technique probably more-so applies to grad school and up, or for the classes you take that are similar to med school. But I promise once you start exposing yourself to the exam STYLE and learn how to answer those questions you'll start to see a difference. If you read my last blog about how I finished my first semester of grad school, this technique is literally how. Physiology isn't necessarily a hard concept to understand. But when the exams are similar to board exams...wellllll there's a learning curve to overcome. Knowing is only half the battle, you have to know how to think critically about what you know and how to apply that information. You might KNOW how the female body ovulates, but the professor isn't going to ask a step-by-step question on the process. Instead, you might get a set of symptoms or lab values and you'll be asked where in that process is the menstrual cycle at or messing up.
Another reason why question based studying is useful, if utilized right it becomes another way to study material. What I mean by that, it is one thing to go through questions and grade yourself. But it becomes a whole new world when you go back through every question, right and wrong, and read through the explanation on the answer choices. You start to develop a better understanding of a topic. Ask yourself why you got it wrong. Was it because you just didn't know, or was there a word that tripped you up?
If you don't do anything else, this is a technique I HIGHLY suggest incorporating.
My last tip: review, review, review
It sounds simple, and that's because it is. Sometimes, studying really is just going back over your notes. I do 2 passes over my lectures. The first is attending lecture (virtual or in person). The second is going back over the notes I took in class and rewriting them. Now this is something my mom has always told me to do but it literally did not make sense to me until grad school. Some days I would rewrite my notes immediately after class (if I happened to take immaculate notes that day) and other days I would probably wait a day or 2, or in the case of biochemistry (did I mention I took biochemistry a third time in grad school?) I would rewrite my notes after we finished an entire lecture after like 3 days. Don't ask why...that was a complicated class. When rewriting my notes I will have the lecture recording playing (1.5x speed because why note?) and I fill in the gaps if there were any. I did this for all of my classes, even the ones where all of the information is on the powerpoint. Why? Because for me, reading through that powerpoint or putting physiology drawings into my own words helped information stick.
So I lied...I actually do 3 passes of my lecture notes. The third time is reserved for about a week before an exam, after we finish a block. I read through my typed up notes, highlight and annotate (I also will fix typos lol). During that study week, I am also drawing structures and pathways on my white board. For physiology, this became extremely useful. Drawing everything out and walking through a process was more important than reading words on a page. The notes just would help me visualize. It's because of this method that I often refer to studying as reviewing. And remember, topics should build on top of each other, so always review your notes from the previous lecture before attending the next lecture
I know I mentioned before I stopped studying with people in undergrad, but turns out I was wrong about studying on my own all of the time. In grad school, apart of reviewing was getting together with people and going over information. When people asked me questions about class material that was another chance to review and once you're able to explain a topic to someone else, that's how you know you're also solid on it. So do those weekly study sessions with classmates. But I do advise to go to them prepared. Don't walk in there and you haven't even looked at your notes.
These are just 4 of the big methods I utilize now. It has taken time to find what worked for me and a lot of it has to do with how I stay productive (which I decided to write a separate blog about). I didn't share this to be as gospel, because we all have different learning styles. So I tried to be as generic as possible. But I hope someone is able to take these tips and cultivate them to their own style and make them work for their own studies.
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