How to Build Effective Study Habits for Medical College 

Review content regularly  Doctor Recommends. Dr. Inna Husain, laryngologist and assistant residency program director for simulation education at Rush University Medical Center. She recommends developing diligent study habits and daily study practice as early as possible.

Write it down  While reading all of your assigned text is essential, you probably shouldn’t expect to remember all of it. For Dr. Malini Reddy, an internist at Reddy Medical Group, writing things down was a must. 

Test yourself   Regularly testing yourself is essential to prepare for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1, sometimes referred to as “the boards.” You can quiz yourself from your own notes or as part of a group, but you should also contemplate question banks.

Create an effective learning environment  Identifying a good learning environment is a key component of figuring out how to study in medical school—perhaps just as important as the study methods themselves. 

Improve memorization with mnemonics  Elementary students rely on the acronym mnemonic “Roy G. Biv” to remember the order of colors in a rainbow, and that same strategy can work just as well in medical school. In fact, some medical residency programs use a mnemonic approach to help trainees retain critical knowledge. 

Include listening methods  Goljan Audio is a popular lecture series Dr. Reddy and many others recommend. It contains more than thirty lectures. "If I was working or if I was in the car, I would listen to them," she says. "It's just a different way of getting the information." This is one of the most efficient ways to study for medical school. 

Consider forming a study group   While reviewing material with others doesn’t work for everyone, study groups are a great option for those who do learn well when collaborating with fellow students. Dr. Husain says study groups can be particularly helpful for reviewing clinical scenarios and answering practice quiz questions. 

Where you study is important   it will make studying very difficult if it is not conducive to concentration. Places, where distraction is a constant factor, make very poor study areas. Studying in your dorm room can make distractions from the computer, TV, or roommates more interesting than the reading material you're trying to learn.

Ask for help   There is a lot of material to study in medical school, so it is important to be proactive about seeking help when you need it. "You can fall behind quickly," Dr. Hussain warns, "so it's better to ask earlier for help than later in the semester." She says that you can take help from coaches as well as classmates. 

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