How I Study

I spend most of my time these days studying, morning, afternoon, and night. I actually enjoy studying for the most part, since what we learn is interesting. Half the battle in medical school is figuring out the best way to study all the material you need to learn. Since I spend so much time studying, I figured I'd finally blog about it.

Two strategies I really like are "3 minute writes" and the "White Board" strategy". I do a 3-minute write at the end of my class-day, for each class I attended that day. It is exactly what it sounds like, for 3 minutes I write everything I can remember about the lecture. Then I know my starting point and go back with a different colored pen and fill in what I didn't remember/got wrong. For me, this is a great way of consolidating my knowledge and narrowing my studying to what I really don't know.

The second strategy, the "White Board strategy", is when I use the white board to study, I write all the major concepts and details on the board, in a way that I could teach it to someone else, and I talk through it aloud, either to myself or someone else. I'm great at big concepts, but the white board strategy ensures that I'm also covering the details I need to know and I've found it really effective for me.

Below are some of my white boards. If you have any advice on efficient and effective ways to study, let me know!

Microbiology fundamentals: 

Vasculature/Innervation of Head:

 

Cranial Nerve nuclei:

 

Usually all this studying means I'm at Stanford past sunset, makes for pretty sunsets at least!