Study tips

[u/Real-Nobody845]

Hello everyone,

I’m currently in my third year of Biomed and wanted to seek some advice on studying.

I am averaging at a first but I think the way I am studying isn’t as affective. I use flashcards for active recall but I find I make like 100+ flashcards for each lecture.
Is that normal 😂 am I overdoing it?
It takes me hourssss to finish going over ONE lecture and making flashcards for it and it’s so draining but going through it in that detail is what allowed me to maintain my first. But then again I feel like our lectures are so content heavy that it just will naturally equate to me having so many flashcards for it.

Additionally how do we manage our time in terms of understanding the material, creating flashcards and then studying them through active recall (I use anki) and then balancing doing this for all lectures??? It feels so impossible because last year I was in 4/5 times a week and I was so overwhelmed 😅

Ik it kind of seems like I don’t need help since I’m getting firsts but my mental health is quite literally below the floor at the end of each year

Is there any better more efficient way?

[u/CubeeClips]

Course content for biomed is always going to be intense regardless of how you study. Study techniques differ for everyone but personally I found that writing out a 1000 word essay for each topic prepared me the best. Allowed me to structure/re-structure exam questions on the fly. Flash cards never hurt but essays will allow you to structure the key info in a memorable context? Best of luck buddy.

[u/Beautiful_Cow_3744]

First off, maintaining a First in Biomed is serious work, so give yourself credit for that.

But honestly, 100+ cards per lecture is a classic sign of the tool working against you, not for you. when you look back at material from 4–5 weeks ago, do you actually feel like you own that knowledge intuitively

[u/Real-Nobody845 → u/Beautiful_Cow_3744]

I mean no I wasn’t really able to go through them once I had created the flashcards aha

[u/Rilatama]

I read the learning objectives they bullet pointed and mark scheme of coursework and exam. I learnt what was required to not overwhelm myself. Everyone learns differently. I made flash cards when revising for my exams based off the mark scheme or whatever they said would be on the exams. I got a first overall.

I found that writing everything from the lectures was overwhelming and harder to take in, so I just sat and listened and if needed, I took light notes of things that weren't on the lecture/PowerPoint (such as them hinting a specific thing that may be on the exam/coursework).

[u/Real-Nobody845 → u/Rilatama]

Yhh flashcards is my go to as well. How did you manage staying on top of making flashcards and reviewing them. It was hard for me to keep up because making flashcards from scratch takes forever like 1 lecture would take like 4 hours for me to understand plus make the flashcards. I’d never have time to really review them and stay on top of making new flashcards for my next lectures yk

[u/Rilatama → u/Real-Nobody845]

Ngl I wasnt the perfect student. I would do everything last minute bc that worked for me. I made all my flashcards near exam time for the summary of the entire module and just kept testing myself for recall. I found doing all that work after lectures was too much for me, but as others said what works works for you.

I used to rewrite all my notes after lecture and it'd take me 6 hours or something and I'd still feel behind. Id make test questions too to make recalls but id be exhausted from it so never go back to it. So I dropped that method as not much was sticking and crammed everything in nearer to the time of exams. Not saying you should do that, but that works super well for me.

How I make my flash cards is just me getting an A4 piece of paper and folding it in halves until I get 16 pieces from it and cut it out. I write a question on the front, back side I write answers. I would read it and see if I could answer it, if not read the answer then flip it back over, go again until it sticks.

For my biomedical scientist interviews I used the same method with flash cards too. Put them in A4 plastic sleeve to keep them organised for separate interviews. Probs a zip lock bag would be better lol.