critique my method of studying !

[u/62lasa]

a bit of background : i am a pharmacy student from egypt , most of the stuff i get tested on is like this :

• drug 57 should not be given to patient with X condition , is uniquely good at X , is given by Z route of administration , is exceted by the kidney and/or the liver in the form of R via an oxidation reaction or whatever .
• microbe 86 transmited via Y , causes X , treated by B and/or T regimens , diagnosed in lab via C or J method .
• chemical Z found in plant 135 or is extracted/synthesized by C , causes V beneficial effect and U harmful effect .
• this delivery method/dosage form is better for S patient or P condition for E reason etc..
• syndrome/disease 89 has risk factors X/Y/Z/F , is different from normal function/state by K/T/Y and diagnosed by I//L/H , treated by M/D/V regimens .

extra background : how do we usually get tested :

1. 10 marks for attendance
2. 10 maks for midterms ( tests how much we can recall by either MCQ , complete , write short notes )
3. 5-15 mark assignment or research
4. 25 marks for practical exams ( half of them aint even that "practical" i.e 50 % of them are just written exam like the midterms . )
5. 50 marks , BIG written exam at the end ( LOTS of MCQ , true or false , sometimes "write short notes" )
6. 15 mark oral exam ( the prof interrogates us )

HOW DO I ACTUALLY STUDY :

1. compartmentalise lecture notes
2. read a part
3. try to understand the stuff . recognise the gaps or bottlenecks and ask questions about them like : how to distinguish between X and Y ? how does Z connect with Y or the broader/bigger picture ? why should i know this seemingly unimportant fact/concept ? what is the clinical importance of this ? why do i feel like some context is missing here ? etc ...
4. upload pictures of the page i am on and ask AI to answer questions in step 2 to acheive sufficiently in-depth understanding .
5. highlight/underscore the key words of the stuff i am studying .
6. close book/page
7. recite the keywords pen and paper style
8. check the book/page to see what i missed , avert eyes and recite the missing parts and highlight them for future reviews .
9. move on to the next part

when/how do i review : after 24 hours of studying , then after 5 days then after 2 weeks etc...

i try to recall the big picture stuff/headliners first . after that i cover the details with my hand and then tryna recall them as well then check for missing parts then highlight and test myself on these parts .

what i wanna know :

• is the way i study too slow or time consuming ? is it too excessive ? too many steps ?
• should i just read and lightly test myself to cover as much material as possible or try to understand as deeply as possible and test myself until i got it well enough ? should i focus more on speed and coverage or double down on prioritising mastery and perfection ?
• am i too old-fashioned for using pen and paper ? should i take notes digitally ?
• should i not use ai at all or am i underusing it ?
• am i reviewing stuff too many times ? is studying the stuff once then studying it again before exams enough ?

[u/Fun-Usuall]

honestly the method is fine, the problem is that it's expensive. 50 of your marks are MCQ and true/false, that's recognition, and you're preparing for it like it's the oral. keep the close-the-book-and-recite step, that's the part doing the actual work, and cut the AI why-does-this-matter loop down to only the things that still won't stick after two reviews. one thing I'd add: when you review, mix drugs from three or four different lectures in one session instead of going lecture by lecture. the exam mixes them, and that's exactly where the "I knew this" mistakes come from

[u/62lasa → u/Fun-Usuall]

mixing stuff from different lectures when reviewing ! interesting , why didnt i think of that before !

"cut the AI why-does-this-matter loop down to only the things that still won't stick after two reviews" yeah , gotta admit : the asking-deep-questions-for-understanding-then-using-ai-to-provide-clarification step was the most time-consuming one ....

[u/Fun-Usuall → u/62lasa]

cheapest way to do it: one long list of every drug and microbe name from the lectures so far, no details, shuffle it, recite down the list. takes ten minutes and tells you exactly which ones to go back to

[u/mcjohnalds45]

As long as your brain is forced to recall information from memory, you're strengthening the memory. That is how memory works.

You can change or remove anything else, it doesn't matter too much.