Study Styles

I used Anki to study for the MCAT and it has now found its way back into my life. It’s an incredibly effective tool for managing the overwhelming amount of material we need to learn. While the benefits of active learning are well-known, Anki goes beyond that by organizing my study schedule for me. It calculates the number of cards I need to review each day, eliminating the need for me to make study plans. Once I’ve completed my daily reviews, I can enjoy guilt-free downtime, knowing I’ve stayed on track. It also keeps me accountable, motivating me to study (at least a little bit) every day.

I’m a bit of an outlier in this, but I love going to class! One of the things that makes WashU Med so special is our incredible faculty and their depth of knowledge in each of their specialized fields. They are always more than happy to answer any questions and address points of confusion in real time. As a student who likes to ask a lot of questions (it’s been pointed out to me that you can hear my voice at least once on every class recording), going to class is an easy way to stay on top of the material and clarify anything I’m unsure about before I even leave the auditorium. 

The other nice thing about WashU Med’s class schedule is that it’s very consistent! If you’re anything like me, in the sense that you’re an early riser who benefits from structure and routine, going to class has been a great way to ensure that I maintain a consistent sleep schedule and get a productive start to my morning on a daily basis. I still watch the recordings for when I want a second pass at the material, but going to class means that I don’t have to teach myself as much of the content on my own. I’ve also enjoyed getting closer with faculty and the other students who are in class every morning with me – it’s a nice way to stay connected with the WashU Medicine community.

There are lots of different ways you can learn in medical school, and finding out which one is best for you can be tough. For me (and many of my classmates), we all started going to every class throughout the first module. Inevitably, I missed one for whatever reason and needed to rewatch it on the recording, which I of course did on two times speed. This led to the realization that I could do this with every recorded class, and have been doing that since. From listening to M2s, I know that many will go on to stop watching the recording altogether and instead utilize third-party resources. I’m not quite there yet, but that is definitely a route that many take. However, I would definitely recommend starting with class and then following a similar route to see what works best for your style.

When I first began medical school I was fully committed to Anki, but became bored quickly and struggled to connect different concepts. Despite feeling pressure to continue Anki-ing, I chose to use a variety of traditional study methods instead, and haven’t turned back. For each lecture, I choose a method that I feel is most conducive to learning that specific “type” of material; for example, when learning pharmacology, I will usually fill out my medication table while going through the lecture and then make physical flashcards for the tricky ones. Alternatively, for a histology-heavy lecture, I might pull some important photos from the lecture into a word document and bullet-point notes for each. Traditional study methods sometimes get hate, but I’m here to tell you that you CAN use them and succeed in medical school!