Med School TOPPER's SECRET to Studying Effectively (Detailed Breakdown)

I've been caught in a rabbit hole of study yt videos for like the last year, and this is the only one that actually helped me. You are godsent.

PART 1: Priming the information Step 1 : create mental model 1) Skim read the chapters (bold and highlighted words) and write down key terms from them 2) look up the words u have no idea about (30 secs per word) This should take about 10 mins 3) Link the concepts together using prior information - mind mapping Step 2: The initial questions/pretesting 15-20 questions before diving into topic (atleast attempt) Step 3: Pre reading 10:27 PART 2: Absorbing the information Step 1: Layering 1) skimming and scanning 2) go over general concepts and overviews using multiple sources like google, books (avoid getting into details) 3) go through the difficult concepts one by one Step 2: creating recall questions Step 3: teaching everything (15-20 mins) 22:04 PART 3: Retrieving the information Recalling question method 1) answer the list of questions without using any resources or notes (spend generous time) 2) go through the content and fill in any knowledge gaps 3) keep repeating the first two steps 4) come code the questions based on difficulty Interleaving PART 4: Spacing the information Day 1 Day 4 Day 14 Day 40 For an exam, prepare 4-5 weeks ago so u get atleast 3 repetitions for difficult topics and 1-2 repetitions for easy topics

My grandfathers told me something that I’ll never forget ” the key to intelligence is retention and memorization”

This video may end up saving my damn near impossible summer semester

in a simple way take keypoints in topics which cover whole topic , google the keypoints to know what it the keypoint is about now we understood about key points and make a relationships with each other by mental model mapping like similarities / dissimiliaritis etc connections now active recall by testing questions , teaching (layman) spaced revision

I am so thankful to you for putting out this video. As someone who was falling into the pools of videos available on YouTube about studying methods, I have found my stop. I am grateful that you have summarised all the things in one place. And yes, the last point about still allowing oneself to study in not so "strict" manner resonated a lot with me, since it is the way I can be motivated and find the topic interesting instead of procrastinating. I hope you keep posting such great videos.

Truly excellent guide. A++++ . I wish I had this before I started med school. Everyone says "don't study hard, study smart" without actually explaining what that means.

Notes for the video ( just a reference to me you can use it if you'd like hope it helps :face-blue-wide-eyes::face-blue-smiling:) Thank you to Zain for sharing the tips!! I will try my best to apply them. What I love though is you connected some stuff from Justin Sung and I'm actually learning from him too so I appreciate how you simplified some of the things Justin addresses in his videos again thank you!! 1. Priming: Textbook information isn't in linear form and our brain doesn't take in everything we read right away. Priming helps give a baseline to what you learning in a topic. With a basic understanding, you can build on it. Make a mindmap/mental model and create a base. Method for priming: 1. Don't dive deep in! first, look at the topics, pull out keywords have them in mind, avoid writing them in a linear like numbered have them mixed and jumbled up 2. Look up information on the keywords you have no information on, dont spend time on them just gather a basic understanding and see how it relates to the other keywords you gathered. Spend up to 10 minutes at least to avoid going over time. Think and use your prior knowledge to see how the keywords link and connect with each other. 3. Before advancing to making a mindmap think about how the mindmap should be organized and how to split and group the words up Link the concepts together and form them into a mindmap! "Instead of you reading random points and forcing yourself to understand, Everything you read will automatically become relevant to your brain" Relevance makes us connect to things and allows us to remember things. Effort guides us and gives us feedback on what we should improve. 2. The Initial Questions: Testing comes from practice questions, Constantly testing yourself before and after the chapter helps improve your learning and thinking skills because it gathers our understanding and our prior knowledge and when we test ourselves before we get a sense of an idea of what we'll learn in the upcoming chapters. Our question is what forces us to continue learning the more questions we have the more we are curious to learn and improve our mind map 3. Prereading: Take time to read the lesson (from notes or textbook) before class. The questions that come to mind as you read a chapter before class can help you perhaps make you start thinking about the topic. Layering and practical methods: (similar to priming) Go over the topic only skim and scan it Go over the general concepts but also use other resources from other different platforms (internet, books, research etc.) Avoid memorizing and going into the context in depth. Go through the difficult concepts one by one Creating Recall Questions: This can be done as you prime, and make the mental model This can be used as an alternative way of studying for your tests write questions avoid being broad and vague be more specific and exactly state what you asking for Creating questions in a way makes you more engaged and less isolated from the learning process. It allows even to open up your thinking more making you think about the topic more from a different perspective. Teaching everything: Use the Feynman technique (teach it to someone else or to yourself in a simple way) to help see what you understand and don't understand. Recalling: Rather than learning than practicing do learning but also retrieve at the same time it will help you learn and cover the topic better and the remembrance gets stronger. Answer recall questions using the questions you've made without any resources or notes! Reflect back and fill in any gaps of knowledge you missing Color code the questions you wrote so you can see what is difficult and easy for you. Every time you review try your best to deal with the ones that are the most difficult ones that are highlighted. These methods can even be applied to STEM (Math, chemistry, physics) : Have problem examples for each problem type to help you understand and learn how to solve the problem questions. Test yourself often if you forget the method to solve a problem question refer back to the textbook to understand it again Space out Repetition: Space out the information that you learn Just as you forget it test yourself. For challenging topics have at least 3 repetitions. For less challenging topics have 1 or 2 repetitions

Brother I’m beyond grateful for you taking the time to research the best methods and compile them into this video.

This is probably the best study video I've ever watched, compact, covered everything and every one of my questions and man I'm so impressed at how good you explain this, can't wait to study like this from next semester

This is the only video that isn’t just vague. Actually so helpful and I thank you so much for making this!!! I think a video on how to schedule this time in for a full course loud would be really useful !!

9min 39secs into the video and already in awe with your explaination. Some of the already mentioned techniques I've tried first hand and they are game changing indeed, going to try everything you've said. Keep making such videos!!

Thank you! I was already doing half of this, but I’ve never thought of them as ‘steps’, thus I usually end up skipping or forgetting to do them. Also, that priming phase and absorbing phase is so good. Never actually came to my mind about how important those two steps were. Thank you again!

this is literally the bestttt video on any study tips. its an all in one study guide and i wont be needing any other study videos after i watch this. thank u so much Zainn

Great strategy that seems to work well! Such a detailed description of what to do and how to do it. I am a teacher and I firmly believe learning strategies should be taught at schools on a regular basis! Hope to find time and watch your other videos! Amazing work!!! Thank you!

I feel so excited for trying this method out! He just well organized the whole process and mentioned some of the stuff I’ve done during the preparation for exams but didn’t know exactly what they were. Thanks for sharing!!!

YOU'RE A LIFESAVER- this is the most helpful study video I've seen

me zoning out in this video like i always do while studying

I’m so glad I came across this video. I struggled last semester with trying to be consistent with previewing content for the next week, because I was so worried about getting caught up on homework. Also, you talking about the light bulb moments was so relatable, for me I was really upset with physics last semester because I wasn’t getting the lightbulb moments till maybe the end of the semester. I’m definitely going to try these techniques this semester.

HANDS DOWN MOST HELPFUL STUDY VIDEO!!!! Thank you so much for this clear and concise video, I feel like this can really help me tackle subjects like biology that is centered around understanding and memorization. Future video idea: A efficient way to learn subjects centered around logic and rules (like math and chemistry).