First of all, you are here for a reason! It wasn't by accident that you landed in medical school. DVM, RVT, MD or whatever the designation, your path to becoming a doctor was deliberate! You have pushed yourself, overcome obstacles, intensive disciplines, all night study sessions, midnight cram sessions, sore butt and restless leg syndrome, even... organic chemistry for most of us! đ¤˘
To that end, it is important to remember one very important thing; medical school is a different beast entirely than any education you have taken. A common hyperbolic example:
Medical school is like trying to drink from a fire hose, too much, too fast, and you are going to drown. Too little, and small sips? You are going to get your feet swept out by the current!
You canât cram, use your same study techniques, or even organize yourself the same way in many cases that you did in university or high school, you have to be prepared with the right tools and techniques to succeed and unfortunately many students don't realize this until itâs much too late.
High school tropes like âIâm a visual learnerâ, âI only learn by writing things downâ, "I'm an auditory learner" are not excuses anymore. Your learning is 100% in your hands and under your control. Your studying is going to have to be efficient, effective, and adaptive in order to succeed through one of the most difficult things you will ever face. By developing skills early on you will be in a much better position to take board examinations and be successful when a clinician puts the spotlight on you or a patient's life is in your hands.
What you really need is a second brain! Yes, exactly that! This is a productivity principle that you need to take advantage of for sure and something that people of medicine donât take advantage of. I will explain more on this later!
As you move through this guide we will go through how to use dirty mnemonics, what happens when you get tunnel vision and overwhelmed with difficult concepts, how to study effectively, and even how to cheat by hacking your brain with a piece of gum. Should be fun! By the time you reach the end you will be well versed in the tools and insight to take your studying seriously and succeed in school. Taking notes? You might be surprised to know that taking notes isn't necessarily recommended anymore and can actually hinder your studies!
Dillon Scott, RVT
DVM candidate 2023
đ (click on the arrow to open and close the "toggle" arrow to the left.)
**Toggles are an amazing learning tool! More on that later. Click on the ones you see along the way for more information and close them after to keep everything neat and tidy.
Welcome to Notion! The website/app that you are on right now is Notion which acts like a "second brain" for you. It is one of many apps and tools that can help you succeed in medical school.
Notion is one of the most powerful apps medical students have at their disposal and it's completely free! Almost seems criminal. There are a ton of apps that you can use to organize and make your life more efficient and productive and fortunately you don't have to be a computer wiz to get them set up either. I will explain the other types of apps and tools as we move through while highlighting some of the cool things Notion can do as we go. Notion is the number 1 choice among medical and veterinary medical students for a few reasons but there are many other options out there to help you get your life organized and study efficiently.