My Best Study Companions

Everybody has his or her own way of studying. For me, I would say that my way of studying is common yet eccentric in my own way lol. 

I was never a night owl during my schooling years from young till undegraduate years, except during on calls or holidays. So I spent like 50-75% of the remaining time that I had after coming back from wards on studying.

My study companions changed over the years. Below are the companions that I have had during my 5 years of medical school. ☺️

Lecture Notes + Textbooks

In the early years of medical school, preclinical years to be specific, I relied a lot on printed lecture notes, and of course, not to forget, the textbooks. I would always jot down the extra points given by lecturers onto the notes  if we were given the copies prior to the lecture, otherwise I would jot it down on blank A4 papers then transfer them onto the lecture notes later. After that, I would spend a few hours to add on important points taken from textbooks. I found that by doing so, it made my life much easier when I was preparing for end of module examinations or end of semester examinations. 

Notebooks + Textbook

Well, I hardly had lecture notes anymore when I started my clinical years. So, I started to make my own notes for important topics in blank A4 papers, using textbooks and teachings as references. However, when time was running out, I would resort to just reading through the textbooks, highlighting the main points (but most of the time ended up with the whole page becoming jaundiced!), then jot down the pages onto the list of topics that I took from study guide. However, when I was in my final year of undergraduate studies, I realised that notebooks & bulky textbooks weren't user friendly at all. I do not have photographic memory, so I would need to refer back to the books from time to time especially the knowledge on certain postings that were completed during third year. Then I began to think that it was pretty inconvenient to not have immediate access to my notes or textbooks whenever I was in the wards. So, I started to make good use of my Ipad mini's Notes app. (Although I found out that there are other apps that are much better than Notes app eg Evernote, I still stick to it till now). 

Apple's Notes App

Continuation from above, so I started to use this app when I was in my final year of medical school. I typed my new notes into my Ipad and that had made my life much easier. I could always access to my notes immediately using the 'search' function in my Ipad or Iphone. Besides, I could store downloaded PDFs, power point slides from Mr Google into this app too and everything could be conveniently organized according to postings. Till now, I'm still using Notes app, and discovered a new function recently that, the notes could be saved as PDF when it is in print preview mode!

Pictures

I did spent some time in drawing organs etc to aid my understanding of anatomy, however, unfortunately I gave up doing so after like using less than 20 pages of the drawing book, since it could be time consuming for me, who can't really draw well at single attempt. So I resorted of downloading relevant simplified pictures into my Iphone instead and organized them according to their related field eg Surgery, O&G etc. 

Music + Highlighters 

These two were almost always indispensable whenever I was studying in my hostel. Somehow listening to music while studying would heighten up my spirit lol. Although I wasn't really listening to the music anymore after a while when my brain had warmed, I still enjoy putting on earphones/ headphones. I'm a highlighter lover, so, most of the books that I owned were jaundiced! I do believe till now that highlighting is very important in segregating main points from the rest, and it is also for the sake of convenience during revisions for finals! 

Well, everything that is listed out up till now sound pretty normal. So, where's the eccentric part that I mentioned earlier? 😆 What made me think that I'm an oddball was actually my place of studying. Most people prefer study table, but for me, I spent most of the studying time on my bed instead, along with a tray table to put my books, stationeries and ipad! That's the only place that I find to be conducive for studying up till now lol.