So I think this might be the question I get asked the MOST often. People are always asking me how do I study for this or that class. So I thought I would just make a master post I could link you all to. :)
All classes
Watch my video on how to study. This applies to almost everything you have to study.
See below for additions to doing everything listed in that video.
Math
Do problems. Do all the problems. Do them again.
Do all the problems in your book.
Get another book and repeat step 2
Trust me 99.9% of all math classes is pattern recognition. If you can learn how to solve the problem you can ace any set of variables they throw at you.
Physics
See math–because physics is JUST applied math. You have to learn how to read the questions and pull out the information you need–the only way to do that is to do dozens of questions!
Micro Bio/ID
Flow charts–break things up by group to understand them. You have to group things to remember what’s gram positive or gram negative
Don’t blow off the actual micro part of micro. If you understand the virulence factors you’re more likely to understand the sx/tx
I had to use a lot of silly sayings to remember all the little pieces of micro. So I would remind myself about the diseases of haemophilus influenzae by saying haEMOPhilus (epiglotitus, meningitis, otitis media, pnuemonia). It was silly but it worked for me.
O Chem
Do all the problems. Do them again.
Get another book and repeat step 1
Flashcard the reactions you don’t understand–put the reactants on one side and the products on the back. Practice these backward and forward.
Draw out every step of reactions you don’t understand
Circle your electrons or mark whatever it is you lose track of
Count–count where everything went at the end to make sure you didn’t screw up.
Categorize. Do all members of this group react this way?? It’s easier to learn the rules and the exceptions than force memorize every individual compound’s reaction.
Gen Chem
See math
Understand real world examples. I related all of the stuff about heat to a cup of coffee. It worked for me
Talk through it! I had to read chemistry out loud or try to repeat it out loud in my own words to have any idea what was going on.
YouTube videos are absolutely perfect for gen chem!! (There’s even a whole CrashCourse series on Gen Chem that’s appropriate especially for high school level chem).
General Biology–Genetics/Immunology/Cell Biologyetc
You really need to watch my video
Cross relate–you have to integrate all your biology together to keep all that information in your head.
Flashcard only the stuff that can’t be understood. (Like cell markers, etc)
Charts! Biology is all about categorization and understanding the similarities between different groups of things. If you can simply remember the characteristics of a group it’s easy to know everything you need to about all the members of that group.
Pathology
Pathoma
Look at the pictures until you feel sick.
Make flashcards of the pictures so you can at least do immediate identification of what you’re looking at even if you don’t know exactly what the pathology is.
Integrate! How does the physiology relate to exactly what is going on with the pathology? How does the pathology predict treatment?
Learn some latin and greek root words. Even if you have no idea what the word means you might be able to figure it out from there. :) I’ve gotten more than one question right by just figuring out what the word meant.
Pharmacology
Understand the mechanism of the drug–it will really predict how it is used or what its toxicities are for
Flashcard the bare minimum or anything bizarre you can’t remember any other way.
Figure out the similarities in the names. If it sounds the same, it probably belongs in the same class.
Don’t learn in isolation. It’s hard to study pharmacology on its own–instead study it integrated with physiology and pathology whenever possible for the best understanding.
Study as case studies!! What diuretics would you give to a patient with CHF? With ESLD?
Biochemistry
Charts–get poster boards or tape together a ton of sheets of paper and try to write out every pathway you can to see how it all is integrated.
Always track the flow of energy!! Where is your NAD/ATP/etc?
Group pathways by the “point”. Are you destroying carbohydrates or building fats? How does this compare to other pathways that do the same thing?
Try to rewrite the pathways from memory then see what you missed.
Anatomy
Spend a bunch of time with the specimens if you have access to them.
DRAW even if you suck at drawing
Learn the clinical correlations–why do you care
Thing about everything in relationship to one another!
Do questions!! Grey’s has a student question book I recommend.
I’ll probably add more to this list as I go and as more of you ask for specific subject advice, but here you go!!
When in doubt, always ask yourself “how would this be asked on a test?”. If you could write a test question about it, you should definitely know it!
And always remember that you should study for understanding and not just for a grade–always be learning and not memorizing. It’s more important you understand the material than you get the A!!
Happy studying!
"don't worry about it" i say while spending nights directing what I did to make you do that to me
I be like “yeah we cool” then never feel comfortable interacting with u again
foreshadowing done well makes me go feral like there’s NOTHING better than getting to the end a book or an important storyline moment and realising that the author laced information so intricately into their writing that weren’t noticeable upon first read but when you read back sections they’re light giant red flags like wow writing is amazing
current fan creation landscape is kinda like if you went to a party with a homemade cake and everyone takes a slice and silently thumbs up at you with no attempt to start a conversation except for occasionally some guy sits in the corner with a tape recorder critiquing the cake as though he was a restaurant critic and another guy is handing the cake to an uber driver like "yeah i need you to find a restaurant that makes cake like this so i can have more of it" and the only person that's talked to you in 30 minutes is a very sweet little guy who was like "hey i liked your cake" and then ran away apologizing for bothering you the moment you said thank you.
Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)
40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)
Excellent basic crochet video series
Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)
Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)
How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)
Another drawing character faces video
Literally my favorite art pose hack
Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??
Introduction to flying small aircrafts
French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding
Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)
Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)
Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)
Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:
Calculus 1 (full semester class)
Learn basic statistics (free textbook)
Introduction to college physics (free textbook)
Introduction to accounting (free textbook)
Learn a language:
Ancient Greek
Latin
Spanish
German
Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)
French
Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)
your writing doesn’t have to be perfect. it just has to make someone feel something.
today I: drunk 3 bottles of water ate 3 meals got advised sewed a dress studied organized writing projects journaled
It's only Tueday, and I end the day with a horrible uncomfortable feeling. It's like someone is gently tugging at my heart, and it only makes me feel all wrong, like something bad is about to happen. I can't do anything about it but sleep it off I guess, but at least I end the day knowing that I managed to be somewhat productive. I have a lower grade in one of my classes then I thought, and though I'm passing, I'm not doing as well as I hoped. That's to be expected considering how I procrastinated on every assignment at the beginning of the semester, though there is no use in dwelling on what I could have done better, just doing better. So I am doing better now by working on my assignment even though it is due next week. I go to bed early because Tomorrow I have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to register for classes and sign up for summer classes.
No offense but I think some of you would be a lot happier writing a fictional atlas or encyclopedia instead of a narrative story
hey pookies, today i wasn't very productive, but I forgive myself because I wanted to sleep in and I will have a very busy next 4 days and studied:
today i:
slept in
studied for my exam and am fairly confident in taking it
put away clothes
tided my room
went to a meeting
took a quiz
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