“I can’t keep it all straight.”
“There’s too much to know.”
“I don’t have enough time.”
These are the three most common phrases I hear, and I hear them over and over.
I understand it’s difficult. I understand there’s a lot of material and a finite amount of time in which to learn it.
If you can’t spend more time studying (and you really can’t; you have to sleep at some point), then you need to rethink how you’re spending your study time.
Rereading notes and texts has been shown to provide very little benefit. Despite all the data, rereading and highlighting remain the most popular study techniques among students.
The issue is that when students read over their notes, they become fluent with their notes. This feels really good. Like you’re making progress. The problem is that you aren’t mastering the concepts and ideas. You’re not building durable memories with roadmaps and cues to find the stored information.
The words simply slide through your mind.
No wonder you don’t remember what you studied yesterday. No wonder you don’t remember what you studied a month ago. Those were just words moving across your mind and now they are gone. You can recognize the words if you go back to your notes, but you have not mastered them.
On your exams, you are asked to pull the information from memory without your notes or texts to cue you.
In the September issue of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars Newsletter, you’re going to learn a better way to learn. Yes, learning is a skill. You’ve got to make friends with that brain of yours and stop fighting with it. You’re going to learn how to hold more data in your brain and then (even more importantly) access it when you need it.
Get the September issue delivered directly to your mailbox. Click that link right there:
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace