A Doctors Guide: How to Get Ahead in Your Studies
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A Doctors Guide: How to Get Ahead in Your Studies
Excelling academically isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for many people during a pandemic and lockdown, and rightly so.
Lockdown is a scary period, and first priorities immediately become safety, food, shelter and other necessities low on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs e.g. toilet paper.
But once we’re in the swing of things during a lockdown, as we are here in Australia, New Zealand and over half of the world, there comes the opportunity to not just survive in a lockdown, but thrive in it.
Excelling academically isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for many people during a pandemic and lockdown, and rightly so.
My Own Context
As a doctor having just started my specialist training in Radiology, I’ve been studying for my anatomy and physics exams, which just like the rest of the medical world’s exams, got cancelled because of COVID-19.
While it’s easy to become complacent during these times, this is core knowledge, and knowing it well is not only for passing my exams, but doing my job effectively to help save lives. Similarly, the study you put in now will not only help you achieve your career aspirations, but help you in every aspect of life by learning to learn more effectively.
I’ve been working on improving my learning since high school, where I was Dux at Westlake Boys High School, before continuing to optimise this through medical school on a scholarship at The University of Auckland. Along the way, I’ve shared this info with any interested students and have since helped thousands of students with their studies and hundreds get into medical school.
The study you put in now will not only help you achieve your career aspirations, but help you in every aspect of life by learning to learn more effectively.
Core Non-Study Activities
While it’s tempting to jump into specific study techniques, this will likely contribute less than 20% of your results. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you see it, the core steps to studying effectively are also to any productivity generally, and are much less about your study/work time than how you spend the time around it.
Sleeping enough plays a key role in learning and memory, with most of us requiring 7-9 hours of sleep per day. Now’s a great time to test your own daily requirement by not using an alarm in combination with good sleep hygiene. Once you’ve found a stable amount over 1-2 weeks, consistently aiming for that amount will keep you feeling sharp rather than groggy.
Regular exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, helps improve your brain’s ability to learn. A simple 15 minute run around the block was my daily regime during study, and I felt the effects most acutely when I had a knee injury limiting my running for 6 weeks – my study productivity absolutely tanked during this time. A nice indoor/driveway alternative to this is skipping which also has the aerobic component.
Sleeping enough plays a key role in learning and memory, with most of us requiring 7-9 hours of sleep per day.
Another aspect is food, with the time-old cliche “you are what you eat”. I certainly haven’t always been an exemplary role model here, having infamously eaten $3/day worth of spag bowl and spinach for 200 days in a far from optimal diet. A core principle to go by is eating natural foods and avoiding junk food or excess sugar. Some nutrients known to improve brain function and memory particularly include flavonoids (e.g. blueberries), choline (e.g. chicken, eggs, almonds) and omega-3 (e.g. salmon, mackerel and walnuts).
The final non-study activity is even more important during this pandemic. Before you can do any effective study, you need to massively reduce the amount of news you are exposed to. Just as you are what you eat, you are also what you read, and reading too much news is a surefire way to drive up your anxiety and freeze your ability to get anything done. Like many, I initially got sucked into all the coronavirus news but quickly noticed my productivity freeze. I find the headlines I see naturally through social media are enough to keep me up-to-date, and only read more nutritious information through my feed of blogs, websites and authors that I trust to provide more insightful content.
I certainly haven’t always been an exemplary role model here, having infamously eaten $3/day worth of spag bowl and spinach for 200 days in a far from optimal diet.
Studying Technique
Now that you’ve done the most important 80% to set yourself up for success, it’s time to get stuck in. There’s an overwhelming amount of resources these days, so it’s important just to get into it without spending hours planning or choosing resources.
Stick to one resource initially (e.g. those provided by your course) and keep reading through it until you are bored or confused. It can then be good to combine with an online search or resource you have, or finding a video if still confused by the topic, given that learning via multiple modalities is more effective than one alone.
I prefer this order so that you don’t waste time learning the easy concepts in multiple modalities when one is enough.
Taking Breaks
With this new mode of hyper-acquisition, your brain will initially get fuzzy quickly. That’s a nice indicator from your brain to take a break – which will be much more frequent than you expect. And not by going on social media or reading the news, which just overwhelms the brain with more junk and reduces your ability to learn new content. Instead, try taking an actual break which doesn’t take too long: walking around the house, up and down stairs, or doing a set of pushups.
Let your brain wander and ruminate during these breaks too, it’s amazing how much our brains consolidate new information during what we might consider “unproductive” time.
Let your brain wander and ruminate during these breaks too, it’s amazing how much our brains consolidate new information during what we might consider “unproductive” time.
Summarise
Finally, make sure to summarise as you go along. Most textbooks and resources that help explain concepts are incredibly wordy – you often only need to read the concept once or twice, but then can remember it with a key word or phrase. Every time you come across a new concept, summarise it before moving on. You’ll end up with a set of notes which are very useful to you in reminding you of each of these concepts, while being useless to most others. Writing these notes by hand on paper (or with a stylus + tablet if you’re fancy) is more effective to retain the knowledge compared to typing, though if your handwriting is anything like mine it will make it a whole lot uglier.
I used to brag to my friends during high school that my notes for the year for each subject were condensed onto a single double-sided 1B5 page. I showed it off as a badge of minimal effort, but I didn’t realise at the time how pivotal it was to my academic success.
I used to brag to my friends during high school that my notes for the year for each subject were condensed onto a single double-sided 1B5 page. I showed it off as a badge of minimal effort, but I didn’t realise at the time how pivotal it was to my academic success.
Wrapping It Up
Well, I better use my self-professed techniques in summarising, shouldn’t I?
Firstly and fore-mostly, ensure your safety, health and other necessities are stable. Thankfully because of our government’s early actions, many of us in New Zealand will have this luxury in contrast to others.
The next steps which will determine the bulk of your success are simple: good sleep, daily aerobic exercise and limiting the media you consume.
Once you’ve covered the basics, you can get studying, summarising content as you go along. Practice speed reading while studying, acknowledging that it will require a lot of physical breaks for your brain to consolidate and rejuvenate.
There you have it, a path to not just cover your intended curriculum, but hopefully covering the remainder of your subjects/course to a certain level too! If you would like support with your studies on your path to medical school, get in touch with MedView’s team of admissions experts.
MedView designs bespoke packages to suit every student's needs. Whether you need MMI training, UCAT/GAMSAT tutoring, or high school curriculum support, we can help you prepare for medical school in a strategic and holistic way - and we deliver this all online. Discover the MedView Advantage today! Book a consultation with an admissions expert, who can support you on your journey to medical school.
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The UCAT
The UCAT, or the University Clinical Aptitude Test is the medical school admission test required for many universities in Australia and New Zealand. The UCAT is designed to assess applicants for the aptitude, attitudes and beliefs required of a doctor. In order to defeat the UCAT - we should understand what it is. First off, it’s a two hour computer based exam. There are 5 separately timed subtests - Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning and Situational Judgement. In this blog we break down each of the sections and offer guidance on how to prepare for this important exam.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning is meant to assess your ability to read something and draw appropriate conclusions. You can see why this would be important to a doctor - you’re part of a multidisciplinary team and will have to communicate effectively. In addition, doctors have to keep current with new research and draw reasonable conclusions from published findings. Decision making involves 11 text excerpts with 4 questions each, meaning this section has 44 questions in 21 minutes - that means an average of 29 seconds per question. That doesn’t even take reading the stem into account!
Decision Making
Decision Making is essentially data interpretation from graphs, tables, text and charts. You don’t need to have background knowledge on any subject, because part of what they’re testing is your ability to understand new information. Can you think of a time a doctor might have to do the same? This section has 29 questions in 31 minutes - an average of 64 seconds per question. Compare the timing of section to verbal reasoning, it’s more than double. Consider the length of time per question as an indication of how much the test writers want you to analyse.
Quantitative Reasoning
Quantitative Reasoning is a straightforward mathematics section - there are nine scenarios each with four questions. You’ll have access to an on screen calculator - which is functional but pretty clunky! You’ll have to strike a balance between using mental maths to be quick, and keeping your wits about you, and staying accurate. This section has 36 questions in 24 minutes - an average of 40 seconds per question. It’s not a lot of time to question your maths abilities!
Abstract Reasoning
Abstract Reasoning is used to evaluate your ability to locate patterns and understand logic, separate from your language abilities. If you’ve seen the guides online with pictures asking you to find a pattern - that’s abstract reasoning. This section is sometimes hard for students to grasp, because it’s such a different set of skills. It’s also probably the biggest struggle with time management. This section has 55 questions in 13 minutes - that’s only 14 seconds per question. Don’t even think about going into this section unprepared!
Situational Judgement
Situational Judgement assesses your judgement and character in different situations - the situations are usually clinical or education based. Either situations you’ve likely been in, or a situation you could be involved in future. Then you’ll have to evaluate the appropriateness, importance or consequences of the situation. It’s one way for universities to evaluate the characteristics that are important for future doctors! Situational Judgement has 69 questions in 26 minutes - an average of 25 seconds per question.
With so much to do - how can I set myself up for success?
Prepare
This sounds like a no brainer, but preparation is the most important thing you can do if you want to succeed on the UCAT. Going over questions is one thing but the most effective thing you can do is to practice under exam conditions. That means doing computer based exams - so when you get to test day, you know what to expect. Luckily MedView has a bank of questions.
Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Time is a precious resource when you’re preparing for medical school admissions - you have to continue doing well in your studies, prepare yourself for an interview, and master a new exam. There’s not infinite time - so you have to learn how to study smarter, not just harder. So many students waste their time by continuing to drill skills that they’ve already mastered. It’s important to identify the weak points that need more TLC.
Learn Skills
Each type of question requires a specific psychometric approach to understand and answer so quickly. Skills and strategies to identify the problem and solve the challenging question are essential for success. MedView has a range of 1:1 tutoring, group workshops, practice exams and questions alongside our spiral learning curriculum to help students develop the skills necessary to succeed in time conditions. Our UCAT students are 5x more likely to receive an interview offer.
Sitting full-length practice exams under simulated conditions is the most effective preparation for developing UCAT skills. As this will familiarise yourself with the extreme time pressures, as well as allowing you to practise concentrating on psychometric skills for two hours. It is also important to practice using the computer-based platform that will be used when you sit UCAT as well.
Seek Help
Find friends that have taken the test before and ask for their experience. Better yet, schedule a free Academic Assessment with MedView today! When you start your journey as a MedView student, you are allocated an Education Coordinator who has experience helping hundreds of students get into med school. They’ll help you stay on track with your goals, offer you support, and help you succeed on your path to medical school.
Next Steps
The UCAT is an important exam that is key to medical school admission for undergraduates. We recommend starting your UCAT preparation early and integrating it into your study load to give yourself the best opportunity to succeed. If you’d like to learn more about the UCAT or how to get into Medical School, check out our free eBooks and blogs!
- What is the UCAT?
- How Universities use your UCAT Results
- A Quick Guide to Australia Medicine eBook
- A Quick Guide to New Zealand Medicine eBook
- How to Prepare for the UCAT
- What UCAT scores will get me into med?
MedView offers a range of UCAT preparation courses as well as personalised 1:1 tutoring with our expert team. If you would like to know more about the UCAT and how MedView can help, get in touch today.
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What can you do before the year starts?
Before the year starts, it is vital that you understand that the journey to becoming a doctor is a long and arduous process. Medicine is a life-long commitment whose pathway extends beyond the 6 years of study. It includes a progression from a house officer to a registrar, and application onto training schemes if you opt for the surgical pathway.
The vast majority of people who apply for medicine, do not have a clear picture of what they want to do in the future. This uncertainty is not something to worry about now – you have plenty of time to figure out exactly what you want to do. There is something in medicine for everyone. If you are still uncertain about the medical pathway beyond the 6 years of study, I would recommend doing further research.
Another thing you can do over the summer break is to identify your motivation to become a doctor. If it’s for the money, you may not be in the correct profession - it will be at least 10-12 years until you start earning the big bucks that all doctors are known for! If you have an inherent nature to help people and seek to make our society healthier, then you are on the right track.
Once your head is in the right place, enjoy your summer! The year will belong, and you will have to make social sacrifices to make your studies a priority. Make the most of the time you have by seeing friends and family, as you will inevitably see less of them throughout the year. You are likely to experience burnout sometime during the year, so optimising your rest now is important.
The single most effective way to distance yourself from your competitors is to start early and hard. After you have rested throughout December and into the new year, it is time to get started and get ahead. The Flying Start Course offered by MedView was my ticket to success. It is a highly intensive programme starting in late January that covers the first 6 weeks of content for the three core papers in the first semester. The advantages of this course are numerous:
- The most valuable aspect of Flying Start is the content covered. As the first semester contains 3 out of the 4 core papers, it is so important to get a good start. An early lapse within the first few weeks can completely derail your entire year. Being exposed to similar content ahead of time builds your confidence and gives you the opportunity to begin learning before others.
- There is a radically different teaching style from high school to university. Flying Start emulates the style you are accustomed to, while simultaneously teaching university material. This eases your transition and places students into a more comfortable and familiar environment.
- You can meet other motivated people. You may have heard the horror stories of people sabotaging each other, taking their notes and hiding their bags. While these are mostly exaggerated, there will still be those who resort to other measures to gain an advantage. The people doing Flying Start will be motivated just like you, and eager to get ahead. Working together and building these strong relationships before the year starts means that you have a better support group in place. I have met several bright individuals who were passionate and together, we were able to navigate the difficult year and succeed as a group!
MedView believes in a holistic approach to medical school admissions, meaning we surround the student with a team of experts to help develop their candidacy and skills in all three major pillars in their journey to medical school, and now it’s even more accessible with the MedView Hub App!
Over the last decade there’s been a mass adoption of smartphones and a shift in the way people behave online and communicate. Australians are spending more time online, often using multiple screens, and consuming vast amounts of content each day. And it’s only going up!
Recent figures show that almost eight out of ten Australians use social media, and 87% of them use their mobile phones to access it. Fifty-nine percent of Australians access social media everyday or most days, and over a third of people check social media more than five times per day.
We often go online to chat with friends and family, share photos, or be entertained by cat videos. But the very same platforms we use to socialise can also be used to gather knowledge that we can apply in our offline lives. One of the areas where users can reap the benefits is online communities. MedView prides themselves on finding the best tutor, strategist or consultant for each student whether they be in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom and having an online community platform allows even more core benefits for our students in a shorter amount of time. Now students can access over 320 tutors, strategists and consultants and get answers to their Synapse questions, interact in exclusive workshops, and most importantly make friends. The meaningful relationships with other members of the community increases knowledge and collective wisdom.
The MedView Hub App is our own online community platform for students, parents, tutors, and alumni to create a network of opportunities to participate in smart, focused conversation on specific medical school admissions topics (unlike the Instagram and Facebook chatter).
Over the last decade there’s been a mass adoption of smartphones and a shift in the way people behave online and communicate. Australians are spending more time online, often using multiple screens, and consuming vast amounts of content each day. And it’s only going up!
Recent figures show that almost eight out of ten Australians use social media, and 87% of them use their mobile phones to access it. Fifty-nine percent of Australians access social media everyday or most days, and over a third of people check social media more than five times per day.
We often go online to chat with friends and family, share photos, or be entertained by cat videos. But the very same platforms we use to socialise can also be used to gather knowledge that we can apply in our offline lives. One of the areas where users can reap the benefits is online communities. MedView prides themselves on finding the best tutor, strategist or consultant for each student whether they be in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom and having an online community platform allows even more core benefits for our students in a shorter amount of time. Now students can access over 320 tutors, strategists and consultants and get answers to their Synapse questions, interact in exclusive workshops, and most importantly make friends. The meaningful relationships with other members of the community increases knowledge and collective wisdom.
The MedView Hub App is our own online community platform for students, parents, tutors, and alumni to create a network of opportunities to participate in smart, focused conversation on specific medical school admissions topics (unlike the Instagram and Facebook chatter).
Find out more and begin your journey to medical school by speaking with a MedView Academic Advisor for free today!
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