Monday, March 23, 2015

Study Tips: Abbreviating Powerpoints Or Textbooks Into Study Notes

medical school making notes
I've written previously about how I make study notes, but I realize that I wasn't very clear on how I take Powerpoint lecture slides or a textbook chapter and turn it into a page of notes. In this post I'll go through the process with an example, so let me apologize in advance for this being the most. boring. post. ever. for the majority of readers (including anyone who has already found a system of note making that works for them).

I'll reiterate my two goals in making study notes:
  1. To condense a hefty stack of lecture notes into a minimum number of pages...i.e. be concise and waste no words! Who wouldn't rather study 50 pages instead of 500?
  2. To include every potentially testable fact in my study notes, so that I can get rid of the Powerpoint slides/textbook and only study my own notes come exam time.

Presently I'm studying for the USMLE Step 1 (yes, I'm playing catch up on this one, having only realized recently that I may end up working in the States), so I'll use the example of making study notes from First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 to demonstrate the process.

Here is the first chapter of the book, which I spent a couple of hours going over and making notes on (note that all screenshots from First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 by Le and Bhushan are copyrighted by McGraw-Hill and not owned by me):
first aid usmle step 1
Here is the same chapter, condensed into three pages of study notes:
medical school study notes
medical school notes
medical school notes
Distilling fifteen pages into three is none too shabby. Let me highlight a few ways I've shortened things down, since the above pages are too small for you to read anyways...

The section on trial phases looks like this in the book:
first aid usmle step 1
I abbreviated it by reducing the number of words, underlining key words, and visually demarcating phases I, II, and III (pre-approval) from phase IV (post-approval) with a dashed line. I use symbols (#), abbreviations (pt, dz), and arrows (drug, placebo) to shorten the text.
med school notes

The section on positive and negative predictive value looks like this:
first aid usmle step 1
I shortened it into just two lines, using "+" and "-" symbols rather than words, and using yellow-highlighted up and down arrows rather than the words "high" and "low" to pictorially show direct and inverse relations. Furthermore, I added a memory aid ("pushes up") in pencil. Note that I write my equations vertically, which is visually more clear than the horizontally typed equations in the textbook.
med school notes

The section on precision versus accuracy in the book looks like this:
first aid usmle step 1
I rewrote it as just a few key words. I thought the picture was helpful, so I drew a small version of it in the margin. I omitted any information that I already knew or thought would not be helpful to memorize.
med school notes

Here is an entire page in the book that lists and explains the types of bias:
first aid usmle step 1
There is way too much information here! There's no way I am going to memorize everything on this page, nor do I have to. In such cases, I read it all over, make sure I understand it, and write just a few words or one example to remind me of what each thing means. This is active studying at its best -- I'm processing the information and efficiently paraphrasing it, rather than blindly copying it down.
usmle notes

Here's how the book defines null and alternative hypotheses -- pretty brief, but I can do better...
first aid usmle step 1
I just use a couple of words, linked clearly by equal signs. I use the empty set sign for "no" and a checkmark for "yes". I thought the book's picture was useful, so copied it down too.
usmle study notes

Here's what the book has to say about type I and type II error:
first aid usmle step 1
Again, there's too much information here. Realistically, I know I'm just going to be able to memorize a couple of things, so that's all I write down in my own notes, highlighting useful memory aids and adding a couple of small reminders in pencil:
usmle study notes

The book is pretty good (by which I mean brief) at explaining primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention:
first aid usmle step 1
I make my notes even briefer -- the fewer words the better! I think my version is a bit more clear, with the examples vertically aligned and the "PST" memory aid highlighted.
primary secondary tertiary disease prevention

Here is the book's full-page explanation of ethical principles, informed consent, and consent for minors:
first aid usmle step 1
Here is my much briefer summary. I didn't write down definitions for the ethical principles, as I know what these words mean (don't waste space in your notes for things you already know). Under "informed consent" I listed the key principles. Under "confidentiality" I listed the five exceptions, using only a few words each. It is much easier for me to memorize vertical lists of a few items than facts listed in paragraph form, as they were presented in the book. Under consent for minors I clearly summarized what the book said, adding the "(<18 yo)" clarification above the word "minor".
ethical princles

Finally, here is the book's definition of Apgar score. It is nice and brief, but I dislike how the text is clumped in a paragraph.
apgar
I rewrote it with better spacing, with the pertinent information clearly displayed (1 min & 5 min, /10). I used a happy face instead of the word "good" (anything to make studying happier, right?). The last sentence in the book relates directly to the "<4" category, so that's literally what I attached it to in my own notes.
apgar

If you've read this far, I hope this was somewhat helpful in giving you some ideas of how to shorten down your lecture slides and textbook readings -- remember, condense, condense, condense, but not to the point of omitting information, because when it comes to study time, you want your study notes to be the only thing you have to look over!

Feel free to comment if you have any questions or suggestions!

If you're interested, here are other posts I've written about how I study:
On getting organized to study:

On studying:

11 comments:

  1. Hey! I just stumbled on your blog today! I was actually trying to get a picture of Uvic's new UVSS agenda and I found your blog post on agendas. Turns out I'm absolutely obsessed with your blog - especially the recipe section. Anyways, sending you positive vibes from Victoria! :)

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    1. Hey Kimberly! Thanks so much for the kind comment!! Yay a fellow Victorian! I went to UVic as well :) Such a nice campus and I definitely miss it. Hope you're enjoying it!

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  2. I love your blog! Thanks for giving amazing study tips. I was wondering how you can tell if information from a textbook is important enough to be included into your notes. Also, how do you become efficient at taking notes in a short period of time. I find myself sometimes spending hours making notes on one lecture. Thank you so much for the help!

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    1. Thank you! I agree, it can be tough to discern what is important in a textbook. I think the best thing is to use your class notes as a guide, to avoid getting bogged down by detail that was not covered in class (and is therefore less likely to be tested). I think in time (getting familiar with what is expected from you for a given course) it'll become easier to figure out what is/is not important...but unfortunately there's no easy way to know right off the bat.

      As for being efficient in note taking, that's also tough! I've also spent hours making notes on one lecture. Some lectures are just dense and will take a really long time to make notes on. But I don't think it's wasted time -- you're spending those hours actively processing the information, which will help you to better understand and remember it. As for actually finding the time to make notes, I just tried to be as efficient as possible, getting started on notes between classes or working on them after school for a bit before going home. It's best to do them on as soon as possible, as I find it's quicker when the material is still kind of fresh...but inevitably they do tend to pile up...and you will sometimes run out of time (I've definitely skipped making notes on lectures if I've run out of time; or sometimes I've felt that my class notes were good enough and just studied from them, rather than remaking new study notes). All the best!

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    2. Thanks so much for the tips! I was wondering how you manage to study for exams when they happen to all be in a week (like for finals for example). I was wondering if you make a study schedule and how far ahead of time would you suggest to start studying for finals. I was also wondering how you studied for courses like biochemistry and physiology where it's more a combination of memorization and problem solving as opposed to anatomy where it's pure memorization. I tend to have more trouble with the problem solving aspect. Thanks again for taking the time to write amazing and helpful blogs! :)

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    3. Ugh finals week is the worst! There's no time to learn new information when you've got exams back to back, so it's important that you've learned/understood the material back when it was actually taught (which is why I try my best to make study notes at the time of the actual lecture, rather than in the weeks leading up to exams...although I can tell you that doesn't always happen!). If you have very concise notes made in advance and already understand the material, hopefully just reviewing all of your study notes a final time the evening before and morning of each exam will be sufficient during exam week.

      As for study schedules, I always make them, but rarely am able to follow them :( A month before finals is probably a good time to start organizing yourself -- gather together everything you'll need to study for each subject in a folder/binder/paper clip and make sure you have study notes (hopefully mostly already made during the semester) that you can study from. If you haven't made study notes (or don't like studying that way) make sure you gather the papers/class notes/post-it-note the textbook pages that you'll need to review. Getting organized to study is so important because it shows you physically the pile of paper that you'll need to cover -- and from there you can gauge how much time it'll take you to get through it.

      Starting to study a month before finals would be wonderful, but is pretty idealistic...realistically I only had time to start studying 1-2 weeks before finals. Definitely start earlier if you have the time :) When you have multiple exams in close succession, one strategy is to start studying for your very last exams first, a couple of weeks in advance. That way you won't miss out on studying for them by focusing on the more immediately looming earlier exams (as we tend to do).

      I studied for problem-solving classes by trying to do as many practice problems as possible -- looking at questions in the textbook or study guide, redoing the class examples/midterms/quizzes, and going through old exams if they were available. I know it's tough because the same questions may not arise again, but chances are that similar ones could, so doing as many problems as you can find (and going to office hours/help centres to ask for help if needed) is your best bet :) There's no easy way to study for biochemistry or physiology -- it's just a huge volume of information and I know I never felt adequately prepared going into those exams. Remember to focus on what is taught in lecture, as there is no way anyone can memorize all the detail in the textbook. Anyways, good luck! Finals week is a slog...but you can push through and it'll pay off :)

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    4. Thank you soo much for all the advice! Thanks to the tips you gave me, I did really well in my courses this semester. I really appreciate all your help :)

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    5. You mean thanks to your own hard work :D Really glad to hear your exams went well!!

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  3. Hi, excuse me do you have any tip for those who forget things easily? I study but when finals come I cannot remover the stuff I previously studied and.,. that's impossible! I mean how am I suppose to survive my finals if I have forgot hat I previously studied? It frustrates me so much! I cannot deal with it it depresses me because many can remember stuff but I can't and I definitely don't think of myself as stupid or alike it is just I am pretty sure I am doing somethings wrong but have no clue about it :(

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  4. Not sure if this was mentioned before, but do you usually take notes as you read your textbook? Or after reading the entire chapter, do you go back and write your notes? Thank you and I am so grateful that I came across your blog!

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    1. Hi! That's a good question -- I've done both, depending on how much time I have and how familiar I am with the material. I guess it would be best to start by reading the chapter and then going back through it to make notes (so that you get exposed to the material twice) but if you're already somewhat familiar with the material (from lectures, etc.) it may just be more efficient to make notes the first time around. All the best!

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