My Medical School Study Notes

When I moved to Alberta in June, I was faced with the task of packing my life into my little hatchback. Needless to say, my bookshelf of medical textbooks and binders would not be making the trip. What did come along was a navel orange box containing my medical school study notes. Though I partly wanted to keep them for sentimental reasons (thousands of hours of careful work are packed into that box), I do find that I look up things in my notes from time to time, and will probably (hopefully) be looking them over to prepare for the Step 1 USMLE.

While excavating my notes on blood transfusions today, I came across a few useful pages which I'll share as a glimpse into my study-note-making medical school life.

Here's a Harry Potter themed picture mnemonic I don't even recall coming up with:

Here is a diagram I've referred back to many times to remind myself of the actions of PTH and calcitriol on calcium and phosphate regulation. It was presented in lecture as a table, but converting it into pictures helped me to remember it.

These diagrams show the different kinds of neural tube defects:

This note page describes how a pleural effusion develops:

Here's the first of many note pages on the visual system:

Here's a diagram of skin anatomy -- and an accompanying busy page of notes.

It may be a while before I can let my box of study notes go. Only this year was I far enough removed from my undergrad study notes to finally put them to rest in the recycling bin. Until that day comes for my medical school notes, they'll remain safe and sound in their orange box.


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

• How To Make A Study Schedule
• Printable Minimalist 2015 Monthly Calendars
• How I Organize My Student Agenda
• The Student Organizer Binder

On studying:

• Study Tips, Part 1: Making Study Notes (& a few pages of my medical school study notes)
• Study Tips, Part 2: Quizzing Yourself
• Study Tips, Part 3: Where To Study
• Study Tips, Part 4: Picture Mnemonics
• Study Tips, Part 5: When To Study
• Study Tips, Part 6: Abbreviating Powerpoints Or Textbooks Into Study Notes
• Study Tips, Part 7: Avoiding Distractions