Medico

How to Study in Medical School
Armin Kamyab, M.D.

AuthorHouse™ 1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200 Bloomington, IN 47403 www.authorhouse.com Phone: 1-800-839-8640

© 2008 Armin Kamyab, M.D.. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author. First published by AuthorHouse 9/10/2008ISBN: 978-1-4343-8931-2 (e) ISBN: 978-1-4343-8930-5 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008906296

Printed in the United States of America Bloomington, Indiana This book is printed on acid-free paper. USMLE™ is a registered trademark of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc., and the National Board of Medical Examiners®, neither of which sponsors nor endorsesthis product. Neither the author nor the publisher will be held accountable for any damage incurred as a result of advice given in this book. Any medical information contained herein is only for illustrative purposes.

Dedicated to all medical students, present and future.

Table of Contents
Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8Chapter 9 Take Notes Review in Less Time More Note-taking Benefits Why? Do Not Sleep 1 7 11 15 19 25

No Right or Wrong Way of Writing Notes 31 Stick to Your Notes and Only Your Notes 43 Look it Up “The Zebra Bit My Cookie” 47 51 59 65 69 73 77 79

Chapter 10 The Test Is on Monday Chapter 11 Study Groups Chapter 12 Skipping Chapter 13 Tutoring Chapter 14 Relax! Final Thoughts

Introduction
Iused to see it all the time, the weekend before the test: the stress, the frustration, students going to the library with loads of lecture notes and textbooks. I would tell them: “Are you kidding me? You’re going to read all of that for Monday’s test?” “Well, yeah; this is all the material that’s covered, we have to review it ALL. You have a better idea?” “Actually yes, I do! I’m going to go workout, then I’m going to go to the beach. I’ll see you back here at the library with only about fifteen pages of notes. See ya!” *** Medical students who know me know that I spent A LOT of time tutoring students and helping others
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Armin Kamyab, M.D.

out. To this day, I get almost daily e-mails from many students, asking me how to study. I used to spend much of my time replying to each andevery one of those e-mails, revealing my method of studying, telling them what I think they should do, explaining why my method works, and why their method of studying does not work in medical school. After a close friend of mine e-mailed me asking me how to study, the idea dawned on me to write a short book about my study method. Being a close friend, I wanted her to have nothing short of the fullversion of my study method. So after starting the reply, the e-mail got longer and longer, until I realized how substantial my method actually is when I leave no detail behind. As the e-mail kept getting longer, I jokingly thought to myself, “I could probably write a book about this!” So I did. So why did I constantly get e-mails from various students asking me how to study? I asked a recentemailer that very same question. She told me “Because you’re Armin!” Her answer did not really answer my question, but if I had to guess, it would be because even though I am just your average guy, there is one exception: I breezed through all my medical school exams, rocked the USMLEs™, and yet always had time to tutor, often spending twenty to thirty hours a week tutoring students in varioussemesters. In fact, I was also the head Anatomy TA for three semesters,
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How to Study in Medical School

handling all the tasks associated with the position. In addition, I held various student leadership positions, including one in the student council, as well as in departmental focus groups. All in all, I probably spent a good forty hours or so per week on nonmedical-school-related activities,...