UMHS Student David Henkin on Making Studying Routine in Medical School

UMHS student David Henkin will graduate in June 2017. The West Bloomfield, Michigan native was in the UMHS North American Administrative Office in New York City recently and spoke to the UMHS Endeavour about his study habits and how he was able to get one of the highest USMLE Step 1 scores ever at UMHS. Watch for a full interview with David Henkin in our upcoming Class of 2017 interview series. 

David has an amazing story. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Michigan State. He says he did not do well on the MCAT but still managed to excel at UMHS  and started tutoring others as a result.  We asked David to write a short blog post about ways students can improve study habits to “ace"exams in medical school.

David took time from his busy schedule to write this helpful guest post about ways you can master studying in med school

 
By David Henkin, M.D.

In order to do well in medical school one must study!  Make it into a routine so it becomes second nature.

My technique starts by becoming an active learner during the first pass of material.  When sitting in class listening to the lecture, sit back and truly listen to what the professor is teaching.  If you find yourself nodding your head because you understand what is being taught, you are doing it.

Go home and read over the lecture from that day and take notes.  I personally take notes with a pen in a separate notebook for each class.  As you create your notes for the day don’t put anything off for later (i.e. ,“I’ll just memorize these drug names the weekend before the exam”); start today!  Today’s material is to be learned today.

The next day, take 20 minutes and read over your notes from the day prior.  Focus on what you feel weakest with.

When the weekend comes, you review everything you learned from that week. If there are concepts you still feel weak on, focus on them more. (Read a book, go to office hours, ask a colleague.)

Repeat again next week.  When the second weekend rolls around, review weeks 1 and 2. When it’s the third weekend, review weeks 1,2  and 3. And when it’s the fourth weekend, right before block exams, you are now reviewing material for the fourth time.

Pearls:

• Take a notebook to class and add to your notes.
• If you ever don’t remember something you studied, look it up immediately.
• If there is a concept that needs more memorizing, don’t put it off; do it today.
• Teach someone what you have learned.
• Make your own practice questions.
• Learn the material; you can’t memorize everything.
  
  

About UMHS:

Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. UMHS is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.