Improve GPA

Feb 05 2016

How to make good “summary notes”

How to make good summary notes

So if you read my other posts you know that I emphasize that there are no shortcuts or secrets to making good grades, you have to simply become an “A worthy student”. A student who practices good habits and utilizes good work ethic. Well if I ever really had a secret that could have a huge impact on your grades it’s summary notes. So what in the world are these summary notes I’m talking about?

Quite simply, summary notes are your own super condensed notes that only focus on what matters. The main point of summary notes is to have a convenient easy to access file that contains all your most relevant and important notes for a class. Hence the name “Summary” notes. You want to summarize everything that matters to you. With these notes, you cut out all the fat and fluff from your class notes and power-points, and you are left with a sort of super note that has only the things that matters.

Why are summary notes awesome?

– Great for studying!
– Personalized just for you
– Can use as a resource for the rest of your life
– Almost guarantees that you will learn be ready for any test and especially the final

Great for studying: It goes without saying that having a note which is highly focused on only the things you will be tested on and you care about is going to be a really useful resource to have. Summary notes are awesome for studying because it makes studying much quicker! You don’t have to go through a bunch of notes to find the material you need to really be focusing on. That was the whole point of making them! Now that you have yourself some awesome summary notes, its super easy and fast to study up on whats going to be on your tests!

Personalized for you: These notes are going to personalized just for you, since YOU are making them! You get to decide which things go into your summary notes and even how you format it. This can be very helpful, especially if you are used to trying to study from dull and boring textbooks. It will be a breath of fresh air to not have to spend hours trying to decipher what a textbook is really trying to tell you. Instead, you will instantly understand what is being said. And that can make studying a lot more fun too!

Can use as a resource for the rest of your life: This is honestly something that makes them so appealing to me. Once you create your summary notes for a class, you will have them for the rest of your life. And you can reference back to them whenever you forgot something from that class. It makes for a great resource in the future! Its so convenient to have a single file that contains what you are looking for, instead of having to go through tons of old powerpoints, your old textbook, youtube videos, etc. Also if you want to help a friend out sending them your old summary notes will be much appreciated!

You are going to do better on your tests and final: That is a promise. If you make summary notes, I guarantee you will definitely do better on your tests and final. One of the awesome parts about making summary notes is that it helps you retain the information better! The more times you process the same information the better you remember it. By typing and focusing on trying to create good summary notes, you are actually helping yourself learn and remember it better! The very process of creating them will help you learn it. And of course once you have finished it, you will have a great resource for future studying! This is especially true for your final. I almost never have a hard time studying for my final, because I have created summary notes. They instantly tell me everything thats going to be on the final and everything I need to know for it. If you didn’t make the notes, you may be spending hours trying to go back through your powerpoints and trying to do it the hard way. Do yourself a favor just make yourself some summary notes at the beginning of the semester and save yourself a lot of trouble!

Okay you can clearly see that summary notes are awesome! And they will come in handy. They really are one of my secrets to making good grades and maintaining a high GPA.

So how do you make some good summary notes?

I’m going to share some tips and advice on making good ones.

1. Organize. This is my first main tip to making good summary notes. This is for a few reasons; first it helps you find things easier for when you are using the notes for studying. Second, this helps you understand how all the concepts are related and where they fit together. Third, this just makes the overall studying experience better. The best way to organize your summary notes is by creating headers for the topic (Ex. Electricity) and then creating sub headers within that header (Ex. Electricity formulas). Don’t worry I will have an example at the end. Just try and organize everything as best as you can. It will help!

2. Copy important info from your class notes and powerpoints. This is the fastest and easiest way to create your summary notes. Go through your powerpoints/class notes and just extract all of the important information from it. Important information typically are definitions, formulas, concepts and anything your teacher said you should know. Just copy them into your summary notes, and make sure to organize them. Also when copying your notes, you can change the wording around so it makes more sense to you. This is the time to make these notes highly personalized. Make sure it makes sense! If in the powerpoints or notes it explains a concept in a long and confusing way, try and simplify it down. Remember, try your best to summarize the important concepts!

3. Keep up with your class. You don’t want to start making summary notes near the end of the semester. You want to make your notes in the same pace with your class. This really is important, because this will help you to not fall behind in class. But also if you don’t keep up with your class, you won’t have your summary notes there for when you need to study for your tests or final! The easiest way to keep up with your class is by adding to it each time your teacher uploads a new powerpoint or right after class. Just make sure to stay on top of your summary notes, otherwise they can’t help you!

4. Add in your own extra notes. Now that your summary notes are organized and contain the important information from your class notes and power-points, you can start adding in a bit of your own flair. This is to make them even more personalized and useful for you. I go over this in my article about how to take notes the right way so make sure to check that out. But essentially you want to add in additional notes that help you understand hard topics. Like little annotations that explain things or give tips on understanding something. Let’s say I’m talking about Gauss’s law from Physics class. There are a few different forms of the equation. This would be a time to add a little annotation note that explains when to use each. So for example, next to the equation that uses the integral in it. I would put a small bullet point, saying :” – Use this formula when E is changing in space”. And then maybe under the formula which doesn’t use the integral a bullet point saying, “Use this formula when E and A are both constants”. Its these notes which are really appreciated when studying!

Example:

Quantitative chemistry summary notes example

Here are some examples of how I organize the summary notes. Where I make headers, sub-headers, and bold important terms.

genetics biology summary notes

Here I show how I personalize notes to make them even more useful.

biology chemistry physics summary notes

Alright, I hope that helped! Summary notes are a great tool for studying and making sure you have learned your material. If you have any questions please feel free to comment. I will be posting all of my summary notes on here for you guys in the near future! Make sure to join the site to get access to them when I post it!

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Feb 01 2016

One essential tip that will help you ace your science classes

When compared to your general education courses, your science classes almost always require more study time and much more effort in order to get those hard sought A’s. And medical schools look at your science and math GPA separately from your overall GPA, so its incredibly important to score well in these classes. Because the grades you get in your science classes will be weighed more heavily than those general education courses.

This is why its essential that we develop all the best study skills and habits we can and really optimize ourselves into the best students we can. Science classes are tough! But they can be a lot easier if you know how to approach them. A few changes in your mindset can completely revolutionize how you do in these classes. I will give you one of these mindset changes, which if you actually try to apply it will definitely improve the kind of grades you are getting.

That change is how you approach understanding the material. You need to change your focus from understanding what is going on to WHY its going on. This is one of the most paradigm shifting things I learned which really helped me learn hard science topics faster. If you focus on why something is the way it is , instead of just whats happening you understand it on a much deeper level. By knowing the why you will always know the what. But knowing whats happening does not mean you know why it is happening the way it is. And by knowing the why behind whatever it is you are learning, you actually understand it. And when you understand something rather than just memorizing facts, you will actually have a WAY easier time recalling it on the test and getting the right answer.

The why = Understanding the logic and reasoning behind things. (Like understanding why you put a negative sign on mg or not, etc.)

The what = Just knowing the facts but not understanding the reason for them. (Ex. In physics the force of friction always opposes the direction of motion.)

Knowing the reasoning and logic behind what you are learning is critical to tying it all together and easily being able to recall it on a test. And of course for really learning the material!

Let me give you an example of how this is done in practice:

Example: An SN1 reaction from organic chemistry.

For those who aren’t familiar or forgot.
So in a SN1 reaction, we have an organic molecule which typically has an alkyl-halide substituent on it and a nucleotide. This reaction is marked by the substitution of the nucleotide for the alkyl-halide with a carbocation intermediate.

There are two ways to try and remember what will happen. By focusing on the why or the what (Just knowing whats going on; memorizing facts).

If you try to focus on the what, your thought process looks more like this:

– We have an alkyl-halide which is attached to a tertiary carbon
– SN1 is typically done in protic solutions.
– The alkyl halide dissociates
– A carbocation is formed
– The nucleophile attacks the carbocation, creating a new bond
– The end product is the organic molecule with the nucleophile attached to the carbon the alkyl halide was attached to. There is also a negatively charged halide in solution.

^ These are just facts. And quite a few that you have to remember.

Now if you focus on understanding why it happens the way it does, you will have a much better understanding.

We have an organic molecule with an alkyl halide attached to a tertiary carbon. This is most likely an SN1 reaction because I know that an SN1 reaction involves the formation of a carbocation intermediate. Because there is a tertiary carbon, the carbocation will be stabilized making it much more likely to form. Also the tertiary carbon sterically hinders the nucleophile from directly attacking the carbon, which prevents the possibility of an SN2 reaction. The alkyl halide is a good leaving group, because halides are very electronegative atoms so they will be happy to take the electrons out of the bond. This is also why it will have a negative charge upon entering the solution. Once we have a carbocation, it will attract the negatively charged nucleophile to it. Because the nucleophile has a negative charge, it must have lone pair electrons to donate so it will form a bond with the carbon.

Wow that was a lot! But as you see, if you actually just understand why things are going on you will be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together easily. I haven’t taken organic chemistry for almost 2 years now but yet I was able to recall all of those details because when I studied it I focused on understanding why the reaction took place for each step!

Getting good grades is about being the best student you can. And one critical mind shift that should take place for learning , is focusing on the why instead of the what. Just know that there is always a why to any kind of science question you have. Try to understand why things are happening instead of just memorizing whats going on. I promise you will do way better on your tests and you will really learn your material too!

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Nov 22 2015

5 tips to ace your finals

Finals are coming up and that means there are some stressed out pre med’s out there. But don’t worry we got you covered with a simple guide to help you ace those finals!

The dreaded finals are often the source of alot of stress for many pre meds. This is because finals usually are comprehensive and worth roughly half of your class grade. So if you want to make an A you have to kill it on that final! Here are some tips that will guarantee that you boss your final:

1. Start studying several weeks in advance

There are several reasons for this. First, this is super critical to making good grades because our brain retains information best when it is presented several times over a period of time. This is known as spaced repetition. (You always hear me talking about this, because it is SO important. Seriously make sure you study this way) Also by studying several weeks in advance this gives you time to figure out what you need to work on! If you wait till the last week to start studying, you might realize that you don’t know half of the material taught in the beginning of the semester. You will be in a terrible position and be forced to cram (And remember cramming doesn’t work well). If you start studying weeks ahead, you can plan out your study schedule and make sure you aren’t overwhelmed. Do yourself a favor and study with plenty of time ahead of the final. It will save you alot of stress and could potentially save your grade.

2. Summary notes

Summary notes are one of the best things I have figured out since I started college. They are basically a collection of only notes that matter, cut out all of that fat. They “summarize” everything you need to know. These notes are condensed and straight to the point. These notes are great for many reasons, they help you to focus on the most important concepts and when you finish them make great review material! It is best to start these notes at the beginning of the semester and work on them throughout the semester so that when you are ready to study for finals you already have them!

3. Go over old tests and quizzes

These are some of your best resources for your final because they were written by the same person who is writing your final! Reviewing your old tests and quizzes tells you what subjects to focus on and how the test is formatted. This is super important information to consider when planning your finals study schedule. Perhaps he/she asked a ton of questions on photosynthesis but only one on plant anatomy. This tells you what your teacher thinks is more important, so you want to make sure you spend more time on that. Also old tests and quizzes tell you what your weaknesses were then, telling you what to focus on now. Plus they make great review material!

4. Fill in your knowledge gaps

Throughout the semester we are presented a lot of material and sometimes we are not able to perfectly understand every concept or do every type of problem. This is the material we were struggling with in the beginning of the semester that we never really got a grasp of. These knowledge gaps will be where we lose a majority of our points on the final. So its important now to go back and relearn whatever you didn’t fully understand before.

5. Practice, practice, practice

There is no better way to guarantee that you make a good grade on your final than by doing practice problems. This is your bread and butter when it comes to studying and preparing for any exam. Just understanding the concepts won’t mean that you can solve a hard physics problem or be able to do a complex organic chemistry reaction mechanism. The only way you will be able to actually do it on the exam is by practicing it a bunch of times. Making sure you can do the actual problems you will see on your exam is where you want to spend most of your time. Just keep doing practice problems until you got that type of problem down. If you are having trouble with a certain type of problem figure out how to do it. Then practice that type of problem until you can do it in your sleep. Repeat this with all of the material that will be on the final until you feel confident in every topic.

Finals can be hard but they can be overcome by breaking them down and methodically going over your weaknesses. Give yourself several weeks to prepare for your final, focus on your weaknesses, use old tests and quizzes, and do practice problems and tests until you feel confident.

I hope you found this advice helpful! Tell us what you think by leaving a comment down below! For more pre-med tips and advice, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, twitter, and pinterest!

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Oct 12 2015

Scientifically proven study tips every premed must know!

Every premed knows making good grades is essential to getting into medical school, so it’s important to know the most efficient ways to utilize your study time! This video by ASAP science gives great insight into some scientifically backed study tips!

– Break study sessions into multiple shorter sessions: We learn better when we are repeatedly shown information over a period of time rather than in one sitting. This is a principle known as spaced repetition. If you want an example on how to utilize this in your own studying check out this article.

– Create a schedule for studying: Having a schedule helps us get into the habit of studying. This will help us be more consistent in our studying as well as be more prepared for it.

– Use flashcards for memory: Flashcards are an incredible tool to use to help you remember lots of information! As a premed you should try and use flashcards for everything from biology terms to organic chemistry reactions! Keep those flashcards for later, they will come in handy when studying for the MCAT.

– Create a specific study goal to focus on: This a great way to make sure you utilize your study time well. A common pitfall alot of students have is not being specific enough on what they want to study. Study things one very specific topic at a time, make sure you understand it and then move on. Try and decide before hand what you want to focus on in studying today. Do that rather than try to study all of chapter 10, 11, and 12.

– Teaching helps you to learn: Study with the intention of teaching the material to someone else. Our brain is better able to organize what we learn when we teach someone else. So always try to teach your friends and family about what you are learning. This is a great way to stay motivated to study but also to really get down the concepts.

– Practice! : This is one of the biggest tips out there. Practice is everything. Practice is the only way you can guarantee to yourself that you understand how to do it and you will be ready on test day. You must practice a problem until you can do it in your sleep. Practice, practice, practice. Do practice problems and tests until you are confident in your ability to get them right. This is a way to guarantee your success.

– Have a great spot for studying: This goes back to creating a schedule for studying. Its about getting yourself accustomed to studying. You want to have a place your are familiar and comfortable with to study. This way when you see the spot , your brain knows that it is study time. It is also helpful to have everything you need at your study spot!

– Don’t listen to music: Music is shown to not help you during studying. Even though you love music, turn it of and give your full attention to your studying.

– Remove distractions: Same thing as with music, your phone is also a big distraction. You will ruin the flow of your studying if you keep getting text messages or notifications. You are better off just turning it off or putting it somewhere it won’t distract you.

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Oct 05 2015

The Premed’s guide to time management

The pre-med’s guide to time management

Exams, homework, research, volunteering, shadowing , MCAT.. There are so many things that you are supposed to be doing as a premed! How will you ever be able to have time to do all that? And on top of that be able to go out with your friends and still maintain a social life? The answer to that is, you must master the art of making the most out of your time. Time management.

I’m sure that you would love to go out and see that new movie with all of your friends, go kick the soccer ball around, play videogames with your buddies, or whatever it is you like to do much more than sit inside and study. Part of becoming a doctor means that you will have to make sacrifices in order to make your dream a reality. If becoming a doctor was that easy, then everyone would do it! So try to take pride and enjoy the fact that you are going to have to work really hard to become a doctor! It is the hard work and dedication required that makes it so rewarding to get into medical school.

With that being said, you will definitely have to learn how to manage your time well! Juggling exams, extracurriculars, MCAT, and everything else you want to do is no easy task! But it can definitely be done. For all of you who are worried that you won’t have time to do anything, that is simply not true! You will have time to do what you want to do and STILL make good grades and all the things you need to do to get into medical school.

Time management is a skill that transcends just being a pre-med, it actually is something which will improve your entire life and be essential to your career as a physician. Time management is all about utilizing your time efficiently and planning things out ahead. Alright lets get on to the guide!

Before we start there are a few things you must abide by in order to be successful with time management:

– You must stick to your planned schedule

– You must be honest with yourself about how much time certain activities will take you

It is crucial that you must stick to the schedule you plan, this sounds obvious. But lots of people will plan out a schedule and then when they get new plans they will change it. So this means that when your friend asks you if you want to hangout on saturday, and you have already planned a few things you should try to work that around your schedule and not make your schedule fit their plans. If you are able to move what you planned to a new day and it won’t impede your ability to get it done. Then that is fine. But more often then not, it is better to stick with your plan and commit to it. Hanging out with friends or something more fun should not have priority over getting the things you need done completed. It is always better to finish what you need to do FIRST, that way you can enjoy whatever it is you want to do. Nothing is worse than trying to have fun but knowing you should be doing something else. So when in doubt do what needs to be done before other things.

Another essential component to being able to manage your time well is to simply be honest with yourself about how much time it will take you to do certain things. We all like to think that we can study for that exam in one hour long session, but most often we will need to commit more time to our studies than that if we want to make an A. So when making your schedule and trying to manage your time, give yourself an honest evaluation of how long you will need. Remember, you are trying to help yourself! So there is no shame in taking an extra hour or two to get it done properly.

Now that we got that out of the way let me share with you some important tips for managing your time:

– Prioritize your most urgent and important activities

– Sleep is important!

– Put in scheduled time for relaxing and healthy activities

– Have a note on your computer that has all your homework and school information on it

– Split studying up into multiple short sessions instead of one long session

– Always make sure that leave yourself extra time to work with

– Don’t run yourself too thin

Prioritization: This seems like an obvious point, but it is one that alot of people don’t do properly. Often we are so busy with so many different assignments and things to do its difficult to know which one we should give attention to. Should we first get the quick and easy assignments out of the way and then do that long paper? The answer is not always so simple. My experience has been that I do better when I first get the quick and easy assignments done first. This lets me not have to worry about them when I’m trying to do my big assignments. By having done the quick assignments first, I can focus my full attention on my more important assignments. But if it is last minute and you only have time for one assignement, you will always choose the one that’s more important. So when it comes to managing your time, it is important to consider what has priority over something else. Priority is based on how important it is, when it is due (or when the exam is), and how long it will take you to do it. The more important, the sooner it is, and the longer it takes all increase its priority.

Sleep: This is something alot of people don’t talk about when giving advice on time management. I think this is a really important factor that is often never given any consideration. Sleep is so crucial to your success in making good grades that you cannot afford to not consider it. As a premed you will often find yourself doing anything for more sleep! And honestly sleep is my biggest complaint about being a premed, not having enough sleep makes life much more difficult. Getting more sleep can actually make the difference between making a B or an A in a class. So it is critical to consider it when making your plans. Always plan your schedules around sleep, ensuring that you get enough sleep to be at your best. When making your schedule, give yourself enough time for sleep. This is the most important activity you can put into yours schedule.

Plan out relax time and healthy activities: While this might not seem necessary for a premed, it actually makes a HUGE difference. You will be studying for exams, doing homework, volunteering, etc.. which basically means you will be burnt out! This can have serious effects on your health. You will be mentally exhausted from everything, so you need to give your mind time to cool down and relax. Take a break and go enjoy yourself. Also you will be sitting for alot of the day, your body needs some exercise. Exercise can even benefit your grades. So try not to forget to give your body time to relax and time to get it moving!

Have a note with your assignments on it: This is a REALLY handy way to keep track of what you need to do. You basically make a simple note on your computer where you put your classes and homework on it. You can also include anything else you need to do on it. I use the application stickies for the mac. And I keep this note open all the time on my desktop, and frequently refer back to it to make sure I get my assignments done. The reason this is so useful is that it is on your computer, so if you use your computer alot you can never forget your assignments. Just keep it open on your desktop so that you constantly see it, and are reminded of it.

Here is an example of it:

You can see that I have my classes and homework on it. And I also put in a note to get research from one of my professors. Simple but effective.

Split studying into multiple short sessions: It is always better and more effective to have several short sessions than one long session. The way our brain learns is through repeated exposure to information. Not cramming it. Check out my article here where I talk about spaced repetition and how to use it to improve your grades. When planning your schedule , try to plan for 2-3 study sessions instead of one long cramming session!

Leave yourself extra time to work with: It is really important to leave yourself some extra time to work with. Things don’t always go according to plan, life happens. So thats why you should always give yourself a little leeway when making your plans. For example if you are supposed to be somewhere, account for the time you will take driving there and back PLUS potential traffic. Also try to leave room in your schedule where nothing is planned, this way if you need it you can use that time for something you weren’t able to complete before. Always leave yourself some leeway in your schedule, don’t pack everything back to back if possible.

Don’t run yourself thin: This goes with the previous point. Do NOT make your schedule too overbearing, you need to give yourself time to relax and unscheduled time. If you overload yourself with too much you will quickly burn out. You also don’t want to be too laxed about your schedule. You have to make sure you get everything you need done. The key is to find balance.

Making it practical:

I like to try and make things practical for you, so you can know exactly how to use this to help yourself! So here is a quick example of how to put everything together. I will go ahead and show you an example day and why I do what I do.

Let’s assume that I have class from 8 am- 2 pm. And the things I want to get done are: prepare for a genetics test, do a lab report, and go hit the gym.

General schedule:

7:00am: Wake up, eat breakfast. Head to school.

8:00am-2:00pm: Class

2:30-3:00pm: Study for genetics test (Its a good idea to study right after classes)

3:30-4:00pm: Work on lab report (Small break in between. Switching things up)

4:30-5:30 pm: Go to the gym (Now is a good time to go the gym, I just finished studying and need to give my mind a break)

7:00-7:45pm: Study for genetics test again (Remember to break studying into multiple sessions)

8:00-8:30pm: Relax, watch netflix (notice how I put relax time after studying. Once again to give my brain time to cool off and let what I learn sink in)

8:30-9:30: Work on lab report (Giving my self plenty of time to work with. Lots of leeway)

10:00pm: Review genetics again

11:00pm: Head to sleep (Remember sleep needs to be accounted for!)

*Note that these are relative times, you want to just give yourself an idea about how you will spend your time.

– Notice how I give myself some leeway between scheduled events.
– Notice how I split studying up into 3 short sessions and I give myself time to relax in between . Always give yourself time to relax so you don’t get too overloaded
– Also notice how I am giving myself extra time to work with. This allows my schedule to be solid but also flexible.

– Make sure you don’t run yourself thin.

These are my tips for managing your time! The key is to create a schedule you know will work for YOU. You know your own habits. So be honest with yourself, don’t try to force a schedule that you know you can’t keep up with. Remember, that this is only a vague schedule it is not set in stone. You want to give yourself an idea of how you will spend your day and then do your very best to stick to it. And when coming up with your game plan for managing your time, make sure to consider all of the tips I gave you. With that you will be a time managing boss! You will have time to fight crime, hit the gym, hang out with friends, do your extracurriculars, and get good grades!

Let me know what tips you have for managing your time in the comments below!

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