Proven method for improving your grades
We all know that getting good grades is essential to becoming a doctor and getting into medical school. So when it comes to having and maintaining a good GPA, it is critical that we master the art of studying. Getting good grades and acing your tests is much more than being really smart or being a genius.
It is a skill. A skill that can be learned and improved on.
Getting good grades is a skill. A skill which requires practice and constant refinement.
I’m going to repeat that getting good grades is more about HOW you study than about how smart you are. If you know how to study, you WILL get good grades. That simple. So it is important to understand the fundamental principles of proper studying and know all the associated techniques.
A new study from Harvard Medical school has found a way “to increase knowledge retention by 50%”. This method is now being used to help medical students remember their material better and score better on their exams. This method is known as.. Spaced repetition.
Spaced repetition is exactly what it sounds like. It is getting repeated exposure to the material you want to learn over a period of time. What this means is that, we are actually better at learning and remembering information if we see it many times over a period of time than if we try to cram the night before. Exposing yourself to the material several times over weeks or months helps to solidify it in your memory. So just remember that the more we are exposed to some information the better we will remember it. If you only see it once or twice before your test, you will find it difficult to recall it during your exam. And if you see that material 50 times, you are super sure that you won’t forget it!
Making it practical:
So here’s how can you use spaced repetition to improve your studying and help you get better grades..
– Start studying for your tests several days and possibly even weeks before you take them
– Study and review your class notes a little bit every day
– To help prepare for your finals. Review your old tests and quizzes every week
– Break a long study session into multiple shorter study sessions
– Whatever you do, DON’T cram last minute. (This is a recipe for disaster)
So the lesson to be learned here is that we remember information better if we are exposed to it several times over an extended period of time (weeks or months). Being exposed to some information once is not enough to solidify it in our long term memory. We must make an active effort to make sure we revisit the same material multiple times to be able to fix it into our memory.
The way we can utilize this advice is by trying to break up long study sessions into multiple shorter study sessions. This allows us more opportunities to see the material. And also the earlier you begin preparing for your exam the better! That doesn’t mean you will have to study 3 hours a day, it simply means if you spend 30 minutes a day for a week you will be in good shape!
The main thing is that you should start studying for your exams as soon as you can. Preferably study your material every day, and even after you finished your exam continue to review your old material every week. Doing so can help you get good grades and improve your GPA!
Was this article helpful? What kind of articles you want to see? (For more polls, click here)
[yop_poll id=”12″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
[yop_poll id=”13″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
Also get free access to our comprehensive lists of medical school rankings! Click here to download
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.