Has Anyone Tried Doing Questions First?

[MissRibeye]

Incoming OMS-1 here.

I have been researching a variety of study strategies and tools in preparation for the start of school and have been reflecting on my experience studying for the MCAT, as that is the closest experience I have of studying a crazy amount for an extended period of time.

One of the things I noticed from my MCAT experience (that I rolled into my next classes last fall) is that my learning and retention of new material was far more effective when I just stopped reading the books and watching the videos first and instead started doing questions first instead.

For example, this past fall I took molecular biology and physiology and tested a method where I always started a new chapter or concept with the study questions. I tried to answer them myself based on the knowledge I already had, and then started guessing at the answers or thinking through what I would need to know in order to answer them. This then showed where my gaps of understanding were and I went into the powerpoint and textbook with my brain already primed with curiosity and questions. When I would come upon the answers, the knowledge would stick way better and concepts would connect much earlier.

I can imagine that this wouldn't work for all subjects, but I was wondering if anyone has tried anything similar and for which subjects did it work or not work? I have seen Ali Abdaal and Santiago AQ on YouTube reference this as potentially one of the best strategies to use according to the research (questions first) but they never really focus on it alone.

I can also see how this would be perceived as something that would take too long and not feel as efficient at first, but I wonder if it would be in the end. *shrug* I will probably try it, but wanted to know if anyone else had done so!

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[SwoleDoc]

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[GreenDuck12]

In general, the best advice is to find what works for you and stick to it. If this strategy is one that has worked for you in the past then it makes sense to use it as a starting point. That being said, studying for medical school is radically different than studying for the MCAT. In my mind, the MCAT is a reasoning and reading comprehension exam that rewards understanding broad concepts over fact recall. The preclinical phase of medical school, and step 1 in particular, is the opposite. It rewards fact recall. Now questions may be a good way to identify the most important things to prioritize but the challenge is you might have a limited set of questions to work from. Personally, the workflow that works for me is to utilize boards resources, Anki, lectures, and question banks. Here's why: Boards resources are going to give you the highest yield information to prioritize. I watch videos and review first aid the weekend prior or in the first few days of the week to preview the material and identify the most important information to focus on. Then I use Anki to review those same topics to start the process of memorizing those details. I then watch lectures at 2x speed to find out what my program wants us to know for in house exams (many folks on here do not use in house materials, which may work for them/their respective programs). From there, I move on to question banks and reviewing concepts that I am missing etc. Ive found that this works for me and allows me to be pretty efficient with my time. The challenging part of the preclinical years is the constant time crunch.

In general, I like the rationale for your workflow: using something to prime yourself for the most important information, learn the material, and then check your understanding.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Ttubule]

Yes. Do questions first. When I started med school I really struggled with how the heck to memorize all this info quickly. What i did in undergrad wasn’t working and I was failing or barely passing our first couple of exams. I went to my wife, who has a masters in education, for help and she told me it’s all about context when it comes to learning.
You’re reading all this new stuff that doesn’t mean anything to you know. It’s hard to imagine but now as a resident I’d never get confused about things that really threw me off as a first year med student because I’ve seen them and so I have context for them. The problem is, how do you get that context? Questions are pretty much it. What I did my first two years and as I studied for step 1 was I’d skim a topic just so it wasn’t all Greek to me, then I’d hit the questions on it. Then when you’re going back and reviewing or reading later you’ll tie things you’re reading back to the questions and it will click. It actually makes your more efficient, which was hard for me to accept. Doing questions first was a big part of how I started studying and how I still study for things like Step 3 and my in training exams. It works. I went from failing the first tests to graduating second in my class with great board scores. It’s good you’re realizing the importance of this so early. Good luck with med school!

 

[MissRibeye]

Yes. Do questions first. When I started med school I really struggled with how the heck to memorize all this info quickly. What i did in undergrad wasn’t working and I was failing or barely passing our first couple of exams. I went to my wife, who has a masters in education, for help and she told me it’s all about context when it comes to learning.
You’re reading all this new stuff that doesn’t mean anything to you know. It’s hard to imagine but now as a resident I’d never get confused about things that really threw me off as a first year med student because I’ve seen them and so I have context for them. The problem is, how do you get that context? Questions are pretty much it. What I did my first two years and as I studied for step 1 was I’d skim a topic just so it wasn’t all Greek to me, then I’d hit the questions on it. Then when you’re going back and reviewing or reading later you’ll tie things you’re reading back to the questions and it will click. It actually makes your more efficient, which was hard for me to accept. Doing questions first was a big part of how I started studying and how I still study for things like Step 3 and my in training exams. It works. I went from failing the first tests to graduating second in my class with great board scores. It’s good you’re realizing the importance of this so early. Good luck with med school!

I've also thought about another few benefits of this approach:

(1) Getting really comfortable (not flustered or scared) reading questions that I don't understand or know the answer to
(2) Getting better at test-taking in general.
(3) I feel like when you understand how the information will be used and useful in practice as well as on boards, I will be able to contextualize that information better to retrieve in those scenarios as I learn it, too. Kinda like what you said.

 

[Ttubule]

I've also thought about another few benefits of this approach:

(1) Getting really comfortable (not flustered or scared) reading questions that I don't understand or know the answer to
(2) Getting better at test-taking in general.
(3) I feel like when you understand how the information will be used and useful in practice as well as on boards, I will be able to contextualize that information better to retrieve in those scenarios as I learn it, too. Kinda like what you said.

Yep! All are very true. There’s a ton of info but a limited number of ways to ask questions about all of it so doing questions helps to frame what you’re learning in a way that will be helpful for boards.
And this isn’t completely just a test taking exercise either, doing really well on step 1 definitely made me better in third year and having a good fund of knowledge has helped a lot in residency