Feeling overwhelmed with too many study resources for your medical school exams? This guide will help your choices make sense, simplify your study prep, and introduce you to a globally available resource to help you study now and succeed in your medical career.
How much time have you spent searching for hacks and tips for medical school tests?
Preparing for your exams can be easier. With the amount of information you have to absorb, there are ways to make sense of all the study tools and resources.
Take a breath and give yourself time. If you approach things from a nonjudgmental perspective, you’ll be in a better place to move forward — and get a head start on the key resources (like clinical decision support and international evidence-based medicine tools) that will follow you through from medical school into clinical practice.
1. Work through the excitement and exam nerves
If your head isn’t in the right space, you’ll have a harder time connecting theory to practice and memorizing complex information. Reducing stress and anxiety is critical—everybody from Japanese food researchers to the American Medical Association acknowledges this.
First, all exams are challenging, so take a second to remind yourself why you’re going to be an excellent doctor. Think about your strengths and choose a few of your favorite positive affirmations. Spend some time with them when negative thoughts take over.
Second, don’t let procrastination win. Procrastination just means you’re probably more focused on managing negative feelings than your bigger goal of preparing for your exams.
Lastly, be kind to yourself. From the beginning, remind yourself that everybody runs across questions they don’t know.
And if you want an early confidence boost? Access Anki (with the UpToDate® for Anki add-on) and know you’ve done your future self a favor.
