#011 The Copious Textbooks Issue
Hey you! How are you doing? I really do hope you are good. Welcome to another brand new week, full of opportunities to be great and do amazing stuff. I’m excited, can you tell?
Today we’re going to be talking about something all medical students everywhere have in common; laboriously huge textbooks and learning material. It is a problem.
From Kieth Moore to Robbin’s to Kumar & Clark, it never ends. Our textbooks and the amount of information we have to cover in the given time is intimidating to say the least. It is enough to throw one into a bout of depression.
Today I want to share a few tips that might help you with this problem.
#1 You don’t have to read textbooks cover to cover to pass your exams. It is not a given that you have to finish a textbook to pass any exam. Your note is enough. Your note and past questions will help you pass any exam. Textbooks should be for referencing ideally and for those of us that love to read. So stop feeling like you have finish books cover to cover. You don’t.
I can hear you sigh a sigh of relief. Haha!
#2 You can read the textbook cover to cover (if you want) with careful planning. I know this seems contradicting but just stay with me. Here’s the point, you can actually finish any textbook you put your mind to finishing, especially in the preclinical class. You just have to want to do it, plan well and then execute. I’m here to tell you it is totally possible.
I spoke extensively on planing in this newsletter, check it out in case you missed it. I finished almost all my textbooks in my preclinical days 😅 and I even read more than one textbook for most of the courses. It was simply because I loved reading though , not necessarily to pass the exam or even prove a point. I just genuinely had fun with it and had lots of spare time to read and read and read. It’s not so now.
#3 Choose Texts that you enjoy. Ties in with the point before this. I talk extensively about my rationale behind this in this video;
Basically, understanding a concept is more fun and valuable to me than barely passing an exam. So if I score 50 I’m good as long as I had fun learning the material. Not for everyone though. And to be very honest, times when I had the most fun learning something I never scored 50s, my scores were always above 60. Always.
#4 Employ Videos instead. For those who don’t like to read, just watch YouTube and you will be okay. Here’s a thread we shared on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that you might find useful.
#5 Choose short textbooks so you can get to the end on time. Self explanatory. I also always use review books to revise. Books like The Guide, Principles and the like. You can finish this in a day or two if you commit all your time to it. Life can be easy, if we’re ready to put in the work. And yes, work can be fun too.
I hope you’ve learnt a thing or two from today’s letter. If you have, please share this with a friend.
Our video of the week is about whether or not to quit medicine. You should check it out if this has every crossed your mind.
See you next week!
Have a blessed week ahead.
Love, OJ ❤️