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Student-to-Student Study Tips: College of Dentistry
Note: If you would like to submit your own study tip for dentistry students, please send it to Cecelia Downs: cdowns@uic.edu
Disclaimer: All students study differently and the ideas below may not work for you. They are simply offered as possible approaches.
(from COD student Carla)
Time Management
Time management is the biggest issue in dental school. The courses aren’t really harder conceptually, but the quantity of info is much greater. While you were an undergrad you might have taken 2 science courses each semester, but here you will take 7 or 8 core science courses. Also, unlike your undergrad years, here you will be in class all day, roughly from 8:00 to 4:30.
My Daily Routine: I would often go to the gym right after class (usually 4:30). The gym is busy then, but I liked how this time slot worked with my schedule. After working out I would eat and shower and relax a little. Then I would sit down and study from about 7:30 to 10:30 or 11:00. If I wanted to watch a little t.v., I might tape the show and watch it after I studied. I found that I had to spend at least a couple of hours studying every night so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed when exams came around.
Weekends: On Saturdays, I liked to go study with another student, just so I wouldn’t feel so bad. Also, making plans to go with someone else insured that I would actually get out of the house and not start doing chores or wasting time. I like to study in coffee shops on the weekends, but I tried to find places where I wouldn’t know anyone. A typical Saturday might look like this: study at a coffee shop from 10:00 to 1:00, eat lunch at 1:00, go to a different place to study from 2:00 to 3:30 or 4:00. On Sunday evenings I liked to do a little more studying and I would also sit down with my planners and syllabi to remind myself about upcoming exams and projects and to plan the upcoming week.
Planners & Post-Its: I wrote the dates of exams, projects and appointments in my appointment book. Each night I would write a “to do” list for tomorrow on a little Post-It (I might add to the list the next day if I thought of something). Actually, I usually wrote two separate Post-Its – one with personal items and one with academics. If I put both on a single list, I would usually end up doing the personal stuff and neglecting my studies.
Textbooks, Lectures, and Study Routine
Textbooks: I read the textbooks for new subjects – such as pharmacology and oral pathology – in their entirety. For other subjects, I would use my lecture notes as my primary study source and use my textbooks to just look up whatever I didn’t understand from lecture. (You can ask your Big Sib and other students about which books they would recommend that you buy.)
Lectures: Your professor will give you the lecture handouts as you enter the classroom and then you can write your notes onto the handout. I liked to write in pencil so I could erase some of my notes if I wanted to (space is at a premium on the lecture handouts). If the professor ran out of handouts, I made a copy of it that day so I wouldn’t forget. Also, I hole punched all handouts and put them in binders right away. (You will receive a huge amount of material during the semester and so you need to be very organized!)
Study Routine: Each night after class I would spend about 20-45 minutes per lecture reviewing my notes from that day. I would highlight especially important info – things the prof wrote on the handout as well as my own notations. If I looked up something in a book and added that to my notes, I would write with a colored pen. Also, I sometimes summarized important info by writing a little note in the margin. Each day, I tired to review all of my lectures because I knew that if I didn’t do this, I would fall behind and never catch up. Of course, there were times when I wasn’t able to do everything. I started dividing my lecture handouts into 3 groups: lectures I already reviewed and understood, lectures I didn’t get to yet, and lectures I needed to go over again to truly understand. All of these lecture handouts went into my binders, but I used page dividers to separate the 3 “groups.”
Studying in Depth
In dental school, you don’t want to just get through your courses as a means to an end, (which is how you may have approached your undergrad courses). I’ve really tried to enjoy my education in the COD! Also, I try to understand the concepts at a deeper level so that I really learn and digest the material rather than just memorizing it. (I want to be able to explain everything to my patients if I need to.) As a D1 student, I reminded myself that I couldn’t forget the material in the core courses because it would keep coming back in later courses and also on the Boards. (You will only have two weeks between the end of Spring semester and the Boards – not really enough time to study thoroughly – so you will have to be able to remember a lot of the material from your classes.) Finally, I always tried to put more time into courses that I didn’t like because otherwise I knew I would be tempted to neglect them.
Study Partners & Groups
Keep your study group small or you’ll end up spending a lot of time joking around. I usually studied with just one other student and that worked well for me. Try to find a study partner with different talents and interests so you can balance each other out. (For example, I was strong in anatomy while my study partner was strong in physio.) During the week of an exam I would go to the library with my study partner every evening. We would spend some of the time studying individually (asking questions as needed) and then we would spend some time working together.
Review Sheets: If a professor gave us a review sheet, my study partner and I would split up the list and then we would each look up the info on our own part of the list and write up some notes. Then we would Xerox our notes for our partner and we would sit down and go over the items, teaching each other. This worked for us because we knew we could trust the other person to follow through and do her part and do it well.
Memorizing
I tired to learn things in depth, but there’s also a lot of memorizing in dental school. Writing things out really helps me with recall, so I like to write summaries of some of the info. I also found that mnemonics are great. One benefit to having a study partner (or group) is that you can share your mnemonics and brainstorm with another person about how you will remember something. Sometimes I use Spanish for mnemonics or I might tell myself that two related words begin with the same letter. I also tie info to situations and people I know. For example, I might visualize my friend Brady who has a chubby face if I’m trying to remember that bracio cephalic refers to a short, wide face (Brady sounds like bracio).
Dental Decks: This is a deck of cards you can use to study for the Boards. Buy them early and use them to review some of the material for you courses. (Put a check mark on cards you’ve read and learned.)
Managing your Attitude & Stress
Try to be supportive rather than competitive with your fellow dental students. Let your guard down and admit your weaknesses and this will help others do the same. Also, be sure to help each other in the clinic. Everybody benefits this way.
Controlling Stress: Take the time to work out and try to have something to look forward to each night (maybe a phone call or a t.v. show). Try setting a goal for yourself. For example, tell yourself, “I’ll let myself check my email if I can get through these handouts in 2 hours.” Also, have something to look forward to on the weekend – shopping, going out, going home, etc. Knowing that something fun is coming up can keep you studying hard during the week.
Mom or a friend: For me, calling my mom always helped me de-stress. She is always supportive and non-critical and it really helped to be to call her when I was stressed. (Also, she thinks I’m really smart and will make a great dentist, so it was great to get that uncritical support.) It can also help to vent to a friend when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Finally, try to enjoy your education in dental school. Your learning will never stop – you’ll be keeping up even after you graduate from the COD.
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