How I Memorise Everything WITHOUT Flashcards/Revision Cards | Active Recall & Spaced Repetition
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- Hi everyone! In this video I share how I memorise everything for my medical school exams (or any other exams) without using flashcards/revision cards, as I find them annoying to use. I prefer writing larger blocks of notes. If you're like me and are looking for an alternative to these, but still want to incorporate active recall into your studying, you may find this useful. This way, I get to combine my love for note-writing with a revision method that contains active recall and spaced repetition techniques - the two most scientifically proven effective revision techniques.
00:00 Intro
01:12 Components of effective studying
02:27 Changing titles into questions
02:58 How I lay out my notes
04:25 The active recall part
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My name is Hiba and I'm a 4th year medical student 👩🏻⚕️ and cake artist 🍭 living in Manchester in the UK. I study at the University of Manchester. I make videos for aspiring medical students, and also about my journey through medical school in general. I LOVE to hear from you - whether it's a question, video idea, feedback, or you just want to be friends, get in touch and I will get back to you as soon as possible 🥰
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1) Write titles not as statements but questions (helps with thinking about the answer)
2) divide the page into two halves, with one side asking questions and the other answering them.
U da real 1
Then how to remember the question ?
I'm a 2nd year med student with a broken laptop and an empty wallet. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART THIS IS LIFE SAVING
This is insanely useful. Good luck with your studies!
How are things going, update?
Everything okay??
I don't usually memorize. All I do is understand the concepts and definitions and make essays.
Summarizing the long detailed texts into one "in-the-nutshell" paragraph.
I just memorize keywords and try to remember their definitions.
Also rereading the textbook until I fully understand it. Yes. It takes sacrficing 30 minutes to 1 hour for rereading a book everyday. But it's worth it.
Applying the knowledge to your daily life. And then teaching it to others makes it even more memorable and meaningful.
As a highschool student who's school is heavy on memorizing facts sometimes pointlessly I can approve that this works. It also reduces time you spend preparing on the test and makes you more engaged on the class since you are making connection if the information your know. Id also suggest that you take a look at blooms taxonomy too because if you find a way to fit it in it will be very life-changing for you.
Thank you for watching and for your lovely comment ☺️
What is bloosms taxonomy?
@@hibbear hi honestly your a life saver I’m doing gcse this year in May/June and I found a perfect way to retain information allumdullillah thanks to you
@@Psychology-Facts- thank you so much for watching and for your kind words 🥰 I hope your GCSEs go well!
@@hibbear thank you this technique is so helpful because your consolations the information and tempering it and it’s active recall your the best 🥰🥰🥰
It's encouraging to know that there's someone like me who doesn't follow the crowd. I am an alumnus of AIIMS Delhi (India's premier medical institute), and I never used an iPad, flashcards, or any other form of digital notes to pass India's most difficult medical entrance exam. For each chapter, I like to make short notes and mindmaps on a sheet of A3 paper. I try to jot down as many important points as I can on that one sheet and revise it several times. Throughout my preparation, I remember having only one file of notes while my friends created heaps of flashcards and digital folders, which I believe is the most foolish thing to do for any competitive exam.
I would agree with you. Digital things have their place, but nothing beats pen and paper revision!
@@hibbear nah digital things do beat pen and paper revision because of a spaced repetition. Whilst you can actively recall paper notes, spaced repetition is way too challenging this way. It is not noticeable when you are preparing for an exam, because the goal is to pass via answering certain questions and remembering a limited amount of info, but if you aim at long-term knowledge, and I am talking years here, digital space repetition is a way better tool to use. I have one dec for my whole med school material and I have millions of cards, some cards already pop up once a year and I still remember that information whilst I do not remember the paper scripts I used to prepare for certain exams, even though I reviewed and repeated it many times. I do agree though that having thousands of decs, especially premade by someone else and not based on the material you learned and reviewed yourself is super useless since you do not get a full understanding of the subject and will not do millions of decs anyways.
@@valerie3825 I respect your view & experience. I didn’t have near as many cards as that but definitely makes sense with that many!
@@hibbear yeah it definitely depends on the goal! Some things are only exam relevant and not clinically relevant at all so it makes no sense to perform space repetition in this case, but when it comes to clinically relevant info, especially very challenging things like labs or diagnostical criteria, digital space repetition works better in my opinion :)
I feel that I retain better when I hand write my notes. This is helpful. Thank you 🙏🏼
Amazing! I think a conclusion I get is that if you find a way that actually benefits you then don’t get affected by other ways, like I am now a first tear medical student and I started with anki and I just couldn’t get my head around it specially beacuse I used to study with pen and paper for my whole life so changing that was going to be hard for me, I will try this method it looks lovely. Thank you hibbear!!!
I’m no longer nervous to start my accelerated program this summer! Thank you 🙏🏼
Make titles a question
Notes lay out
Divide in half, write question on one side and have the answer on the other side
Cover one side
Thank you soo much for this video! I always had a problem with making falshcards because I used to keep losing them everywhere and it took a lot of time for me to make a Flashcard out of paper. I really wish I watched your video earlier 😭😭
This is actually a great study tip. Never would have thought of it lol Thank u
This is a very smart method for very content loaded courses. Love this 👍
i also use this technique! glad that you do it too. i do it esp i only have my phone for studying/everything. but you still help me in making a concise(?) way in doing this. thank you!
Thank you for watching! I’m glad it has been helpful ☺️ good luck with your studies.
You’re a life saver. Thank you for this video.
We evolve so much in these minute processes of making us an ideal academic subjects!
THANK YOU!!! Im a pre vet student and your way of studying is EXACTLY what I need.
This makes me so happy! Good luck!!
Thank you so much for thus tip! I am preparing for my Nclex RN in a couple of mos and still finding a good study plan that will work for me! I will definitely try this cuz you're right, Anki is so difficult to begin with. lol
It definitely is. Let me know how it goes, and good luck for your studies! :)
I'm really excited to try this method. As a first year Medical Student I'm still learning, HOW TO STUDY to be effective. I've already come to the conclusion that writing long notes, doesn't work, and takes up a lot of time. I want to find the way, that helps me to perform well on exams. Thank you for your video🥰
Lots of love from Hungary!
Thank you for watching Kitti and good luck! ❤️
Interesting, looks simple easy and will be very effective i guess. Will try this this out. Thank you 😊
This seems like a good idea. Definitely truing this for next semester
It's so simple but this method is so amazing, thank you so much for sharing. I can't wait to throw away all of my old messy note cards. :)
Good luck with your studies!
Thank you!! I am going to try this!
Thank you! I do think this is revolutionary. I would add on top of the page cover a blank paper to write the answer, make a small drawing, or make a sentence using the vocabulary word. You have opened my mind to a new way. Bless you!
Thanks for such an insightful comment!
I discovered remnote and i find that very useful for note taking and flashcards - saves lot of time for busy physio student !
Thank you so much for the recommendation 🥰
Great method, thank you so much ! , i was struggling too.
I like the two-column approach in your notebook. I'm going to do this for this upcoming Fall semester. It's a great idea!
Active recall and spaced repetition - thank you!
Thank you 🥺❤ great idea !!
You are amazing. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart! I love flashcards but making them are so life consuming, I decide to just skip out on them entirely. Thank you from a 9th grader!!!!!!!!
Thank you for watching Alyssa, good luck with your studies! 🍀
thank you for sharing this method. very smart!
this was very helpful, asking things in a form of a question does help when I want to retain information and since I am in school for nursing I will use this method
Glad it was helpful! :)
I do it for my MBA in Notion with Toggle-Notes. Works in the same way. Also, you can transfer it into Anki without any problem.
FINALLY!!! A system that makes sense, not to mention is a LOT easier to bring around with me and study at every opportunity possible! THANK YOU!!
I use google sheet instead, but organized it with SRS system
Thanks for watching! Hope your studies are going well :)
thankyou thankyou so much i have started my preparation and i have tried almost everything watching videos of so many youtubers that give me a simple technique of revision i have tried almost everything anki app and other thing but what u have told here just solved my problem i do not comment on any you tuber videos but you did a lot help thankyou so much lots of love....
I'm so glad to hear this. All the best with your studies 🙂
Thankyou for making this video! I am also a medstudent who loves notes n hate anki! Glad to know i am not alone!
Haha thank you for watching and good luck with your studies :)
With Anki it's effective to cram facts but then I completely lack an overall visualisation of the topic... My brain just doesn't make any connections and I forget everything 🙃 I'm glad I'm not the only one ❤❤ I love your method, finally something actually useful
Omg thanks it’s so effective
Thank you so much i was so annoyed... And was looking for something like this..i just needed a confirmation.. And it seems like u just made the Video for me❤️
Aww thank you so much for watching! ❤️
I’ve been using this method and yes, this is so underrated. As a med student, this helped me a lot on studying a whole chapter easily
this is quite good. you can even do flowcharts by only uncovering them step by step.
The only problem I have with this is if I need to remember specific parts in a diagram, I will probably have to use image occlusion in anki, so that is where the flashcards can come in.
But of course flashcards are just one part of a system, then you mindmap the relationships for understanding and then you're golden.
I'll add this to the list of study techniques I can use if they don't allow gadgets in class for whatever reason.
I LOVE Anki, and the complexity of it makes it so versatile! People are so different!
I've always wanted to love Anki, it works so well for so many others!
Great strategy! Thank you!
this seems better and handy ! gonnaa try it
thanks ❄️
Let me know how it goes ☺️
Thank you so much!!!!😭😭😭
You literally saved my life!!
Thank you for watching! ☺️
Girl you’re a savoir thank you so much for this video! It wil really help me a lot.
Aww thank you for watching!
thank you for this great method. looking forward to trying it and updating this comment :) !
Thank you so much! you are a lifesaver!
Very practical advice was quite helpful thank you
Thank you so much🤗❤❤ I study biotechnology and drug reserch and this is really working for me.
I’m really happy to hear this! Thanks for watching ❤️
Only after this video can i say that this channel is underrated. Great video, I am your subscriber now.
Thank youu ☺️🙏🏽🙏🏽
I have been looking for something like this...I hate flash cards but I always wanted to try active recall as a study method
I’m glad you can now give this a try 🙌🏽 thank you for watching!
I recommend this method over Anki. In Med School it was crazy hard to keep up with reviews on Anki the way the algorythm works. This way you can at least get thru a topic once and then go back. In Anki you might get 10% of what you wanted to get do and get bogged down reviewing the 10 cards you keep getting wrong and quit, never even reviewing the rest of the new and old cards you need to get thru and revise. Anki was soul crushing.
Oh my gosh this was one of my biggest issues with Anki. It kept showing me the same few cards that I was getting wrong and we would never get past that 🥲
Soooo helpful thank you 🙏🏽
thank you for this! i feel like its always time consuming to start doing flash cards y typing them. i dont learn that way but Ill for sure be using your method!
Good luck with it!
Thank you 🎉 I will try your method.
You are amazing!! Thank you so much!
I am watching this video late but literally this helped me alottt...LOVED IT. Thankyouu 💞🌸
Thank you for watching!
So helpful!!!!!! Thank you!!
Definitely will give this a try! It's true that flash cards are easy to loose👍 active recall always works!best of luck in your studies!!!
Thank you, and to you too! :)
just happened to stumble upon this video, thank you so much, very very helpful 😊😊😊
Thank you for watching!
yeah i totally agree with you that taking notes is a more effective way to learn than typing on a computer. 😊
Thank you for watching! ☺️
Love how informative your videos are!
Thank you!🥰
great video! you are concise with your explanations, the video length was perfect, the editing was fairly clean and overall, it was quite pleasant. you've earned a sub!
you've got beautiful handwriting :)
i have feedback, which i hope will be interpreted as constructive.
i appreciate how you mention that anki does work for others, and encourage your viewers to try for themselves, that was mature.
you mention your dislike for anki stems from not understanding how the software works. personally, in my experience, it is only overwhelming at *first*, it's quite convenient once you get the hang of it, which isn't hard to do, especially with all the incredible how-to guides on CZcams.
as for physical revision cards, i too find them quite irritating.
however, the lack of space and disorganization are issues you wont have with any online software.
physical notes have always been incredibly inconvenient for me, for many many reasons.
to me, anki is just a simpler, easier version of what you're doing.
although notes do help with processing information, they don't help with memorization, that only happens with dedicated revision, like the questions you make for yourself.
my overall input/effort on a software is lower, and the urge to read an answer is less tempting too.
i use it as a form of online notes (with titles turned into questions) and the less relevant questions are not as prominent, as they are with physical notes. also, i don't really note down everything, just the details that don't stick. i test myself as often as possible.
i only require a laptop/phone/tablet for anki, i can take it anywhere i need to, as opposed to a notebook.
my handwriting gets messy and diagrams take ages, which isn't a problem with anki.
my method of studying incorporates several methods.
i use my customized version of the Pomodoro method, active recall/spaced repetition, flashcards, charts, flow diagrams, writing formulae, etc.
that's my 2 cents, different things work for different people, and it's refreshing to see new opinions on study methods.
trial and error is the best way to learn.
good luck with your channel, and with med school, Hibba!
Thank you for watching the video and also for your lovely comment, I really do appreciate it ☺️ you’ve encouraged me to give online methods another try! I really do wish I can get the hang of the software at some point because it seems to be helpful to so many. Thank you for your kind wishes and I hope you have a lovely day :)
Thank you, this makes sense. Much better than flash cards
Best tips ever 😭💖💖
so helpful!!
Good pointers many thanks.
I was really confused.....omg this is sooo goood thx a lot 😀❤️..
Thank you for watching! ☺️
What a simple but effective idea; thank you.
The style of your notes is called cornell notes (probably someone said that before). You can buy notebooks in the cornell if you don't want to create them yourself.
Exactly how I prepared for my 10th boards. Really helped me visualise and frame the answer in my own words. My criticism with this method is it gave me amazing results BUT I ended up forgetting it all like a week after the exams. Not that it matters now, but do you know any ways to remember for a longer period of time?
Also, great video, subbed and liked.
Thank you Shivam for watching and subscribing! I think with any revision method, if it is not revisited, it will eventually be forgotten. After exams we don't tend to go back and revise at spaced intervals as frequently as we did in the run up. Perhaps that could be the reason?
@@hibbear yes, definitely. Consistently revising is key.
thank you!!! I though I'm the only one that hated Anki, I'll be preparing for usmle step 1 with your method 🥰
Good luck!!
Thank you so much for this advice especially the note layout.
Thank you for watching! ☺️
This video saved me from the anxiety of making and keeping flash cards... thanks a ton ❤
Hope everything went well!
Really helpfull. thank you 👍
Thanks alot my mom hates me cutting flash cards so now I will take ur advice
I stress when I think I run outta room, thank you, good show
Thank you for watching! :)
Thank you so much 💕 it is really helpful
Thank you for watching 🙂
Thanks I'm gonna try this for my A levels
Will try this out as I prep for our final exams 2 weeks from now☺️💕
How did they go? Hope they went really well ☺️
Thanks!!! It is a revolutionary idea hahah! I'll be using it asap, I got tired of reviewing anki flashcards 😂
this is so helpful! thank you so much. Would you say if we like to have more colorful notes would it be a waste of time or would it be okay?
I’m so happy you found it helpful 🥰 if colour helps you then definitely incorporate it! I usually add some colour to my notes too. I made these ones for my latest exam which I revised for last minute so didn’t get the time to highlight 😂 the only thing I’d say is you should try and stick to something quick like highlighting so that you’re spending most of the time actually making or revising the notes instead of adding colour. Also try to highlight key words only. It’s easy to get carried away with it and in the past I’ve ended up highlighting almost every word on the page! Which then defeats the purpose of helping your eyes quickly focus onto some key parts of the text. Definitely add colour to help you bring your attention to certain parts of the notes, but not to make your notes look pretty, as that is too time consuming and won’t help with the learning!
I was struggling on what will work for me when I study. So I decided to use flashcards instead of writing in a notebook, but it didn't work for me. When I saw your video and said I should try this. Thank you for sharing
Thank you for watching! Yess please do update us on how you get on ☺️ good luck with your studies.
Did it work for you? :)
@@nathanfoss766 not really, I think. Maybe it'll work for you :33
I love Anki and Remnote! But I'm concerned about looking at screen the whole day for years and years studying. I don't wanna get blind. So I'm gonna try it! Thank you!
Thank you for watching! I wish you luck with your studies :)
❤ this subscribed! I'm going to try this
Thank you! Let me know how it goes!
Even as a Anki poweruser this method seems quite useful. One issue with flashcards is they require you to heavily quantize information into bite sized pieces. I find that this can hinder the understanding of a large concept and cause you to miss the forest for the trees. You can end up remembering a bunch of individual facts without understanding how they connect, leading to a weak understanding of the overall system. My guess is you could have the opposite issue with your system - for the larger answers, you probably have a great understanding overall but may be weaker on individual details since you aren't testing yourself on those as rigorously. Have you run into this as an issue? Thanks for posting this!
Hi, thanks so much for watching and for your insightful comment! I actually haven’t run into this as an issue, just because I can make the sections as small as I want. For example, I do have pages where the entire page is divided into questions which have one word or one sentence answers. That allows me to get the small details in too, and I will test myself on these just as frequently as the large answers. What I like about this method is that you have full control to size the sections as big, and as small as you choose to. I certainly do see where you are coming from and agree that this can definitely be the case for those who choose to only do this for large answers. :)
@@hibbear Thank you for making the video! Just a clarifying question, when you write a big answer that contains many specific details, do you then also make separate one word/sentence questions that ask about those specific details? Would definitely like to see a video where you tackle a specific topic and make some example notes.
Nope, I don’t personally do that, and I wouldn’t do it on revision cards either. But again it’s entirely up to you to make your notes how you prefer :)
You are just not using the cards well. I write full paragraphs as answers to my flashcards.
@@rednailz Thanks for your comment. I was looking into remnote, but I was confused about whether to pick it up given there's so many resources already out there for anki. How did you find the transition and what resources did you use to learn Remnote?
Thank you for the great idea to overcome the messiness of flash card!
Thank you so much. Specially for your layout ❤️.. Love from Bangladesh 🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩
Thank you very much for watching 🥰
Thank u so much ❤ u r amazing and so intelligent 🥰👩💻
This was good. Thank you
Thanks for watching!
Currently 2nd year medical student from malaysia.Tq for the tips !
Hope it’s going well!
Used the British system in primary and high school all the way to A level in Africa. It meant that one understood the concepts and then was able to regurgitate them in an essay format, and boy didn't I do well in school until I came to the USA and was introduced to the lame multiple choice and true and false type of learning and my brain got screwed up a little bit. I'm now thankful that I've used so many methods of learning, and just ensures I understand the concepts and it doesn't matter what shows up on the test, but active recall is a game changer....Memorized parts of the Bible by short notes and active recall.
Thank you !
Omg I never thought of this.. So clever and so helpful. Thank youu💗💗
Good luck with your studies! :)
Thank you! :)
This is such a great idea! One question, do you do the questions while you listen to the lecture at class? or do you take notes in class and you do the questions later when u study?
That is a great question! I take all the notes down as normal in the lectures and do this at home so I can filter out all the best information. I find that it is too rushed to do this during the actual lecture.
This is so awesome-I have my mocks in three weeks and I’m going to try this espoecially for chemistry and physics I’ll update everyone on what I get, last time I got both C, but yh this is so cool
Thanks for watching! Good luck with your revision🥰
Hi how did it go?
@@johnpape9538 hey I’ll update you when my results come out but o wasn’t able to do these notes for all of the topics on my alevel mocks so yh unfortunately- I’ll tell my grades when they come out next week, I think personal,y it’s definitely worth is especially for stem subjects like mine
@@saharaiqbal9973 ok how did u find them in general
@@johnpape9538 I found that for last minute revision it’s not worth while and that this technique should be used at least 1 and a half months prior to exam also should be mainly used to memorise exam ayeshion
Thank You. I use Anki and Remnote but I’ll try your method and see because sometimes I like writing notes by hand.
My favorite is Anki because I can study with only my phone.
Thank you for watching! I hope your revision goes well ☺️
@@hibbear I'm studying right now for Monday's exam on Normal Labor & Delivery and Abnormal Pregnancy, L & D. I'm trying your method.
@@nursinggrad421 good luck with your exam, I’m sure you’ll smash it!
Thank you. I’m going to use your method for my IsiZulu language notebook.
Let me know how it goes!
Great video, thank you for this! How would you time the gaps between each study session for a particular topic? For example, if I were to revise a topic on the history of tea, how would I know when to revisit this topic in future?
Hey, thanks for the comment. This will vary from person to person and will depend on several things including how confident you are in the topic, how many other sets of notes you have to revisit, how much time you have left till the exam. I would try to revisit at least once a fortnight so that you don't forget, but this may be more or less frequent for you if you have more/less work to cover. As exams become closer, I tend to increase revisits.