Thanks heaps, Alex and Devin!
Well, I am actually doing better with the PRWM system!! I think when I first gave it a go (about a year ago) I was rather sloppy with the techniques and wasn't keeping to time constraints. Which is why I degenerated into elementary reading methods. But now I am slowly getting better at it and am finding it IS working much better than my previous study methods!!
Devin, it was encouraging to read about your experience with Surg!! And congrats on surviving as a new-father simult. with Medicine!! I must say that some of your abreviations are a bit strange to us Downunder!! What's H&P (History & Physical? We call that Hist & Exam here!) And what's C/CO?
Alex, thanks for your encouragment!! Here is a detailed descrip. of what I am currently doing:
PREPARE: Relax. And form a possibly obsessive-compulsive Purpose: To read, understand ALL the material and to remember most of it.
PREVIEW: Mainly by looking at the major headings in the chapter of interest. Then I form a rather sloppy set of mind-probe questions: eg. What are the major conditions in the Gastro system and what are all their causes, prevalence, clinical features, investigations and management, prognosis, etc. Don't do trigger words - hate them. Feel they are not at all representative of the guts of the material when I do do them.
PHOTOREAD: Just the chapters I plan to activate that week. Am cool with the blip page and the X, etc. Don't like missing pages tho' so I find that I will take the extra time to fiddle to flip every page - even if it distracts me!! (Yes, I hear your accusations of Obsessive-Compulsive again!)
ACTIVATE: This is my problem step - I tend to try to rapid read during this step and eventually degenerate into same-old same-old reading. Am slowly getting better at super reading and dipping. Been trying some skittering - I like the fact that it provides "security" for the Obs-Comp ones of us!! Have only just recently getting more ACTIVE (by mind-probing) during this step - I think I was too passive when I tried it last year. So, anyway, I SR&dip about 3-4 times over a few days. And I am trying to stick to my time-constraints better to prevent the degeneration. LOVE mind-mapping in theory but hate it in practice due to the time-consumption factor!! Maybe as I continue to let go of my Obs-Comp requirements and my old reading habits and attitudes, I will eventually create enough time to be able to mind-map as well.
RAPID READ: This kind of gets subsumed into the Activation step.
Sorry about how long this post is! Felt I needed to get it all off my chest! Any further advice and suggestions would continue to be valued!!
Doing better,
Prynceska
