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Premed Productivity Podcast with Dr. Andre Pinesett
I’m Dr. Andre Pinesett and I’d like to welcome you to the Premed Productivity Podcast, where I'm bringing 15+ years of experience as an award-winning mentor/coach to take the stress out of getting into med school with episodes designed to help you: develop a healthy mindset, study efficiently, premed smarter, dominate the MCAT and make your application stand out!
I was told I wasn’t good enough to get into medical school, but I adopted the “No Excuses, Just Dominate” mindset, learned the secrets of successful students and got into Stanford Medical School.
Now, I'm on a mission to empower 1 million students in 5 years by making sure that every passionate student has the information, inspiration and support they need to make their doctor dreams a reality. This podcast is all about you, the premed. I will be answering real student questions, coaching premeds and breaking down every aspect of premed and getting into med school. Enjoy!
PremedProductivity.com
Premed Productivity Podcast with Dr. Andre Pinesett
How to Study Better? Live Q&A with Study Expert Dr. Pinesett
Are you ready to revolutionize your study habits and start achieving the grades you've always dreamed of? In today’s live Q&A session, I'm answering all your burning questions about studying! Whether you're struggling with consistency, finding effective memorization techniques, or dealing with information overload, I've got you covered.
Today only, you can enroll in my comprehensive study program, The 5 Pillars of Studying Less & Getting Better Grades, and get 50% off with the promo code STUDYBETTER.
https://premedproductivity.com/course/5pillars
Each week, I’m bringing strategies for:
💪 Locking in that bulletproof mindset.
⏰ Cutting the nonsense and getting productive.
🧠 Studying smarter, not harder.
🩺 Streamlining your path to med school.
If you're serious about medicine, this is where you need to be!!
**VISIT MY WEBSITE**
And today it's all about studying. So I posted something earlier this week on my Instagram and I said, hey, ask me anything about studying and I will do a video response to your questions. And so, instead of doing a bunch of random little short videos, I thought, hey, let's get on here and let me ask, or answer, all of your questions. So if you have any questions about studying, this is the time to ask them, because I'm going to get to all of it today, including going through everyone else's questions. So if we are ready and we want to go live, you guys let me know, like this video right now. Comment, let me know what are your questions about studying so we can help you guys get better.
Speaker 1:Today, you guys saw me just checking over there. I'm trying to make sure that I'm actually live. Action on this live stream is actually working. Yes, okay, I'm seeing people pop on here. All right, perfection, perfection. Hi, julie, good morning, all right.
Speaker 1:So let's get to it. I'm going to start going through you guys' questions. Like I said, if you guys comment on my post, I want you guys to have the opportunity to. I'm only here to help students, so anytime that I post something, I'm for real. If you have questions, you have concerns, put them on here. I'll answer them, because I got your answer. This is live. I haven't seen these comments yet. I haven't gone through them yet. We're going to go through them together. So give me time between each of these just to kind of think about it and give you guys a meaningful, purposeful answer that helps you guys get closer to your goals.
Speaker 1:So the first question so we were talking about making studying a habit was the first title of the video, and so let's start there and I'll start answering questions. But you guys have to understand and you will hear me say this a thousand times Straight A's are not made in a day, are not made in one way. Straight A's are made every day and in everything you do and every way you do things. So if you want to be a high level student, you must attack every single minute of your day. You must attack every single tactic, every single thing you do, because all of it adds to something or takes away from the totality of your ability to be effective. And so we have to look at every single thing we're doing and we look at the habits that create our grades.
Speaker 1:For me, I've never been the smartest, right, I've never had that naturally gifted brain I wish I did. I could just memorize things easily. But I overcame all of that because I was constantly analyzing the tactics I used. I consistently studied, I made consistency, I made studying a habit and therefore I was able to out consistent. Everybody else, I was the tortoise to their hair where they would have sprints of greatness, but every single day I put in that work one step in front of the other one and it got me to the A's. So the very first comment that was having that up is Pixerize, which is an application that does picture learning and makes things more vivid for students talked about. Consistency is key in the comments and I agree with that. A hundred percent Consistency is the key.
Speaker 1:And all the study hacks in the world. You guys wonder why like, oh, I'm trying this, I'm trying this, I'm trying this, I'm trying this, I'm trying this and it's not working. The most common problem is that you try it for one day, you try it for one week, you get frustrated. What happens, y'all? What happens? We stop doing it, we go back to our old selves. And what were we doing before we learned that tip or that trick or that hack. We were sucking anyway. So why would we choose to suck instead of getting better? Because getting better takes effort, it takes practice and it's stumbling and fumbling at the beginning, and so it's easier just to rest back into our previous selves that used to just it was bad, but at least I knew that bad person. I don't want to be this new person who's struggling even more and doesn't feel good. So that's what happened, and so you have to be consistent and recognize that studying takes time. It takes practice to elevate yourselves. This is why and I'm going to say this now because I want you guys to all see this right I always want to help you guys get everything you need.
Speaker 1:My study program is called the Five Pillars of Studying Less and Getting Better Grades. It is an absolute comprehensive program where I give you guys all of this amazing on-demand content, but then also I allow you to meet with me and have live coaching with me and ask questions and our last session went like three hours, I think but I allow you guys to do questions every single week to show me your notes. Do all these things to make sure you guys are actually in a high level and you get lifetime access, because I want to make sure that, not just today, not just tomorrow, but forever. You are a high level student and so, to celebrate today and all the studying stuff, if you click the link in my Instagram bio right, you will be taken to my five pillars course and if you use the code study better, the promo code, you'll get 50% off that course, today, and today only. So take advantage of that to get everything you need to be studying on point. If you're watching this on YouTube or on Facebook, all you have to do is go to my website, preamplicom, go to my five pillars course and then you can check out right there into the promo code. It's studybetter one word, studybetter and you'll get 50% off instantly.
Speaker 1:Harpreet just said in the box I got a 95 on my med school exam because of that course. Let me pull that up for you guys. Oh, yes, that's what it's about, guys, right, starting med school, doing it strong, using the same program you've been using for the last couple years with me to be successful. That's what it's about. So let's get to the questions. One of the students says I used to go to tutoring to keep my A's. Tutoring is not just for when you are barely hanging on. And I love this comment so much I see why Instagram put that up top, because that is a powerhouse comment. If you guys agree with that sentiment that tutoring is not just for when you're struggling, tutoring is for all the time. Comment right now, Like the videos, hey, yeah, you know what I agree with that right now? That's what I see is that I should be at tutoring all the gosh darn time, not because I need assistance, not because I'm struggling, but because I'd rather be in here before I'm struggling, before I need the assistance. That's what it's about. You guys should be seeking help, seeking counsel, seeking ways to level up before you hit the hurdle. And I tell all my students we want to.
Speaker 1:As an anesthesiologist right, I'm an anesthesiologist by day study expert all the rest of the day as an anesthesiologist. I love anesthesia because it's such a proactive planning specialty. It is my job to see potential dangers before they happen and then to make micro adjustments to avoid all danger, such that it looks like I'm not doing nothing all day, like I'm just cruising through the day. Oh, you hear all the see, all the memes. Oh, they're just doing the crossword puzzles, doing the Sudoku. They got their feet up. They're not paying attention at all. You don't recognize that I've already planned everything out, so it allows me to go smooth through the day and look like I'm not doing anything, and that's the way you want your academic career to go.
Speaker 1:Why have bumps? Why have oh? Why struggle when we have C? Oh, this is a pinch of hurdle. I got this biochemistry class coming up. Oh, you know what? I got O Kim coming up next year. I just want to have a strong foundation in the periodic table this year. Hey, you know what? I'm going to have the in an MCAT mode to be ready for that. So if you are a proactive student instead of being reactive, it is so much better.
Speaker 1:And that includes getting your studying down, enrolling in something like the five pillars before you need the help, enrolling in the tutoring your school offers, going to office hours, going in class and actually asking the questions. Why wait till you get home? You know you don't know it. Ask the questions right there to the professor, and I was one of those annoying students. Shannon can testify to this. I have no shame in my game.
Speaker 1:I went to class with Shannon one time. I went to class with Shannon multiple times, but Shannon was confused. Clearly, I looked at her notebook and she was not writing like she should have been writing and so I asked the question. I said, hey, wait a minute, I'm confused. Can you explain this again? I'm not, because that's how important it is to be proactive and get the help you need. In that moment. It makes all the difference. Shannon, did you do well in that class? Yes, you did. Yes, she did. She's right here, my wife's right here. She did well. So that's the importance of being a proactive student and seeking out help before you even need it, asking the questions you need and not being ashamed to ask for that help.
Speaker 1:How many of you guys feel like oh, I can't be the one who doesn't know. I have to look smart in front of my peers. Forget looking smart. I hope I look dumb asking questions, because I'm going to use those questions. I may look dumb today, but I'm going to be smart tomorrow and that's more important. I care about the A, I care about getting to medical school. I don't care what these peers think about me, because pretty soon they won't be peers anymore. I'll be excelling, I'll be past them and they'll be the confused ones who aren't getting to medical school. That's the objective is to be our best and to be excellent. So I don't care how I look, I care how I perform. Everybody understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Right now, some of y'all out here using Instagram filters on your academic career. Recognizing your career is very fugly. Yes, I said that. Shannon Shannon put her hand over her face. Your academic career. How many of you guys put fugly in the box right now if your academic career is fugly? Be truthful. You, all, you, oh I look at all these colored pencils I got. Look at how I'm here. Look at me posing. Look at all this stuff. When you peel back the layers, that transcript is mighty ugly. It's a nightmare. It's like the new alien movie. It is a horror flick. Let's get real. Can we be honest? We're live action right now. Can we be truthful? Can we be honest about what your academic career is? If it's going up in flames, fix it, fix it. Some of you are like, oh no, ignore that. My house is on fire. Look at these pretty plants I have planted over here. Your house is on fire. Put the fire out. Fix what's problematic. All right, let's see here.
Speaker 1:Rory Harvin says finding effective methods to memorize large volumes of information. This is actually a timely comment because this past Wednesday on my YouTube channel, I did 45 minutes breaking down the problems with Anki and how you can level up your memorization skills, how you can level up your ability to handle large amounts of information. In a nutshell, shortly here. When we talk about finding effective methods to memorize large volumes of information, one of the things that students get wrong is that their objective is to memorize. Hear me, we hear this word. I had to memorize all this stuff. Even saying that, because whatever our goal is, that's what we're working towards, that's what we're going to take actions towards. So if you say to yourself my objective is to memorize, then you will go about it in an approach that gets you towards memorization.
Speaker 1:The problem with rote memorization is that it is very dry, it is very difficult and it is very short-lived, and so what you have to change your objective from is not memorizing, it's to understanding. Because if we create, if we say, listen, I want to understand this material, and we create a meaningful, deep understanding, it turns out the consequence right. The side effect of that is that you will have memorized it. You will not only know it and know it well, but you'll be able to know it for test day and be able to apply it well, and then you'll be able to hold on to it for a long time. That is the separator.
Speaker 1:So when we talk about memorizing, it's not about memorizing memorizing no, it's about understanding. If we take a step back and we say, okay, wait, how is this connected to this? How is this and this connected to what I already know? And so, if you guys have ever been in one of my sessions where we talk about studying and we talk about metaphors and analogies, why like all these, these picture and sketchy and all these different apps pop up? Because we have to do our best to take something that is abstract and something that is new science or whatever. And like all these picture and sketchy and all these different apps pop up? Because we have to do our best to take something that is abstract and something that is new science or whatever, and we have to tie it to what we already know to make it sticky. How can I see this in a lens? I already understand.
Speaker 1:And so when we talk about physics, right, it's the study of the physical world, so why would you not bring in your personal experiences with physics? If you've played sports, you understand what a ball will do and how trajectory changes and the launch velocity and all these different things. So bring that into your understanding of physics and so you're not learning in a box. When we talk about chemistry, people get to OCHEM and they act befuddled like this is new thing. I'm like guys, ochem is simply the extension, it's the advanced application of your basic chemistry. So instead of first worrying about that O-Chem, what if we made sense of the periodic table from chemistry one? What if we understood these elements individually, then understood from then what they want to do to get stable? And then that would make so much more sense for O-Chem. People are like oh my gosh, so many reactions in O-Chem. I'm like, really Is there, or is it just passing and sharing electrons? And so we have to find ways to take what is complicated and link it to what we know and what we do. Right, it's.
Speaker 1:The classic example is the mitochondria. Well, the mitochondria is this thing, whatever. What does everybody say? What do we say for the mitochondria? What's our simple way through the mitochondria? Well, the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, because we all understand electricity. We all understand that, hey, our house needs power to work, and so then, from the mitochondria, generating that power is crucial. We can understand that. And so that is that mind material matching, where we take what is this abstract material and we make it central and core into our mind and what we already know and it makes it sticky, it makes it memorable. So, when we talk about how to memorize, it's about understanding and it's about connecting things that seem separate to each other, finding the commonality, comparing the contrast, how they're different, because by understanding that helps us clarify these things and deepen our understanding. And then, once we do that, it's about creating that understanding within ourselves to say how can I make this memorable for me in my own meaningful way? It's not about what the book says it is, it's not about what my teacher says it is, it's not about what the Anki deck says it is. It's about what I say it is and what I understand it is. And that's a big, big difference, guys. You guys understand what I'm saying right now, right now, right now, you guys all with me, we are live action. We are live action, live action this morning. Y'all Sunday morning live stream. It's a little maroon five for you guys right there, multi-talented, multi-skilled Dr Pintet right here. I used to sing backup for Adam Levine before he got into all this stuff with the ladies Way to part ways.
Speaker 1:Bella Macy says maintaining a positive attitude towards academic challenges. Ooh, you guys, how many of you guys struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle to maintain a positive attitude towards your academic challenges. Throw it up right now, come on now, let Macy know she's not the only one of you guys who struggles to stay positive when things get hard. This is the truth, right? One of the things that I aspire to do with academics is to normalize the fact that we all struggle. I struggled, we all struggle, but it's those who persevere through that struggle that triumph and have success. And my life is incredible because I was willing to tolerate and push through that struggle and rise above it, to be excellent, to be incredible. That's the separator.
Speaker 1:So how do we maintain a positive attitude through academic challenges? Well, we have to understand, first and foremost, like I said, this normalization process, that everyone is going to have academic challenges, everyone, all the people who sit here and say and this happens right now, right now, right, everyone's starting medical school and everybody's like oh yeah, you know, guys, I haven't been studying at all and I know this stuff like back of my hand blah, blah, blah, liars, liars, liars. All the people I know they're at home working their tails off and they come to school and they lie to you to make you feel bad. So we have to recognize that everyone has their challenges and it's okay not to know everything first day. It's okay to be like, oh, I'm struggling at moments. But once we have those challenges, what allows us to maintain a positive attitude First and foremost we recognize everyone has these challenges is that we work diligently, not on, we work diligently to solve our challenge. A lot of students see they have a challenge and then won't do the work it requires to figure out how to solve that challenge. If this is, you comment in the box and you know what I'm talking about. If you are a struggling, this is the most common example of this and I'll'll play it out for you guys because everyone is going to be experiencing this.
Speaker 1:How many of you guys struggle with reading? You have been assigned a textbook for every single class you've ever taken. How many of you guys do everything in your power to avoid ever opening that textbook because you know you don't read. Well, that's your challenge. And so you're like, oh, okay, I'm just going to go to lecture, I'm just going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, but I'm going to avoid reading, I'm going to watch video, I'm going to avoid reading and you think, okay, great, I've gotten the grade, we're all good. The problem is, is the next term you're going to have to read? The next term, what if the lectures aren't so great? What if you can't find a YouTube video? Then you struggle. So you don't fix the challenge, you just avoid the challenge.
Speaker 1:What happens when you get to your MCAT test day? And your whole academic career you've been avoiding your reading challenges like the plague. But now it's MCAT time and you cannot do well in the MCAT unless you are a high level critical reader. And so now you've avoided the challenge the whole time, you've ignored it, you swept it under the rug and now all your spots, all your warts, are coming home to roost.
Speaker 1:Yes, we have to take challenges head on, and this happens a lot with students who have learning differences, academic disabilities. I can't tell you how many times students know, hey, something's not quite right with my studying. I really struggle to maintain attention, you know, I really struggle to just get a grasp on these words. I really struggle in lecture to even like I just zone out they recognize something's problematic about their academic career. Then they go. They either don't get diagnosed because like I don't want to get diagnosed the shame of being labeled disabled. Oh, academic disability, right, the shame. The second thing is that maybe they get diagnosed but then they avoid asking for accommodations, they avoid learning more about their disability so they can learn ways to strategize and be better in their disability not cure their disability, but to be functional, to level the playing field. And so, as a result, that disability becomes disabling, becomes crippling, as opposed to becoming an opportunity to take that head on, to minimize it and to strengthen other areas of your academic journey and to structure your study in such a way that allows you to overcome said disability such that it is no longer a disability, it was just a diagnosis, it becomes empty.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense to everybody? If we wanna maintain a positive attitude, we have to recognize that everybody has these challenges and then we have to work actively on our challenges and say you know what? I may not be the best reader today, but I'm going to start working on my reading so I can become a better reader. Hey, you know what? I know I have ADHD and I struggle with attention. So I'm going to do all the little things to set my study environment up to help me stay attention. I'm going to bring in a study partner that's going to tell me hey, listen, you're looking at the ceiling for five minutes. Shouldn't you be reading? I'm going to do little things to help me have better attention. I'm going to chop up my study sessions into smaller intervals to allow myself to be attentive. I'm going to set a timer on my phone so that way, even if I do zone out, I can only zone out for so many intervals, only so many minutes at a time. Before that alarm goes off and the next thing you know, oh, it's an opportunity. Wait, am I paying attention? I'm not Get back into it. Do we understand? If we have a plan, if we understand it is everyone and we have an opportunity to grow and get better, we can maintain a positive attitude.
Speaker 1:Early on in my career, I struggled mightily. I had all the challenges, y'all. I was a terrible student, but I was able to have a positive attitude every single day because I recognized I don't have to be the best today, but I'll never be the best if I don't get to work. And I could have positivity and optimism by saying listen, I can get better. I'm not a fully formed student, right, I'm an amateur student. But if I become professional, if I work out, if I put my hours in, if I practice, if I'm diligent, I can overcome these challenges.
Speaker 1:And then it became an opportunity. It became instead of an academic challenge, it became a personal challenge. Like, oh, I'm going to step up, I'm going to overcome this, I'm going to be the best. And then you start having just micro successes. How many of you guys would kill for even just a C in a very difficult class? How many of you guys would kill just to feel confident going into an exam? Like, oh, I'm going to pass this exam. How many of you feel great about a B? And then, when you get those, just those little bit of victories on a quiz, on whatever, it starts to build that confidence, build that forward momentum and you have a positive attitude.
Speaker 1:I love learning, I love studying, because I recognize through studying, through learning, I advance myself, I strengthen and I fortify my brain and it makes me impenetrable to all things in this earth. It makes me supremely. I'm the Superman of this earth because I fortify my mind, because every single day I work on getting better, and that's how you maintain a positive attitude towards your academic challenges. Does that make sense to everybody right now? It's in a mindset, it's in a perspective, it's an understanding what these challenges are and that you're not the only sufferer and that you can rise up and you can be above it if you put yourself in that position. There are so many struggles of students or stories of students who have struggled, who have overcome, because they get at it. Let me look at the questions here. If you guys are with me right now, make sure you like this video. Let me know that I'm not here alone on my Sunday morning. Thank you for being here, shannon. All right.
Speaker 1:Michael says how did you approach lecture exams in medical school? My current approach is watching the lecture, making flashcards and doing associated URO questions, but it's not working and, michael, I agree that that's not going to work. So one of the big challenges of medical school is that medical school is an entirely different animal than many of you guys have ever faced. And it's crazy, because you work so hard as a pre-med, you're the best of the best of the pre-meds, you got your studying data, got your good grades, got your MCAT, all these things and then you get to medical school and it's instant struggle bus.
Speaker 1:And what happens is is when you have an approach that isn't made for a time pressured environment time pressured environment meaning I have all this information to learn and I have a limited time your study approach won't get to it because it's not time efficient. This is why my system is called the five pillars of studying less and getting better grades, because, from moment one, wherever you are in your journey, our objective is to study as little as possible and get the maximum results. And so if you don't have a strategy and approach that gets you to that, then when you get into a time-pressured environment, you don't have study less approaches, you have study more, learn more approaches and you don't have time to study more, and so you're at a loss, right? This is why, right for today, only if you guys go to my website, premedprojectvcom, go to my five pillars course. The link is in my Instagram bio if you guys want it my five pillars course with the promo code STUDYBETTER. One word you get 50% off this program today. You get the on-demand lectures, you get coaching with me, you get to be part of my amazing community. We succeed, right. So, michael, if you scroll up, you'll see Harpreet just got 95% on his med school exam, right, because he has a solid study-less approach. So for you, michael, what I would say when you're approaching medical school lectures, your current approach is to watch the lecture passive, make flashcards time-consuming, do associated U-roll questions that are too complex for where you are right now. It's not working, obviously. So early on in medical school, the key thing it's like going into a foreign language class. So you've been great in your academic career. However, now you move on to medical school, you don't have the vocabulary to deal with what they're throwing at you, and so the important thing in medical school when you first start out is to get back to basics and to build your vocabulary. To get at it Cozy, you just click in my bio and you'll go right to the five pillars course. You can enter the promo code study better. But yes, my website is premedproductivitycom, premedproductivitycom. Or you could just link in my bio, okay, here.
Speaker 1:So when we talk about medical school lectures. It is very time intensive. You've got lectures all day and then you've got lectures the next day and it's a lot of material. So going to lecture you said going to lecture watching lecture, making flashcards and then doing you-world questions that's not going to be effective. Why? Because the lecture is moving so fast in a language that you don't have the vocabulary to deal with, and so lecture is futile unless you prepare for lecture.
Speaker 1:So one of the key things that I tell all my students of all levels is you have to get in the habit of preparing for lecture. If you don't prepare at a high level for a lecture, you minimize the effectiveness of lecture. This is particularly problematic in medical school, when you have all day lectures five days a week. There's so much lecture content that if you go to lecture unprepared, that's lots of wasted hours, lots of wasted study opportunities that you were just killing time during the week. You're losing 40 hours a week on material that you don't have an opportunity to get at. So if you are in medical school, you need to do the bulk of your heavy lifting. We call it front-loading in my program. We front-load everything because by working hard up front we make every other step easier.
Speaker 1:Right, there's a great book, it's called the One Thing. It's by Gary Kellerman and he says a line in that book that I live by and I want you guys to live by. He says what's the one thing I can do right now that makes everything else easier or even unnecessary? Let me say it again what's the one thing I can do now that makes everything else easier or even unnecessary? That is a powerful line and that's the way you all should approach life and approach your studying.
Speaker 1:A lot of people do a lot of different things, not recognizing wait a minute what is the order of these things, what is the priority of these things? Because some of these things are more important, more impactful on my outcomes, than other things. And if we look at it that way, then we're able to focus in and say wait a minute, I'm not using my time maximally efficient. And if we can get more efficient, guess what, guys? We save ourselves time, we save ourselves stress, save ourselves effort and we see our results go through the gosh darn roof.
Speaker 1:And so, for medical school, preparing for a lecture is the top thing you can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary, in fact, if you prepare enough on your own before a lecture. It A enhances lecture, it makes it so easy. Oh yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you're just going through because you've already heard all this stuff. Now you're just getting a repeat. Right, it's a second pass, so it makes the lecture that much more effective. Now you're focusing in. You've gone from the heavy lifting before lecture to now going to lecture and getting laser focused on what's going to be on the test, so it makes lecture better. But if you get good enough at learning the material on your own in advance, you don't even need lecture, and so it makes lecture unnecessary. And if you can free yourself from medical school lecture, guess what happened? Y'all? You just freed yourself up from 40 hours a week that other students are wasting because they're not preparing for these lectures, and so now, not only have you freed yourself of those 40 hours you can now use to study and to repetize and do all these things and practice questions or whatever, but look at all of that if you want to go to lecture. How much more effective the lecture would be. So it is a win-win-win to prepare for lectures up front. How much more effective the lecture would be. So it is a win-win-win to prepare for lectures up front.
Speaker 1:Additionally, you should go watch, michael, my live stream from this past Wednesday, where I talked about Anki and flashcardings and the key principles of what makes flashcards an effective modality and I talk about. One of the things I talk about is that studying is not black and white. People try to make studying success black and white, but it's not. Studying success is a million shades of gray. So when someone says to me I make flashcards, that doesn't tell me anything about their effectiveness. Because how are you making your flashcards? How are you reviewing your flashcards? Are you actually leveraging the tool of flashcards to their maximum functionality? If you look at flashcards like a hammer, that's a tool right, and if you are holding the head of the hammer and attempting to do things with the handle of the hammer, it ain't going to work. You aren't leveraging that tool effectively. So, when it comes to flashcards, you have to understand what the key leverage points of flashcards are and then you have to understand how to maximize those leverage points to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your learning. And if you're not doing that, michael, you're going to struggle. And the sad fact is that most students don't do flashcards correctly and I got into great detail about that 45 minutes last Wednesday. So check out that live stream and see what's up with that.
Speaker 1:Lastly, doing UWorld questions early on in medical school is not an effective approach to learning medical school because, again, you don't have the base and the vocabulary to deal with complex medical questions. So starting with UWorld early in your medical career is not a good idea, even though everyone tells you to do this because you don't have the baseline to deal with those questions and therefore you're minimizing the utility of those questions. The other part that makes doing UWorld early in your medical school ineffective is that by burning those questions, using those questions early, you burn them. I've seen these questions so therefore you can't use them to hone in on your USMLE steps. When that time comes, you burn those questions. It's like redoing full lengths for the MCAT. You've already been through it once and if you don't overtly remember it, your brain subconsciously remembers it, and so you're burning learning opportunities for yourself. So I don't recommend my students start UWorld from day one. I recommend my students spend all their time building up their foundation, building up their knowledge, and then we bring UWorld in later, once we've established the foundation and we can actually learn more effectively from question-based learning.
Speaker 1:Did that answer your question, michael? Did we get at it? Did we get at it, michael? Did we get at it? Did we get at it, michael? Did we get at it? Alright, sunday morning, y'all Sunday morning, if you guys are with me, say what up. We are only three questions in. There's like 70 something comments on this post, but we're going to go through it. Can we go through it? Can I hang out longer? Have you guys had enough of my voice for today or can I keep going? Can I keep going? How about this? Let me ask another question. Would you guys like it if I took an Instagram post from my week every weekend, like on a random day, maybe Sunday, maybe Monday, whatever, pick a day and I just go through and I answer you guys' questions? If you're on here, live with me or I answer the questions from the post. Would you guys like that? Do you guys enjoy when I answer you guys' questions? What do we think about that? All right, so next up is what up? Julian Spencer, what up? Let's see what else is on here. Just, sean, what up? Okay, julie, hello, all right.
Speaker 1:Next question is Hendrix says how do I handle the complexity of advanced topics in my field? And I like this question because this is one of the fundamental breakdowns that people have about studying. And I see people like one of the people who's out here is Jim Quick, and Jim Quick knows his stuff, he's great, whatever. But what Jim Quick is is he is a memorization expert. I fully acknowledge that, but what Jim Quick is not is an academic expert. And there's a difference, because when we're memorizing for scripts or memorizing for our everyday life, just remembering lists of things, rotely, that is simple learning, simple learning. Okay, memorize this list of things, whatever cool.
Speaker 1:The problem is for students, when you're in the academic field, all of the test questions, all the utility. If you're trying to become a doctor, it requires complex understanding of topics, so it's complex learning. And so when it comes to complex learning, as we've already kind of mentioned, it's not about memorization, it's about creating understanding and connectivity between the material. And so, when it talks about handling complex topics in your field, the way to do this, hendrix, is that we have to create a structure to our learning. It's called scaffolding. So when we learn something that's complex, the amateur way to do this is to say, ok, this is complex, I'm going to learn it. No, we have to break what is complex into its simple elements and then be able to understand those simple elements so that way we can build back up to understanding the complex. Do we understand what I'm saying right now?
Speaker 1:The practical application of this is that someone might be taking, let's call it, organic chemistry. Okay, you're taking organic chemistry. Oh my gosh. Okay, they're talking about a nucleophile and electrophile and all these complex terms. Oh my gosh, we got an acid base and all this stuff. Okay, wait, these are complex topics and acid base and all this stuff? Okay, wait, these are complex topics.
Speaker 1:The core SCIM level amateur is gonna try to memorize that advanced, complex topic. If you're an advanced student, you'll understand that. Wait a minute. We have to break this down into its core, simple elements. So instead of saying acid base, lewis, acid base, we're gonna say wait.
Speaker 1:Okay, wait, what is a Lewis acid? What is a Lewis base? And then when we say what is, we don't ever use another definition in our definition. So we don't say what is a Lewis acid? It is the acid of the blah, blah, blah in a Lewis equation, right? That doesn't work for us.
Speaker 1:So we have to get specific on that. We have to say, okay, wait a minute, is it an acid, is it a base? What does it mean to be an acid? An acid is going to be the H plus donor. Okay, that's an H plus, that's a positive. So if it's positive, that means it's not the electron donor, it's the opposite. So the acid is the proton donor, the base is, right, the electron bringer of the equation.
Speaker 1:And so now we've gone from acid base to protons and electrons, which is simpler. So then we start talking about, okay, proton, electron sharing and giving. Okay, wait, let's talk about how that works. And that takes us back now to the periodic table. We said, okay, wait, now which of these are most likely to be an acid or a base, based on their balance and their attractivity to electrons, or whatever? And so we can start to look at things and break things down that way, and then, once you have a simple competition like that, you can then build it back up and make it incredible. Thank you, shannon, make it incredible at the complex level.
Speaker 1:But if we don't break it down, then it's just this amorphous Lewis acid, lewis base. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. What is this reaction, all this attack, and how do I know what this equation is gonna do? Wait a minute. It's just electrons and protons moving around. So all that is based on electronegativity in the pool. So when I have a polyatomic ion, how shielded is the nucleus of this polyatomic ion? How stable are the chain pairs in this polyatomic ion? Where are opportunities for weakness, points of attack? Where are points on this where they could attack someone else, where they could take that electron and bounce it over there? Does that make sense to everybody?
Speaker 1:So whenever you're dealing with really complex information, the tool is not just to try to memorize that complex thing. It's to try to break the complex down into its simple core elements. And what makes this even easier, guys, and this is where students mess up. And what makes this even easier, guys, and this is where students mess up when things get complex it's because you haven't taken the time to learn the simple elements that built to them as you go through your academic journey. They don't just toss you in calculus first year. They don't just toss you in OCHEM first year. They don't just toss you in physics first.
Speaker 1:You took classes before that that were supposed to be the building blocks of that complex class. But what did you fail to do? You failed to effectively learn those basics as they were being taught. You struggle in calculus because you don't have your Algebra 2 game on. You struggled in Algebra 2 or Geometry because your Algebra was weak. You struggle in OCHEM because your Chemistry was weak. You struggle in Physics because your Algebra was weak because you didn't understand calculus. All these things go together because they build on each other. You struggle in biochemistry because your bio game is weak and your chemistry game is weak.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? So if you are struggling in the complex, you need to go back and say, wait, let me get solid on these basics, let me get solid on these and then I can work my way up. Hey, for this class, I'm struggling on chapter seven. It's really complex. Did I take the time to learn chapter one through five really well, or did I just get ready for those quizzes real quick and then forget all that stuff? Does that make sense to everybody what I'm saying right now? If you're struggling with the complex, it's because you don't have a good grasp of the simple building blocks of that complex topic. We have to create clarity and understanding early in our academic career if we want to thrive for our lifetime. If we don't, we can't be thriving. Y'all. We are going to struggle profusely and that's what you guys feel that struggle, that burn.
Speaker 1:And, like I said, I'm a proactive, forward-thinking person. I approach everything with saying listen, let's have a sound plan that works on all occasions to be effective For studying. That plan is my five pillars of studying less and getting better grades. It's a pyramid of success. Each pillar builds on each other to make you an unstoppable, bulletproof student so that you can succeed, be efficient at every level that you ever attack, whether that's college, grad school, medical school, even as non-pre-med people. I have people that comment all the time say, hey, listen, your five pillars help me tremendously in my nursing field, in my blah, blah, blah. Whatever field you're in, it will help you make the most of your time and learn effectively and remember effectively so you can apply it in these complex situations. And, like I said, this stream right for today only. You can get 50% off my five pillars program, with all the on-demand lectures and the coaching, by entering the code STUDYBETTER one word in the promo box. The link is in my Instagram bio. My website is premedproductivitycom, so get to the website, get into the course and you'll have all the study, support and advice you need to be successful. It's a proven plan and system to get you to where you want to go. All right, thank you.
Speaker 1:People say it makes perfect sense. I got it, oh, my gosh, very much. I appreciate that y'all. I appreciate y'all. It's lonely sometimes when I'm on here, y'all times, when I'm on here y'all and y'all don't comment. I just see eyeballs. I'm like, oh, there's a lot of people on here watching but nobody's talking to me. Why are you making me feel so alone y'all, okay.
Speaker 1:Next up is how do we deal with information overload in an intensive course and this is another common one how many of you guys feel information overloaded? It's so much information Whenever, you feel information overload. We talked about this on that Anki live stream, so check that out. Information overload is very prevalent among students and the key feature what causes this symptom? Right, the disease is that we have a disease of not connecting things, so we're learning in separate chunks. Everyone hear me when you attack a class okay, we're learning in separate chunks. Everyone hear me when you attack a class okay, we're supposed to learn this and we're supposed to learn this. Okay, this slide says this, this page says this. This page, every page, every slide is unique and separate from everything else.
Speaker 1:When you learn that way, it makes the information multiply instead of make sense, and what we want to aim to do is to create clarity and cohesion amongst material. So therefore, as you learn, you have to flip from saying oh, this, this, this, this, this, to saying wait, how is this new thing I learn connected to the previous thing I just learned? So as I go through a lecture, it's not this slide, this slide, this slide, this slide, it's okay. On slide one I learned this. So when I move to slide two, I ask myself how does slide two change, alter, enhance what I learned in slide one? Okay, now that's happened. Okay, now I move to slide three. Now, how does this change what I learned in slide one and slide two?
Speaker 1:To either make it clearer, to make it unnecessary, to simplify it, to add this ingredient onto it, to add the functionality. We link everything together and when you link all the information together, it creates a nice flowing story where everything is connected and it takes something from being a million pieces of information to being a hundred, thousand or a thousand or even a hundred pieces of information, and so, instead of being information overloaded, what are you? You're connected, it's logical, it flows and everything goes together and you're not so information overloaded. So it's a shift from seeing things in silos to instead connecting things together and saying what is the commonality? They're all teaching this in one class, so it must be connected somehow. How do these connect? How do these add to each other? And if you can do that, it'll take away. It won't seem like a million pieces of information, it'll seem like much fewer pieces of information than is there.
Speaker 1:As part of this, what I tell my students to do is we don't want to think about the details and the small little bits of information, not the trees. We want to think about the forest. So when you learn, you should not be trying to learn concrete facts, you should be trying to learn concepts. If we stick to the concepts, there's only so many concepts in each course, and so by doing this, we reduce the disorganization and the information overload and allows us to then have these discrete concepts and then, once we're organized, drill down those concepts into the concrete details in an organized, scaffolded fashion. That's effective learning, all right.
Speaker 1:Next up is preparing adequately for high stakes exams. So this is a loaded comment, because the student used high stakes exams and so how high stake an exam is is all a matter of perception. And if we feel an exam is high stakes, what makes it particularly difficult, it's the fact that we put a lot of pressure on that exam. We say this exam is very important. And so when we say that, when we assign importance like that to something that brings pressure, and that pressure makes us feel anxious, makes us feel scared, there you go. Keith Kirthi just said it right that anxiety, oh, it's the anxiety of high six exams that gets us in trouble.
Speaker 1:When I talk to my MCAT students, right in my MCAT course, we talk about the fact that the MCAT exam is a mental fortitude exam, because we all know just how important the MCAT is. You work hard for four years, six years, 10 years as a pre-med, and then you get to this one exam and the pressure of saying, oh, my gosh, this one exam might keep me out of medical school, oh, and the anxiety stirs up. And so I spent a lot of time in my MCAT class fortifying your mindset, fortifying your ability to deal with that. We spent a long time in part of the course talking about test day anxiety and how to quickly proactively avoid, right, reduce the amount of anxiety we generate. But then also, when anxiety strikes, how do we attack it and take it down. So when we talk about this difficulty of prepare adequately for high-stakes exams, it's a loaded question I said because the second part, the high-stakes alludes to the anxiety, but the first part alludes to how you fix it, the number one thing you can do to reduce academic performance anxiety. And if you guys go to my Instagram bio, I have a link there to a video I just did recently talking about the three common triggers of academic anxiety and how to overcome them, to a video I just did recently talking about the three common triggers of academic anxiety, how to overcome them. And I actually did a two-part series where I talked about over two hours of content talking specifically about anxiety for exams, anxiety during studying, what the common triggers are and how to overcome those. So if you're on my YouTube channel, click over to that video, check that video out. After this, if you're on my Instagram, click the link in my bio and you'll take it right over there to watch that video. But, in short, the way you get rid of anxiety is you make sure you're academically prepared.
Speaker 1:For many of us we feel anxious. It's not universal. We feel anxious when we feel like something is very difficult and we aren't adequately prepared. So the best way to reduce anxiety is to have a sound plan for meeting our preparation goal by test day. Does that make sense to everybody? If we if we as students have a sound plan to get prepared for our exam, then we aren't as nervous and anxious about it. But when we can't see a path to success, that increases our uncertainty factor and so therefore, we feel less confident and we feel more anxious. Yes, so you have to develop a sound plan for studying and for learning that's going to get you prepared for this exam. I again offer my five pillars of study. Let's a better grades. That gives you a plan of success. So therefore you can feel confident. Hey, listen, dr Pines said. Not only did he do this, but he said thousands of students do the same system and they're succeeding in college, in medical school. The proof is in the pudding. I can talk to people in the community. They know this is going to work. So once you have that plan, the confidence goes up, the anxiety goes down. That's a separator.
Speaker 1:Additionally, we have to understand if we are an anxious person, are we doing everything in our power to get a hold of our mental fitness, of our mental health? Are you? If you're an anxious person, are you learning about anxiety? Are you learning about tools to deal with anxiety? Are you speaking with a health professional? So that way, you right. Are you speaking with a health professional? So that way, you right. So that way you have tools and strategies to reduce and deal with your anxiety? Right?
Speaker 1:I went to Stanford Medical School. It's an incredible medical school, hugely gifted people Changing the world of my med school classmates. Saw a counselor, saw a therapist, saw someone to help with the feelings of insecurity, of doubt, of the stress of the situation. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you don't get help, all you're doing is sabotaging yourself. Yes, okay, g says how do you speed understanding? Go back and watch me in this video.
Speaker 1:Like we said, you've got to be in a position where you understand, understanding. The important thing is not to speed through things. The important thing is to create sound understanding such that you don't have to keep going back and trying to relearn something. How many of you guys read something and you have to reread it? How many of you guys go to a lecture and you have to rewatch the lecture? How many of you guys do all these things over and over again, duplicative times? And so what does that do? It doubles your effort, it doubles the amount of time you have to spend on this material, and so it slows you down. So the speed in understanding, the speed in learning, comes from making your first pass a high fidelity pass, and this is one of the reasons why I don't teach my students to skim. We never skim anything, because if you're skimming, by definition you aren't grabbing all the meat off the bone. So what do you have to do? You have to go back and nod that bone again to get more information. So you've guaranteed yourself you're going to have to double your efforts to get more information. So you've guaranteed yourself you're gonna have to double your efforts. So when we talk about speeding understanding, it's about focusing on understanding, taking our time and making our first pass our best pass. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Dustin says how do I balance theory and practical application in my studies? I love this, and the answer, dustin, is that you should never be in a theoretical place. This is the key separator for students who are efficient is they understand? Something is only useful, something is only functional, something is only important if there is an application to it. Yes, this is what happened on the MCAT. They give you a lot of information in a passage, but only a small segment of that information is actually applicable to the questions that will come in front of it. So high-level MCAT test takers are able to go through a passage and find what has applicability and what is just fluff and rhetoric to bloat the passage, to make you take longer on the passage, to slow you down and make you run out of time. It's the same thing with courses they give you all this stuff, but how much of this stuff is not applicable? And if it's not applicable, it's not testable and therefore it's not high yield.
Speaker 1:So when we talk about theory and application, I never care about theory. All I care about is what is applicable, how is it applicable and how can I learn to apply it effectively and rapidly in not just simple environments but complex environments, because that's what not the first multiple choice questions are. But at the end, those free response questions, those are the complex learning questions that separate the A students from the B students and the C students? Can you apply quickly and effectively on an exam For my clinical people, my medical students? Can you take what was in the classroom and you had all this time to do? Can you apply it when your patient's dying? Can you apply it when they ask you, when they quote, unquote, pimp you on rounds and they ask you a question? Okay, yes, we have a patient who has pneumonia, so we're going to give him this antibiotic. Blah, blah, blah. When you're attending, throws it back. He says, okay, wait a minute. You said we're going to give this antibiotic, but what if it was this type of pneumonia? What would you do? Oh, you just made it complex. Oh, we have to have complex understandings of the material. We have to say what is applicable and how can I apply this with high fidelity in any environment.
Speaker 1:Josh, I'm going to enjoy church. If you guys are still with me, who's going to church? Let me see. Oh my gosh, we've been here for 48 minutes. Okay, it's time, y'all. It's time y'all. I'm getting off of here. I appreciate y'all. Dang. I think oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Yeah, there's a bunch of these on there.
Speaker 1:What I will say as we close, if you did not already hear this today and today, only 50% off my course, the Five Pillars of Studying Less and Getting Better Grades. It's a course, it's coaching with me. It will get you to be the high level, efficient student you dream of being. Today and today, only with the promo code STUDYBETTER, you can get 50% off this program. It will change your life, guys. Change your life. I've had students who said listen, my grades were so bad I contemplated suicide and then I got in your program and now I'm getting the ACE and my life has changed around. It's literally life-saving.
Speaker 1:So if you're looking for a way to level up your studying, guys, this is great listening to me on here, but what if you could listen to me for dozens of hours, tens and tens of hours of me teaching you specific, high-level stuff? What if you could ask me questions on coaching, whatever you had questions about? Hey, listen, dr Pine said will you look at my notes? Will you review? I'm taking this class right now. Can we pull up my notes right now and look at all my notes? Sure, let's do it. We'll go through it. Hey, this is my schedule. Clean this up for me. Okay, let's go through your schedule, clean that up. Hey, I'm struggling with this. I got this. We navigate everything together because I'm committed to you guys' success right? So I'm on here Sunday, monday, every Wednesday on Facebook and YouTube.
Speaker 1:If you guys don't know, I'm at Premed Productivity across all social media. I'm Dr Pineset. I'm here to help you guys succeed and thrive and get ahead in this world. Help you guys think better, study better, premed better. So what can you do? Get into medical school and achieve your dreams. So I appreciate you guys hanging out with me. Take advantage. Study better is the promo code? 50% off today? Today, only my five-player course. I appreciate you guys. I'm going to hit the outro and we're going to get out of here y'all. See you guys next time. That's it for another episode of the Pre-Med Productivity Podcast. Show your love by smashing the like button and commenting in the box below.
Speaker 1:Today is the day, guys. No more excuses, no more complaining. You're going to take your future into your own hands. You're going to dominate. You're going to be successful. I challenge you. What are you going to do today to make your life better? Get to my website, premedproductivitycom, grab a free ebook, sign up for a free webinar and, if you're really ready to transform, enroll in one of my life-changing courses or coaching programs. You have greatness inside you. Let me show you how to unlock it so you can dominate and make your dreams a reality. No excuses, just dominate.
