You're in school to become a doctor, and you've
been putting in the hours, but you still can't quite get those perfect grades you've always
wanted. Those that ace all their classes simply have
some X factor that you don't. Maybe it's their smarts, or discipline, or
willingness to have no life. That's not quite right, and I'll show you
why. Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com. It's alarming to me how often I come across
students that have a self-defeating mindset when it comes to their academic lives. And the unfortunate thing is that by believing
they cannot get better grades for whatever reason, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The first and most common misconception is
that to be a top student with a 4.0 GPA or top MCAT score, you have to be inherently
smart. While intelligence certainly helps and can
give you a leg up as a starting point, it isn't enough on its own. I had a friend in high school who everyone
knew was a genius and we'd joke that he was going to cure cancer. He got a perfect SAT, aced all his classes,
and yet was constantly asleep in class. It seemed so effortless to him. He chose an easy college major, so that wasn't
much of an issue for him either, and of course he crushed his MCAT. But by the time he got to medical school,
he reached out to me and told me he was struggling. He lamented there was too much information
to learn, and he was now in the bottom quartile for the first time. Everyone has to learn this sooner or later,
but smarts alone will not suffice in becoming a doctor. Discipline and how you approach your studying
is more important than individual variations in intelligence. An inherently intelligent student with no
discipline and poor study strategies will lose out to a less intelligent student who
is willing to invest serious time and effort into addressing their weaknesses. For example, I've tutored C students who were
quite confident in telling me they were too dumb to ever get an A in any math or science
class. After addressing one student's gaps in understanding
and deficiencies in study strategies, he was shocked to get an A on his subsequent chemistry
midterm. The myth of needing to be smart leads to the
next misconception, which is that the difference in academic performance is a result of how
much you know. Your performance on any school test or standardized
exam like the SAT, MCAT, or USMLE comes down to three domains: memorization, understanding,
and application. The exact balance of each will vary based
on the test. For example, the MCAT is much more about application
and less about memorization than USMLE Step 1, which is heavier on memorization. If you were to focus all your efforts on memorization,
and you knew every single fact in the textbook, you still wouldn't be guaranteed a top score. After all, there may be curve balls on the
test that don't test your knowledge, but rather your understanding of concepts. For example, let's say you memorized everything
about neuron action potentials, but on the test, there's a question where the threshold,
opening and closing duration, or function of certain channels are altered. This question is focusing on your understanding
of core concepts and their interplay rather than your ability to regurgitate memorized
facts. Too many students focus on memorizing more
facts, thinking this will lead to improved test day performance. But in reality, those efforts would have a
higher yield if they focused on solidifying their understanding and application. Deeper understanding can be honed through
a variety of practices, including the Feynman Technique, which I've covered in a previous
video. Application can be honed through proper use
of practice questions and practice tests, which I've also explored further elsewhere. Each person has a different natural inclination
in each of these domains, and to achieve optimal performance, you must address your weaknesses. For some, memorization occurs much easier,
and for others, it's application or understanding. Going back to my friend, he naturally excelled
at understanding and application, which is how he and I both scored in the 99.9th percentile
on the MCAT, even though I had to study much harder. I was working to address my deficiencies,
so that for USMLE, I was able to score in the high 260's, while he was dozens of points
lower. The third lie you've been told is the idea
of learning styles. Maybe you're an auditory learner, while I'm
a visual learner, and therefore we should approach our studying differently. That's nonsense. The studies that promote the idea of the VARK
learning styles, meaning visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic, lack key
criteria for scientific validity. And in recent years, multiple studies have
demonstrated compelling evidence that the idea of learning styles is detrimental. Even when you allow students to study in their
preferred learning style, they don't perform any better. What does change a student's performance is
whether they follow evidence-based learning principles in their studying. This all makes sense when you realize that
evidence-based learning principles are all somewhat uncomfortable when you first start
out. Active learning, spaced repetition, desirable
difficulties, and interleaving all add complexity and require increased mental energy to properly
execute. On the other hand, passively reading your
notes again and again is much easier, or watching a video explaining a topic would be more enjoyable
than doing practice problems on it. It's natural to prefer the easier route, but
just because you prefer it doesn't mean it's working any better. If you don't enjoy active learning with spaced
repetition or doing lots of practice problems initially, keep at it. You'll learn faster and it will soon feel
normal. The fourth myth is that to be a top student,
you have to be willing to have no life and dedicate yourself fully to just studying. If you believe this lie, you likely fall into
one of two categories. Either you value your social life and believe
that's why you can't get good grades, or you throw yourself at the books nonstop, believing
that will get you the grades you desire. Both are wrong. Top students get there by having a balanced
and well rounded life. Sure, they aren't going to be partying every
weekend at every opportunity, but they also aren't going to study 12 hours every single
day. Sustainability is the name of the game here. To get straight A's and crush your exams,
your mind has to be operating at full capacity. If you're not allowing yourself to exercise,
destress, unwind, and enjoy your life, it's inevitable that you'll experience some form
of burnout. And that burnout will decrease the effectiveness
of each hour of studying. As I always say, you must be intentional with
your time. Either deliberately work or deliberately play,
and never both at the same time. This way, you can be intense with your work,
getting more done in less time, and intense with your personal time too, fully immersing
yourself in exercise or relaxation without guilt. The central theme and reason I started this
channel is to teach students that you can learn to be better. What you believe is a fixed characteristic
is just misattributed to a make believe identity you have of yourself. You can learn how to be more balanced, more
effective in school, crush your tests, and be a top performer in a happy, sustainable
way. To get there, watch my Study Strategies playlist,
or my video on the 7 evidence based study strategies and how to use each. Much love, and I'll see you guys there.
