- Organization
- Every single power point, PDF, and word document can be loaded into Onenote, allowing for every single lecture note and piece of review material to be instantly accessible with one program. Trust me, this is easier than making folders upon folders for all the different subjects.
- Search features
- Who doesn't love the control f function? In Onenote, not only do you have this search feature, but you can search your entire program (everything). Why is this useful? Let's say I hear a term that I know I've heard before but I forget what it is and when we learned it (this happens a lot). What do I do? With a few keystrokes I do a search for it, and seconds later I'm looking at the exact spot in the lecture power point from 6 months ago where we discussed it with my annotations. You can't beat that organization and accessibility.
- Annotation
- Annotating everything from PDF documents to powerpoints could not be easier. It's like a little piece of heaven.
You might have to try it before you really understand what I'm talking about, but I don't know anyone who has tried Onenote and not fallen in love with it.
 |
| This is a screen shot from one of my lecture notes |
For reference, I provided a screen shot of the program. The left is where I can switch to different notebooks for each block (1, 2, 3, 4). The top has my different subjects for that block, such as anatomy, histology, cardiac, respiratory, etc. The right has my lectures or other review pages for the subject.
I am a medical student at BCM and all thoughts are my own. I am not a doctor. Please read the disclaimer.
Head on over and like Baylor Doctor on Facebook!
Thanks for this post! I'm in my first week of med school at A&M and I just taught myself how to use One Note- seems AMAZING and reading your blog just reinforced that impression!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on starting medical school, and I'm glad you've also started to enjoy this little piece of heaven!
DeleteHi from CA :). Just starting my first year as well. Nice blog! Any tips for 1. note-taking (seems like this is something we have to relearn to do in medical school) and 2. reviewing material using Onenote? Thanks! -J
DeleteHi J!
DeleteOne of the most helpful things for taking notes in onenote are the keyboard shortcuts. I use these all the time:
Ctrl + shift + > = bigger font
Ctrl + shift + < = smaller font
Ctrl + u = underline
Ctrl + b = bold
Ctrl + shift + h = highlight
Ctrl + . = bullet points
ctrl + e = search all notebooks
tab after a word = makes a chart
Also, make sure you customize your quick access toolbar at the top of the screen so different color highlighters and pens are available. Also make sure the shapes button is available, so you can easily insert arrows point to stuff on figures. Last, make sure the copy a part of the screen into onenote button is available. For reasons I won't elaborate on, the button works better than the keyboard shortcut.
As far as reviewing material in onenote, there's not a whole lot you can do besides reviewing each lecture one by one. It's helpful to make a separate review page where you summarize notes or a "to do" page where you can write things you want to study or do. This can be helpful because you might think of something you want to read about later, but unless you write it down it might not happen.
Sometimes, I actually don't take very many notes in onenote, and instead write everything in my First Aid book. I think it depends on the class and the lecturer. You will probably find your study techniques evolving with each new block.
Good luck!
Thank you so much for your reply! I feel like I am already drowning T_T. Not enough time to enter my all my lectures into onenote, and have yet to have time to even review previous material. And I am only on week 2! Do you suggest skipping over material that is familiar? Or perhaps only typing in terms and a brief outline of the lectures? I am afraid I might miss something important, or neglect information that may not be as concretely placed in my head as I may falsely assume...
DeleteNot to mention it's a bit awkward trying to incorporate both the school handout notes as well as stuff from the powerpoints. And stuff from the actual lecture on top of all this!
Would you mind sharing your methods of organizing/study?
Thanks! -J
Usually, I try and read the book before class. Then I print the ppt into onenote and then print the handout right under it on the same page. During lecture, since I've already read the book, everything is usually pretty familiar and I usually just listen and might write some clarfying comments on the ppt. Afterwards, I read the handout. By this time, I've gone over the information 3 times. A lot of medical school content is based on understanding and not memorization, so at this point I might be done. The only thing I'll do before the test is go through the lecture ppt again to refresh my memory, since lecture ppt seem to be high yield for tests.
DeleteIf the content is memorization heavy or just overwhelming, I'll usually make notecards to study off of. Or I'll make an overview document for the entire course. I like charts, so I will frequently make a chart that summarizes everything I need to know.
I know it seems overwhelming, and every medical student initially fears they will miss something. You come to discover rather quickly, however, that it's OK to not know everything. There's just too much to know, and it's OK to miss some questions.
One thing that I have changed since undergrad is studying with a partner. My study buddy has helped me immensely to clarify concepts that I already thought I knew, but really didn't. It's great to bounce questions off of each other. I will clarify, however, that I don't study with a partner until right before the test. For me, most learning is just about putting your shoulder to he wheel and reading/studying on your own. In the end, however, a partner can serve as a backup to make sure you didn't miss anything.
I'm sure you're doing great!