My Daily Workflow for Medical School - What Works

[@mikaelalinato5926]

I love how he is so honest about doing his anki recall in 3-5hrs because usually others don't tell you that and we just practically assume that they magically and smoothly achieved having all that information in your brain in just a small amount of time which is soooo unrealistic but yeah we need those kind of info too to make ourselves feel normal

[@lauiimander9030]

I agree , i always start makin flash cards and it took me lots of time , same for when i start learnin them and i just end up with feeling bad cuz i feel like i'm the only one having this prblm and i quit the process 🤔

[@catn9608]

Can totally relate

[@ehudthegreat4237]

It’s usually takes so much time to learn those cards

[@omen03]

How can you understand with 10 second for per card. Don't you need more time to get it?

[@rachlanna]

"It's usually information that will help me be a better clinician but not a top exam performer" I respect that so much! I feel like it really proves how much you care about what you're learning and you're doing this for all the right reasons!

[@cydenyap]

I'm a med student from Ph! I love how you stressed out that Anki is used for solidifying information instead learning new info! I found this mistake on my first few months of trying it out and my grades were just the same as compared to before I used Anki. Thank you for this!

[@maxcastro70]

This channel is going places!! Really good quality videos great music and background and transition everything is just real good!

[@ZachHighley]

Thanks Max! Appreciate the support.

[@alvinsphan]

Thanks for the 3-5 hours on review anki part in the beginning. Was struggling with the idea of investing so much time everyday on my reviews that won’t be on my future in-house exams when we get so much new content every week.

[@mikolajochocki2810]

I swear a few days ago you were at 20k or so? Perhaps I'm confusing your channel with a different one. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised. Your videos are so high-tech, with amazing angles, beautiful lighting (I especially enjoy the lighting you get from you big windows) and they're really well edited. Way to go, mate. In my opinion you should never change and go quantity > quality. Your channel is built on quality and even if it means less frequent uploads, maintain your viewer loyalty and keep up that amazing quality of your work bro

[@ILBBSM]

This has to be the most helpful channel I've ever stumbled upon. I'm an ms1 who just finished foundations. I came to the conclusion last night that my old study routine is no match for my first "real block" But you've answered literally every single question I had about how to be more efficient and how to start using AnKing/third party resources. AND your channel's quality overall is AMAZING. Editing and shots are super clean. Tldr this feels like a Godsend. Thank you thank you thank you.

[@ZachHighley]

Wow, thank you!

[@carolinewissa6231]

This is my "I'm here since 35K" card. You're gonna blow up! The quality had me thinking you have 1M subscribers, it was a surprise to me that you're not there yet! Unlike what youtube ads think now that I watched a lot of your videos, I'm not a medical student, I'm actually in my last year of high school, and although I am a biology student I'm planning on joining CS!! Your videos are helping me a lot, especially with the no notes approach since I have been forced to do that because I injured my hand! Best of luck and well done! Update: I have been trying anki for the past few days and it's been helping a ton! It's helping me study better and now it's not as tedious of a process as it used to be!

[@epidrom]

2+2=4 scene was absolutley perfect :D

[@vladabulovina5739]

Him: watch third party content for tomorrow’s lectures Me: *slept through all of my biochem classes seeing that we were studying online and now has to teach myself the entire course* interesting🤔

[@akshayakannan9959]

Just discovered your videos! They're amazing! 🙌Binging them all right now haha! Subscribed to the newsletter as well!

[@ZachHighley]

Welcome to the fam! Thanks for the sub, you'll be getting an email shortly.

[@バンド楽しいうさぎ大好き]

My finals is in a week and I'm regretful I didn't come across your channel sooner....imma cry a river

[@Drburakc]

I have 45 days . Did you pass the final?

[@vr4186]

your videos are so straight forward! thank you so much for sharing.

[@ZachHighley]

You are welcome, thanks for watching.

[@michchow7385]

This is such a refreshing perspective! I don't take notes too, and it has always worked for me. But the overwhelming majority of other "How to take notes" youtubers got me questioning my own study methods. So I'm super glad I stumbled across your channel! Funnily enough, it wasn't even a video on studying :D Love your content, Zach, keep inspiring!

[@swarnaseth3694]

love from INDIA. at this moment of time, your videos helped me alot. i accidently landed onto ur channel and this turns out to be the blessing for me. please if u can then, make a video on how to plan a time table/schedules-weekly/montly /and so on. it will be waiting ..and thankx alot

[@toilaxuannam]

Thank you so so so so much for showing me how to learn. At first I wonder if it'll work for me, but after watching tons of your videos I begin to get the hang of it. I just realize that learning is so fun. You are such an inspirational student and person. You help me prepare extremely well for my first high school year and so on!!!

[@maisoonazzam8830]

How straight forward and beneficial, you are right, there is no perfect study strategy, I struggled big time to understand that. Thanks for the video! keep it up.

[@ahmadmurtazaasadi1295]

Thank you Zack, for your time & effort in preparing this amazing video

[@luizadiniz1380]

High-quality video and information, man!!! Congrats!

[@ZachHighley]

Thank you!

[@NS-wl2fl]

So happy to see someone that pretty much studies the SAME way I do 😭😭 even got some pointers on how to be a lil more efficient 😍

[@ZachHighley]

It's my favorite way! Glad it was helpful.

[@danielrey5451]

Thank you for this. I'm seriously struggling right now with med school

[@PAXTOS]

Atleast someone to encourage me. Thanks bro. You helped me alot. Live from Pakistan

[@JulianaKelin]

I´m so happy that i found this content for free. Thank you very much

[@rashikasivanesan9506]

You're so brutally honest and I like that 😂 Thank you for the high quality videos! Keep going!

[@hoshiistar3322]

fellow med student here! I used to live in Philly too. It's cool to see how we have pretty much the same exact routine hahaha. Keep up the great work! I can't imagine doing youtube and handling the school workload!

[@هِنْدٌ-ط5و]

Can i ask what is anki?

[@29957fred]

@@هِنْدٌ-ط5و man just look it up

[@هِنْدٌ-ط5و]

@@29957fred i definitely would, thank you 😃

[@DoctorAmedicine]

Hey Zach! Found you through Ali's Skillshare class. Great content, I wish I'd seen this video 3 years back when I was still in Medical school. I'll definitely use some of these for my membership and fellowship exam prep! :D Also, good work with the website. Wouldn't have believed this was shot on an a6300 if I hadn't seen it on the "resouces" section. What's your workflow like? What profile do you shoot in? What LUT do you use? I want to acheive a similar look as your video sometime soon(gotta get my hands on a sony). Also, as a fellow new KZbinr myself, I can understand that it might be slightly frustrating to put so much effort into creating videos and not see great success soon. Don't let this dishearten you, you have the talent to make it big in the long run, just keep uploading consistently and maintain this quality. Good luck!

[@ZachHighley]

Hey, thank you so much! Question Answers: - *Workflow*: Film A roll -> Film B Roll -> Cut A Roll -> Add titles/timestamps/information overlays -> add B roll -> add music -> fix audio -> color grade -> watch for mistakes -> upload! - *LUT*: I am still playing around with these, but for this video, I used Sony Free Blockbuster LUT by Alister Chapmann: pro.sony/en_BE/technology/alister-chapman-blockbuster-lut-v2 - *Picture Profile*: PP7 (Slog2 + S-Gamut Color), I am still new to this, so, again, this is constantly changing as I play around Thank you again for your words of support, and I am having so much fun doing it; I don't plan to stop any time soon.

[@DoctorAmedicine]

@@ZachHighley Godspeed!

[@bouchranourelhouda2415]

I believe test practice and active recall is the best strategy for me I just need to make a routine to match my daily life I'll rearrange your routine Zach so it works with my life and aim to be a good med student ^^

[@rbm07-n2m]

your study routine is very very helpful for me ..because i m prepairing for medical intrance exam NEET ....so thanku alot.😍

[@joefalsetta9181]

I am currently going through finding a daily workflow for studying through Nurse Practitioner school. This was very helpful!!!

[@donghoshin9375]

Love your editing! Awesome video

[@ZachHighley]

Thank you so much!

[@dindarhusen9168]

Thanks a lot you helped me a lot keep going to 1,000,000 subscribers ❤️

[@ZachHighley]

Glad it helped!

[@juliandiiulio3900]

you are incredible transmitting, thank you!

[@ayamahmoudgoma8592]

Your videos are not just amazing and helpful.. they are also inspiring!! Thanks form your new Arabian subscriber 👏🏻👏🏻

[@ZachHighley]

Wow thanks for such nice words!

[@faustind]

Le me thinking: A man of focus, commitment, and sheer f****g will.

[@Ambica_Kaushik]

Just discovered your channel. It's amazing. A NEW SUBSCRIBER 🤗🤗 really got content as well.

[@Ambica_Kaushik]

* good

[@mars8499]

Inspiring and informative.... Thanks man

[@aryabhagwat5934]

OMFG YOU ARE THE BEST❤️

[@Samsanity]

Hi Zach! Would you be so kind as to break this down more specifically by the hour (8-11 do this, 11-1 do that), so I can perhaps get a better idea on how much time you spend in each category? I'm a MS1, and I'm struggling with time management with all the stuff we have to do.

[@christinabtx2004]

Dude you are amazing keep it up

[@nnamdi2257]

Just subscribed! I can't believe this content is free. I would really like to know how you use Anking for your reviews during classes? Do you use only the decks/cards pertaining to that specific class or review other classes as well?

[@kevinhughes9801]

Amazing video thanks for sharing live ur study tips

[@notyourbusiness1243]

Can you please explain to me how it's possible to retain informations, especially complicated ones when you don't take notes ? I noticed that i'm unable to take notes without re watching lectures, except that they are a huge Time sink like you said. So when i do that, i barely have the time to revise my notes and i do bad at all my exams. Can you please help and advice me ?

[@ilovephysics8102]

I believe that he can do that because of the resources that he have. He don't need to take notes because he already have everything he needs to know in the AnKing Deck, Amboss and etc.. You can only do that if you have a really really good anki premade deck like AnKing Deck. Remember he said that you need to understand the new anki cards, UNDERSTAND it first. He also said that it is for medical school, which have a looooot of pre made decks for medical students. Other fields not so much. So yea if you're not in medical school you don't have a choice but to make condensed notes for yourself and make anki cards. But if you're in medical school then just follow everything he does. And yea He also said that he watches lectures from "tommorow's lecture" and after that he reviews all new anki card so that when you're in the lecture you will just retain a lot more.He's not aiming to memorize all the information in the videos in a lecture, he's aiming to understand it, then you will just naturally retain it. Just watch video lecture and after you watch it then make questions for yourself while using the feynman technique in that lecture to understand it. For example it's about anki "what is anki? anki is a flashcard app with srs within it, What is anki used for? .... etc" and jsut connect it.

[@Adam_Aparece]

1:29 "Luckily I only have 20 right now" "Studied 1139 cards in the past 3.06 hours today" my dude you are a beast

[@LauraBellanova]

Beautiful video

[@krsjhn01]

Thanks for this!!! ☺️

[@volarex5311]

"Lectures are a time sink" Watches lecture in a bathtub

[@jonbog6479]

Great stuff!

[@ranzuuchiha7841]

Woowowowowow.. Thankkk youyu😃😃🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@rahulshendre7089]

Thank you so much

[@Dr.five5]

Shame i can only like this video once ♥️

[@sujaraju4851]

Nice video nice sound quality

[@iluvphysio]

:D Bath Tub, only a medical student would sit in it to study.

[@hmmm0o0]

Keep up the good work

[@ZachHighley]

Thanks, will do!

[@a.b.r.6248]

That is a lot of time. We have classes 8 to 4, and 5 days a week. And after 4 in the evening, there isn't much time and energy to do anything other than just reading those concepts from a textbook.

[@jesakinsuyi4990]

I honestly clicked on this video cuz he was good looking and then i gained such GOOD ADVICE 😭😭☺subscribeddddd

[@bellazhang6020]

Hi Zach, your videos are beyond amazing and super helpful! I have a question on Anki that how you know you have finished all the Anki reviews before the exam? For example, if I have cadio this month, how could I know if I have finished all the reviews on time? Thank you so much! Good luck with step1!

[@rebeccadenson4054]

It's almost like you don't need the Medical School to go to Medical School. I graduated from Med school in 1994 - I had to (and did) make my own notecards.

[@naureenscreativecorner7354]

Please tell me, how do you have time to keep your plants?? I've just gotten into plants and keep killing them!

Thank you!!!!! I learned a lot from you. What do you do about reading material/chapters?

[@ZachHighley]

Glad it helped! If I am really unsure of something, or want to learn more background information, I will go to the text. Honestly, however, I have found reading and rereading the material to be an ineffective use of time in regards to time spent / information retained. My time is better spent on flashcards, practice questions, or videos.

[@radhirashdan4486]

@@ZachHighley Great tips! I've found that if you only have a textbook and don't have 3rd party or school lecture videos to watch - I find dividing up the content, reading aloud to yourself and taking notes to be such a game changer. You can be your own lecturer!

[@jeffinjoy17]

Can someone list the *third party lectures* any channels or websites! Plz😃

[@nyashagrace7145]

I related so much to not remembering 2+2

New subscriber!!!!

[@ZachHighley]

Thank you!

[@stuffandnonsense6595]

Awesome

[@nschroeder9551]

Could you list the practice question resources you use? M1 here!

[@isurusudusinghe2473]

Hi zach.. Are those Anki decks custom built or downloaded decks ? BTW awsm vid .. Greetings from #SriLanka

[@PasifikaPulse]

This channel will have more subs than Ali abdaal😊

[@shubhamagarwal7022]

Hey can you please share a source of pre made anki flashcard deck for medical students

[@katlccn]

how do you distinguish a bad lecture from a good one? i sometimes doubt if the problem lies on my side (my concentration problem) or if the professor is just downright not teaching well?

[@ehudthegreat4237]

It’s a bad lecture if the professor is rereading the slides

[@axelveltrig.3969]

Hi Zach, do you use books to study thoroughly the topics? Or you just complete the information with the lecture? Thanks for everything, your content is awesome!

[@KianOntong13]

In another video he talks about different videos he watches, either KZbin or boardsandbeyond, pathoma etc

[@SimbaaCS]

How do you do practice questions?? Do you make your own?

[@arock8586]

This is so good advice. U said that u do the anki cards from the 3rd party lecture after the lecture, but did u do the anki cards as your own notes from the 3rd party lecture or do you use other peoples anki cards?

[@jenniewestforth789]

I like all the vids but from your explanations, do you work full time and go to school as many are?

[@noelolivier3417]

I know i'm a little late but anyways. When do you create your Anki Cards or do you add the new Anki cards from AnKing to your decks?

[@ShahbazKhan-je7nq]

What anki did you use? And do you have it neatly organized where ur 3rd party content lectures are connected to the relevant anki?

[@awgoh2038]

When will I study the lecture itself? Someone tell me pls

[@becky5555]

Quick question! Let's say you have an exam on Friday. What anki cards would you "review" over the weekend? Would those just be new ones preparing for the week ahead?

[@ZachHighley]

For me, I am reviewing the cards from the last exam that are relevant for Step 1 as I want to retain that information all the way to Step 1. If I made exam-specific cards I will re-suspend those cards and not study them anymore. Usually I will take Friday off, only do my reviews on saturday/relax a little more, and then Sunday start doing new content in preparation for the week ahead. I do all of my reviews every day.

[@aarongeorge3491]

Do you make your own anki cards? I find it takes me so long to make cards on a lecture and there aren’t any decks out there for pre clinical UK students :(

[@fatemaalya]

Hi! i have an exam in 3 days and i have 15 recorded lectures to watch because i missed and i fell back kinda.. u mentioned not to watch recorded lecture but like how would i understand the content? what if the professor mentions something outside slides/book .. i love ur videos btw

[@Sandman2056]

If you do it for 3-5 hours in the morning, then what time do you wake up?

[@welcome2PAschool]

Hello, do you make all of your anki decks or do you find them elsewhere or have them sent to you from classmates?

[@RedBullxMD]

Would this workflow apply to an MS1 as well? If so, how would an MS1 incorporate practice problems? (more specifically, are you incorporating practice problems for STEP, in-house exams, or both?).

[@FrenchTipsAndFrenchies]

When do you recommend using pathoma in first or second year? Also when you find a first aid excerpt in an anki card do you to to first aid and read that whole section?

[@ZachHighley]

It depends on your school (some schools separate physiology and pathology). I would use Pathoma as soon as your school starts teaching pathology. No, I do not. When I am looking at the extra information on an Anki card I usually already *understand* the information, so I may read the excerpt if I want to connect a few ideas in my head. Reading that entire section of First Aid would be inefficient.

[@38vuphucanh63]

why do have underline text color different from word color pls explain to me

[@Samson-dn4eo]

can you do an update video for anki i just saw an ad for amboss anki and dont know what to do

[@karimamireh3582]

So when im done studying for that specific lecture do I suspend them again? If so doesn't that defeat the purpose of spaced repetition?

[@riskacendana8085]

at 2:49 what website is it?

[@dhariniddevanathan2332]

when do you read the book?

[@t4inaalano]

first of all, congrats on your videos, everything is great, the quality, the music, the content! but it got me thinking: is my school completely abnormal? I mean, I have more than 6 hours of lectures every day, seminars to prepare and present, clinical cases to do as homework. I would really like to be able to spend more than 3 hours at anki and have time to learn my lessons for the next day beforehand, but sometimes I don't even know what the subject will be. sorry I think this is just an outburst, your videos are really inspiring and, God, I wish my school would allow me to organize my week like this i'm from brazil btw and i think that the remote educational system here (in medical schools at least) was just a transposition of the face-to-face teaching we had, with no real preparation for distance learning (thats why we have so many lecture hours)

[@bwbenson32]

Thanks for the great video brother. How many anki cards do you usually make per lecture, by chance? I find w clozes I’m getting in the 200-300s. Is that too much?

[@ehudthegreat4237]

Yes close deletions are good but don’t make too many of them, try new ways of making cards and also try minimizing the cards you make to 30-50 cards per lecture because it can get really overwhelming

[@CurlyGirlChey]

What's a good vs bad lecture and do you know that ahead of time or do you watch the first 5 mins and turn it off

[@ZachHighley]

Usually I'm watching at 2x speed and get a good feeling about 10 minutes in, or my friends will tell me which ones are bad/good

[@firasbourghol574]

hey zach is there any playlist you can recommend for studying, and does using music while studying reduce your focus?

[@ZachHighley]

I like rain sounds, movie soundtracks, and lo fi beats from Spotify

[@KRAZII3D]

What anki deck do you use?

[@ThuanTran-dr1oe]

Where did you get that table??

[@cedricahegbebu2579]

Thanks for this Video Zach. How many hours a day does this take in total? I find myself taking too long to go through the material so the point that I get behind on Anki. Btw the quality of your videos are insane.

[@ZachHighley]

You are welcome! I would say anywhere from 4-5 hours for steps 1-3 (the most important steps), maybe 2 hours on step 4, and ~30-60 minutes on step 5. So all-in-all maybe 8 hours? Again this is just on a normal study day and some days we don't have lectures. I'm not sure what you mean by 'the material," if you mean school/lecture/in-house material I felt the same way and about halfway through M1 deprioritized it; just skimming lectures and notes until exam week. If you are talking about the "new" third party material, it shouldn't take that long if you aren't cramming too many things in one day and sticking to a max of 100 cards a day. Let me know if you have any more questions.

[@aparapathak8375]

How did you study for undergrad? The same resources aren’t available for most undergrad course so what would you suggest?

[@ZachHighley]

Apara, if I could go back in time I would apply the same general idea to my studying. I have a video here on the 3 best ways to study: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJLHfnSZnZenick In general, however, I would avoid rereading, highlighting, and summarizing and focus more on active recall and practice testing. So if I could go back in time to undergrad I think my daily routine would look something like this: do Anki reviews -> preview new lecture material for tomorrow and search for third-party resources/youtube videos -> try and find premade Anki cards and add them to my general Anki deck based on that material OR make very FEW, Anki cards based off the lecture -> study those cards -> attend/listen to a lecture -> add any flashcards that I didn't get from the day before -> study those flashcards -> do some practice questions from the textbook

[@omegalul3043]

Anki anki & oh yes anki

[@arqumabdulah2796]

Did u use anki for MCAT prep? If u did, did u use a premise deck or create your own? Thanks!

[@ZachHighley]

Hey Arqum, I did not, BUT, I would definitely use one if I was taking it now. I hear the premed95 deck is quite good. I used physical flashcards to annotate any incorrect questions I got wrong and split them into three categories: don't know, kinda' know, and know cold (got right immediately at least 3 times). So I was really recreating the Anki algorithm with physical flashcards. I will be making a video on my entire MCAT study strategy/score in the coming weeks so be on the lookout...

[@arqumabdulah2796]

Zach Highley looking forward to the video!

[@Rainyumz]

What subjects do you study in 2nd year?

[@shmuelbarshalom3270]

So in general you never in general you never make new anki? do you just use the anki you downloaded earlier? thanks 😊

[@ZachHighley]

Yes, I mainly just use the premade AnKing deck. I make the occasional flash card for certain practice questions I get wrong.

[@shmuelbarshalom3270]

@@ZachHighley thanks :)

[@KrazyNigerian14]

Did you also use this method for anatomy?

[@ZachHighley]

In regards to Anatomy for Step I just use 100 anatomy concepts deck: www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolanki/comments/cnkw4c/100_concepts_anatomy_deck_cloze_style_469_cards/ and integrate cards as they come up in lectures In regards to preparing for anatomy for in-house exams I use a UMICH cadaver deck and my schools resources, but I *resuspend* these cards after the exam. www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolanki/comments/9gay1w/umich_cadaver_deck/