Introduction

Starting a dental degree program is an exciting time! You’ve chosen a career path, put in the work to be accepted, and now you’re finally working towards a professional degree. The path to dental school often looks very different from student to student. Maybe you’re entering your program after transferring from another one, after working in a different career for several years, after earning an undergraduate degree, after completing a masters degree, or after taking some time off from school. Other aspects of your life might play into your educational plans as well. These might include your family, friends, support people, financial situation, cultural background, and living situation to name a few. All of these factors likely contribute to the many emotions you’ll experience as you begin your career in the School of Dentistry. They’ll also contribute to the formation of your study habits, schedule, and time management. In the “Resources to Enhance Your Success” chapter you can find many University of Minnesota and School of Dentistry services that can help you manage your transition into a professional degree program. In this chapter, we’ll focus on a question that applies to all students: how do I get the most out of my study time?

Matching Study Methods to Learning Objectives

By now, you’ve probably identified one or two favorite study methods that work effectively for you. Some common study techniques that are effective for many students include rewriting notes, annotating slides that were presented in class, developing flashcards, and re-watching recorded lectures. These methods are great for solidifying course content in your mind and work best for meeting learning objectives at the levels of ‘remembering’ and ‘understanding’ in Bloom’s Taxonomy. In the School of Dentistry you’ll likely see a shift from course content being assessed at these levels to assessment at the levels of ‘apply’, ‘analyze’, ‘evaluate’, and ‘create’. It is important to tailor your studying method to meet the level of learning indicated by the learning objectives for a course. Below you’ll find suggestions to enhance some common study techniques so that they work for higher level learning objectives.

Concept Maps

Creating a concept map can be a great way to elevate your current study method. When creating a concept map you identify the central ideas for a given topic and identify how they are related to each other. Working to link central ideas from several class sessions or modules of a course helps you synthesize the individual lessons and put them into a broader context, deepening your learning.

Concept maps can be a simple or complex as you need them to be. Consider how a concept map for one class session might look versus a concept map made for all of the class sessions covered on one exam. The true power in using concept maps as a study technique is that you can build on them, from one lesson to the next, to progressively create the complex network of interactions between different topics in a course. Another benefit of integrating concept mapping into your study routine is that you can generate concept maps from the study materials you’re already comfortable with. For example, if you use flash cards regularly, lay those cards out on a table and consider how they are connected. If you like to rewrite your notes or annotate course PowerPoint slides highlight the core concepts. Then, use a new sheet of paper to build a concept map using the core concepts you just identified. If you prefer to work electronically, PowerPoint and Google Docs are great platforms that can be used to create a concept map. A quick online search can also provide you with some web-based tools for concept mapping.

Memory Matrix

Creating a memory matrix can help to link concepts in much the same way that a concept map can. A memory matrix is generally created in a table with columns and rows labeled with core concepts from a course. Where the tables and rows intersect you can add a description about how the two concepts are related. Below is an example of a Memory Matrix that could be used to bring together different topics related to tooth anatomy.

Interleaving Study Topics

Another great way to maximize your study time is to interleave topics. This can mean that during one study session you’re going over content from several different courses. Advantages to this method can include noticing connections between topics in different courses, increasing recall memory, and increasing problem solving skills. Watch this short video from The Learning Scientists^[1] to learn more about how to interleave study topics and why it works!

Take Care of Yourself

It can be really easy to become overwhelmed with your “to-do” list – both for school and home. We strongly encourage you to build some downtime into your schedule. This can be as simple as reserving 15 minutes between study topics to take a walk, text a family member or friend to check in, or browse your favorite social media site. Also, be sure to plan some longer periods of time away from your school work. Reserve a few hours on a Saturday morning to go for a bike ride, reserve a Friday night to stream a movie, or set aside some time to watch the latest episode of your favorite show. Essentially, be sure that you’re still enjoying your hobbies and maintaining your relationships outside the School of Dentistry. Taking time for yourself can help to lower stress and increase focus once you return to educational activities. For resources available to you at the University of Minnesota and School of Dentistry see this chapter.

We also acknowledge that this fall semester will look a lot different than you likely anticipated when you applied to the School of Dentistry. Maybe you’ve taken a few online courses before, maybe you experienced the rapid “pivot” to remote learning that occurred in March of 2020, or this might be totally unfamiliar territory to you. This resource from Indiana University Bloomington’s Student Academic Center provides some great tips and tricks for succeeding in an online learning environment. We also encourage using your favorite tech tools or discovering new ones to build a sense of community with your classmates, even if you can’t all be in the same physical space. Create a shared GoogleDoc for studying (hint: you can create some great concept maps and memory matrices in this tool), connect via Google Chat or in Hangouts, or design a Kahoot! to study with your peers.

Review What You’ve Learned!