I have been thinking about the last two years of vet school and how disorganized I have been. I really am struggling with how best to study. Unfortunately, each course and professor is different so there is no set formula. Maybe I can explain myself better.
I am not worried about the cost of ink or paper, but I find printing notes before class not as useful as in undergrad. I much prefer writing notes on paper in class, but profs do not post them ahead of time with enough notice to print them out the night before. And if we get ahead (or behind) in a lecture, there is no set protocol. Some profs, just open the next lecture and keep going, some let us out early or ask questions, some will repost the next lectures slides with the changes (but this means I print slides a couple times, wasting a lot of ink). Then studying comes and I find it hard to read off the screen and memorize. I need to write down words to understand them. If the prof was organized, i could print before lecture, take notes, then read and write on the lecture slides again to study, but that is so rarely the case. I usually make a condensed version of the material as like a study package... But I never get to the very end of the covered material and go into the test not having reviewed a concept or two. This doesn't feel right. I know it is part procrastination of studying, but I get discouraged when I am flipping through pages and have no idea which order all of the lectures came in because I printed the same slides twice or even three times, plus extra slides he "forgot" and had us print as a separate pdf.
It is also hard to "find" a specific concept if it is written. Or even added as a sticky note to a pdf document for that matter. If I wanted to look up the premeds and induction drugs of a cow RIGHT NOW, it would take me 20 minutes and 50 files opened and I would probably just google it. How is this helpful? I had it memorized once, but summer is like a brain wash, it gets rid of the important stuff and just leaves sunny skies and glowing bottles of beer dancing in my brain. I should be able to just look it up in my notes, but I get discouraged when I think about how disorganized my notes are.
Labs are even worse. And it is partly my inability to participate in, let alone go to labs. This is a whole separate issue that I need to deal with. I really have poor attendance.
Some people I know use OneNote and I have considered that as an option. I think it also allows a better print option, but I am not sure. Also not available for Mac users. So I just downloaded the next best option (according to internet reviews) which is Circus Ponies Notebook. It is difficult to navigate so I need to spend some time with it. I hope it will provide a decent alternative as well as help me out a bit here.
All right, now that I have bummed my self out let's talk about something more exciting.
I visited the Fergus Highland Games this weekend. Had fun watching all the pipe bands, heavy event contestants, dancers, and folk bands perform. Got some fun souvenirs, felt proud to be of Scottish decent, drank some beer, and got some sun!
7 more shifts at the clinic and Friday I get to perform an immature cat neuter with supervision. Should be a good time!
Planned events include going to Wonderland (as the boyf has NEVER gone! wtf!?) and Ribfest.
Also hopefully get to the barn once more and play with the bow again.
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| Lookin good in those socks and burks! |
