12: Studying for exams

This episode is especially for medical students revising for exams postponed by COVID-19 (but it may be useful to other students too!). Chris Huntley talks to Helen about evidence-based strategies you can use to study effectively, stay motivated, and look after your mental wellbeing while revising.

Medical students at the University of Liverpool can access support from:

• Your Academic Advisor
• School of Medicine Wellbeing Team wellbeing.mbchb@liverpool.ac.uk
• University of Liverpool Student Support Services https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/studentsupport/

These are the resources Helen recommended:

Weinstein, Sumeracki & Caviglioli (2018) Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. Routledge (E-book available from the library. For the TL;DR go to page 146)
The Learning Scientists website https://www.learningscientists.org/

Here is a link to Henry Roediger III profile, including his lab and research:
http://psychnet.wustl.edu/memory/people/henry-l-roediger-iii/

The Dunlosky paper here is a really good summary:
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/rbtfl/Z10jaVH/60XQM/full

The following is a website dedicated to retrieval practice, including useful resources for teachers and students:
https://www.retrievalpractice.org

Here are the references regarding test anxiety prevalence (note – there are no ‘proper’ prevalence studies, mainly because test anxiety lacks diagnostic status):

• Naveh-Benjamin, M., Lavi, H., McKeachie, W. J., & Lin, Y. G. (1997). Individual differences in students’ retention of knowledge and conceptual structures learned in University and High school courses: The case of test anxiety. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11(6), 507-526. doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(199712)11:6<507::Aid-acp482>3.0.Co;2-g

• Neuderth, S., Jabs, B., & Schmidtke, A. (2009). Strategies for reducing test anxiety and optimizing exam preparation in German university students: a prevention-oriented pilot project of the University of Wurzburg. Journal of Neural Transmission, 116(6), 785-790. doi:10.1007/s00702-008-0123-7

• Tsegay, L., Shumet, S., Damene, W., Gebreegziabhier, G., & Ayano, G. (2019). Prevalence and determinants of test anxiety among medical students in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. BMC Medical Education, 19(1), 423. doi:10.1186/s12909-019-1859-5