Study Smarter, Not Harder: 3 Essential Tricks for Pharmacy Students
Starting pharmacy school is exciting as you prepare for your future as a pharmacist; however, the reality of pharmacy school is spending countless hours studying medications. While learning these medications is a critical part of becoming a successful pharmacy student, there are ways to optimize your study strategy, save time, and still find academic success. In this blog, I will share three helpful tricks that will help you navigate the demands of pharmacy school more efficiently, so you can find a better balance between your studies and personal well-being.
Focus on Learning the Mechanism of Action First
When it comes to studying any medication, your top priority should be studying the mechanism of action before learning anything else. I want to point out that you shouldn’t just memorize the mechanism of action, but rather truly understand how the medication works. By learning the mechanism of action you don’t have to memorize as much information, instead you will understand why the medication is used for a certain disease state and what side effects it may cause. Trust me when I say, you will thank yourself later by choosing to understand the medication rather than just memorizing facts about it.
Use Non-Traditional Study Tools to Learn
The traditional method of reading over your notes and textbooks or making study guides from lectures work. However, these methods take a lot of time for you to master the material and they are pretty boring. If you are finding yourself unmotivated to study or bored during your study sessions, consider investing in a tool like Picmonic. This audiovisual learning system shares stories and characters to help you remember medications. It’s been proven to increase your long-term memory retention so you aren’t just studying for exams, but also taking that knowledge with you as you prepare to take care of patients. (P.S. You can learn more and get 30% off your subscription by clicking here.)
Make Studying a Habit
One of the hardest things to do in pharmacy school is study when it isn’t 100% required (AKA: you don’t have a test tomorrow). Keeping up on your studying through habit formation makes it easier to study when it becomes a must. Set a specific amount of time you will study each day based on your schedule and stick to it. That doesn’t mean you won’t have days where you need to study more, because you will, but you will be less likely to fall behind and find yourself desperately cramming for an exam at the last minute.
Completing pharmacy school is a difficult challenge and one that requires a lot of time and energy. Using these strategies, you can spend more time enjoying the journey rather than studying during every moment of free time you have. If you want to get ideas about the best to spend all that time you are saving, click here check out my free eBook “100 Realistic Self-Care Ideas” so you can rest and recharge between exams.
