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This blog post was written by our medical student in Bratislava, Isabella Raber.
A popular Learning method summarising the subject matter is very popular among pupils and students. It provides a good overview of the material relevant to the exam and summarises the most important information in one document. This means you don't have to waste valuable time searching back and forth between presentations and books and can study for the exam in a targeted manner. However, in order to create a successful and good summary, it must first be well planned so that it is clear and compact. With certain tips and templates, this is easy to do and will soon become routine after a little practice.
The right approach is essential
Summaries can be created in many different ways, but they are all based on the same basic principle, namely to focus on the main points of the learning material and summarise them briefly and concisely. First of all, it is important to get a general overview of the subject matter. You can do this, for example, by reading through a list of the lectures and topics that have been covered up to this point. Try to link the topics together to get a better understanding of the overall picture. You can also avoid including unnecessary information and keep your summary clear.
Filter and compress
Now comes the hardest part: filtering and compressing important and unimportant information. It is not easy to distinguish which facts are relevant and which are too detailed. Ask yourself which content is most relevant for the exam, what the respective teacher or professor emphasises and which topics you should learn first. One system that can help you is to learn "from the inside out". You start by writing down the topics roughly and only add details that seem really important to you towards the end. In addition, a summary should not contain any major explanations, but keywords that encourage you to "recall" the topic. If necessary, you can always look up words or principles that you haven't understood. After all, a summary should not be a non-fiction book.
Find your optimal method for writing summaries
Now to the actual writing. There are some good methods you can rely on. Visual learners learn better with flowcharts and mind maps, while reading type learners learn better with summarised texts. (To find out what type of learner you are, you can take a look at our blog post on the different learning types). In principle, almost any method of summarising can be adapted to your own learning style, for example by adding more pictures and structural tables or writing down more key points.
The Cornell method
One method of arrangement is the Cornell method. This method was introduced in the 1950s by Walter Pauk of Cornell University in the USA. It is a special form of text organisation. The page is divided into three parts: On the left half of the page, keywords, questions or general terms should be listed, while notes on the relevant learning material should be written down on the right-hand side. To test your own knowledge, you can use this method to keep the right-hand side closed and try to tell as much as possible about the keyword. The bottom third of the page contains a short summary of the page. This should contain brief notes and terms so that you can see at a glance which topics have been covered on this page.
Listing questions as a method
Another method of writing is to list questions. This encourages active recall of information and is therefore a good method for memorising. For each slide or section, a question is formulated that relates to the content. For example, you can write down the following questions for a section on the liver: "What functions does the liver have and what are the common diseases of the liver?" You then try to answer these questions yourself and write down rough key points. This way, you are not passively summarising the subject matter, but actively learning it. If you can answer the questions well, you will be well prepared for the exam.
Finally, don't underestimate the time you need to prepare the summary. Good preparation makes learning easier and ensures that you don't lose track. However, you should look at the amount of learning material in advance and decide when to summarise which topics, because without actually learning and repeating the information written down, the summary would be pointless.
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