Note-taking, Study Tips, + How to Stay Motivated in PT School

The million-dollar questions: How do you study? How do you take notes? How do you stay so motivated? I have been wanting to write this post for a while, but I wanted to wait until I had at least one semester under my belt.

Many people have asked me to post my notes and/or study guides online, but I will not be doing that as the information is directly from my professors’ lectures. I hope that this post helps you get a sense of how I take my notes and study. Be sure to check out my Amazon page for some of my favorite study materials/tools!

Disclaimer: Please remember to take my tips with a grain of salt. Everyone is different, and what works for me may not work for you!

How I Take Notes

Since all of my professors lecture from PowerPoints, I take notes with my laptop on OneNote. I import their lectures as PDF files, and take my notes on top of them. OneNote is great because you can do so much: you can type, highlight, add shapes, insert pictures, draw, etc. Yusra over at The DPT Diaries has a great post explaining how to do this!

I have a separate “notebook” for each course. Within each course, I have “sections” for each unit, and each lecture gets its own “page”. I try to keep my OneNote as organized as possible.

In undergrad I printed all of my lectures and wrote directly on them, but this is way more convenient (especially since a lot of our lectures are super long). OneNote even has an app (just downloaded it during finals #late), so I can always edit my notes and study from my phone whenever!

How I Study

What you’ve been waiting for! Now I don’t always do all of these things; it depends on the course/information and how much time I have.

Side-note: The biggest thing that has changed from undergrad is that I study more/for longer periods of time. I also no longer memorize information for an exam, and then forget it all. I really try my hardest to conceptualize everything, and really understand it (especially since I will need this information in the future).

Quizlet

I bit the bullet and upgraded to a Quizlet Plus account ($19.99 a year) at the beginning of the semester, and I am so glad I did! I am able to upload my own images (from my lectures), upload custom audio, and study offline. The diagram feature is great for labeling charts and images, and their “long-term learning” feature helps me study more efficiently using spaced repetition (I can set a date for an exam, and I will receive notifications on my phone telling me when to study).

When creating sets, I go through my PowerPoints from lecture. I try to create fill in the blank, true/false, and simple recognition cards from this information. Pro-tip: I just found out recently that if you put asterisks on either side of a word *like this* it makes the word bold, and that has been a game changer when emphasizing important information.

I create folders for each class to better organize my sets, and I even created a private class for my TBL team. Since Quizlet has an app, I can study from my phone on-the-go (or when I am laying in bed at night and don’t want to be on my computer).

(p.s. this is not sponsored I just love Quizlet lol)

Notecards

Basic, but they work! These were my saving grace for anatomy, and really helped me learn the origins, insertions, actions, and innervations of each muscle. At the beginning of the semester, I would create your standard notecard: muscle name on the front, OIAN on the back. After the first exam, I changed this up a bit (shoutout to my classmate Rachel for showing me this technique!). Instead of having 1 notecard for each muscle, I had 4: 1 card for each OIAN of the muscle. This forced me to break things down and focus on one thing at a time, which helped tremendously since we would only have to answer 1 or 2 questions about each structure on the practical. I even color-coded the notecards: purple-origin, green-insertion, orange-action, and blue-innervation. I kept my notecards in order, but you could definitely shuffle the cards to make things more difficult! Creating these notecards can be time consuming, but it is so worth it. I usually would make them right before the lecture, or right after. I kept the cards in a gallon-sized plastic bag in my bookbag so that I would always have them with me.

Muscle Charts

Another key resource for anatomy has been muscle charts. These are great for seeing the “big picture”. I would create a column for the muscle group, the muscle’s name, its origin, its insertion, its action, its innervation, and any extra notes I felt were relevant. The chart makes it easy to group muscles by origin, innervation, etc., and this was a great tool to take into cadaver lab. My classmates and I would use these charts to quiz each other on O’s, I’s, A’s, and N’s while in lab, and it really helped me recall the information I would be tested on in the environment that I would be tested in.

Writing/Drawing

When I have time, I try to handwrite my anatomy notes. I use my Paper Mate Flair pens to make them super colorful (I am more likely to study cute notes), and I add pictures, charts, etc. Writing helps me better retain the information. I also really like drawing out nerve pathways, because it makes them easier to understand and follow.

If I don’t have the time to handwrite my lecture notes, I’ll print them out to highlight, underline, and draw directly on them.

I also use my whiteboard pretty often for charts, important information, OIANs, or drawings/diagrams:

Reading

Self-explanatory, but something that I admittedly have been slacking on. If you are struggling with a concept, your textbook will always be a great resource. Next semester I really want to commit to reading my textbook before class.

Typing

A classmate of mine does this (hey Ben!), and I actually like it! If you are trying to learn something, type it out until you master it (without looking). For example, if you are trying to learn the origin of Flexor Digitorum Superficialis, type out “medial epicondyle, coronoid process of ulna, anterior border of radius” until you no longer have to look at what the origin actually is (I hope this makes sense). Repetition works!

I also usually retype my PowerPoints into a word document (and insert them into OneNote). That way I have one comprehensive document for all of the information, and I have an instant study guide! I don’t really like staring at PowerPoint slides, and this gives me the opportunity to organize things the way I want, and put the information into my own words. This can also be time consuming, but it helps me a lot.

Coloring Books

For anatomy, sometimes I used my Netter’s Anatomy Coloring Book when I wanted to “passively” study, or when I was really struggling with a group of muscles (I’m looking at you hand muscles). I would review the OIAN of each muscle as I colored it. This was a nice “change of scenery” from my standard notecard studying, and it was relaxing and fun!

General Study Tips

• Take breaks: You can’t study nonstop forever. Breaks will leave you refreshed, and ready to focus. You can set a timer for how long you want to study (a shorter increment of time preferably, like 30 minutes to an hour), and then reward yourself with a break. I like to use the Forest app to do this. I don’t want to kill the trees I’ve planted, so I stay focused and away from my phone.
• Highlight, highlight, highlight: With cute highlighters…’nuff said.
• Youtube: Youtube and other sites with videos (like Khan academy) are great if you are a visual/auditory learner. And it makes studying more fun!
• Put your phone away: It’s just a distraction, save it for those breaks!
• Find a good environment: If you know you can’t study in your room, then don’t try to study in your room…you’re just setting yourself up for failure! Find a good coffee shop or head to the library, whatever works best for you. I like to spread out when I study and coffee shops distract me, so I prefer studying in the medical school library.
• Study what you don’t know (and do this first): Now this may seem obvious, but it is so easy to study what you actually know, and feel like you are prepared for an exam/quiz (when you really aren’t). If you study what you don’t know first, then you have more time to understand it, ask questions, etc. There were so many times this semester where I saved the “hard stuff” for the end, and ended up not really understanding it because I didn’t give myself enough time to (once again, I’m looking at you hand muscles). Don’t do this to yourself!
• Read your notes immediately after class: This is also something I want to do more next semester.
• Avoid cramming: Easier said than done I know, but try to space your studying out. If you know that you have an exam coming up in 2 weeks, split up the information and study a lecture or two until the exam. Give yourself a few days before to review all of the information/concepts that you’re struggling to grasp. Breaking down the information definitely makes studying less daunting, and you’re more likely to do it.
• Make sure you are comfortable: Feel good work good, right?
• Find a good study buddy: Studying with friends/classmates can be great. You can quiz each other, talk things out, and hold each other accountable. If you don’t understand something, they can help you. Sometimes it is good to hear someone else’s thought process.
• Create a study schedule: And write it down (more accountability)! That way, you don’t waste any time because you already have a game plan. I wrote my study plan in my planner on Sunday or Monday, and adjusted it as needed throughout the week.

How to Stay Motivated

Most of the time, I am pretty motivated. I know that to reach my end goal of becoming a physical therapist, I have to study; it’s that simple. If you are struggling with motivation, remember your why…your purpose…your end goal. Look internally and externally for motivators. My future patients, my classmates/friends, Jon, and my family keep me motivated. Knowing that I will be one of the reasons a patient reaches their goals and is able do things that they never thought they could do keeps me going. And it also helps that I actually enjoy/am interested in what I am learning.

I am a very disciplined person, and I believe that quality really keeps me going if my motivation is lost. Forming good habits and a routine will really keep you on track when you’re lacking motivation. Knowing when to take a break and regroup is also very important. Know your limits!

Well I hope this helps! As I progress through PT school, I will make sure to update this post with more tips or study techniques. Thanks for reading and happy studying!

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