 But the benefit of using this Q and E method, the E being the evidence is when you're now reviewing your notes, you can simply go to the questions and say, can I answer this? So how in the world do you take notes from med school? That's exactly what we'll talk about in this video. Let's get into it. Alright guys, welcome to the MD journey. A channel completely dedicated to helping you succeed on your medical journey with less stress. My name is Lakshman, internal medicine physician and resident in training. And here we talk about everything to help you become a physician, but just a little bit easier, including studying tips, productivity. So if you're new here, definitely consider hitting that like and subscribe button. But today we are going to talk about probably one of the most requested videos that I get in my comments section, my emails, and that's about notes, notes, notes. How do you take better notes to medical school? So in this video, I'm going to break down one technique to help you kind of make your notes more effective that I've used with my coaching students as well as other students that I worked with the past few years. And to make this video a little bit more helpful, I'm going to kind of explain to you on my screen how I would take the notes if I was doing it on my laptop. But before we get started, did you hit that like button? Oh, wait. All right, let's get let's get into it. So all jokes aside, one of my favorite ways of taking notes in medical school is called a Q and E method. Now essentially, the basic way of how most meds do and take notes is kind of flawed. We go through the syllabus or we listen to the lecture. And we kind of have some kind of organization of important information, as well as not so important. And half the time, we're essentially regurgitating what the lecturer has said, even the syllabus, the slides and our posts. And so basically over time, you end up with a laptop or a notebook full of information that's basically your syllabus. And the motivation to review it is essentially zero. So the Q and E method is a very unique way of how to kind of make your learning active from the very start. And this includes when you're reading your syllabus as well as when you're attending lecture. Now how you choose to do this just varies. So you can do this through pencil and paper, you can also do this through a word processor through one node through your Mac, you choose. But essentially, what the Q and E method is, is as you're going through your syllabus or as you're going through new topics that you're learning, the most important thing you want to ask it. So what's the biggest kind of big picture question that could be asked? So let's just say you're learning a very complex topic. For this example, we'll say you're having a lecture about the anti arithmetic drugs and cardiology. Now there's a lot of detail in here, it's very easy to become a very memorized, heavy lecture. But I'm going to teach you a different way of how you can take a step by step approach on taking notes on this lecture, and making sure that you're going from big picture to the small details in a very systematic way. Now for most med schools, you'll have some resource, whether it be your syllabus, your class slides, they'll kind of break down the information. Now, regardless of how you choose to do it, whether it's the word doc or pencil and paper, the process needs to be, what is the biggest piece of information that this slide or this paragraph or this page is covering. So for example, for the anti arithmetic lecture that we're talking about, most lectures may talk about how the heart works, how it paces, how the pacemaker paces, how the non pacemaker cells in the artwork and what the action potentials look like. That way when they actually explain how these drugs work, you can understand where on the action potential it's working on. And so you may find that the first page or two is going to break down the different phases of the action potential of the cardiac cell. And while it may be very easy to get overwhelmed by the numbers and the channels and the names you have to remember, really when you take a step back, like, what do I need to learn here first, that needs to be your first question, hence the Q and the Q and E method. The first question may be, how does the action potential in a non cardiac cell work? So as you guys can see, I'm going to take that question and put it on my notes. Now if you're having difficulty coming up with a big picture question like this and pay attention to the titles of the slides or the transitions or even the headings and your syllabus lectures, the next step to this process would be to answer the question the most broadest sense possible without getting to details. So for example, an AP or the action potential of a non facing cell, I need to know that there's four phases. I need to know in the roughly the order of the channels that work that it's the sodium channels followed by the potassium channel followed by calcium channel followed again by potassium channel and then it just repeats. And ideally for something like this, you may have to actually add the drawing into your notes or a screenshot, something from the lecture if you're using an actual word process. But the benefit of using this Q and E method, the E being the evidence is when you're now reviewing your notes, you can simply go to the questions and saying, can I answer this? Can I actually tell myself a week from this time when I'm reviewing this? Well, how does the action potential of a non pacing cell work? Because if it doesn't, then I know that the answer is going to be in the next bits of detail in my notes. I don't have to actually try to quiz myself on my notes. My notes are quizzing me from the get go. This also forces you to ask yourself is a piece of detail in your syllabus or the slide that may seem important. Is it actually relevant for you to be able to answer the question? You can explain to yourself how the action potential in these cells work without saying the names of a specific channel that maybe that's going to be next kind of tertiary level question and you can have a Q and E method within your Q and E notes. So for example, if you're asking yourself a big level question, the next bit of evidence should be able to answer that question. But then you can have a follow-up question of something a little bit more detailed. For example, you can say what channel dictates phase 3? And you should be able to know that it's potassium channel. And you can ask similar questions. This way, when you're looking at your notes again a week from now, not only can you add those broad level questions, but you can also answer these more detailed questions and being able to go step by step. So I encourage you as you're going through your new lectures for an upcoming class to actually look at each piece of information and say is this a broad piece of information or is this very detailed? And how can I form this kind of next chapter, this next few paragraphs in the form of a question, and then being able to add the evidence later? Now if you're somebody who struggles with transitioning between taking notes and reading the material, I actually encourage you to be able to go through your slides or your syllabus first and either indicate through highlighting or a specific sign. So if you want to put a star next to a big level topic or an underline nearing some piece of detail, then when you review it, you can say, OK, let me go ahead and do my Q&E method for all the stars first and put those in my notes. And then I can add those underlines or those highlights whatever you choose to do later on. I've done a variation of this even when I was a med student, for example, I would actually write down my big level questions on the margins of my actual syllabus lecture and then transition them over to my typed version on award docs, which was much more nice and clean. The end result was the same, which is that I not only had a lecture on my word doc, but I actually had lists of questions for that lecture. So whenever I had to review it, all I had to do was pull those up. And if I could answer them, perfect. I understood it. I didn't. Maybe I need to go back to that resource, whether it be the syllabus or the slides or rewatch the lecture. But this is a much more active way of going through your syllabus or new material for your classes and then having something that you can also very easily come back to. And so if you're somebody who doesn't like flashcards, essentially what you're doing here is creating a question bank for that specific lecture. And every time you miss something, you can now have the option of highlighting it, whether you're doing on your word doc or on your actual piece of paper, and actually adding even additional piece of notes or analogy so you can then understand it even better the second time you have to review it. The Q and E method, guys, is one of my favorite ways of taking notes in med school is very effective. You can do this on your flashcards. You can do this on a word doc. You can do this on a notebook, but simply starting with a question first approach instead of just taking notes on what everyone's saying. So if your professor is saying something in lecture, maybe saying how can I rephrase what he's teaching me in the form of a question and then what did he say to actually answer his statement? So if he's talking about HIV medications, he's telling you about a specific fact, how can you form that in the form of a question and then add the details afterwards? It's a great way to be able to come back and quiz and feel much more natural. But that's it for the Q and E method, guys. I have a lot more kind of tips on how to study and how to take notes. If you guys have more questions or want more videos just like that one, make sure you let me know in the comment section down below. And if you want even more help to help you study better medical school, then go ahead and check out some of our free resources as well, our ebooks and courses down below. And if you're curious to learn more about group coaching or one-on-one coaching, then just send me an email at themdjourney.com at gmail.com. Now go ahead and send you any details as well as available. With that being said, guys, thank you so much for watching. As always, drop your comments down below on other questions that you may have regarding take notes for studying in medical school. Let me know what you guys think about the Q&E method or what study methods you use to take notes for your own class. I'll be super happy and excited to see what you guys have to say. But make sure you hit that like button if you haven't done so already. Make sure to subscribe if you also haven't done so already. But thank you so much for being a part of my journey. Hopefully it's been a lot of help to you on yours. I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.