Studying is important to do well in medical school. The most important part of studying, however, is actually staying on track with your schedule instead of getting carried away in the library every time you’re there. If you’ve never had a study planner or a study iPad app before – even better – this article will teach you how to set up a studying schedule and how to keep track of your notes and homeworks.
Todoist
Every medical student wants to increase their focus while studying and map out dates to complete every assignment. Todoist is one of the best to-do list apps that is simple and easy to use. The neat and clean interface allows you to manage your tasks and helps you set your goals for each day to stay productive. It helps you to organize everything you need to remember for your medical courses, assignments, and quizzes.
The app allows you to set reminders so that you can easily remember the upcoming assignment deadline or quiz. The option of a daily planner allows you to plan your day to make your tasks more manageable. You can prioritize tasks that matter most to you.
IMindMap
Whether you are preparing for USMLE step 1 or an upcoming quiz, many students find it extremely difficult to remember the key information and perform at their best. IMindMAp is one of the best revision apps for medical students that help you revise the important material so that you can perform outstandingly during exams. The app is tailored to boost organization, focus, and recall ability to combat exam stress.
The app will provide a clear visual overview of your revision plan. You can categorize different subjects, create a revision timetable, and track your progress. You can use colors, images, symbols, and organic structures to learn and memorize the topic. With IMindMap, you can unlock your learning potential and increase your chances of achieving better grades.
Quizlet
Quizlet is one of the best study apps for medical students that allow them to learn the intricate medical concepts to secure impressive grades. You can create your own flashcards or choose from hundreds of thousands of flashcards created by other students.
Whether you want to improve your concepts of pharmacology, hematology, anatomy, physiology, or any other subject, Quizlet allows you to learn and memorize important material while preparing you for exams. The app offers unique learning games that make studying and revision fun.
Forest
Whether you are doing homework or making notes, many students find it extremely hard to stay focused. With Forest, you can block out distractions and pay your full attention to the task that you are currently doing and block yourself from social media or any other distracting websites. This distraction blocking app encourages you to stay focused on the topic by growing a virtual tree. Whenever you want to focus, plant a tree. The tree will grow in the following time, which represents your focused time. If you are distracted the tree will be killed. The app is perfect for medical students that encourage them to work on their projects and assignments without procrastinating or distracting.
Dragon Anywhere
During lectures, every student wants to note down every single word your professor is saying. However, the key to note taking is to write only those points that are important. Instead of writing every, it is advised to download Dragon Anywhere that can record every single word your professor is dictating. With voice formatting and editing feature, you can create notes that can be easily accessible on all your devices.
GoalsOnTrack
Goal setting is one of the most important traits of highly successful students that hold themselves accountable for meeting them. GoalsOnTrack can help students to set realistic goals and stick to them. With this app, you can set goals for a day, week, and month and check your real-time progress to see your performance and how quickly you are achieving your goals. Bigger goals can be easily divided into smaller chunks so that they can be easily attainable.
Remember The Milk
Whether you are a first-year student studying basic sciences courses or a final year student studying clinical sciences courses, keeping track of every assignment, quiz, and test can be a challenge. Remember the Milk is one of the best apps for medical school students that helps you remind upcoming assignment deadlines, quiz dates, and other important tasks. The app helps you stay organized and stay on the right track.
Balanced
Medical school is tough. Many students find it extremely hard to complete their assignments on time, prepare for quizzes, do lab work, and set aside time for extracurricular activities. A rigorous school schedule and other demands can negatively affect medical students’ mental health and wellness. Since medical school is more demanding, it is important to take the time out to do things for yourself. Balanced is one of the best apps for medical students that will help organize your time and encourage you to do all the activities that you want to do but can’t find time for.
Whether you want to watch your favorite TV show, hang out with friends, playing video games, or do your favorite hobby, Balanced helps you find time for yourself. The app lets you add different activities such as self-improvement, creativity, learning, confidence, and any other activity that you want to do regularly. All you need to do is to prioritize your activities, and Balanced will remind you to take time out for yourself.
Other Useful Apps
Anki
Anki is a popular adaptive flashcard app used by many med students. While its design might not be quite as slick as Brainscape and Quizlet, its software is “open source”, meaning it is developed by the public community and not controlled by an evil corporation. It is also free to use online at the time of this writing (though its mobile app costs $25).
Because Anki does not have official partnerships with publishers or content experts, you might not know if you can “trust” the flashcards you find in its marketplace. Just make sure you know the creator of the flashcards well so you can gauge if they are accurate, up-to-date, or comprehensive for the goal you are studying for. It may take some trial-and-error to find the flashcards that are right for you.
DailyRounds
There are over 20,000 pharmaceuticals approved by the FDA for prescriptions. It’s a lot for both doctors and med students to get a handle on. This app has an extensive drug database, where 10K+ brands are represented, as well as 2,000+ molecules.
Like Prognosis, DailyRounds contains peer-reviewed clinical cases from doctors around the world. The cases are presented in a way to help you prepare for examinations like the USMLE, AIPGMEE, and NEET PG. A good proportion of these cases are common clinical scenarios, but the app also branches out into rarer conditions and diseases.
All the major specialties are covered: cardiology, nephrology, pathology, anesthesiology, radiology, pediatrics, and surgery.
Medscape
This is one of the most popular medical apps around. Medscape features a tailored news feed, with the latest medical news and expert commentary in various specialties. There’s information on the hot-off-the-press FDA approvals, conference updates, new clinical trial data, and more.
The “consult” section has a huge network of physicians and med students where you can read new case histories and keep up with current medical thought.
Medscape also contains 400+ medical calculators, a drug interaction checker, pill identifier, and step-by-step procedural videos.
MDCalc Medical Calculator
Being a doctor requires you to know a boatload of formulas, calculations, and equations, which is where MDCalc can make life a whole lot easier. The app contains 500+ clinical decision tools including:
- Risk scores
- Algorithms
- Equations
- Formulas
- Dosing calculators
- And more …
MDCalc helps you juggle the many different medical formulas you’ll need to make good decisions and recommendations for patient care. Formulas like: the pregnancy wheel, dermatome map, eye chart, and growth velocity. The clinical decision tools are designed to support 35+ medical specialties.
More importantly for study purposes, MDCalc not only gives you the formulas and calculators, the app also contains a summary of why each one important and how/why it’s used, as well as links to reference articles and studies to help support your understanding and decision making.
Conclusion
If you are wondering how to increase your productivity and study smarter, faster, and better, here are some productivity apps for medical students that will help you plan and manage your time, meet your assignment deadlines, and balance your medical school and personal life.
As a medical student, your ultimate goal is to study effectively, secure satisfactory marks, get rigorous medical training, and become a qualified doctor. Staying organized and productive is the key to stay on the right track, achieve your academic goals, and prepare yourself for a rewarding career.