Study With Me in the French Alps - USMLE Preparation

2020-04-14 · Study with me · Ali, Ali Abdaal (channel) · recording, 10:10 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Learning and studying (also: Relationships and personal life) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Sponsor segment present

On a skiing trip in the French Alps before the COVID-19 lockdown, Ali spends an evening starting his USMLE preparation: he scopes the First Aid textbook in Notion, categorises gastrointestinal diseases, drops a pre-made Anki deck that shows facts in isolation, and reads the textbook with Wikipedia for context.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A ski day in Méribel: breakfast at the chalet, a private lesson, lunch and a sports massage

• ★★ Ali films an exotic study-with-me video on a skiing trip to the French Alps with friends before the COVID-19 lockdown, spending one of the evenings studying instead of socialising. — 00:00:00 · COVID-19
• ★ In Méribel, in the Three Valleys ski area, Ali and his friends Ayushi and Jason have a private ski lesson with the instructor Rupert from 9.15 to 12.15. — 00:00:29

00:01:50 — Starting USMLE preparation: the table of contents, a retrospective revision timetable and toggles in Notion

• ★★★ Ali starts preparing for the USMLE, the medical exam taken by US medical students, because he is toying with the idea of applying to the US for residency. (hedged) — 00:02:00 · USMLE, United States
• ★★ Ali begins the First Aid textbook for the USMLE with its table of contents, which he calls the most important page of any textbook. — 00:02:29
• ★★ Ali sets up his retrospective revision timetable in Notion: a table with the main topics in one column, the date he first studies each in the second, the date of the second study in the third, colour-coded. — 00:02:29 · spaced repetition, Notion
• ★★ Flicking through the first chapters of First Aid, Ali finds that most of it is material he once knew and will just have to relearn. — 00:02:58
• ★★ Ali creates toggles in Notion for the main USMLE topics so that, when he comes to study each subject, he immediately has a big-picture understanding of it. — 00:02:58 · Notion

00:03:28 — Pre-made Anki decks from the USMLE subreddit; scoping and categorising gastrointestinal medicine

• ★★ Scrolling through a textbook to see what topics come up is enjoyable but a mindless activity that uses no brain power, so Ali avoids doing too much of it in one go. — 00:03:28
• ★★ With hundreds of revision resources for medicine already on the internet, Ali sees very little point in medical students making their own notes. — 00:03:28
• ★★ The USMLE Step 1 subreddit points Ali to a few pre-made Anki decks for the exam. — 00:03:57 · Anki, USMLE
• ★★ Ali learned the piano and the guitar by following the recommendations of the Learn Piano and Learn Guitar subreddits; now, to learn anything new, he turns to the subreddit for that topic and is never disappointed. — 00:03:57
• ★★★ Listing the hormones and pathology topics of gastrointestinal medicine is scoping the subject: getting an overview of what a subject contains before drilling into the details, so as not to lose the forest for the trees. — 00:04:33 · scoping the subject
• ★★★ Categorising makes any learning much more efficient, Ali finds: sorting gastrointestinal diseases by body area gives 11 conditions of the oesophagus and four of the stomach, an easier mental model than 87 conditions in all of GI medicine. — 00:05:02

00:05:47 — The pizza order fails; the Anki deck shows facts in isolation; textbook plus Wikipedia, compression versus context

• ★★★ Ali drops a pre-made Anki deck for gastrointestinal medicine within minutes: it shows information in isolation, a terrible way to learn because it relies on memorisation rather than understanding, so he reads the textbook instead. — 00:06:16 · Anki
• ★★ Reading through the diseases in the textbook, Ali googles the Wikipedia article for anything he does not immediately understand, that is new to him or that he wants more on. — 00:06:16 · Wikipedia
• ★★ Ali says anyone who calls Wikipedia terrible is behind the times: every medical student and doctor he knows uses it extensively several times a day. — 00:06:45 · Wikipedia

• ★★★ Note-taking is a balance between compression and context: First Aid's notes are very compressed and give no context, but the context is a Google search away, so Ali sees little point in taking his own notes on conditions that Wikipedia always has. — 00:06:45 · Wikipedia

  “note-taking is a balance between compression and context”

00:07:40 — Jason's toastie and a game of Articulate

00:08:13 — Brilliant (sponsor read)

00:08:58 — Anki flashcards before bed, phone time on holiday, and sign-off

• ★★ Before bed Ali works through Anki flashcards on the topics he studied that day as a form of active recall. — 00:09:11 · Anki, active recall
• ★★ Wasting time on his phone before bed is normally completely forbidden in Ali's productivity philosophy, but on holiday he gives himself permission and scrolls Instagram. — 00:09:11 · Instagram

In the description and comments

• ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked to keep studying in more exotic places, the channel says that is the plan. — creator comment
• ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked why Ali wants to apply for residency in the US, the channel answers that it is for a sense of adventure. — creator comment · United States
• ★★ Asked to share his USMLE notes in Notion, Ali says he will share them when they are good enough, though copyright is an issue with sharing them publicly. — creator comment · Notion, USMLE
• ★★ Asked to explain his philosophy of productivity, Ali says he is working on a Skillshare class about it, out on 1 May (2020). — creator comment
• ★★ Asked how Ali uses Anki if its decks test facts in isolation, the channel says he is working on two Skillshare classes about it. — creator comment · Anki
• ★★ Asked what happened to the MRCOG exam he had planned to take, Ali says he changes his mind a lot. — creator comment
• ★★ Asked how to research a doubtful patient diagnosis, Ali says he usually uses Wikipedia and then asks a senior for help. — creator comment · Wikipedia
• ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked whether the iPad version of Anki is worth buying, the channel answers "10000%". — creator comment · Anki
• ★★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked how Ali learns ECGs, the channel names the book ECGs Made Easy. — creator comment
• ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked which app Ali uses for his lists, notes and retrospective revision timetable, the channel answers Notion. — creator comment · Notion
• ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Ali reads PDFs on his Mac in PDF Expert. — creator comment

Threads in this video

• kept · Ali promises more study-with-me videos in unusual places if viewers like this one (2019) — Ali films an exotic study-with-me video on a skiing trip to the French Alps with friends before the COVID-19 lockdown, spending one of the evenings studying instead of socialising. (00:00:00)
• progress update · Ali promises more study-with-me videos in unusual places if viewers like this one (2019) — Asked to keep studying in more exotic places, the channel says that is the plan. (creator comment)
• refine · Should you study from textbooks? — Ali begins the First Aid textbook for the USMLE with its table of contents, which he calls the most important page of any textbook. (00:02:29)
• refine · Should you cram or study a little every day? — Ali sets up his retrospective revision timetable in Notion: a table with the main topics in one column, the date he first studies each in the second, the date of the second study in the third, colour-coded. (00:02:29)
• refine · How should you take notes when studying? — Ali creates toggles in Notion for the main USMLE topics so that, when he comes to study each subject, he immediately has a big-picture understanding of it. (00:02:58)
• restate · How should you take notes when studying? — Note-taking is a balance between compression and context: First Aid's notes are very compressed and give no context, but the context is a Google search away, so Ali sees little point in taking his own notes on conditions that Wikipedia always has. (00:06:45)
• refine · How do you learn a new skill quickly? — Ali learned the piano and the guitar by following the recommendations of the Learn Piano and Learn Guitar subreddits; now, to learn anything new, he turns to the subreddit for that topic and is never disappointed. (00:03:57)
• restate · How do you study effectively for exams? — Listing the hormones and pathology topics of gastrointestinal medicine is scoping the subject: getting an overview of what a subject contains before drilling into the details, so as not to lose the forest for the trees. (00:04:33)
• refine · How do you study effectively for exams? — Categorising makes any learning much more efficient, Ali finds: sorting gastrointestinal diseases by body area gives 11 conditions of the oesophagus and four of the stomach, an easier mental model than 87 conditions in all of GI medicine. (00:05:02)
• refine · Should you use flashcards and Anki? — Ali drops a pre-made Anki deck for gastrointestinal medicine within minutes: it shows information in isolation, a terrible way to learn because it relies on memorisation rather than understanding, so he reads the textbook instead. (00:06:16)
• refine · How do you stop your phone and social media from eating your time? — Wasting time on his phone before bed is normally completely forbidden in Ali's productivity philosophy, but on holiday he gives himself permission and scrolls Instagram. (00:09:11)
• promised · Ali promises to share his USMLE notes from Notion when they're legit (2020) — Asked to share his USMLE notes in Notion, Ali says he will share them when they are good enough, though copyright is an issue with sharing them publicly. (creator comment)
• promised · Ali: release his productivity class on Skillshare (2020) — Asked to explain his philosophy of productivity, Ali says he is working on a Skillshare class about it, out on 1 May (2020). (creator comment)
• milestone · Ali says he is going to work on his own Skillshare classes, taking a deep dive into how he makes his videos: filming, editing and post-production. — Asked how Ali uses Anki if its decks test facts in isolation, the channel says he is working on two Skillshare classes about it. (creator comment)
• paused · Ali prepares for the MRCOG exam in obstetrics and gynaecology, documented in study-with-me videos (2018) — Asked what happened to the MRCOG exam he had planned to take, Ali says he changes his mind a lot. (creator comment)
• refine · Which tech is worth buying? — Asked whether the iPad version of Anki is worth buying, the channel answers "10000%". (creator comment)
• launched · Ali plans to take the USMLE and move to America for an emergency medicine residency (2020) — Ali starts preparing for the USMLE, the medical exam taken by US medical students, because he is toying with the idea of applying to the US for residency. (00:02:00)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• Ali promises more study-with-me videos in unusual places if viewers like this one (2019) — kept; last: progress update, 2020-04-14
• Ali promises to share his USMLE notes from Notion when they're legit (2020) — open (no report in 2020–2024); last: promised, 2020-04-14
• Ali: release his productivity class on Skillshare (2020) — kept
• Ali says he is going to work on his own Skillshare classes, taking a deep dive into how he makes his videos: filming, editing and post-production. — last documented in 2020 (looked back on in 2024)
• Ali plans to take the USMLE and move to America for an emergency medicine residency (2020) — last documented in 2020; last: milestone, 2020-12-31

Mentioned

Central: compression versus context · First Aid for the USMLE · USMLE

Also: Organizations: Brilliant · Instagram · Reddit · Wikipedia

Concepts: active recall · COVID-19 · scoping the subject · social distancing · spaced repetition

Places: Méribel · United States

Products: Anki · Articulate · Notion

Only in the description or credits: ECGs Made Easy · France · MRCOG · PDF Expert

Replies to

• refers to · How to study for exams - The Retrospective Revision Timetable

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