Effectiveness of educating the medical students about the “study skills”

Aims and Objectives: The primary purpose of this study is to establish effectiveness of Study Skills classes to teach medical students how to learn better as an aid in overall goal of better medical education. Materials and Methods: Second year MBBS students of SVNGMCH, Yavatmal, were enrolled for the study. Total 180 students participated in the study. Four Interactive lectures were taken over a period of two month. In lectures different study skills and methods were discussed like audio-visual aspects of study skills. Evaluation was done with the Pretest and Post-test questionnaire specifically designed for study skills evaluation. Results: Time Scheduling was improved significantly in post-test for daily study schedule of students. Few students were struggling with concentration while doing self-study and in class room. Majority of students are less receptive in class room teaching sessions. There is significant improvement in reading skills of students in post-test evaluation with better remembrance of just read topic at the time of examination, 82% of students have problem with remembering topics read before for examination. Most of the (~90%) students showed improvement in reading skills in post-test evaluation. Post-test evaluation showed improved thought process before paper writing. Conclusion: Study skills classes are beneficial to the medical students and study skill methods should be taught to them before every semester so students become more receptive during classes, better organized in self-study and there will be improvement in academic performance. Recommendation: Study-skills teaching should be introduced specially and separately in all curriculums especially medical courses.