time–but only if you use them correctly. Here  are 5 active learning mistakes you’re probably  

making and what you can do to fix them. Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com. 

If you’ve been following this channel for a while,  you’ll know that active learning techniques are  

the best “bang-for-your-buck” study strategies.  Instead of reading through textbooks or notes,  

you should challenge yourself to organize,  recall, and apply information through active  

recall, practice problems, and the Feynman  technique. But just using these strategies  

isn’t enough to maximize your learning.  You also need to apply them effectively. 

Let’s discuss some of the most common mistakes  students make when applying active learning  

strategies and what you can do to fix them. The first mistake is using active  

learning techniques passively. Throughout elementary, middle,  

and high school, students are taught to use  passive learning techniques. They’re told to  

read through textbooks, listen to lectures, and  review their notes to do well in their classes.  

Over time, these strategies are reinforced and  passive learning becomes their default setting. 

As a result, it can feel incredibly  difficult to break the cycle of  

passive learning–even when you start adopting  active learning techniques. Let me explain. 

Let’s say you’ve just watched our Flash Card  Basics for Premeds video and have incorporated  

active recall with spaced repetition into  your study routine. You’ve created your  

perfect Anki deck and start blasting through  100, 200, or even 300 flashcards every day.  

But you run into a problem. Even though  you’re reviewing the information daily,  

it’s still not sticking. The mistake you’re  making is that you’re using flashcards passively. 

If you read the question and immediately  flip to the other side without thinking  

through it or genuinely attempting to answer  it, it’s no different than reading through  

your textbook or notes. The same can be  said about practice problems. Reading the  

explanation without actually attempting the  question is still a form of passive learning. 

Whenever you sit down to study, you should  be focused on the task at hand and treat  

every flashcard and practice question as if it  were the real thing. If you’re not doing that,  

then you’re not using active learning effectively. This brings me to the next mistake I see students  

make, which is not studying  with sufficient intensity. 

According to the misinterpreted-effort  hypothesis, students often perceive study  

techniques that require greater mental effort to  be less effective for learning. As a result, they  

end up gravitating towards study techniques that  feel easy and avoid ones that feel challenging or  

difficult. In short, when learning feels hard,  many students become discouraged and quit. 

The problem with this belief is that the opposite  is true. Effective learning should feel difficult  

and uncomfortable. It requires you to push  yourself beyond your comfort zone. If it  

doesn’t feel uncomfortable, then you’re probably  not studying with enough intensity and are  

leaving learning gains on the table. To grow and improve as a student,  

you must train your brain to work through  difficult problems and deal with intense  

cognitive loads. This is what you’re asked to  do whenever you take a test, so this is what  

you have to practice whenever you study. Another reason that students often avoid  

studying with higher intensity is that it can  feel inefficient. Although it may seem better  

to go through 40 practice questions instead of  20, quantity is not always better than quality. 

Reading through a question, formulating an answer,  checking it, and then reviewing what you got wrong  

always takes more time than clicking through  and reading an explanation. That being said,  

this time isn’t wasted. By approaching practice  questions in this way, you end up learning much  

more per practice question than you would  just blasting through as many as you can.  

Instead of just understanding the answer to  one specific question, you’ll understand the  

underlying concept and be able to apply it  to many different questions and situations. 

Mistake number three is not matching  the active learning technique to  

the topic that you’re trying to learn. When it comes to learning, there is no  

one-size-fits-all solution. Each active learning  technique has its strengths and weaknesses. You  

need to find what works best given the topic  and how you’ll have to apply the information. 

For instance, topics like anatomy and  psychology are heavily dependent on rote  

memorization. When learning these topics, you  need to get your reps in and expose yourself  

to the information enough times to make  it stick. For these and similar topics,  

active recall with spaced repetition in  the form of flashcards is most effective. 

Other classes, however, may require less  memorization and assess your critical thinking  

ability instead. For these topics, flashcards may  be helpful for learning some of the finer details;  

however, they aren’t the most optimal method  for learning. These topics often require you  

to make connections between concepts and apply  the information to novel situations. As such,  

you need to be challenging yourself  to do the same when you study. 

Techniques such as mind maps, practice questions,  and the Feynman technique are much more effective  

for learning complex concepts that require a  deep understanding of the material. If your  

primary study technique for these classes  is flashcards, you’ll likely have a hard  

time making connections and understanding the  topic to the level of depth required to do well. 

This applies in the reverse direction as well.  If you try using mind maps, practice questions,  

and the Feynman technique to learn subjects that  favor rote memorization, you may end up spending  

so much time trying to understand and organize  the information that you fail to get your reps  

in. With any topic, you need to assess what you’re  trying to learn and how you will have to apply  

that information to determine the best approach. And don’t be afraid to adapt and experiment with  

your study techniques if things aren’t working.  One definition of insanity is doing the same thing  

over and over again and expecting a different  result. Regularly assess your study techniques  

and consider how you can improve them. The ability to reflect and adapt is  

key to becoming a top student. For more  tips to help you become a top performer,  

be sure to check out Strategies of the Top  1% of Students – link in the description. 

Mistake number four is being too  structured with your learning. 

Now you might be asking yourself, “isn’t  organization always good?” But with learning,  

this isn’t always the case. When done properly,  learning is often messy. It shouldn’t feel rote  

or routine. Instead, it should feel a bit  challenging and even unpredictable at times. 

When I was in college, I made the mistake of being  too structured with my studying. I thought I had  

to read through the textbook and lecture in order  and do things in a regimented way. It wasn’t until  

later into my academic career that I realized the  power of being more flexible with my approach. 

When you’re learning a topic, your goal shouldn’t  be to master each concept before moving on to the  

next. Instead, your goal should be to build  a scaffolding and then fill in the details. 

Learning is all about making new neuronal  connections in the brain. The more connections  

you can make between pieces of information, the  more likely that information is to stick. By  

building a framework of knowledge before trying  to fill in the details, you give yourself more  

pieces to connect. So instead of going from  A to B and then to C, sometimes it may make  

more sense to go from A to C and then back  to B. Our job as students is to reorganize  

information in a way that makes sense to us. You also shouldn’t be afraid to use all of  

the tools at your disposal. You don’t  have to read the entire textbook chapter  

or all of the lecture slides before you start  incorporating flashcards or practice questions. 

Too often, students will wait until they’re  familiar with the material before they start  

utilizing active learning strategies because  it feels premature. This is a mistake. Let it  

feel messy. Let it feel uncomfortable.  What you’ll end up with is a much more  

robust understanding of the information.  You’ll be able to make connections between  

information faster which will allow you to retain  the information more effectively in the long term. 

The last mistake is not  optimizing your physiology. 

We all know the long-term health benefits of  good nutrition, sleep, and exercise; however,  

many people fail to realize that optimizing your  health can also make you a more effective student. 

Research has shown that cognitive performance and  memory are improved when you are healthier. This  

means that you can not only learn information  more effectively, but you can also retain  

that information for longer periods of time.  Staying healthy has also been shown to improve  

mental health which makes you more resilient to  stress and burnout meaning that you can study  

more intensely and for longer periods of time. There are three pillars that you need to focus on:  

sleep, exercise, and nutrition. If any  one of these is off, you’re leaving a  

lot of performance on the table. As such, you  should make each one a priority in your life. 

Organize your schedule so that you can get  7-9 hours of sleep each night. Schedule  

time to be active and exercise. And plan your  meals ahead of time so that you aren’t tempted  

by fast food or other convenient options. For actionable tips on improving your health  

and incorporating proper sleep, nutrition, and  exercise into your schedule, be sure to check  

out How to Rank First in Medical School | The  (Not So) Obvious Truth over on the Kevin Jubbal,  

M.D. YouTube channel - link in the description. Thank you all so much for watching. If you  

enjoyed this video, be sure to check out  Why You’re Not a Straight-A Student (& How  

to Become One) or this other video.  Much love, and I’ll see you guys there.