I qualified as a paramedic at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with little strategy to my studying. I relied on researching topics and trying to understand how I could apply them to practice. The trouble with this was that I was never testing my knowledge which made recalling the guidelines slow when needed in practice.
I then started medical school where it became essential to have a clear strategy to revision in order to keep up with the breadth of topics. I tried a number of methods such as flashcards, summary pages and mindmaps just took too long to memorise before the next topic came. A friend then showed me online quesiton banks written by those that had passed the exams I was studying for. I could chip away doing questions little and often throughout the year rather than cramming for exams. Seeing my score improve for seemingly less time revising convinced me on the benefits of active recall and spaced repetition.
Speaking to colleagues at work, I realised there were no question banks for student paramedics which would make studying far easier. So here we are!
Steven West - Founder of ParaMentor
