When should I take a review course?

This is a personal decision because students have individual learning needs. The majority of students take the review course about 8 weeks before or after graduation. Some students want to take the course in close proximity to the time they will take the exam because this allows them to have recently completed a comprehensive review of all the material. Students feel like the information is "fresh" in their brain at the time they take the exam. Many students have told me that they felt the review course gave them "momentum" going into the exam. Another group of students prefers to take the review course within 4-12 months prior to graduation. Many students have told me that taking the review course at this time helped them focus on what was important while they were still in school. They also learned a lot of clinical pearls during the review course that helped them as they completed their clinicals. The main disadvantage to taking the course at this time is that the student may actually learn lots of new information at the course instead of it being a thorough review. The main advantage is that it allows the student plenty of time to identify strong and weak points and study accordingly.