A learning skills course for the 1st year medical students: an experience at a Saudi medical school

BACKGROUND: Every year nearly 1,500 students enter into medical program after passing high school and national aptitude exams. However, many students experience frustration, failure, and psychological morbidities like stress, depression, and anxiety because they are not aware of their learning styles or do not have effective learning skills and strategies. The College of Medicine of Al-Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University has adopted the outcome based, community oriented, Spiral Curriculum. Although the curriculum is innovative, on the other hand, it is very demanding. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to share educational structure and evaluation results of the course on effective learning and study skills for the 1st year medical students. METHODS: To prepare our students in order to cope with this demanding but promising curriculum, we conducted an effective and comprehensive learning skills course for 16 weeks in the first semester of year 1 in the medical program. Performance of each student was assessed and the course evaluation was done by students at the end of the course. RESULTS: The attendance of the students throughout the course was over 90%. The average performance of students in the summative assessment was 78% and the course was generally liked by the students. DISCUSSION: Students overall had a positive attitude toward the learning skills course. Majority of the students showed interest in attending the sessions regularly and realized the significance of this course to improve their learning skills.