Phase One students see benefits of TrueLearn

It’s fair to say the investment has paid off: since IU School of Medicine began offering TrueLearn this academic year, Phase 1 students have completed more than a quarter of a million questions on the dynamic learning resource!

“Question practice is an invaluable tool to help students retain and apply their knowledge,” Senior Director of Student Academic Support and Achievement Althea Kaminske, PhD, said. “A quarter million questions represents an incredible investment that students have made into their learning. I’m thrilled that we have been able to offer this resource to our students!"

Medical Student Education purchased a three-year contract with TrueLearn during the summer and made it available for free. The hope was to level the playing field and create equity for all IU medical students in course, clerkship, and Step exam preparation.

In a review of TrueLearn, one student noted that classmates found it particularly useful in the first year and the start of the second year when many hadn’t yet purchased additional practice banks.

“IU-assigned TrueLearn quizzes can help students think more deeply about the current material and can aid in both IU and NBME exam preparation,” the student said. “As a specific example, students who utilized TrueLearn during Human Structures were better prepared for their first NBME, completing the exam with less anxiety and better performance.”

What's TrueLearn?

TrueLearn is a dynamic learning platform that maps onto and integrates with IU School of Medicine curriculum, enabling students to access targeted resources. In addition to a substantial question bank (3,000-plus Step 1 and 4,000-plus Step 2 questions), TrueLearn provides detailed question explanations, Picmonic videos (a resource like Sketchy), Anki connectivity, SmartText (which allows you to opt into text reminders of key learning points), and a lot more!

TrueLearn's features utilize best practices from cognitive science. Combined with excellent support capability, we're confident you'll find it extremely valuable. We hope you’ll give it a shot if you haven’t already!