Stand out with the best dietetic grades! These effective tips will help land you on the dean’s list and increase your chances of matching to your top dietetic internship.

It’s Tuesday, and you’ve already taken your fourth exam for the week, have a lab project due in organic chemistry tomorrow, and two presentations on Thursday. I feel you! Nutrition and Dietetics is an intriguing major but challenging one. As a recent graduate and future dietitian, here are a few tips that helped me survive the busy undergraduate workload.

Organize, Organize, Organize!

Every dietetics major understands the importance of staying organized during the semester. It is easy to fall behind and feel lost between meeting lab report deadlines, biochemistry exams, and submitting diagrams of micronutrient metabolism pathways. Keeping a planner and updating it is one way to stay on top of deadlines. A simple planner won’t cut it in this major; it will need to be loaded with details, deadlines, and study times.

In my undergraduate experience, I found it helpful to organize my planner around study times. To prevent over-studying (yes, that’s a thing!) and under-studying, I planned to study in 1-hour increments, sectioning off 45-minute studying blocks using the other 15 minutes to give my brain a break. By scheduling study times and staying organized, I felt that I was ahead of assignments and deadlines, which paid off in the long run.

Utilize Your Tools

We buy textbooks, lab books, and nutrition manuals because they are required of us, but what if we utilize them? One of my turning points in undergraduate was when I started using my materials. Simply reading the chapters before class and reviewing questions at the end almost always led to me acing the exam. I noticed professors pull a lot of study questions from the book or use them to form questions. Reviewing the PowerPoints won’t cut it.

Study Well and Study Often

How do you learn the material effectively? Did you know that everyone realizes differently? Strategies that work for some don’t work for others. That’s why it is crucial to figure out how YOU retain information. This will be important for the registration exam as well. Be sure to check out Pass the Exam Prep, powered by the Study Smarter Method, to help you ace the board exam when your time comes. Science is not a subject that can be memorized, so it’s essential to comprehend the information thoroughly. Personally, speaking out loud (sometimes to my dog) always helped me learn the material. If you can walk through the steps of a process, like the Krebs cycle, then you have a strong understanding of the concept. If that weren’t effective, I would break out the whiteboard. Yes, I was one of those students! Writing can be an effective way to retain information and rock a nutrition exam.

As mentioned earlier, over-studying can happen. I found myself constantly over-studying in courses without even realizing it. The frustrating part is that after 45 minutes, the brain retains less information, which may mean you’re wasting time. If you find yourself stuck on a subject, reach out for help. Getting a second perspective can be helpful and make a difference in your grade. I utilized my professors and graduate assistance whenever I felt stuck, and I’m thankful I did. 

Review, Review, Review!

Sometimes I got picked on because I would always request to review my exams, even when I made the highest grade. I think we don’t give review sessions the recognition they deserve. The main reason being is it’s so important to see what areas you are strong in and those you are weak in and may need extra practice. One perk of being a dietetics major is having nearly all comprehensive finals *cue the excitement.* Reviewing exams is important because you WILL see the information again on semester finals and possibly the registration exam, so make sure you evaluate your areas of understanding. I know that stinging feeling when you study all month for your macro exam, only to see you did less than average. It can be discouraging! Don’t brush it off. Review the exam, see where you need to improve, invest in a tutor, and better yourself. Your future dietitian self will thank you!

These tips sound do-able, right? I wouldn’t have been as successful in undergraduate without them. Studying effectively is such an important skill because it determines your GPA, dietetic internship acceptance, and passing the board exam. 

I hope these tips will be useful and help you succeed as a future dietitian! Let us know if you used any of these tips or have any of your own effective studying strategies.

P.S. Don’t let a low overall or DPD GPA hold you back from having a happy Match Day. Get one-on-one support throughout the application process and increase your confidence by working with a coach.

P.P.S. 100% of Get Matched Coaching clients were matched to a dietetic internship in 2021. This can be you, too! Click here to see all that’s included.

From one future dietitian to another,

Eden Davis

Dietetic intern with All Access Dietetics.