During my med school orientation one of the deans mentioned that the information you study in undergrad is like drinking water from a water fountain, but in med school, it's like drinking water from a fire hydrant. At the moment it seemed a little dramatic but after having taken two exams in medical school, I know he was right. The material itself is not intellectually harder, there is just A LOT of it. Every two weeks or so we get tested on 25-30 hours of lecture, excluding anatomy (from the lecture hour count, not from the test). Exams are multiple choice, two questions per lecture hour. Being a science major was of MUCH help. A lot of the material they start with is advanced genetics and biochemistry with clinical correlations, so if you have a good foundation of those, you shouldn't be too overwhelmed. Professors will not break down or dumb down the material piece by piece for everyone to digest peacefully. They have 50mins of lecture and if you didn't get it, go to their office hours or ask a friend for help. Professor's are not rude regarding questions, but their lecture is being recorded and they only have so much time to get it all into the tape. Plus, this is the big leagues now. People are good about learning things on their own without a professor.
Even though I have always had good study habits, after the first exam I had to make some adjustments to adapt. Re-listening to the lectures, and going over my notes a few times was not enough. There is so much information that by the time you finish going over all of it, the material from the first few lectures is already slipping out. I found ways to organize information so I could process and understand it faster: flow charts, YouTube videos, pictures, tables, outlines, dirty mnemonics, you name it, I've done it. Group study was also of tremendous help. People find different ways to teach each other important material, and once you talk about a certain topic, you will not forget it. My class is a great team when it comes to helping each other. We have a Sharepoint account where we upload notes on unrecorded presentations, practice quizzes, summarized anatomy, etc. We also have a Facebook page where we post links to helpful videos and websites. My peers have been my teachers as much as my professors have, or more.
A week before the exam, the only balance you will have in your life is the one between food, sleep, and studying. Nothing else matters. Dishes? Pile them on the dishwasher. Hamper? Overflowed. Bathroom? Dirty. Phone rings? Ten missed calls; from mom. Again, having a science major is a good prep for the type of life style you will find in med school. Studying in a group also helps you keep your sanity. People tend to make jokes or just start a conversation and that time can loosen up the tension and help you keep going. I have never been able to study at home for long focused periods of time, so I basically spent my weekend in school. As long as I have my student ID I can go in any time I want. They have a lounge there with fridges and microwaves, so I went prepared with lunch, dinner, snacks, and coffee for the day. Saturday I went in at 8am and left at 10pm. Classmates that came in later, say noon, stayed up until 3am. Of course, we took breaks. Usually to eat, take a small walk, talk to other people studying at school, but anything more than one hour is a luxury we cannot afford.
In an optimal study plan, the weekend is just for memorizing and developing a good grasp of the information. By this time you should have finished re-listening to lectures and writing notes. For both of my exams I woke up feeling confident about them. But when I took the test I felt like none of the important information I had studied was there, and I struggled to remember little details I knew I had studied but was not 100% sure I remembered correctly. Talking about the test afterwards makes it all worse because everyone has different answers and they all have good arguments for each of them. It seems like any answer would be possible and the only definitive factor is what the professor says is right, because the professor says it's right. Even though, I felt awful after both exams, I did better than I expected for both, scoring in the high B range. The average was also in the high B range, but fortunately for me USF has a pass/fail policy and the average does not factor into my grade unless everyone has scored poorly.
The day after an exam is my off day, and I use to catch up with life. Get everything in order and call everyone I haven't talked to in days. You just get one day though, because even though you just took a test you already have more information to study before it piles up. It is a stressful process, however, the nerd in all med students secretly enjoys what they are learning. But I would advise to anyone who is not passionate about medicine to stay away from it. It is the passion that keeps you going through all of it, knowing that this information could potentially save a patient's life someday. If you are still a pre-med, try to get yourself out of a path in medicine as much as you can, and if you can't, then you know it's for you.
Even though I have always had good study habits, after the first exam I had to make some adjustments to adapt. Re-listening to the lectures, and going over my notes a few times was not enough. There is so much information that by the time you finish going over all of it, the material from the first few lectures is already slipping out. I found ways to organize information so I could process and understand it faster: flow charts, YouTube videos, pictures, tables, outlines, dirty mnemonics, you name it, I've done it. Group study was also of tremendous help. People find different ways to teach each other important material, and once you talk about a certain topic, you will not forget it. My class is a great team when it comes to helping each other. We have a Sharepoint account where we upload notes on unrecorded presentations, practice quizzes, summarized anatomy, etc. We also have a Facebook page where we post links to helpful videos and websites. My peers have been my teachers as much as my professors have, or more.
A week before the exam, the only balance you will have in your life is the one between food, sleep, and studying. Nothing else matters. Dishes? Pile them on the dishwasher. Hamper? Overflowed. Bathroom? Dirty. Phone rings? Ten missed calls; from mom. Again, having a science major is a good prep for the type of life style you will find in med school. Studying in a group also helps you keep your sanity. People tend to make jokes or just start a conversation and that time can loosen up the tension and help you keep going. I have never been able to study at home for long focused periods of time, so I basically spent my weekend in school. As long as I have my student ID I can go in any time I want. They have a lounge there with fridges and microwaves, so I went prepared with lunch, dinner, snacks, and coffee for the day. Saturday I went in at 8am and left at 10pm. Classmates that came in later, say noon, stayed up until 3am. Of course, we took breaks. Usually to eat, take a small walk, talk to other people studying at school, but anything more than one hour is a luxury we cannot afford.
In an optimal study plan, the weekend is just for memorizing and developing a good grasp of the information. By this time you should have finished re-listening to lectures and writing notes. For both of my exams I woke up feeling confident about them. But when I took the test I felt like none of the important information I had studied was there, and I struggled to remember little details I knew I had studied but was not 100% sure I remembered correctly. Talking about the test afterwards makes it all worse because everyone has different answers and they all have good arguments for each of them. It seems like any answer would be possible and the only definitive factor is what the professor says is right, because the professor says it's right. Even though, I felt awful after both exams, I did better than I expected for both, scoring in the high B range. The average was also in the high B range, but fortunately for me USF has a pass/fail policy and the average does not factor into my grade unless everyone has scored poorly.
The day after an exam is my off day, and I use to catch up with life. Get everything in order and call everyone I haven't talked to in days. You just get one day though, because even though you just took a test you already have more information to study before it piles up. It is a stressful process, however, the nerd in all med students secretly enjoys what they are learning. But I would advise to anyone who is not passionate about medicine to stay away from it. It is the passion that keeps you going through all of it, knowing that this information could potentially save a patient's life someday. If you are still a pre-med, try to get yourself out of a path in medicine as much as you can, and if you can't, then you know it's for you.
Can't imagine the intensity of studying for med exams. The amount of time and terms to be memorized, the amount of procedures one needs to know by heart and the situations that need split-second decisions.- Layce of Studygeek.org
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