Right about average

[labrat50]

Hi all.

So medical school has been...interesting...so far. We've had quite a few exams and I always managed to get about 1 question above the average. I don't mind being average, but there is no way I could be putting more time into studying. I've cut back on sleep just to study more and spend all of the weekends studying as well. I see people put half of the effort in and do just as well.

Has anyone else experienced this as a first year? Did you find yourself become more efficient with your time? Were you able to break past being right in the middle of the class? Or were you able to stay right in the middle while gaining some of your own life/time back?

Finally, how have my fellow average medical students managed to do on the boards? The thought of boards scares me. I feel like I learn the material well, but there's a bunch of material I forget once we move on to the next system/block. I can't imagine how much I will have forgotten by the end of year 2! My goal for boards is a 230 USMLE/equivalent COMLEX. Is this a good goal for an average MS1?

I guess I just need some reassurance...am I in a decent place? Will I get through this?

Thank you all

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Give it time, you'll adapt to the level of ability to move through the material as you go through the year. I went from studying a ton to studying a lot less and having plenty more free time as time went on.

 

[Dr. Death]

Hi all.

So medical school has been...interesting...so far. We've had quite a few exams and I always managed to get about 1 question above the average. I don't mind being average, but there is no way I could be putting more time into studying. I've cut back on sleep just to study more and spend all of the weekends studying as well. I see people put half of the effort in and do just as well.

Has anyone else experienced this as a first year? Did you find yourself become more efficient with your time? Were you able to break past being right in the middle of the class? Or were you able to stay right in the middle while gaining some of your own life/time back?

Finally, how have my fellow average medical students managed to do on the boards? The thought of boards scares me. I feel like I learn the material well, but there's a bunch of material I forget once we move on to the next system/block. I can't imagine how much I will have forgotten by the end of year 2! My goal for boards is a 230 USMLE/equivalent COMLEX. Is this a good goal for an average MS1?

I guess I just need some reassurance...am I in a decent place? Will I get through this?

Thank you all

You're in a decent place.

That said you need to be studying more efficiently. Eventually all this studying is going to catch up to you and you'll crack/burn out/lose motivation.

Ideas for gaining time
1. Stop going to class, if you don't have mandatory attendance. Lecture is the single biggest time waster in medical school and it's not even close. "But I like going to class, I learn a lot," you'll learn just as much watching it at 1.5x and pausing and rewinding when necessary. That 50 minute lecture is now 35, factor in that the rest of your classmates are wasting 10 minutes on a break and you can gain 20-25 minutes an hour, while still gleaning more out of the lecture than they did. "But my friends go to class" if your friends stole a car would you join them? Most people go to class because they always have or because they are scared not to.
2. Study what's on the test. Your professors will tell you what is and what isn't on the test based on the way they talk about it in their lectures.
3. Don't study what isn't on the test. Put down your board prep, stop memorizing garbage that's not going to be tested
4. Don't spend too much time studying what you already know. Do some practice questions as you go along and if you are consistently getting them right, don't waste time going over that subject over and over again
5. Utilize pain-free absences. If you have a lab you can miss once per semester, you damn well better miss that lab once every semester.
6. Make your anatomy lab partners dissect while you study the anatomy. It's not going to make you a better surgeon to pick fat off a corpse for hours on end. Study the anatomy and do as little as possible on the dissecting to get by.
7. Make a cram list of minutiae that may be on the test. Cram it into your brain right before the test, walk in and before starting write as much as you remember on a piece of paper to use if/when needed
8. Become a better exam taker, some people suck at taking exams so they need to study more than other people to get the same score.

 

[starri]

6. Make your anatomy lab partners dissect while you study the anatomy. It's not going to make you a better surgeon to pick fat off a corpse for hours on end. Study the anatomy and do as little as possible on the dissecting to get by.

This has the added bonus of making sure your lab partners hate you.

 

[labrat50]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Lectures aren't mandatory, and I think I'm going to try to not go to them for a bit and see how it goes. I've definitely got to make some adjustments to how I study!

 

[Jinxapotato]

Average isn't a bad place to start...But know that you can always do better. Don't look at the guy next to you who constantly aces test (we have this dude who finishes all the exams while we are still half way through, and he aced them all.... I guess he's just really smart), but compare to yourself from 1 month ago.

As for studying, hell, I am in my 2nd year and I am still constantly adjusting study techniques for different class. Often times it will cost me an exam to figure out if my strategy works or not.

 

[Azete]

Average isn't a bad place to start...But know that you can always do better. Don't look at the guy next to you who constantly aces test (we have this dude who finishes all the exams while we are still half way through, and he aced them all.... I guess he's just really smart), but compare to yourself from 1 month ago.

As for studying, hell, I am in my 2nd year and I am still constantly adjusting study techniques for different class. Often times it will cost me an exam to figure out if my strategy works or not.

It seems there's one of these at every school. We have mandatory attendance, and this guy plays video games in class all day and still finishes every exam in 1/4 the allotted time. Heard his lowest grade in all of M1 was 91.

 

[ATPsynthase123]

It seems there's one of these at every school. We have mandatory attendance, and this guy plays video games in class all day and still finishes every exam in 1/4 the allotted time. Heard his lowest grade in all of M1 was 91.

How is this possible?


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[DetectiveAlonzo]

There is always somebody out there smarter, more hard working, more good-looking, happier, and just overall BETTER than you.

Get used to it.

Being average to above average in med school is still a good thing.

Not everybody can be number one.

Keep in mind that this was told to me by my buddy who is number one in our class lol

But I'll be damned if that ain't the truth!

 

[DetectiveAlonzo]

This has the added bonus of making sure your lab partners hate you.

Screw 'em. Only have to deal with them for the first two years anyway! lol

 

[Rekt]

How is this possible?


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You think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

You think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?

No joke I actually know someone who hasn't scored below a 94 halfway through the first half of first year. Literally got a 100 on his first anatomy test. The dude can just flat out test though, self studied for the MCAT for a month and pulled a 515 out his butt. I imagine what he could have done with a little bit of effort.

 

[Sardinia]

We also had someone like that in our class. It turned out that they actually pre-studied all M1 and M2 topics on their own including the whole nine yards of Step 1 material.

Super nice person. Ended up becoming close friends.

 

[dushash]

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