time management?

[SeekerofTruth]

So I finished my first year of prepharm and the second semester went better than the first. I relaxed a bit more and stopped caring as much about every little thing. The thing is, I find that there is a lot of work to be done. First year was not all that difficult material-wise, just a lot at one time. It may be because I am not a machine and I can't memorize all the material as soon as I look at it, unlike some people. I'm worried about the coming years though. I need advice..I find it hard to believe some people can take more than 20 credits in a semester and still do well. I don't see how I would be able to pull of a statistics minor and still do well academically while having time to relax just a little bit so I dropped that idea...

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[rxlea]

Believe it buddy.

Haven't you heard Alanis's recommendation to anyone to bite off more than you can chew?

It's all about prioritization and time management. I'm not good at straight up memorizing either. Pharmacology, biochem and med chem were my hardest classes. The best advice I can give you is to learn how to learn... Learn what works best for you.

I memorize things better with a picture or diagram so I draw things out. I try to associate the material with something real life. My first year of pharmacy school, I really struggled. I hated first semester. But after I got used to it and knew exactly how much time I would need to spend on each topic/exam, my efficiency increased dramatically.

You'll get better.

 

[gsRx]

Finding what works for you is a process of trial and error. What I have found especially works for me was actually reading the text book chapter on the lecture material prior to coming to class, which is something every professor has recommended pretty much since the beginning of time.

This gives you an idea of the big picture and familiarizes you ahead of time so you aren't playing catchup during the lecture. It helps a lot for the 30 mins to 1 hour or so it might take you to go through the chapter ahead of time.

I also worked a lot during during school, not something I am proud of recommending but sitting in a lecture with a recorder and studying notes from another class helps you in those crunch times when you fall behind on material and have to play catch up for a big exam.

Lastly, good old studying.. making index cards to flip through for repetition, diagrams, pneumonics all help.

 

[SeekerofTruth]

I've only ever used index cards for language or short things. I tried using it for general biology but it didn't help me at all. Old fashioned reading over and over again helped me pull of an A-.

I'm worried that I won't have the time to learn everything since there was just so much this year. I find it difficult to believe people can minor and take 27 credits in a semester and when I ask how it was possible, they say it's all about time management. I mean, what the heck? It makes little sense to me. That doesn't answer the question at all unless the workload decreases and difficulty increases..

 

[Momus]

I studied only 3-4 days before exams and managed to pull off > 3.5 GPA if I had follow THIS METHOD, there was no doubt I would easily end up in top 5% of my class.

 

[amox]

Don't memorize! Understand it!

That could be the issue...

 

[SeekerofTruth]

I don't think I have ever resorted to memorization instead of understanding the material..maybe I am just slower than most people at covering everything.

 

[BenJammin]

There's no doubt that understanding the material is more important than memorizing it. Funny how at my school it was always the Rho Chi guys or the high GPA students who would fail therapeutics. You can memorize all you want but if you don't understand the material then you are no more useful to me than my epocrates app.

 

[joetrisman]

There's no doubt that understanding the material is more important than memorizing it. Funny how at my school it was always the Rho Chi guys or the high GPA students who would fail therapeutics. You can memorize all you want but if you don't understand the material then you are no more useful to me than my epocrates app.

I think it just sticks out more when its someone with a high gpa. At least in my class, most of the Rho Chi'ers are pretty well rounded.

 

[BenJammin]

I think it just sticks out more when its someone with a high gpa. At least in my class, most of the Rho Chi'ers are pretty well rounded.

Well most of them were great students but there was always 1 or 2 who made you wonder how they got in.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Well most of them were great students but there was always 1 or 2 who made you wonder how they got in.

Bad ones are the exceptions. Most of the rho chi in my class were also the organization leaders and officers, had desirable internships, secured backings of famed faculties. Rho chi members are largely the competitive type and know how to keep an edge.

 

[owlegrad]

Probably quite a bit of perception bias when it comes to how people view Rho Chi members.

 

[BenJammin]

Probably quite a bit of perception bias when it comes to how people view Rho Chi members.

Hey, I can only judge what I see so you have to expect generalizations. Maybe it's different at other places but Rho Chi members at my CoP were a majority of hermits.

Tell you what, give me some time tonight and I'll dig up names and give you all a breakdown of the membership at my school the last two years I was there. Org presidents, officers, PLS, Greek, APhA, etc. Won't be scientific but it'll give you an insight into my perspective of this group.

I should clarify that I'm not giving out names, just counting people lol

 

[owlegrad]

Hey, I can only judge what I see so you have to expect generalizations. Maybe it's different at other places but Rho Chi members at my CoP were a majority of hermits.

Tell you what, give me some time tonight and I'll dig up names and give you all a breakdown of the membership at my school the last two years I was there. Org presidents, officers, PLS, Greek, APhA, etc. Won't be scientific but it'll give you an insight into my perspective of this group.

I should clarify that I'm not giving out names, just counting people lol

I was just pointing out we have a member who was in Rho Chi defending it, and one member who seems to have a tiny chip on his shoulder about people in Rho Chi saying they are mostly hermits. I just found it sort of funny.

FWIW, I can only think of a few Rho Chi students at my school, and they are mostly people that I do not enjoy socializing with. One of them is my least favorite student. I can only think of one or two (at my school at least) that do not annoy me in fact.
But I am hardly Rho Chi material.

EDIT: I find your generalization about therapeutics to be correct - they do seem to struggle in that class. I liked therapeutics though.

 

[BenJammin]

I was just pointing out we have a member who was in Rho Chi defending it, and one member who seems to have a tiny chip on his shoulder about people in Rho Chi saying they are mostly hermits. I just found it sort of funny.

FWIW, I can only think of a few Rho Chi students at my school, and they are mostly people that I do not enjoy socializing with. One of them is my least favorite student. I can only think of one or two (at my school at least) that do not annoy me in fact.
But I am hardly Rho Chi material.

EDIT: I find your generalization about therapeutics to be correct - they do seem to struggle in that class. I liked therapeutics though.

Believe me, I don't have a chip on my shoulder. Not being in Rho Chi doesn't define me as a pharmacist just like being in the top 10 of my graduating class in high school didn't define me as a student. I am who I am so I get frustrated when I hear "they're in Rho Chi so they must be better than the others" or that kind of tone. Sometimes I feel people try to define students by the groups they are members of. Just reeks of ignorance to me. If I have a chip on my shoulder, it's because I was never asked to join Phi Lambda Sigma even though I won my CoP and university's leader of the year award lol no joke either. First student in my school's history to win that award while not being a member of PLS.

And therapeutics was a piece of cake for me. I found my other classes to be difficult but it all clicked together in those classes.

 

[owlegrad]

Believe me, I don't have a chip on my shoulder.

My bad, I don't know what gave me that idea. Sorry about that.

 

[joetrisman]

If I have a chip on my shoulder, it's because I was never asked to join Phi Lambda Sigma even though I won my CoP and university's leader of the year award lol no joke either. First student in my school's history to win that award while not being a member of PLS.

Ouch. That sucks. Too much popularity contests and politics in orgs for my tastes.

 

[Doulos]

Have you read that "How to Become a Straight A Student" book by Cal Newport? He lays out a great plan for winning in any educational environment. It needs to be tweaked for super-high intensity learning pathways such as pharmacy or medicine, but it works.

You can get it on Amazon for about $10 here.