5 things you learned in first year (not in order)

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enlightenedhick

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Well I have the first one down in my study skills in college right now, so I'm good (only way I could've gotten a 92 on the orgo final :p). As for the second one, is it because people ask stupid questions or point out unnecessary corrections like they do in undergrad lectures (i.e. the decimal is in the wrong spot or you misspelled the word) :p
 
- lecture is worthless
- powerpoint is evil
- the key to memorization is repetition
- go to office hours, and ask for general advice from previous students
- when you're burnt out and it's more than 1 week before a test, get more sleep, exercise, or go out drinking
when you're burnt out and it's less than 2 days before a test, drink coffee and red bull.
 
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1. Memorization trumps understanding, every single time.
2. There is always someone in your class who will work harder than you.
3. You will suffer alone; you mostly study alone and your old friends will have no idea what you are going through.
4. Your classmates can be assets, provided that they are willing to share information with you.
5. TBD
 
1) Make time for exercise and please get your sleep. Your studying the next day will be more efficient if you've had sleep.
2) Keep in touch with your friends and family on a regular basis and ask them how their lives are going. It's not just about you and how hard med school is.
3) Be super focused when you're studying and play hard/totally relax when you've given yourself breaks (i.e. maintain your social life/hobbies - because it is easy to burn out and become unidimensional)
4) When getting advice, take into account the credibility of your source. Some people (for reasons I still don't understand) straight up exaggerate, lie, downplay, whatever. And just because people are saying "you have to study in groups" or "don't study even a day more than 3 weeks for Step 1," doesn't mean you actually have to listen to them. If the advice seems absurd to you, then it probably IS absurd for YOU. Be informed and welcome advice from others, but realize what works for YOU. I freaked out when I saw my classmates making tons of flashcards, incredible flow charts, colorful pictures, etc. I never wrote anything out/made my own notes in college, so this scared me. I stuck to my system, though, and it ended up working just fine. (I just read and re-read notes/text and highlight/underline rather than make charts/flashcards/etc.)
5) Don't buy all the required/recommended books for your classes. Buy what seems like the major books you'll need and then supplement as needed or just ask an upper classman to borrow or buy used.
6) Try to volunteer at your student run free clinic or the like (if your school has one) toward the middle or end of 1st year and 2nd year - great practical experience, and they can always use the help.
7) Your classmates are not your competition. They are your colleagues and great sources of information. You are all smart, and you all have different strengths and weaknesses.
8) When you freak out, call a classmate. They'll understand. Calling your boyfriend/girlfriend/family helps, but the whole "I'm really stressed out" thing gets old... but your classmates will always understand.
9) Long-distance relationships are very hard - but totally possible - sounds generic to say but good communication is absolutely key.
10) As a pre-med about to start med school, you felt like a rockstar. Everyone congratulated you, admired you, and wished you lots of good luck. Now you're an M1. Suddenly, you'll feel quite overwhelmed, usually behind in class, and lowest on the totem pole. This feeling will continue forever, I'm told. As an M3 now, it's more true than ever! But don't let it get you down and just keep going... You are DEFINITELY not the only one with the blues, shaky confidence, and transient though frequent feelings of inadequacy and confusion. Chances are a good portion of your class will feel this way much of 1st year, but you WILL adjust with time, and you are supposed to be here. Good days really do make it worth it.
 
I completely agree with the above re:

1) Powerpoint is evil. EVIL! I HATE Powerpoint. It is laziness exemplified and the death of teaching. I think I've said enough.

2) We pay entirely too much for our education.

3) Haven't learned this yet, but have heard repeatedly that 3rd year grades are a mixture of whether they like the shape of your nose, politics, and their mood (completley unrelated to your performance) at the time they're filling out the evaluation.
 
1) That the ones who tell you not to do things for the money are also people who aren't paying $40,000/year for school well into their 20s

2)Memorizing is more important than understanding

3)There's an inverse relationship between lecture attendance and test scores

4)Staying in shape physically is just as important as studying

5)You can embrace your inner dork even when out on the weekends with your med school friends and there isn't much else to talk about besides school since that's all our lives revolve around anyway.
 
Ice Nine said:
- medicine is more political than altruistic
- nobody is truly expected to understand anything, just memorize
- clinical interactions take time away from memorizing board material
- fear of an undesirable match is the true motivating force
- we pay way too much money for the education at this stage
Click to expand...


Were you Critical Mass in another lifetime?
 
SeventhSon said:
- lecture is worthless
- powerpoint is evil
- the key to memorization is repetition
- go to office hours, and ask for general advice from previous students
- when you're burnt out and it's more than 1 week before a test, get more sleep, exercise, or go out drinking
when you're burnt out and it's less than 2 days before a test, drink coffee and red bull.
Click to expand...

What's wrong with powerpoint?
 
1 - you may think that because you're in med school, you will be learning to become a doctor, you precious naive thing, you. in actuality, you will learn to jump through hoops of fire like you have never jumped before

2 - don't stop working out just because you smell like cadaver and don't want to take 3 showers a day. just don't shower between lab and the gym. people may say you're gross, but they'll still marvel at your rockin' bod.

3 - ex's don't make good friends even when school is sucking out your will to live....ESPECIALLY when school is sucking out your will to live, in fact...and especially if you're dating someone new

4 - a few people actually get something out of going to class. these people are weird. avoid them

5 - remember you will be a doctor in a few years. so will your classmates. keep this in mind when you're doing body shots after a killer test, and know that these people are your friends for life. i love my class :)
 
Pembleton said:
1. Memorization trumps understanding, every single time.
Click to expand...

Well, not in Physio. Which is why I love it. :D

My five:

1. Lecture should be seen as optional. I went in classes where it helped me or was required, but otherwise it takes up too much time.
2. If you're not currently studying, you probably should be. (For the first couple weeks of this summer, I constantly felt like I should be studying. This has subsided now.)
3. You, and especially your hands, will smell like anatomy lab even if you do double glove with nitrile and two layers of powder.
4. The smell of the Anatomy lab eventually comes off sometime over Christmas break.
5. There are actually many cool things that you learn amidst a lot of memorization that doesn't appear to be very relevant to patient care.
 
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1. even though you expect to be a whole lot smarter, you walk out of your last test of the year actually feeling dumber
2. my favorite highlighter color is pink
3. webmd.com is just the source your relatives will consult before they ask you a health question you don't know the answer to
4. as much as it's nice that people will offer advice, sometimes the best advice is from yourself
5. surround yourself with as many people who don't go to med school as possible, just so you know they are out there. my friends and family are the best support i could ask for
 
Here are my five (most I learned before first year but confirmed during first year):
  1. Focus on mastery of the information only; things like personality of professor and classmates are meaningless. Even if the "devil" is lecturing, learn what you can and tune out the rest.
  2. Tune out the boasts and rumors so that you can focus on YOUR work only. Don't let anyone "get into your head".
  3. Stay in excellent physical condition which will keep you in excellent mental condition. Take care of yourself because no one else is going to take care of you.
  4. Be adaptable to change. If something does not work for you, change it immediately. Focus on results and not the process.
  5. Don't whine and complain; take action. Whining and complaining prolongs your agony and won't get the job done. Find a solution to what you need and take action.
 
alphaholic06 said:
What's wrong with powerpoint?
Click to expand...

My problem is that many of my professors just use it to list information without providing any explanation. The presentations are usually full of formatting problems. Sometimes profs just read off the powerpoints (something I could do at home easily) as if it were a checklist of facts. It doesn't really encourage the student to engage the material at hand.
 
1. Powerpoints suck.
2. Medical school attracts alot more sociopaths than I had previously thought.
3. You really will forget more information than most people will ever know about the human body.
4. Medical school more resembles high school than college, unfortunately.
5. Powerpoints really suck.
 
Its crazy how all of these things seem to be universally true throughout all medical schools. Just to add to the powerpoint hate, it also gives the MD guest lecturers an easy way out by presenting to you their 30+ page powerpoint presentation that they probably made for some grand rounds.......then always prefacing it with "dont worry, my questions on the test wont be that bad" even though their lecture was scheduled the day before the test.
 
njbmd said:
Here are my five (most I learned before first year but confirmed during first year):
  1. Focus on mastery of the information only; things like personality of professor and classmates are meaningless. Even if the "devil" is lecturing, learn what you can and tune out the rest.
  2. Tune out the boasts and rumors so that you can focus on YOUR work only. Don't let anyone "get into your head".
  3. Stay in excellent physical condition which will keep you in excellent mental condition. Take care of yourself because no one else is going to take care of you.
  4. Be adaptable to change. If something does not work for you, change it immediately. Focus on results and not the process.
  5. Don't whine and complain; take action. Whining and complaining prolongs your agony and won't get the job done. Find a solution to what you need and take action.
Click to expand...

Finally, some non-cynical and useful advice! :thumbup:

As for the powerpoint hate, I have had many professors that just read off the powerpoints (which were just copy-pasted from the book's powerpoints) and I've also had a few great professors that took their time making their own powerpoints, and teaching additional material outside of the texts to us in class. It's the professor, not the technology stupid! :D
 
1. I'll be the millionith person to say lecture's not worth the time. Personally I'm braindead after five hours a lecture, so going to lecture actually impeded my ability to study.

2. Try to find a way to laugh at your classmates attempts to bolster their own egos instead of believing it and feeling inferior.

3. Learned this one in law school, and it appears to be true in med school, too -- if you tell any one about your grades, expect everyone to find out.

4. Regardless of how nice you think your school is, there will be political BS.

5. Most of the material is incredibly boring and not related to anything we'll actually need to know as physicians. In sum, medical school is woefully inefficient.
 
I don't understand the hatred of PowerPoint. I've been through my fair share of poor presentations but they are invariable prepared by people who don't know how to manipulate the program and don't care to learn. Why would people who prepare poor PowerPoint presentations morph into people who prepare excellent chalkboard lectures were PowerPoint to fall out of favor? My suspicion is that you all are running into poor lecturers and putting the onus on PowerPoint instead.
 
Generic Member said:
I don't understand the hatred of PowerPoint. I've been through my fair share of poor presentations but they are invariable prepared by people who don't know how to manipulate the program and don't care to learn. Why would people who prepare poor PowerPoint presentations morph into people who prepare excellent chalkboard lectures were PowerPoint to fall out of favor? My suspicion is that you all are running into poor lecturers and putting the onus on PowerPoint instead.
Click to expand...

powerpoint allows bad lecturers to let bad habits by people who don't know how to teach manifest themselves, while forcing bad lecturers to give chalk talks weeds out some of these bad habits that are built-in potential for abuse in powerpoint.

Among these considerations are:

- moving more quickly than is reasonable
- "sensory overload" - they can't draw their 10 figures on one slide at once
- the process of them "drawing out" figures that otherwise would be a slide gives you insight to their logic as to how they organize ideas, figures, and words, which is very valuable (aside to it slowing them down, as mentioned above)
 
SeventhSon said:
powerpoint allows bad lecturers to let bad habits by people who don't know how to teach manifest themselves, while forcing bad lecturers to give chalk talks weeds out some of these bad habits that are built-in potential for abuse in powerpoint.
Click to expand...

What??? :confused:
 
GuzzyRon said:
Funny, I was thinking the exact same thong...em, sorry, THING. :D
Click to expand...

haha I didn't even notice that they were different, I just assumed it was the same person.
 
Ambs said:
1) Make time for exercise and please get your sleep. Your studying the next day will be more efficient if you've had sleep.
2) Keep in touch with your friends and family on a regular basis and ask them how their lives are going. It's not just about you and how hard med school is.
3) Be super focused when you're studying and play hard/totally relax when you've given yourself breaks (i.e. maintain your social life/hobbies - because it is easy to burn out and become unidimensional)
4) When getting advice, take into account the credibility of your source. Some people (for reasons I still don't understand) straight up exaggerate, lie, downplay, whatever. And just because people are saying "you have to study in groups" or "don't study even a day more than 3 weeks for Step 1," doesn't mean you actually have to listen to them. If the advice seems absurd to you, then it probably IS absurd for YOU. Be informed and welcome advice from others, but realize what works for YOU. I freaked out when I saw my classmates making tons of flashcards, incredible flow charts, colorful pictures, etc. I never wrote anything out/made my own notes in college, so this scared me. I stuck to my system, though, and it ended up working just fine. (I just read and re-read notes/text and highlight/underline rather than make charts/flashcards/etc.)
5) Don't buy all the required/recommended books for your classes. Buy what seems like the major books you'll need and then supplement as needed or just ask an upper classman to borrow or buy used.
6) Try to volunteer at your student run free clinic or the like (if your school has one) toward the middle or end of 1st year and 2nd year - great practical experience, and they can always use the help.
7) Your classmates are not your competition. They are your colleagues and great sources of information. You are all smart, and you all have different strengths and weaknesses.
8) When you freak out, call a classmate. They'll understand. Calling your boyfriend/girlfriend/family helps, but the whole "I'm really stressed out" thing gets old... but your classmates will always understand.
9) Long-distance relationships are very hard - but totally possible - sounds generic to say but good communication is absolutely key.
10) As a pre-med about to start med school, you felt like a rockstar. Everyone congratulated you, admired you, and wished you lots of good luck. Now you're an M1. Suddenly, you'll feel quite overwhelmed, usually behind in class, and lowest on the totem pole. This feeling will continue forever, I'm told. As an M3 now, it's more true than ever! But don't let it get you down and just keep going... You are DEFINITELY not the only one with the blues, shaky confidence, and transient though frequent feelings of inadequacy and confusion. Chances are a good portion of your class will feel this way much of 1st year, but you WILL adjust with time, and you are supposed to be here. Good days really do make it worth it.
Click to expand...

You didnt learn to count though because that is more than five things.:laugh:
 
Lol sorry i need to proofread. There are good and bad practices for lecturing, in general. Some of the bad practices are inherently mitigated by forcing bad lecturers to give a chalk talk, rather than using powerpoint.

Sorry for the ******ed sentence.
 
SeventhSon said:
Lol sorry i need to proofread. There are good and bad practices for lecturing, in general. Some of the bad practices are inherently mitigated by forcing bad lecturers to give a chalk talk, rather than using powerpoint.
Click to expand...

SeventhSon said:
Among these considerations are:

- moving more quickly than is reasonable
- "sensory overload" - they can't draw their 10 figures on one slide at once
- the process of them "drawing out" figures that otherwise would be a slide gives you insight to their logic as to how they organize ideas, figures, and words, which is very valuable (aside to it slowing them down, as mentioned above)
Click to expand...

I really liked powerpoint. Some considerations on the flipside to consider:

* Reproducibility. If a professor is drawing a figure/chart on a chalkboard, I have to frantically scribble to get it all down, since I won't be able to get a copy to study again later. Powerpoint (and having the ppt files available online later) made it easier for me to sit back and just take it in.

* Powerpoint is great for histo, pathology, dermatology, physical exam lectures, and EKG problem solving sessions. The pictures are much clearer than they would be on a slide projector.

Powerpoint isn't perfect, but it has its moments.
 
smq123 said:
* Reproducibility. If a professor is drawing a figure/chart on a chalkboard, I have to frantically scribble to get it all down, since I won't be able to get a copy to study again later. Powerpoint (and having the ppt files available online later) made it easier for me to sit back and just take it in.
Click to expand...

That's why smartboards are a wonderful thing!
 
gujuDoc said:
I don't mind powerpoints. I only mind when the professors are doing nothing short of reading directly off of the powerpoint. That makes going to class useless if there is nothing new that isn't on there.
Click to expand...

And thus the practice of ditching class is born....

Going to class can (at times, although not always) be useless. Having the powerpoint slides available to you just lets you sleep in.

And I've had med school professors just write their points on the chalkboard as they're talking...i.e. what they'd do with powerpoint if they knew how to turn on a computer. Or, worse, just ramble on and on without using powerpoint OR chalk.
 
I learned you need your friends and if you can explain topics to them, you must really know it.

I learned that it can always get worse - so don't complain.

I learned that there is more to medical school than grade.

2nd year I learned that the crap I thought wasn't important 1st year was.

3rd year I learned the stuff that I thought wasn't important 2nd year was.
 
njbmd said:
Here are my five (most I learned before first year but confirmed during first year):
  1. Focus on mastery of the information only; things like personality of professor and classmates are meaningless. Even if the "devil" is lecturing, learn what you can and tune out the rest.
  2. Tune out the boasts and rumors so that you can focus on YOUR work only. Don't let anyone "get into your head".
  3. Stay in excellent physical condition which will keep you in excellent mental condition. Take care of yourself because no one else is going to take care of you.
  4. Be adaptable to change. If something does not work for you, change it immediately. Focus on results and not the process.
  5. Don't whine and complain; take action. Whining and complaining prolongs your agony and won't get the job done. Find a solution to what you need and take action.
Click to expand...


This guy rocks! Best one I've read! Thank you
 
1) You don't learn "Medicine" in Medical School...just science construed as medicine.
2) Sleep, food, family and friends are all more important than studying. Don't forget about them as they'll keep you sane.
3) Proper studying is combined memorization and endurance, not actually "understanding".
4) The $60k you just spent on your first year has taught you exactly 0 practical knowledge.
5) You are absolutely the most useless individual in the hospital setting. You serve no purpose other than slowing down the level of productivity of everyone in your vicinity and annoying the crap out of patients. To make your presence more than dead weight on everyone else, you must volunteer for the scuttiest of all scut work, and even then you must know that you are doing almost nothing to provide patient care. Do your scut eagerly and with a smile, and maybe you'll be allowed to learn something useful from the nurses...
 
1) This is your time to really learn stuff well the first time, so put in the hours now rather than later.
2) Working out regularly may no longer be an option.
3) Reality tv seems more enticing than it ever has.
4) My own preconcieved mental barriers hold me back more than anything else.
5) A well-planned home cooked meal or any other thing I had taken for granted becomes much more meaningful and pleasureable to me after chronic, hardcore studying.
 
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