Ever Worry You're Not Smart Enough or Don't Have What it Takes?

Pardon my rant... I just need to vent.....

So I'm retaking my pre-reqs because they are so old. Today I took a bio quiz (open book) and got 87.5%. I was not at all happy. I feel like I should be scoring 95 or higher on all work. Particularly since 20 something years ago I have some less than flattering things on my academic record.

Overall my GPA should be solid. But....Sometimes I worry that it takes me too long to study. What if I'm not smart enough? I've always considered myself smart. But now that I'm trying to do so much I am wondering if I'm smart/good/fast/efficient enough. (I'm taking many classes in short period, volunteering, event planning/fundraising, yoga teaching). My son (in highschool AP classes) gets straight As and he barely does homework. Meanwhile I'm studying my butt off (of course my classes are self learning/pacing).

I feel like I need to get straight A's in my pre-reqs. Afterall, they are a cake walk compared to medical school. I have a solid A in Chem right now and an A (92) in Bio, but it's barely an A in bio. That totally stresses me out because I am trying.

Also today I took a CPR for health pros class. They gave us a cheezy quiz at the end. Here's the killer, about half the class finished before me. WTH?!?!? I got 100%, but I think I'm too slow in getting my work done....

Anyone else out there feel like they take to long to get things done?

mafunk,

How many years has it been since you were a full time student and regularly studying and taking exams? You seem to be doing fine, it will just take a while just to get back in the swing of things.

I do know the feeling, though. I completed my pre-reqs in 2003 and, since then, the only class I have taken is biochem in 2009. My first semester of med school (3 months!) is going to be a big adjustment.

First of all, is it absolutely true that you aren't smart enough, that you don't have what it takes? Can you be sure of that? No, you can't, yet. Relax, I think the jury is still out. At this point, the alternative, that you are smart enough and have what it takes, is just as true.

Be gentle with yourself. If it helps any, similar thoughts crossed my mind at your stage in the process. I also went back to school to retake my pre-requisites, close to 10 years after I completed my initial degree. I also felt slower, at first, than the students around me. The thing is, when you are away for a while, you are out of practice with academic work. Your son and most of the students you are in class with have been studying continuously, so they are in the thick of things. If you haven't done something in a while, understand that it may take some time to get back into the groove. Give yourself a break and allow that transition to take place.

How are you studying? Are you doing it efficiently? I find that if you haven't studied in a while, you may be doing it inefficiently. Some of it has to do with focus. Are you 100% there, concentrating on the tasks at hand, or are you interrupting yourself with other thoughts or tasks? One of the keys to rapid studying, is to be 100% there, or as close to it as you can. Set up the environment so that you can do that.

Another key to effective studying is to chunk the material. Break it up into easier bites. It's really hard to remember a long string, like "qwertyuiopasdfghjkl." However, if you break it up into four bites such as "qwerty," "uiop," "asdf," and "ghjkl," it's quite a bit easier to recall. Consider doing that with your study material.

Another key is to translate complex concepts into your own words, using analogies you are already familiar with. If you can do that, you will understand the material faster and remember it better. Create examples that make sense to you. It works better when you can turn concepts into examples and then translate that back into the concept: con-ex-con. Even better: teach someone else what you are learning. Teach your son what you are studying. If you can successfully explain it to him, you know the material well.

Another key is to focus on high-yield elements and blow through the less important ones. Learn to triage what is critical and important and spend your time accordingly. This is very important when you have limited time and when the information is flowing at you hard and fast and very volumous. Of all things, this is probably one of the most important skills in medicine. For example, how would you process the following:

An 87 y/o obese male with a PMH significant for CHF, HTN, Dementia, and DM2, presents to your office c/o increasing dyspnea, particularly on exertion and lying down flat, pedal edema, fatigue, and non-productive cough, worsening over the last 3 days. He denies any chest pain, N/V, fever, chills, or abdominal pain. He further denies any history of MI. He states that he "went out with the boys," and ate a large, salty pizza and had a couple of 12 oz beers prior to onset of symptoms, but thinks he might be coming down with the "flu," since everyone at this house is sick and he has been having a lot of nasal congestion lately. He lives at home with his son, who takes care of him. He doesn't smoke and has no smoking history or history of drug use. He is alert and oriented x 3, and mentating well. Your physical exam is significant for bibasilar rales, a 2/6 systolic murmur, and 2+ pedal edema. His meds include Toprol XL, Norvasc, Metformin, Amaryl, Aspirin, Lisinopril, Hydrochlorothiazide, and Colace. His vitals are BP 130/80, Pulse 100, 20 breaths per minute, and SpO2 88% on room air. You get a set of labs and find that his Hgb/HCT is 12/40, WBC's 8, Sodium 135, Potassium 3.5, Bicarb 25, and glucose 120; his kidney function is WNL. His BNP is 3000. His EKG is normal, except for mild tachycardia, LVH and bilateral atrial abnormalities. Cardiac enzymes are negative, as is his d-Dimer. A chest x-ray shows blunting of the costophrenic angles, cardiomegaly, and Kerley-B lines.

Long passage, right? That patient is presenting with acute exacerbation of his heart failure, likely secondary to dietary indiscretion. What are the key facts here? Let me highlight them in bold:

An 87 y/o obese male with a PMH significant for CHF, HTN, Dementia, and DM2, presents to your office c/o increasing dyspnea, particularly on exertion and lying down flat, pedal edema, fatigue, and non-productive cough, worsening over the last 3 days. He denies any chest pain, N/V, fever, chills, or abdominal pain. He further denies any history of MI. He states that he "went out with the boys," and ate a large, salty pizza and had a couple of 12 oz beers prior to onset of symptoms, but thinks he might be coming down with the "flu," since everyone at this house is sick and he has been having a lot of nasal congestion lately. He lives at home with his son, who takes care of him. He doesn't smoke and has no smoking history or history of drug use. He is alert and oriented x 3, and mentating well. Your physical exam is significant for bibasilar rales, a 2/6 systolic murmur, and 2+ pedal edema. His meds include Toprol XL, Norvasc, Metformin, Amaryl, Aspirin, Lisinopril, Hydrochlorothiazide, and Colace. His vitals are BP 130/80, Pulse 100, 20 breaths per minute, and SpO2 88% on room air. You get a set of labs and find that his Hgb/HCT is 12/40, WBC's 8, Sodium 135, Potassium 3.5, Bicarb 25, and glucose 120; his kidney function is WNL. His BNP is 3000. His EKG is normal, except for mild tachycardia, LVH and bilateral atrial abnormalities. Cardiac enzymes are negative, as is his d-Dimer. A chest x-ray shows blunting of the costophrenic angles, cardiomegaly, and Kerley-B lines.

I don't expect you to know the medicine or to recognize the important elements here, but see how I scanned the long passage? That's key to quickly assessing what you need. You need to train yourself to do that.

Another key to effective studying is to review vital information at least three times before an exam. Studies show that this helps solidify the material in your memory. Don't dwell or lock onto something unnecessarily if you already know it, unless you don't understand it, in which case you will want to supplement with other material to increase understanding. I've also found it useful to approach complex information thusly: when you first come across information, skim it quickly to get the gist, then review it more deeply, highlighting the important elements. Then review the important elements a few times.

Use several modalities in your studying. Just reading may not be enough. I occasionally like to involve other elements, such as building models, drawing, colorful highlighting, logic diagrams, audio recordings, flash cards, etc.

Taking tests. How are you taking your tests? Are you an efficient test taker? Analyze how you are proceeding. In taking tests, I have found it best to scan the test quickly to triage the questions in terms of difficulty. I will attempt to answer the easier ones first, followed by the intermediate and then the difficult ones that require more thinking. If I don't know the answer at first, I will try to eliminate the wrong choices, so I can make a guess. If I'm still not sure, I will mark a preliminary answer and move on. You don't want to dwell or obsess over any one question, provided they are all worth the same. If you find yourself taking too much time on one question, just mark a preliminary answer and move on. Come back to the ones you aren't sure about if you have time. Learn to pace yourself. Mark your answers in blocks in the answer sheet. When reading questions, read for the key facts. This increases speed.

Practice a lot. Do a lot of practice questions. After a while, you will begin to see the patterns and learn how to make educated guesses faster. The key to fast test taking is ultimately in the practice.

Take what I offer here with a grain of salt. It may not be accurate and it may not work for you. Just offering some suggestions.

spicedmanna said:

First of all, is it absolutely true that you aren't smart enough, that you don't have what it takes? Can you be sure of that? No, you can't, yet. Relax, I think the jury is still out. At this point, the alternative, that you are smart enough and have what it takes, is just as true.

Be gentle with yourself. If it helps any, similar thoughts crossed my mind at your stage in the process. I also went back to school to retake my pre-requisites, close to 10 years after I completed my initial degree. I also felt slower, at first, than the students around me. The thing is, when you are away for a while, you are out of practice with academic work. Your son and most of the students you are in class with have been studying continuously, so they are in the thick of things. If you haven't done something in a while, understand that it may take some time to get back into the groove. Give yourself a break and allow that transition to take place.

How are you studying? Are you doing it efficiently? I find that if you haven't studied in a while, you may be doing it inefficiently. Some of it has to do with focus. Are you 100% there, concentrating on the tasks at hand, or are you interrupting yourself with other thoughts or tasks? One of the keys to rapid studying, is to be 100% there, or as close to it as you can. Set up the environment so that you can do that.

Another key to effective studying is to chunk the material. Break it up into easier bites. It's really hard to remember a long string, like "qwertyuiopasdfghjkl." However, if you break it up into four bites such as "qwerty," "uiop," "asdf," and "ghjkl," it's quite a bit easier to recall. Consider doing that with your study material.

Another key is to translate complex concepts into your own words, using analogies you are already familiar with. If you can do that, you will understand the material faster and remember it better. Create examples that make sense to you. It works better when you can turn concepts into examples and then translate that back into the concept: con-ex-con.

Another key is to focus on high-yield elements and blow through the less important ones. Learn to triage what is critical and important and spend your time accordingly. This is very important when you have limited time and when the information is flowing at you hard and fast and very volumous. Of all things, this is probably one of the most important skills in medicine. For example, how would you process the following:

An 87 y/o obese male with a PMH significant for CHF, HTN, Dementia, and DM2, presents to your office c/o increasing dyspnea, particularly on exertion and lying down flat, pedal edema, fatigue, and non-productive cough, worsening over the last 3 days. He denies any chest pain, N/V, fever, chills, or abdominal pain. He states that he "went out with the boys," and ate a large, salty pizza and had a couple of 12 oz beers prior to onset of symptoms, but thinks he might be coming down with the "flu," since everyone at this house is sick and he has been having a lot of nasal congestion lately. He is alert and oriented x 3, and mentating well. Your physical exam is significant for bibasilar rales, a 2/6 systolic murmur, and 2+ pedal edema. His meds include Toprol XL, Norvasc, Metformin, Amaryl, Aspirin, Lisinopril, Hydrochlorothiazide, and Colace. His vitals are BP 130/80, Pulse 100, 20 breaths per minute, and SpO2 88% on room air. You get a set of labs and find that his Hgb/HCT is 12/40, WBC's 8, Sodium 135, Potassium 3.5, Bicarb 25, and glucose 120. His BNP is 3000. His EKG is normal, except for mild tachycardia, LVH and bilateral atrial abnormalities. Cardiac enzymes are negative. A chest x-ray shows blunting of the costophrenic angles, cardiomegaly, and Kerley-B lines.

Long passage, right? That patient is presenting with acute exacerbation of his heart failure, likely secondary to dietary indiscretion. What are the key facts here? Let me highlight them in bold:

An 87 y/o obese male with a PMH significant for CHF, HTN, Dementia, and DM2, presents to your office c/o increasing dyspnea, particularly on exertion and lying down flat, pedal edema, fatigue, and non-productive cough, worsening over the last 3 days. He denies any chest pain, N/V, fever, chills, or abdominal pain. He states that he "went out with the boys," and ate a large, salty pizza and had a couple of 12 oz beers prior to onset of symptoms, but thinks he might be coming down with the "flu," since everyone at this house is sick and he has been having a lot of nasal congestion lately. He is alert and oriented x 3, and mentating well. Your physical exam is significant for bibasilar rales, a 2/6 systolic murmur, and 2+ pedal edema. His meds include Toprol XL, Norvasc, Metformin, Amaryl, Aspirin, Lisinopril, Hydrochlorothiazide, and Colace. His vitals are BP 130/80, Pulse 100, 20 breaths per minute, and SpO2 88% on room air. You get a set of labs and find that his Hgb/HCT is 12/40, WBC's 8, Sodium 135, Potassium 3.5, Bicarb 25, and glucose 120. His BNP is 3000. His EKG is normal, except for mild tachycardia, LVH and bilateral atrial abnormalities. Cardiac enzymes are negative. A chest x-ray shows blunting of the costophrenic angles, cardiomegaly, and Kerley-B lines.

I don't expect you to know the medicine or to recognize the important elements here, but see how I scanned the long passage? That's key to quickly assessing what you need. You need to train yourself to do that.

Another key to effective studying is to review vital information at least three times before an exam. Studies show that this helps solidify the material in your memory. Don't dwell or lock onto something unnecessarily if you already know it, unless you don't understand it, in which case you will want to supplement with other material to increase understanding. I've also found it useful to approach complex information thusly: when you first come across information, skim it quickly to get the gist, then review it more deeply, highlighting the important elements. Then review the important elements a few times.

Taking tests. How are you taking your tests? Are you an efficient test taker? Analyze how you are proceeding. In taking tests, I have found it best to scan the test quickly to triage the questions in terms of difficulty. I will attempt to answer the easier ones first, followed by the intermediate and then the difficult ones that require more thinking. If I don't know the answer at first, I will try to eliminate the wrong choices, so I can make a guess. If I'm still not sure, I will mark a preliminary answer and move on. You don't want to dwell or obsess over any one question, provided they are all worth the same. If you find yourself taking too much time on one question, just mark a preliminary answer and move on. Come back to the ones you aren't sure about if you have time. Mark your answers in blocks in the answer sheet. When reading questions, read for the key facts. This increases speed.

Practice a lot. Do a lot of practice questions. After a while, you will begin to see the patterns and learn how to make educated guesses faster. The key to fast test taking is ultimately in the practice.

Take what I offer here with a grain of salt. It may not be accurate and it may not work for you. Just offering some suggestions.

Click to expand...

Got to "love" the Kerley lines. . .I'm "loving" that b/c I was fortunate enough to work with a lot of heart failure clients. 🙂 Why can't there be more people like you on rounds. I know. No time for it. You can always tell the ones that love to teach though.


This is good too:

"Another key to effective studying is to review vital information at least three times before an exam. Studies show that this helps solidify the material in your memory. Don't dwell or lock onto something unnecessarily if you already know it, unless you don't understand it, in which case you will want to supplement with other material to increase understanding. I've also found it useful to approach complex information thusly: when you first come across information, skim it quickly to get the gist, then review it more deeply, highlighting the important elements. Then review the important elements a few times.

So true.


BTW, I just wanted to tell you that I love your moniker. 👍

Awesome. I just noted you note one of my favorite excerpts from Blake's poem. OK, so there's another two 👍👍

jl lin said:

Why can't there be more people like you on rounds. I know. No time for it. You can always tell the ones that love to teach though.

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Thank you. That means a lot coming from an experienced ICU nurse such as yourself. I love teaching and strive to do it as much as possible, time allowing.

BTW, I just wanted to tell you that I love your moniker. 👍

Awesome. I just noted you note one of my favorite excerpts from Blake's poem. OK, so there's another two 👍👍

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Thank you. 🙂

Nope, I'm absolutely smart enough and talented enough to succeed. My only barrier to medical school and residency is me, I surmise the same is probably true of many others also..

<shrug> that's just how I roll, believing anything else would be detrimental in my opinion..

mafunk said:

Pardon my rant... I just need to vent.....

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I sent you a PM.

mafunk said:

But now that I'm trying to do so much I am wondering if I'm smart/good/fast/efficient enough. (I'm taking many classes in short period, volunteering, event planning/fundraising, yoga teaching).

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My guess is that this is the problem, not your intelligence. You're a human being, not a robot, and you're taking on too much. Pick one of these activities that means the least to you and let someone else take over, or at least help you. Not just nominally help; delegation of tasks to others is your friend. Or cut back on the number of classes per semester. Do what it takes to give yourself the ability to succeed.

Also, try to avoid this mindset of comparing yourself to others. Half of your med school class will be below average on tests, and that may include you. If it does, again, that's not because you aren't smart enough. It's because your whole class is going to be wicked smart, and you can't all be one of the top students. If you can get a handle on the desire to "beat" others now, it will help your sanity in the long run. This isn't about them. It's about you becoming a doctor. 🙂

QofQuimica said:

Half of your med school class will be below average on tests, and that may include you.

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What? What? This is terrible. I think that we need a government program to make sure that there is no medical student left behind. We must reach to the level of Lake Woebegone.

Your brain is like a muscle, and it sounds like it's been a while since you've worked it out. I, too, had about 20 years between full-time school. You'll get better as your learning skills get a workout.

check out the Dunning Kruger effect, it's a cognitive bias to under and overestimate one's abilities. Feeling incompetent is probably better than actually BEING incompetent and not realize it.

QofQuimica said:

My guess is that this is the problem, not your intelligence. You're a human being, not a robot, and you're taking on too much. Pick one of these activities that means the least to you and let someone else take over, or at least help you. Not just nominally help; delegation of tasks to others is your friend. Or cut back on the number of classes per semester. Do what it takes to give yourself the ability to succeed.

Also, try to avoid this mindset of comparing yourself to others. Half of your med school class will be below average on tests, and that may include you. If it does, again, that's not because you aren't smart enough. It's because your whole class is going to be wicked smart, and you can't all be one of the top students. If you can get a handle on the desire to "beat" others now, it will help your sanity in the long run. This isn't about them. It's about you becoming a doctor. 🙂

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👍👍
👍

QofQuimica said:

Also, try to avoid this mindset of comparing yourself to others. Half of your med school class will be below average on tests, and that may include you. If it does, again, that's not because you aren't smart enough. It's because your whole class is going to be wicked smart, and you can't all be one of the top students. If you can get a handle on the desire to "beat" others now, it will help your sanity in the long run. This isn't about them. It's about you becoming a doctor. 🙂

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A lot of my cohorts are worried about what everyone *else* thinks of their grades.

If they spent half as much time into learning the material or finding a way to study the material that works for them as they do constantly comparing and worrying about their grade, they would probably get an A.

spicedmanna said:

Thank you. That means a lot coming from an experienced ICU nurse such as yourself. I love teaching and strive to do it as much as possible, time allowing.



Thank you. 🙂

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Right back at you. I have worked with some awesome physicians, and then there are those. . .ey. . .

The ones that love to teach are usually awesome. And with them, rounds is NOT drudgery.

n3xa said:

A lot of my cohorts are worried about what everyone *else* thinks of their grades.

If they spent half as much time into learning the material or finding a way to study the material that works for them as they do constantly comparing and worrying about their grade, they would probably get an A.

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A wise group here! 👍👍👍


It's funny how much energy those "automated negative responses" will eat up.

Mostly it's about energy usage.

jl lin said:

A wise group here! 👍👍👍

It's funny how much energy those "automated negative responses" will eat up.

Mostly it's about energy usage.

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Admittedly, I'm a slow learner. I picked up that gem in graduate school. 😛

It finally hit me sometime during supergroup meeting (where all the labs get together on Monday night at present work/lit reviews/do synthesis/mechanism problems on the board) that the classmates I was so intimidated by were the ones that had no shame in admitting when they're wrong and always volunteered to try and work out tough problems methodically regardless. Because not all questions have a straightforward answer that you can find in the back of the book.

Coming from an environment where you're used to being wrong all the damn time has served me well in the hospital setting and has also ruffled the feathers of some my peers in this program, as I have no reservations mentioning how I can't focus on someone's powerpoint presentation if they're reading off of a piece of paper and have giant walls o' text on the slide. 😡

/rant


OP: I hope you don't cut back on the yoga. I used to take yoga as an undergrad and it really helped me with my test anxiety especially when I first started out in the sciences. I regret not incorporating it into my workout routine when I returned to do my post-bacc, which is mainly bootcamp style training.

Keep your head down and do what it takes for you to do good work.

Why ji lin on hold, batman? 🙁

I find something to envy in your "woes" ... as long as I finish in the allotted time for a test/quiz, and get 100%, I would not mind finishing last in every test (you did not finish last). What would worry me is finishing last and then doing poorly. When you do get to MD/DO school, that will be your one focus and all your energies thus concentrated, you should be able ok.

Thank you everyone for your comments... all good points and things to think about as I assess my behavior and attitudes.

SDN is such a helpful, supportive online community. I'm so glad I found it.

Mafunk, I feel like we must be related! I, too, am almost always one of the last people left in the room at the end of an exam. After a long time of feeling like I must be some kind of bonehead, I had an epiphany: the time that is given for any exam is MINE, for me to do with as I please. The best use of this time (that belongs to ME 😀) is to be deliberate about how I answer questions. Others can do whatever they like, I don't care!

FWIW, I also got an 87 on my first gen chem exam after going back to school for prereqs. I was devastated and thought I would never succeed. Things ended up just fine - I got into medical school and am now in residency. You will get through this, too. The fact that you care so much about excelling bodes very well for you!

I feel like this all the time. After MS II, I'm in the top 20% and 50 points above my class on our board stuff, but I still worry about failing a test or not understanding/remembering the material.

Oh well. It's the fear of failure that keeps me sharp and motivated.

I just wanted to let you all know that those of us who finish first often question whether we must have missed something on the exam, 'cause everyone else hasn't finished yet. 😉

n3xa said:

Why ji lin on hold, batman? 🙁

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Yeah, what's up lately?

I am usually not usually a very confident test taker. I've seen some truly wicked tests where you study but still are totally unprepared.

@OP: You probably are right where you should be. You're just starting anew, and there is an adjustment period. I still consider myself in the period of adjustment, and it has been almost a year since my decision to pursue medicine. Hang in there. You will see patterns in problems and become more set in a study routine as time goes by. Keep us updated on how things are going! 🙂

I see now. I want Jl lin back. I'm sure that she/he didn't mean anything about anything whatever it was that was said.

I'm sorry, but it is a violation of the SDN privacy policy for us to discuss the personal information (including disciplinary actions) of one user with other users.

In general, users are post held for continued violations of the SDN TOS after having been asked several times to please follow TOS.

Okay, so I need some help. I generally understand, grasp, etc. material faster than many of my peers. In other words my comprehension and application of the material is good even usually great. However, I have an exceptionally hard time remembering the material once it comes to tests. I do not have test taking anxiety or anything like that (at least that I am aware of), but it is frustrating thinking I know the material going into the test and then my mind going blank while in the test. So how do I learn/retain significant amounts of material for not only my pre-reqs but also for med school? I am not trying to hijack this thread however I thought this was applicable given the topic. ANY help would be appreciated.

arcin220 said:

Okay, so I need some help. I generally understand, grasp, etc. material faster than many of my peers. In other words my comprehension and application of the material is good even usually great. However, I have an exceptionally hard time remembering the material once it comes to tests. I do not have test taking anxiety or anything like that (at least that I am aware of), but it is frustrating thinking I know the material going into the test and then my mind going blank while in the test. So how do I learn/retain significant amounts of material for not only my pre-reqs but also for med school? I am not trying to hijack this thread however I thought this was applicable given the topic. ANY help would be appreciated.

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I might start drawing a picture, start defining terms given in the question (because half the battle is understanding what exactly is being asked of you), write down an equation I think is applicable, pick apart whatever it is I know and go from there.

arcin220 said:

I generally understand, grasp, etc. material faster than many of my peers. In other words my comprehension and application of the material is good even usually great.

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Just some things to think about... If not on a test, how are you measuring your understanding/grasp/comprehension of the material? Do you find that you remember the material, say a week after studying, but not on a test?
Any particular type of problems you find hard to deal with, say a physics free fall question or a biology name the parts of a cell type of question?

OP: yes. And yet I have succeeded and done well. Never failed an exam, never failed a class. Did I have the highest grades? nope. Was I the top 2% in my class? nope. But I have done well.

That being said, I still worry I'm not smart enough, that I'll miss an important finding, not consider an important differential... as long as there is more for me to learn, I will always find myself somewhat lacking. And that is my biggest flaw - I think I'm quite average.

ShyRem said:

OP: yes. And yet I have succeeded and done well. Never failed an exam, never failed a class. Did I have the highest grades? nope. Was I the top 2% in my class? nope. But I have done well.

That being said, I still worry I'm not smart enough, that I'll miss an important finding, not consider an important differential... as long as there is more for me to learn, I will always find myself somewhat lacking. And that is my biggest flaw - I think I'm quite average.

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I had an opportunity to hang out with some pre-meds recently, at least 15 years my juniors (sophomore undergrads). They were expressing the exact same concerns as the OP. Its not just us!

As has been mentioned several times in this thread, study skills and test-taking skills can exist somewhat independent of intelligence (which is a nebulous concept in itself). From what I've seen, this is a concept that has grown to be a common theme in undergraduate education (and I've been taking college classes pretty much continuously since 1995, I've seen the change).

Lots of good advice in this thread. The one thing I would contribute is to be sure to review the quizzes you take. Knowing where I screwed up is always the biggest part of improving for me.

ShyRem said:

That being said, I still worry I'm not smart enough, that I'll miss an important finding, not consider an important differential... as long as there is more for me to learn, I will always find myself somewhat lacking.

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Good, this is a legitimate concern, because in reality - you're not smart enough. But guess what? Nobody else is either! It is I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E to consistently score 100% when practicing medicine. We're human; we're going to mistakes. Regrettably, in our line of work, a mistake may prove to be very costly.

Fortunately, being human offers us a couple distinct advantages:

- We know what we don't know. Put another way, we are able to identify gaps in our knowledge, and can compensate for this by either furthering our own education or (if our ego is willing) asking for help.

- We can learn from our mistakes. A computer will tell you 2+2=5 a thousand times if that is what it was taught. Not us though. We can either be told, or even analyze the information internally, that we are doing something incorrect - and then learn the right way.

And that is my biggest flaw - I think I'm quite average.

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I would consider this to be an asset, as it's much better than thinking oneself to be perfect.

Whether you truly are "average" is not terribly important; partly for the reasons listed above, and partly because you have true compassion and concern for the people you will be treating, which will forever leave you determined to continuously better yourself on thier behalf. If anything, the fact that you are thinking about this at all puts you well above the "average" category.

I hope this post didn't come off as overbearing; if it did it's only because I have asked these same questions of myself. The concept of existing as a forever-imperfect human being and possibly making a mistake that will cost another person their life - it's something I've only recently started struggling with, and I definitely don't think I have all the answers.

.

I am only taking two classes right now. One of them in online and is graded on three tests for a total of approximately 80 test questions total. The first midterm I got two questions wrong. I studied for the second midterm the same as the first. I felt prepared and really good at the end of the test. Get my grade back and what do I get? I get 8 questions wrong. I was only able to get 6 or 7 wrong for the whole class to get an A. I am looking at a B+ with a 100% on the final. The worst part is that the material isn't hard. I pulled a typical me and misread a couple of questions, misunderstood a couple of questions, and honestly got a couple of questions wrong.

I am in shock . I have emailed the prof to see if there is anything in the world I can do but I think I will just have to swallow it. So much for getting my sGPA up 🙁.

When doing my undergrad I had planned on applying for medical school and got all of my prereqs done except these two classes. During that time I decided I was not smart enough to go to medical school. I went to work for a couple of years, read a book called "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell, and decided I was the only one getting in my way and that I might as well apply. Then I pull something like this horrible test. I really need to get through this aversion to tests because last time I heard, those are kinda important in medical school - and for getting into medical school. I just hope to hell I get an interview. I like interviews.

Well there is the rant for the day. Going to work on a lab report.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not smart enough, but deep down I know I am. I'm intimidated starting all of my pre-reqs while working full-time, but I know it can be done and I'm motivated to do it.

I know I won't be the smartest person in my medical school cohort, but I'm going to do the best I can and that's all that matters to me at the end of the day!

Let's do it together! 😀

Arrode said:

Sometimes I feel like I'm not smart enough, but deep down I know I am. I'm intimidated starting all of my pre-reqs while working full-time, but I know it can be done and I'm motivated to do it.

I know I won't be the smartest person in my medical school cohort, but I'm going to do the best I can and that's all that matters to me at the end of the day!

Let's do it together! 😀

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This is how I feel. My brother put it into perspective when I decided to go this route and was getting frustrated. Just apply to med school, once your are in it doesnt matter if you are the first ranked or last ranked, you were chosen.

I am nervous and constantly down talking myself with regards to my intelligence. I KNOW I am smart enough, but I am scared beyond belief of every grade, every class, everything related to this new adventure in life. Mainly because I am 32, with a husband and child and limited $$$ and I CAN NOT screw this up.

Sometimes I've sat in class and looked around and just wondering, "WTF am I thinking?"

I'm thinking that I want to be a doctor.

Nope. I can gladly say I have never doubted my intelligence or ability to succeed. I don't say this in a boastful way. I just never doubted myself on those two things.

HipChick said:

Mainly because I am 32, with a husband and child and limited $$$ and I CAN NOT screw this up.

Sometimes I've sat in class and looked around and just wondering, "WTF am I thinking?"

I'm thinking that I want to be a doctor.

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40 with a wife and child,... ditto

startoverat40 said:

40 with a wife and child,... ditto

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By looking at your siggy you did it!!!! CONGRATS!

I don't worry that I'm not smart enough (confident there), but I DO worry that I don't have what it takes in terms of stamina, organization, and time management.