2nd Semester, 2nd Year

[Yah-E]

So here I am in the heart of the 2nd semester, 2nd year with one exam tomorrow, 2 next week, 5 more the week after that and 4 more exams the week after that! My question for all you 2nd year dental students, upper classmen and/or current dentists out there, is/was your 2nd semester, 2nd year the roughest & toughest?

I have always thought my 2nd semester, 1st year was the most challenging, but I'm start to think this next month this semester will be the most thoughest time in my dental education career as far as written exams goes.

Check this out:

This week:

Internal Medicine - Midterm exam

Next week:

Removable Prosth. Complete Dentures - Midterm exam
Anesthesia - Midterm exam

First week of March:

Radiology II - Midterm exam
Oral Medicine - Midterm exam
Endodontics II - Midterm exam
Oral Surgery I - Midterm exam
Occlusion II - Final exam

2nd week of March:

Orthodontics - Midterm exam
Orthodontics - Midterm practical exam
Periodontics IV - Midterm exam
Pharmacology I - Exam #2

So midterms yet for any of you guys?

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[bitecys]

Oh yeah, this is by far the worst semester for us at Iowa.

We have had Removable Pros, Oral Path (2 exams there, one was Differential Diagnoses, the other just multiple choice), Pharm (with another next week), and we've got 3 denture setups due in relatively short fashion.

I think this semester will be the most labor intensive, but not the most mentally challenging for us here. Our anatomy and histology classes last spring seemed to require a heck of a lot more studying than pros, pharm, and oral path do...although path is very close.

Not to mention adding into that mix my research and board studying.

I just keep thinking to myself...wait until August when all I do is see patients and go to a few random classes here and there.

 

[Midoc]

For me it isn't so much the amount of studying or lab time, both of which are high but not outrageous. The problem with this semester is that my motivation is running very thin. Along with that I have spent way way too much time with the other 77 people in my class over the past two years. Every day the same people blurt things out in class, let their cell phones ring, ask the same dumb questions and complain about the same topics.

We start in the clinic in May and it cannot come a day too soon.

 

[Yah-E]

Bitecys:

I hear ya, my man! Last semester, I thought RPD was great! This semester, I absolutely hate setting teeth for full dentures, waxing up rims and check for occlusion contacts. Full dentures SUCK!

Fixed Prostho is still fun, we did 3-unit birdge & crown abutment preps, provisonalized them and just today we did a cast-post-core! 2nd year, 2nd semester definitely is overloaded with lab work. As Midoc, we also start clinic in late May, I can't wait until the end of March when the midterms are over and spring breakers come down (wet t-shirts and bikini contests)! It's party time!

Midoc:

I also hear ya about motivation levels. Although I still strive to acheive at least a 90 on every exam, sometimes I feel and wonder how much easier my life and schooling would be if I'd be content with a 70. Strive to do well on every exam and handling 15 of them in a row can be both psychologically and physically draining. ****, I better hit the sack, better get up at 5 AM to study some more for my 9 AM exam (got an 8 AM lecture in another course which I can't skip, it's Anesthesia II).

Last semester boys, then it's "mainly" all clinics and patients.

 

[dientesfuertes]

Amen to everything you sistahs said! Second year blows a fat one! As far as I'm concerned, it can't end fast enough.

 

[lotanna]

well if anything 3rd is within sight and talk about improvement, u'll be spending more time in clinic and less time in class, u wont even know what to do with urself!!!

 

[Midoc]

My motivation has not yet completely deserted me. I still aim to get an A on all my tests on projects but it is sure an uphill battle to start studying every time.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by Midoc
Every day the same people blurt things out in class, let their cell phones ring, ask the same dumb questions and complain about the same topics.

Dan, I couldn't help but wonder if you and I are actually attending the same school!

 

[tinker bell]

Gavin, it's not the same school. It's the same dental student phenomenon everywhere.

Hey, if all of you D2 complains, I think I can join the club and start bitching too. We here D1 have to do all of those Full and partial crown now. Since the first week of this quarter, we have at least 2 exams a week. This week is 3 exams. This quarter is way too short and eveything is piling up. Then, next quarter, we will do the 3 units bridge like other D2 at other schools do. And more complicated gold restorative prep. Ah, and pharmacology, neuroscience, physio, oral bio all together, plus a bunch of other classes. We will have a massive 30units quarter and it will be the worst thing ever.

I feel so dead now every time I think about the next quarter. I may end up sleeping over nite in that preclinical lab.

However, it's a good way to lose weight. And have the super skinny model look

 

[ItsGavinC]

When reading all these other posts, the only thing I'm grateful for is the fact that we've completed all our sciences already, with the exception of Path and Pharm (we are in the middle of those).

Mixing in all the pre-clinical stuff with tough didactic courses is a true test of stamina (those med. students have no idea).

 

[sleepy21]

Yah-E,
I'm assuming from this post that you are already in dental school, but there is an under 3.0 post on the pre-dental forum and it seems like on that post you're still an applicant. So which one is it? Is the other thread like an old, up-dated thread or what?

 

[The Musketeer]

Originally posted by sleepy21
Yah-E,
I'm assuming from this post that you are already in dental school, but there is an under 3.0 post on the pre-dental forum and it seems like on that post you're still an applicant. So which one is it? Is the other thread like an old, up-dated thread or what?

Hey sleepy, Yah-E (Andy) is indeed a 2nd yr dental student at Nova. Although the 'under 3.0 post' thread was started by him, if you look carefully at the date of the first post it is dated 'Dec 2001'. Because this thread has been kept alive by other members since then that is why you see two contrasting perspectives from him, one when he was an applicant and the other as a current dental student.

Oh, one more thing, welcome to the forum sleepy!

 

[Midoc]

Hey, you all shoo, this is a thread for the second years to have a bitchfest about how rough we have it!

Actually if I look back subjectively I would have to say first year winter semester was harder than what I'm going through now. If I were to rank all the semesters in difficulty I would say it went something like this: DS1 winter > DS2 winter > DS2 fall > DS1 fall > DS2 summer. I'm not sure where this up coming summer term (DS3) is going to fit in. I'll be just starting in the clinic and I'll have to be studying for NBDE 1. Whatever it is it should be more interesting than the current semester.

 

[DrRob]

Soon enough it will be second semester, fourth year

My second semester second year at MUSOD consisted of:

Oral pathology plus lab
Oral medicine
Clinical rotations (radiology, prophies, assisting)
operative dentistry 3 (labs)
orthodontics (labs)
pedodontics (labs)
fixed prosthodontics 3 (labs)
partial dentures (labs)
physiology of occlusion

 

[Midoc]

Dr Rob - What was your oral path lab like?

 

[bitecys]

I did forget to mention that the nice part of our whole second year is that we get to see operative patients two times a week...that really breaks up the monotony of studying and labwork.

 

[DrRob]

The oral path lab has changed since I was there - actually it changed the very next year. We looked at slides and drew pictures of the slides. How stupid was that! I think now they do more clinical presentations and differential diagnosing.

 

[gryffindor]

Originally posted by DrRob
We looked at slides and drew pictures of the slides. How stupid was that!

Lots of things in dental school are a complete waste of time. However, this one beats them all, Dr. Rob.

 

[Midoc]

Yeah that is pretty bad. If I never see another slide or histologic sample again when I'm out of school I will be a happy man.