Burned out in school?

[ldiot]

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I'm in the last months of my second year and honestly I'm already burned out and really getting sick of anything to do with pharmacy. We had our first of 3 exams this week and I passed the test by literally one point. In total I think I studied for around 4 hours. At my school we don't have to pass every individual exam so it wasn't really a close call in that regard but our average at the end of the course has to be above the passing threshold, so I haven't done myself any favors here. There hasn't been a class yet in pharmacy school where I walked into a final exam needing anything more than a 40% to pass so I think this has kind of been a wake up call.

Honestly I'm not even worried about failing the class because if I study I know I can pass, but I still am feeling really down about this exam. It puts a lot more pressure on future exams and now I feel like I am behind. I can't really go back and study the material because then I will just get behind with the newer stuff, but at the same time the exams are cumulative and this knowledge will probably come up again in graded patient interviews/skills assessments. Not to mention I'll need it as a pharmacist.

I don't know... I feel like I busted my ass and scored near the top of the class for the less relevant classes and now that we have finally reached the important class(s) I have fallen into a slump. I guess this terrible test score, my realization that I have no social life, and the massive debt has put me down today. I didn't take enough out in student loans so I'm going to have to beg my parents to sign off on a private loan to get my through the rest of this year. Plus my rotations are really a drain and my preceptor is really uptight which just makes my semester all the more unpleasant. Thank God it's Friday...

Plus my school is essentially training us to be clinical pharmacists with no regard whatsoever for retail so I feel like I'll never even use over half of the info.

Is this normal? Ok I'm done venting

 

[a student]

If you didn't take out the full amount of loans offered you're probably ahead of half of your class in terms of finance, which is what matters after graduation. In my graduating class, more than half maxed out their loans. Most of them had very little financial awareness.

 

[ldiot]

If you didn't take out the full amount of loans offered you're probably ahead of half of your class in terms of finance, which is what matters after graduation. In my graduating class, more than half maxed out their loans. Most of them had very little financial awareness.

Yeah I did just the opposite and took out way to little this year. I was thinking about picking up more hours but obviously that's not a priority seeing as my study habits have gone down the tubes and I already have to spend multiple days a week at rotation.

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Sounds normal OP, and I fell into that same thing as soon as P2 year started. At that point, it was my 7th year of college (basically... 5 years undergrad + 2 years pharmacy school) and I was tired of the bull**** and jumping through hoops. I had a very good professor pull me aside one day and asked me why I was making C's/D's on exams when he knew I could do better..... it ended up motivating me a little bit but I never strived for A's like I did in undergrad, unless it was his exam or material specifically. I got A's on all of those tests just to prove to him and myself that I could. It made me realize I needed to step it up if others were noticing though, and I did.

The clinical training will aid you in the future regardless of setting, and you never know what career path you may want until P4 rotations hit. I worked retail for 3.5 years during school and 1 year in hospital, but by the time I did fourth year rotations at a few more retail sites.... god damn I was burnt out and never wanted to speak to a human again. I quit my retail gig after that and focused on hospital gigs. Try to be as well rounded as possible.

Don't kill yourself to make A's, but don't scrape by with low C's and stress yourself out for the final.... got to learn how much time you need for sufficient learning for real world pharmacist practice and making a B on the test vs. not studying enough and barely passing (while feeling behind/not knowing the material). Maybe I just ranted and none of that will help you, I hope it will though.

 

[ldiot]

Sounds normal OP, and I fell into that same thing as soon as P2 year started. At that point, it was my 7th year of college (basically... 5 years undergrad + 2 years pharmacy school) and I was tired of the bull**** and jumping through hoops. I had a very good professor pull me aside one day and asked me why I was making C's/D's on exams when he knew I could do better..... it ended up motivating me a little bit but I never strived for A's like I did in undergrad, unless it was his exam or material specifically. I got A's on all of those tests just to prove to him and myself that I could. It made me realize I needed to step it up if others were noticing though, and I did.

The clinical training will aid you in the future regardless of setting, and you never know what career path you may want until P4 rotations hit. I worked retail for 3.5 years during school and 1 year in hospital, but by the time I did fourth year rotations at a few more retail sites.... god damn I was burnt out and never wanted to speak to a human again. I quit my retail gig after that and focused on hospital gigs. Try to be as well rounded as possible.

Don't kill yourself to make A's, but don't scrape by with low C's and stress yourself out for the final.... got to learn how much time you need for sufficient learning for real world pharmacist practice and making a B on the test vs. not studying enough and barely passing (while feeling behind/not knowing the material). Maybe I just ranted and none of that will help you, I hope it will though.

Yeah it's helpful. The bottom line is that I just need to get back to studying on a daily basis. Over the last year and a half I have generally studied quite a bit for the first test or two in a class in order to build up as many points as possible and then have kind of let off the gas for the final exam which has usually landed me around an 85-90 for my final grade (class average is usually around 80) and gave me a solid understanding of the material. Now I'm just slacking from day one. I know I'm getting sick of school big time, and all of the additional assignments/graded counseling/rotations takes up so much time and adds some stress. It's frustrating not being able to focus all of my energy into one task.

In undergrad I never studied for anything, didn't have any motivation to do well, and I have the grades to prove it. I think the excitement/motivation of starting pharmacy school has kind of worn off and I'm back to to ways of undergrad. I guess it better to wake up from my nap now before I pay a price for it. I think I'm pretty much in the same situation that you were in.

 

[TheBlaah]

I'm a little confused. Your status says you're a resident, but you're in your second year of pharmacy school, but you also have rotations?

Anyway, see if you can review the exam and the mistakes you made on it. Not only will this help inform you of any gaps you may have in your knowledge, but it'll also probably help you in the final as professors often re-use previous exam questions for the cumulative portions.

As for your other problems, it may help to try to compartmentalize your issues. It'll probably do you no good to try to think about your debt while studying for your exam and vise versa. The only other suggestion I can think of is try to partner with someone to study with. I find the group studies are generally inefficient, but with a single partner, you'll be able to focus on the material, talk about subjects you may not have thought was important to learn, and learn the knowledge in a different way that may help you absorb it.

Lastly, it's normal for schools to teach you the clinical aspects as it's supposed to be all-encompassing. Even if you work retail, you should still have a general idea of the types of treatments and procedures patients went through prior to getting their prescriptions filled.

 

[gwarm01]

Hey, what gives? I thought you were a resident.

Hmm.. you better not be going to Larkin.

 

[BenJammin]

No one under 30 should talk about burn out in school.

 

[beautifulrobot]

In my experience this is definitely normal. Getting a bad grade never feels good, and can make you feel even more demoralized if you're already feeling that way. There were definitely times in pharmacy school (and especially during residency) where I felt burnt out. Usually it was a combination of doing too much at the same time without adequate support systems in place, and dealing with topics or projects that I didn't have a good handle on and/or felt were completely irrelevant to my career goals, but I had to deal with in order to graduate. Jumping through hoops just for the sake of jumping through hoops is frustrating, to say the least.

It's important to stay disciplined, but it is also important to take some time to socialize and take small breaks to regain energy and focus. Also, if you feel up to it, I found it helpful to talk to the professor if I felt like they were an approachable person. Also, something that helped me stay engaged in school was studying with a good friend. Big study groups (more than 3 people including myself) were usually not helpful to me, but just having one or two other people to hash things out with really helped me stay on task.

In short, this **** is definitely normal. Also give yourself some credit - pharmacy school actually isn't as easy as we sometimes joke, you're actually working really hard, and it sounds like you also have some additional financial stressors that are a reasonable distraction. And my best advice is to try to find ways to combine socializing with studying, whether it's talking to your professors and getting feedback from them, and/or finding a good study partner, it'll help you stay more engaged with pharmacy school.

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Yeah it's helpful. The bottom line is that I just need to get back to studying on a daily basis. Over the last year and a half I have generally studied quite a bit for the first test or two in a class in order to build up as many points as possible and then have kind of let off the gas for the final exam which has usually landed me around an 85-90 for my final grade (class average is usually around 80) and gave me a solid understanding of the material. Now I'm just slacking from day one. I know I'm getting sick of school big time, and all of the additional assignments/graded counseling/rotations takes up so much time and adds some stress. It's frustrating not being able to focus all of my energy into one task.

In undergrad I never studied for anything, didn't have any motivation to do well, and I have the grades to prove it. I think the excitement/motivation of starting pharmacy school has kind of worn off and I'm back to to ways of undergrad. I guess it better to wake up from my nap now before I pay a price for it. I think I'm pretty much in the same situation that you were in.

Depending on the subject material, I always studied 1-2 days in advance and pulled all nighters, and could always come out with a A or B. I listen in class though, sit in the front couple rows and actually open those ears dude, take solid notes.

I know students that study every day + 1 week out from each exam, and they barely pull C's sometimes. Have to find what works for you man, everyone is different.

I could never study that far in advance, I need the pressure and I wouldn't remember fine details of the material a week later either... that's why 1-2 days was best for me.

 

[jayreb]

Ugh tell me about it. I'm in my PY2 year and what you're feeling is normal. I feel it too. I take everything one day at a time now and that works for me. I still dont have the study method that works best for me. I have 2 exams per week and try to start studying a week before each exam. But sometimes, i do better when i start studying 2-3 days before and I do check lists daily

 

[Nguyen]

This is 100% normal. Remember that everyone is or was in your shoes at some point in time. We all have a few bad exams in school that we're not proud of. Pick yourself back up and learn the material to help your patients in the future. Don't think of it as just another test you have to pass. Ultimately, take it step by step- one lecture at a time, one exam at a time, one class at a time, and next thing you know it you'll be graduating soon enough. I remember my P1 fall semester like it was yesterday, and now I'll be starting rotations this upcoming summer.


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[ldiot]

Thanks all for the input. I'm not a resident, not even sure how it says that. But I do have rotations in P2. They are different than 4th year rotations. I'm just going to call it a bad week and work on a more disciplined study schedule.

 

[theHoff]

I would recommend learning how to manage your stress and put more effort into school. It's not that difficult. Or drop out. Whatever.

Life only gets more stressful once you finish.

 

[Rouelle]

Everyone goes through this during school. Everyone goes through this after graduation while working. It's normal. You're going to have bad times. There will be some good times too. It's this way with every profession. Keep your chin up. 🙂

 

[Mao263]

What helps also to isolate yourself in the empty room, away from distrustions. You are not gonna believe how we depend on the phone and feel nervous when the battery dies. Also even small decorations in the apartment, tv on the wall even thought it's off distruct me. Even if the house is cleaned by looking around you got ideas what to do except study. So far I found that my empty and white kitchen place helped me a lot to concentrate (I don't cook so no destructions there)
Wish you the best