Thanks for the advice. That strategy sounds about like what Ive been doing. We also have a block schedule that consists of 1 week exams followed by 5 weeks lecture and repeat. I usually take 2 weeks off but once i start studying again it just sucks the life out of me.
Ive also been pretty bad about excerise this year. Well really since I graduated highschool and havent had sports practices everyday.
Ive also really dislike school all my life but was fortunate that everything before med school came pretty easy to me. Coming straight out of undergrad I was more worried about my next beer and next chick than making As, so its been difficult for me to adjust to grinding out powepoints and lectures all day (I know its been a year and half since I started so I should have adjusted by now).
I came straight out of undergrad too and can relate a bit. I had little to no motivation MS1/2. It all felt like a waste of time to me, and I lost interest.
Part of it was that in college, getting into medical school seemed like this finish line after a long and difficult race. Yet, as soon as you reach this finish line, you find out that the race has only begun and you gotta keep running.
By the time I crossed that finish line and began medical school, I just wanted to spend time with friends and enjoy my life, didn't care about grades (I still don't to be honest, but I'll address this later) and I was tired of sitting in lecture halls/reading all day. Of course it showed in my performance the first two years.
Nonetheless if it's any consolation, I found third year to be a huge improvement. My motivation and level of interest both went up dramatically third year. You still have to study a lot, and third year has it's own set of headaches, but it's so much more relevant. You see what the doctors do day to day and realize that being a medical student =/= being a physician.
Also, the monotony of pre-clinicals is gone third year. You're doing things and learning on your feet much of the time, and read/study in the breaks during the day or at home in the evenings. I studied a lot, but compared to MS1/2 I def spent less time behind a desk with my head in a book, and that alone made MS3 much better.
Most of all, like I said above, seeing patients, working with residents, and basically being in the clinical environment sparked my motivation big time third year.
I started seeing how all the knowledge I gained translated to actually helping people. Basic sciences was way too removed from the patients, so it made it difficult for me to see the practical us of that knowledge. Third year, I was learning for my patients, and the information I learned actually felt useful (vaccine schedules, signs of neonatal sepsis, the differential for a patient with jaundice etc.) I still don't care about grades, I think they're a stupid motivator and only a means to an end. However, seeing the knowledge you gain used to help actual patients and people is an amazing feeling and that's made me into a much more motivated and very hard worker once clinicals started.
IMHO MS3/4 >MS2>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>MS1
I hope the change of environment next year helps you too.
