debating if i should drop out

[mouseybrown]

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i tried a search but i couldn't read thru all of the posts to see if it answered my question...plus there isn't a crying smilie, wtf.


well, the first bunch of exams are over and...I %^#$ failed two of them. one of them i know why i did badly, but the one i thought was going to be decent i blew by four questions.


i met and spoke to advising and they laid out a study schedule for me. should have done that before, i guess. :{ i emailed one of the deans, to see what i should do. I have more condensed books for anatomy, im spending more time this weekend in the lab, im doing things (as of today ) that id didnt do, like pre-read before a lecture or go to lecture..i have tutors up the ^** now, so with this new schedule i should be okay. but i feel like i've been kicked and i feel so incredibly stupid that its hard to do anything .


i don't want to leave, but if i can't pass ? i mean, yeah, i have no idea how to study for this &*#% and that's what the new schedule is for. i know too that what i did in UG obviously is not working, but what else was I supposed to do? how else would you know how to study, unless it is like UG or the MCAT? And how did i even get here if i can't %^&* pass like the whole first year class school seems to be doing, but not me. NO ONE has been demoralized by this first chunk of tests. except me it seems.

why was I accepted? i mean seriously.

again, I don't want to leave, but part of me feels like ...maybe im not good enough. I have maybe three more exams in each class plus lab portions for each, so there's some room to make it up, but..sucks to be me.



any advice would be appreciated.

 

[strv04]

Don't even think about dropping out.

You failed two exams but not by much and you have several more before the class is over to make up for it.

The advice your school and advising department gave sounds good and you should definitely follow it. Med school is a lot different from undergard and it can be a shock for many people. Don't think for a second you are the only one who has had this experience and don't worry about what your classmates are doing as it just adds an extra layer of stress that is not helpful. Worry about yourself and find a study system that works for you. Medical school is tough buts its definitly doable and nothing worth doing has ever been easy. I've heard of several people struggling in the begining of first year only to rock the boards with ridiculuios +250 scores, so work hard and never give up hope.

 

[QofQuimica]

You may feel like you're all alone, but you're not. Many people fail a test (or even a whole block) in med school. I guarantee you that some of your classmates have failed a test or two also, or they will fail a test in the future. That's why your school has the resources that they gave to you: plenty of previous students have needed them. Plenty of other people in the future will need them too.

I'll give you the same advice that my grandfather gave to my dad when he was in your shoes (and that my dad gave me last year when I was burned out and thinking about quitting med school): stick it out for the rest of the semester. You've taken out the loans to pay for this semester anyway, and you're not getting that money back. Take advantage of your new study schedule and tutors to learn as much as you possibly can. Focus on being ready for the next test. Yes, you have had a setback, but you aren't out of the running. My dad had failed his path midterm so badly that he had to get 96% on the final to pass second year. Somehow, he got that 96%, passed pathology, and went on to practice for over forty years. I got through my second year burn out and am glad now that I stuck it out. You will get through this too, as long as you keep trying. Best of luck to you. 🙂

 

[TexasTriathlete]

You've made it this far. The work isn't that hard. Its about being efficient, because there is just a **** ton to learn in a short period of time. On our first exam, I think the only reason I passed is because I have a very strong background in anatomy. But I've been out of school for almost three years, and during that time, I've been working the night shift. So I'm shaking off the rust, and adjusting to sleeping at night, all at the same time.

Now that I'm starting to find my groove, things are slowing down a bit. I'm figuring out what works for me, and what doesn't. I'm making better use of my time, and its just not as overwhelming.

So what you do from here will define you for the rest of your life. You've come this far. Why the **** would you drop out? Just do what it takes to get it done.

 

[ClockworkDoc]

If you hate med school and don't want to do it anymore, drop out. If this is your dream, find a way to make it work. Maybe you have a learning disorder. In any case, if you are going to drop out, may schools will give most of the tuition back depending on how far into the year you are. Good luck man, this **** is not easy.

 

[mjl1717]

1) This part of the ritual.. People sometimes fail exams... Even if you are knocked down with vertigo, hiccups, and minimal bleeding --take 3 deep breaths, get up and fight.. follow the study schedule, join a study group.. Many people go thru this and keep it a secret...You can do it..

 

[Perrotfish]

It doesn't sound like you have any doubt about medical school other than a doubt that you might not get through it. So don't drop out.

 

[cpants]

Dude, this is your wake-up call. You can handle the material, you just didn't work hard enough. I mean, come on, you said you were going to start doing the reading and going to lecture now? Welcome to the big leagues. Get your butt into that lecture hall seat every morning and the library every afternoon. See your tutors for questions and review. Get on top of your work, and you will be fine. The admissions committee didn't make a mistake, you just aren't working up to your potential.

 

[Wednesday]

Think of this experience as a blessing. It's probably not going to count at all in the grand scheme of things and yet it gave you a clue really early on that you need to learn how to study differently. All of the tips you have been given by your school will probably launch you higher than merely passing once you get them down. That's the stuff people do to succeed. Yeah, some people know this stuff (or accidentally fall into it) from the beginning and don't have a lousy first block of tests. But think of it this way, at least you weren't DOING all those things when you failed. This happens to people too, I promise you. Then what would you do? Good luck.

 

[ZagDoc]

Dude, this is your wake-up call. You can handle the material, you just didn't work hard enough. I mean, come on, you said you were going to start doing the reading and going to lecture now? Welcome to the big leagues. Get your butt into that lecture hall seat every morning and the library every afternoon. See your tutors for questions and review. Get on top of your work, and you will be fine. The admissions committee didn't make a mistake, you just aren't working up to your potential.

Second this.

Undergrad .≠. Medical School

I skated through undergrad. Studied an hour or two the night or morning before exams, simply by perusing notes. Most of undergrad was demonstration of understanding core concepts.

In medical school, the expectation of bare minimum is that you understand core concepts. Then you're supposed to memorize all the minutiae surrounding that core concept. Anything in the syllabus is fair game, so the only way to ensure you can do well is to know, well, everything. You cannot coast and do this. I study just as much as my peers now. I use flash cards. I own multicolor highlighters. I write outlines. I create Q&As. You have to be adaptable and try everything.

If you're in medicine for the right reasons, then making the sacrifice and buckling down should be intuitive, not a drag from the get go. It wears on all of us, but this is the beginning of your first year. You should be excited to be learning this stuff. If you aren't, you need to examine your motives for being here. But don't ever drop out from a lack of confidence. Confidence can be fixed.

 

[alphaholic06]

If you hate med school and don't want to do it anymore, drop out. If this is your dream, find a way to make it work. Maybe you have a learning disorder. In any case, if you are going to drop out, may schools will give most of the tuition back depending on how far into the year you are. Good luck man, this **** is not easy.

Dude, you have no idea what you're talking about. You are an M1 yourself. Have you even taken your first exam yet? You are in no position to give someone advice on a situation that you haven't experienced. Why don't you relax get through your first year and try the advice thing next year.

 

[Manyac86]

Don't give up, at least not yet.

 

[Wrigleyville]

The good news is, no one cares about your grades your first two years of medical school. The bad news is, you still need to pass those two years.

A lot of medical students got by on their smarts with bad/nonexistent study habits in undergrad, especially if they went to a mediocre school. You need to improve your study habits. Start with the basics: read up on lecture topics the day before, take notes in class, review the lecture topics in the afternoon.

 

[Alteran]

My record is less than stellar, but that hasn't stopped the programs I applied to from contacting me for interviews (decent step scores are a big help by the way). So with that said, if this is an isolated incident in your undergraduate medical education it will largely go overlooked. Having had major issues with anatomy myself, I can tell you that you probably haven't found the "right" resource for you. Also, if you're doing what I did, mainly trying to understand anatomy, stop it. There is nothing to understand. Just rote memorize the material, spit it back out on the test, and forget about it afterward.

 

[Pinner Doc]

Don't be down!! I failed two exams my first year-- one was our first anatomy exam. I remember crying (a LOT!), feeling like I was the dumbest person in my class, questioning whether I was qualified to be in med school in the first place... and you know what? It all worked out fine. I actually graduated AOA and got into my top choice EM residency. I don't say that to toot my own horn, but to let you know that you might feel really ****ty and down in the dumps right now, but it can turn around.

 

[scotties123]

the biggest shock to me about med school was going from being one of the top 5 students in an undergrad upper science class of 200, to being right around average in med school classes. All this tells me is that I need to bust my butt more and get my crap together. Let your grades be motivation to get you going and staying strong for the rest of med school.

 

[dienekes88]

You'll get there.

 

[mjl1717]

Dude, this is your wake-up call. You can handle the material, you just didn't work hard enough. I mean, come on, you said you were going to start doing the reading and going to lecture now? Welcome to the big leagues. Get your butt into that lecture hall seat every morning and the library every afternoon. See your tutors for questions and review. Get on top of your work, and you will be fine. The admissions committee didn't make a mistake, you just aren't working up to your potential.

This is good advice!!👍

 

[silas2642]

Med school is a wake up call for a lot of students, so don't feel bad. What one of the posters said may or may not have been true-- your failure on two of the exams may have due to lack of effort, but it sounds like you probably put in the time.

I think that success in med school has a lot to do with efficiency and studying smart. There is a learning curve in that you have to find out what works for you-- sometimes what worked for you in undergrad just won't cut it in med school because your methods are just too inefficient. You can't read the textbook all the time and attend lecture simultaneously. You can't re-write all your notes. Time is a huge factor.

Involving the faculty/resources at your school is a huge step into improving your performance. Also, start thinking about what is going to help you learn-- are you an auditory learner? How much are you getting out of lecture? If you walk out of lecture learning nothing, then maybe it's not worth attending.

If you're a visual learner and you get a lot of reading the syllabus, then maybe you are better off sitting in the library with the syllabus and a cup of coffee and reading the material a couple of times. Part of it is just trial and error, but you can find out if you're learning effectively by testing yourself using old exams.

 

[ZincFingers]

well, the first bunch of exams are over and...I %^#$ failed two of them.

On our first histology exam, the class average was 68%.

I am not making this up.

I didn't quite fail that one, but I have failed my share of exams. All but the most determined gunner have failed a couple tests during the two pre-clinical years.

Don't get discouraged. The very first round med school tests are the hardest.

If you ask some people, the only preclinical exam that really matters is Step 1 🙂

 

[TMP-SMX]

On our first histology exam, the class average was 68%.

I am not making this up.

I didn't quite fail that one, but I have failed my share of exams. All but the most determined gunner have failed a couple tests during the two pre-clinical years.

Don't get discouraged. The very first round med school tests are the hardest.

If you ask some people, the only preclinical exam that really matters is Step 1 🙂

That's rough. If I remember from last year our histo averages were in the upper 80s even for the two units that included embryo with histo. Anatomy on the other hand... Averages weren't so stellar.

 

[DoctorPardi]

That's rough. If I remember from last year our histo averages were in the upper 80s even for the two units that included embryo with histo. Anatomy on the other hand... Averages weren't so stellar.

Our first exam average was a 74 with a lot of people failing also. It is expected to fail an exam at some point, probably a few times in medical school. Almost everyone gets over it and graduates. You'll probably be fine, stick to the schedule they gave you and wait it out and see what kind of results you get with the new plan you have.

 

[mouseybrown]

Med school is a wake up call for a lot of students, so don't feel bad. What one of the posters said may or may not have been true-- your failure on two of the exams may have due to lack of effort, but it sounds like you probably put in the time.

I think that success in med school has a lot to do with efficiency and studying smart. There is a learning curve in that you have to find out what works for you-- sometimes what worked for you in undergrad just won't cut it in med school because your methods are just too inefficient. You can't read the textbook all the time and attend lecture simultaneously. You can't re-write all your notes. Time is a huge factor.

Involving the faculty/resources at your school is a huge step into improving your performance. Also, start thinking about what is going to help you learn-- are you an auditory learner? How much are you getting out of lecture? If you walk out of lecture learning nothing, then maybe it's not worth attending.

If you're a visual learner and you get a lot of reading the syllabus, then maybe you are better off sitting in the library with the syllabus and a cup of coffee and reading the material a couple of times. Part of it is just trial and error, but you can find out if you're learning effectively by testing yourself using old exams.

I appreciate yours and everyone's responses.

for anatomy i didnt put in enough time. like i told my dean, you can't cram for anatomy , which was what i was doing, because i missed a whole week of classes to study for another test. then after i obtained my results from that exam, i freaked out on the second test and gave up, really.


so for me i need to go to class. i need to review things every day, and i need to prioritize which is what this new schedule should do for me. i also have a new tutor, so that should help. i dont read textbooks unless i have to now, focus on the notes, ....well lets see if this all works.

so ----thanks to you guys i've stopped crying and im back to studying. ill let you know how it goes.

 

[PamIsHorny]

I know that most here have suggested that you need to get yourself to class, but for me, that was not the best strategy. I don't know what happens at your med school and this advice might be completely off for your situation.

At my school, anatomy lecture covered maybe 5% of the material. We were expected to know way more than what the professors covered in lecture. Plus, I tend to space out a little in lecture halls. I found that I did much better sitting at home or in the library memorizing my netter. We also had a note service that would allow me to see the highlights of lectures and get the essentials in 10 minutes instead of spending an hour there. We also had video of the lectures online if you really needed to get the notes clarified. So...for me it was much more efficient to memorize during the day.

Your situation might be completely different at your school. I just wanted to add a perspective. If your plan focuses on being efficient, you'll be fine.

 

[GoLakers310]

hmm... Is your name Pam? 😉

 

[drcopa]

I have to second what everyone else has said. I too failed anatomy early in first year, and now I'm a 4th yr scheduling residency interviews. It makes NO difference now what happened in 1st yr. Everyone seems to struggle at different times. For me, I took courses in college which were very conceptual and easy for me to learn the material. Anatomy was a major shock to my brain because it is PURE memorization and TONS of it. I had to learn a new way to study because it was a new kind of material. The med schools are totally used to students going through struggles like that (other students are excellent at memorizing and are going to struggle when it comes to the conceptual stuff, and still others will struggle with the more clinical skills...) Definitely take advantage of the help your school offers- it will help you and it shows them you're serious about this med school thing, and you'll do fine. It seems like a huge deal right now (trust me, I REMEMBER the panic I felt that first night I found out I had failed a test in med school!) but 4 yrs from now you WILL smile as you remember how far you've come- I promise!

 

[rvarsity]

I appreciate yours and everyone's responses.

for anatomy i didnt put in enough time. like i told my dean, you can't cram for anatomy , which was what i was doing, because i missed a whole week of classes to study for another test. then after i obtained my results from that exam, i freaked out on the second test and gave up, really.


so for me i need to go to class. i need to review things every day, and i need to prioritize which is what this new schedule should do for me. i also have a new tutor, so that should help. i dont read textbooks unless i have to now, focus on the notes, ....well lets see if this all works.

so ----thanks to you guys i've stopped crying and im back to studying. ill let you know how it goes.

You can't take days off of studying anatomy/pathology in 1st or 2nd year. You seriously didn't study anatomy for a week and tried to cram? Ofcourse you failed. Reading textbooks? WTF?

Memorizing the class notes cold should be your first and many times only priority. I had 2 goals 1st and 2nd year - 1. Memorize the class notes cold to get an A in the class, and 2. Read the corresponding BRS/HiYield/First Aid for EVERY class a few times over the course of the class. Yeah, that meant studying 5 hrs/weeknight and 6 hrs each sat/sun...with almost no days off. It sucked...bad. But that translated to mostly A's and a 240 on Step 1. I sacrificed 1st and 2nd year and partied/coasted through 3rd and 4th year.

Don't waste your time with textbooks and preachy clinical artsy garbage your first 2 years. Slamming Step 1 = opening the door for the specialty you want. Jump through the hoops - that's how you play this game called medical school.

2 years of NO working out, partying, drinking (which I love), football, girls (which I love even more), and basically NOT having a life...BUT it was only 2 years. Thats it. 3rd and 4th years are a joke and residency is no where near as bad as med school (unless you're stupid enough to pick surgery).

So stop crying and go the library.

 

[TMP-SMX]

You can't take days off of studying anatomy/pathology in 1st or 2nd year. You seriously didn't study anatomy for a week and tried to cram? Ofcourse you failed. Reading textbooks? WTF?

Memorizing the class notes cold should be your first and many times only priority. I had 2 goals 1st and 2nd year - 1. Memorize the class notes cold to get an A in the class, and 2. Read the corresponding BRS/HiYield/First Aid for EVERY class a few times over the course of the class. Yeah, that meant studying 5 hrs/weeknight and 6 hrs each sat/sun...with almost no days off. It sucked...bad. But that translated to mostly A's and a 240 on Step 1. I sacrificed 1st and 2nd year and partied/coasted through 3rd and 4th year.

Don't waste your time with textbooks and preachy clinical artsy garbage your first 2 years. Slamming Step 1 = opening the door for the specialty you want. Jump through the hoops - that's how you play this game called medical school.

2 years of NO working out, partying, drinking (which I love), football, girls (which I love even more), and basically NOT having a life...BUT it was only 2 years. Thats it. 3rd and 4th years are a joke and residency is no where near as bad as med school (unless you're stupid enough to pick surgery).

So stop crying and go the library.

What residency are you in?

 

[Melwhite13]

I wouldn't bow out just yet. You obviously have a passion for this industry so why turn back when you've come this far?

It's a trying experience studying, (believe me I'm right there with you as I'm a pre-pharm student somewhat late in my age here) but it just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Follow what you want to do even if it means failure because eventually you'll pass and it will be all the sweeter.

 

[Law2Doc]

Second this.

Undergrad .≠. Medical School

I skated through undergrad. Studied an hour or two the night or morning before exams, simply by perusing notes. Most of undergrad was demonstration of understanding core concepts.

In medical school, the expectation of bare minimum is that you understand core concepts. Then you're supposed to memorize all the minutiae surrounding that core concept. Anything in the syllabus is fair game, so the only way to ensure you can do well is to know, well, everything. You cannot coast and do this. I study just as much as my peers now. I use flash cards. I own multicolor highlighters. I write outlines. I create Q&As. You have to be adaptable and try everything.

Agreed. This thread ought to be shown to the pre-allo crowd. Med school is not college, and most people who try to treat it as if it's a continuation are doomed before they start. It's a lot of work, more than you've likely done before. And though most people in your med school will have done well in college to get there, half of them are going to be the bottom half of the class and some of them are going to be at the very bottom of the class. And these are folks who got mostly A's in college or they wouldn't be there in the first place. So you need to hit the ground running in med school, and be ready to change up things when they don't work. The nice thing is, med school has very low attrition and they generally give you many chances to right the boat. So do what you didn't do before and get things straight. The phrase is "if at first you don't succeed, try try again.", not "quit and go home crying". But honestly, if a couple of bumps in the road make you not want to do medicine anymore, you may have to examine how strongly you wanted to do medicine in the first place. If you really want it, you can fix things and make it happen. If not, I guess you can look at it as, you gave it a feeble shot, and can have solace that many people don't get even that far.

 

[MossPoh]

I think most of the pre-allo crowd wouldn't believe it could happen to them. Thats all I see every day. They are all beautiful and unique snowflakes that are so smart that they'll get to party all the time.

Not that I'm cynical about my peers.

 

[vtucci]

Welcome to the club. There are many of your classmates in the same boat, most of whom are too embarassed to make it public knowledge so you may never know.

Medical school is an entirely different experience from undergrad, grad school and other professional schools. The first two years were memorize and regurgitate (or intellectual bulemia as our dean calls it) with considerably less clinical reasoning. I suck at straight memorization without context and first year completely blew for me. Second year was better with pathology and micro taking center stage and then, let's just say thank God for third year!!!

Hang in there. Find an approach that works best for you. For some people, that is reading the textbook, review book. For others, it is going to class. Are you a visual, auditory or tactile learner. That greatly impacts what study tools will work best for you.

Also, to the poster who could memorize the class notes cold and get an A, damn, I bet we all wish we went to your school. Memorize powerpoints ensures a B but not much more at my school.

 

[mouseybrown]

You can't take days off of studying anatomy/pathology in 1st or 2nd year. You seriously didn't study anatomy for a week and tried to cram? Ofcourse you failed. Reading textbooks? WTF?

Memorizing the class notes cold should be your first and many times only priority. I had 2 goals 1st and 2nd year - 1. Memorize the class notes cold to get an A in the class, and 2. Read the corresponding BRS/HiYield/First Aid for EVERY class a few times over the course of the class. Yeah, that meant studying 5 hrs/weeknight and 6 hrs each sat/sun...with almost no days off. It sucked...bad. But that translated to mostly A's and a 240 on Step 1. I sacrificed 1st and 2nd year and partied/coasted through 3rd and 4th year.

Don't waste your time with textbooks and preachy clinical artsy garbage your first 2 years. Slamming Step 1 = opening the door for the specialty you want. Jump through the hoops - that's how you play this game called medical school.

2 years of NO working out, partying, drinking (which I love), football, girls (which I love even more), and basically NOT having a life...BUT it was only 2 years. Thats it. 3rd and 4th years are a joke and residency is no where near as bad as med school (unless you're stupid enough to pick surgery).

So stop crying and go the library.

haha--yeah, i feel that--i get it.


Just to pad my (sob) story, to my credit i didnt coast thru college, i went to a hard school and yeah i did work hard to get into med like everyone else. no, I don;t have a learning disability. 🙄i've also been out of school for a bunch of years working in a biomedical field. and yeah, i've heard the statistics of non trads in school like everyone else has.maybe goin straight out of UG like a lot of students do would have helped more.who knows. I don't think anyone is totally prepared for this, unless they have an advanced degree, and are used to the work. i'm just guessing.

that being said, i didn;t get it quickly like the most of you have, in figuring out that A) study only the notes B) you have to do things every day. seriously, I never heard of a learning curve until I got here. how do people figure that ^&*( out? well, maybe they had big sibs who showed up and really sat them down and gave it them straight. . maybe they had friends/family members/SOs who were in med school and told them the deal from the get go. maybe they didn't know what the "deal " was and are super smart jedi nerds who just passed, and are learning how to do things the right way like everyone else.


all i am saying is, i do appreciate the wisdom you guys are giving me now, i effed up and it is something i am sure everyone asks themselves--what now. I am very sure that there is some point in any profession where people doubt their ability, not the profession--or maybe even both. I doubt that anyone who finds themselves in the spot im in was doing thier own version of "grey's anantomy" and drinking 40s on the weekends like they did in college. i am pretty sure everyone starts out doing what they did in college, and most of them pass barely. but they pass, and if they're callin thier moms crying its because they didn't get an B or an A.

but i decided im going to stick to the plan and do what I can. I already paid the money, so let them kick me out. give you all an update after the second round. good luck to all of you, and thanks for the $%% kick, I needed it.

breaks over...back to the books..😳

 

[DrJosephKim]

Study hard now and make sure you're properly motivated and focused. You may pass your classes, but that' not enough.

I personally know people who didn't pass step 1 after 3 attempts. You don't want to find yourself in that type of position.

 

[silas2642]

haha--yeah, i feel that--i get it.


Just to pad my (sob) story, to my credit i didnt coast thru college, i went to a hard school and yeah i did work hard to get into med like everyone else. no, I don;t have a learning disability. 🙄i've also been out of school for a bunch of years working in a biomedical field. and yeah, i've heard the statistics of non trads in school like everyone else has.maybe goin straight out of UG like a lot of students do would have helped more.who knows. I don't think anyone is totally prepared for this, unless they have an advanced degree, and are used to the work. i'm just guessing.

that being said, i didn;t get it quickly like the most of you have, in figuring out that A) study only the notes B) you have to do things every day. seriously, I never heard of a learning curve until I got here. how do people figure that ^&*( out? well, maybe they had big sibs who showed up and really sat them down and gave it them straight. . maybe they had friends/family members/SOs who were in med school and told them the deal from the get go. maybe they didn't know what the "deal " was and are super smart jedi nerds who just passed, and are learning how to do things the right way like everyone else.


all i am saying is, i do appreciate the wisdom you guys are giving me now, i effed up and it is something i am sure everyone asks themselves--what now. I am very sure that there is some point in any profession where people doubt their ability, not the profession--or maybe even both. I doubt that anyone who finds themselves in the spot im in was doing thier own version of "grey's anantomy" and drinking 40s on the weekends like they did in college. i am pretty sure everyone starts out doing what they did in college, and most of them pass barely. but they pass, and if they're callin thier moms crying its because they didn't get an B or an A.

but i decided im going to stick to the plan and do what I can. I already paid the money, so let them kick me out. give you all an update after the second round. good luck to all of you, and thanks for the $%% kick, I needed it.

breaks over...back to the books..😳

Yeah, keep us updated and tell us how the next set of tests go for you. Also, try some more "active learning." For me, I know that I can't just read the syllabus. I have to kind of repeat back to myself what I've read or it won't stick. For things like pathways, I have a white board that I draw out so they stay in my mind better. I did that for anatomy for things like arteries and the brachial plexus. Try things like these to help you remember and see if they work for you. If they do great, if they don't, find something else that does.

 

[rvarsity]

haha--yeah, i feel that--i get it.


Just to pad my (sob) story, to my credit i didnt coast thru college, i went to a hard school and yeah i did work hard to get into med like everyone else. no, I don;t have a learning disability. 🙄i've also been out of school for a bunch of years working in a biomedical field. and yeah, i've heard the statistics of non trads in school like everyone else has.maybe goin straight out of UG like a lot of students do would have helped more.who knows. I don't think anyone is totally prepared for this, unless they have an advanced degree, and are used to the work. i'm just guessing.

that being said, i didn;t get it quickly like the most of you have, in figuring out that A) study only the notes B) you have to do things every day. seriously, I never heard of a learning curve until I got here. how do people figure that ^&*( out? well, maybe they had big sibs who showed up and really sat them down and gave it them straight. . maybe they had friends/family members/SOs who were in med school and told them the deal from the get go. maybe they didn't know what the "deal " was and are super smart jedi nerds who just passed, and are learning how to do things the right way like everyone else.


all i am saying is, i do appreciate the wisdom you guys are giving me now, i effed up and it is something i am sure everyone asks themselves--what now. I am very sure that there is some point in any profession where people doubt their ability, not the profession--or maybe even both. I doubt that anyone who finds themselves in the spot im in was doing thier own version of "grey's anantomy" and drinking 40s on the weekends like they did in college. i am pretty sure everyone starts out doing what they did in college, and most of them pass barely. but they pass, and if they're callin thier moms crying its because they didn't get an B or an A.

but i decided im going to stick to the plan and do what I can. I already paid the money, so let them kick me out. give you all an update after the second round. good luck to all of you, and thanks for the $%% kick, I needed it.

breaks over...back to the books..😳

Oh yeah and by the way, I started med school the same way you did. I tried to read textbooks, study like I was in Undergrad, and was genuinely lost. Bombed the entire first test block. I learned pretty quickly what to do thereafter.

The worst part was that I had to study twice as many hours as many of the other kids in my class to BARELY get those A/B+'s. That was the most frustrating thing. It wasn't fair, hell I still dont think it is. But there is nothing you can do about that except to put in that much more time than the next guy (or girl).

By the way, 2 of the (many) people that failed the first set of tests in my med school class went on to become AOA - one in neurosurg now and the other in radiology.

Now get back to the library.

 

[Law2Doc]

that being said, i didn;t get it quickly like the most of you have, in figuring out that ... B) you have to do things every day.

I have to say I've never had a med school course where some prof didn't suggest/reference studying every day. It certainly should have been clear some of your classmates were doing this. And numerous threads on SDN suggesting a multiple pass through the material approach involving daily review that you could have taken a hint from. You don't get exempt from not knowing the score because you were nontrad, nor do all nontrads struggle, as you suggest.

A lot of us had daily study routines in mind from day one. The notion was to do overkill, and cut back if it was found to be too much -- in most cases it wasn't. Most folks had to change up or tweak the plans when they were found to be suboptimal, but I don't know of anyone who didn't know that the expectation was that med school would be a ton of work, a lot more than college, and that cramming and weekend studying weren't going to be enough. So you came in with the wrong mindset and god nailed for it.

The good news is that if your approach was totally wrong, it should be easy to fix. Now you will study daily, pre-read, focus on the right stuff. You have no place to go but up when you are starting from failure.

Don't try to reposition blame by saying "nobody told me I should be studying every day" or that "everybody else starts out dong what they do in college" but are lucky enough to pass, or that you didn't know what "jedi nerds" knew, or that nontrads struggle. This isn't about anyone else but you. And you are capable of doing med school or they wouldn't have accepted you. If you have to work harder than others, then boohoo, poor you, just suck it up and do it. Nobody is equal and everyone has to find what works for them, not do what everyone else does. So straighten up and fix it. It has nothing to do with anyone but you, or anything but you not doing what was necessary. Now you know. So fix it.

 

[indo]

You can be mopey and depressed for a day or two after those exams that bit you in the ass. But after that, it is time to reconfigure your approach to the material. Try something drastically different than what you were doing before.

For anatomy, your score mainly depends on how much time you spend with your face 8 inches above a splayed cadaver.

The other courses are different. You have to layer your studying with repitition. Ask around and find out how a few other people are studying and find a method that sounds good to you and steal it from them. Also, study what you hate twice as much as what you like.