Dismissed Students

[StrawHatDMD]

Hello all.

I have question to all of those students that were dismissed due to academic struggles. I was wondering if people can share what their struggles were when in school that would be great. This is open to everyone to comment but am looking specifically at dismissed students.

For me, for example, I felt paralyzed mentally. I didn't really know what I was doing. I was not retaining information. I wasn't actively recalling. And I would always fall behind. I believe I was too passive of a learner. If I had to do it again, I'd say I would:

1). Attend class regularly (to avoid falling behind) 1st cycle
-Sit in the middle and close to the front to ensure maximum attention
-Attend either both core courses or one of them.
2). Take hand written notes (most probably on a notebook)
-I would avoid ppts because that acts as an aid
3). In the afternoon, pre-study recall
-I would take 15 minutes to recall facts from the lecture
-First, I would recall without using my notes. Then, afterwards, I would look at my notes, edit it
and/or add questions if needed.
-Develop a rough outline
4). Detailed Study 2nd cycle
-Go through the lecture again with detail
-Note any potential test questions (any concept that is emphasized in lecture or anything I think they will ask; very important to go to the professor and ask them for questions to expect).
5). Mind Map and Repeat 3rd cycle
-Create a mind map and review a couple of times.
-This map is what you will rely on moving forward when you review the material again throughout the week and before the exam.
6). Practice questions (weekend)
-Review mind map (15 minutes)
-Go through practice questions. Make sure you understand why a choice is right or wrong.
-May want to do this with a group.

Other important things I would do:
-Go to professors and ask them what type of questions to expect.
-Make sure I get to step 5 every day; stay up late if I have to.
-Realize that much of medical school is memorization.
-Not underestimate medical school courses.
-Adjust accordingly (I hear that in second year, most students will use Pathoma as a primary source as opposed to lecture).
-Be ready to make mistakes, fail, and learn from the mistakes and failures.
-Repetition, repetition, repetition!!!

This is my general outline. If anyone else would like to share their struggles, that would be great. Laziness was never an issue for me. And I never thought the material was hard. The issue had more to do with learning itself. And while I may be done with medical school, I would still like to figure out what went wrong for the future.

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[grapefruit17]

I think class was a giant time sink. My grades improved dramatically after quitting lecture. Like more than ten percent higher.

For me, i would use the entire morning of nothing but reviewing old material and drilling powerpoints. Sometimes I'd make y own outlines to condense and reword things and add in what the prof say. When I did my own outlines my grades were at the highest, but during boards season this was such a time sink I didn't care about it.

Afternoon was all new stuff. Watching lectures at double speed and going over them.

I would normally do 1 to 3 page outline per lecture and would review my outlines/notes several times.

I didn't use books besides an atlas and a neuro textbook. I didn't use any practice questions at all first year but maybe it could have helped. Our first year was a lot of low yield stuff

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I would go talk to a learning specialist. You sound incredibly inflexible even in the way you write out your day to day plan and I suspect that's part of the problem.

 

[Goro]

Well, people fail in med school for different reasons. At my school, the vast majority of dismissals are from unresolved mental health issues. Very rarely do we have people who don't "get" medical school. For some others, it's a work ethic issue, and a handful more, they really don't want to be here, so they play "suicide by cop" and let us do the dirty for them.

It sound like you have some organic health issue hindering you.

Hello all.

I have question to all of those students that were dismissed due to academic struggles. I was wondering if people can share what their struggles were when in school that would be great. This is open to everyone to comment but am looking specifically at dismissed students.

For me, for example, I felt paralyzed mentally. I didn't really know what I was doing. I was not retaining information. I wasn't actively recalling. And I would always fall behind. I believe I was too passive of a learner. If I had to do it again, I'd say I would:

1). Attend class regularly (to avoid falling behind) 1st cycle
-Sit in the middle and close to the front to ensure maximum attention
-Attend either both core courses or one of them.
2). Take hand written notes (most probably on a notebook)
-I would avoid ppts because that acts as an aid
3). In the afternoon, pre-study recall
-I would take 15 minutes to recall facts from the lecture
-First, I would recall without using my notes. Then, afterwards, I would look at my notes, edit it
and/or add questions if needed.
-Develop a rough outline
4). Detailed Study 2nd cycle
-Go through the lecture again with detail
-Note any potential test questions (any concept that is emphasized in lecture or anything I think they will ask; very important to go to the professor and ask them for questions to expect).
5). Mind Map and Repeat 3rd cycle
-Create a mind map and review a couple of times.
-This map is what you will rely on moving forward when you review the material again throughout the week and before the exam.
6). Practice questions (weekend)
-Review mind map (15 minutes)
-Go through practice questions. Make sure you understand why a choice is right or wrong.
-May want to do this with a group.

Other important things I would do:
-Go to professors and ask them what type of questions to expect.
-Make sure I get to step 5 every day; stay up late if I have to.
-Realize that much of medical school is memorization.
-Not underestimate medical school courses.
-Adjust accordingly (I hear that in second year, most students will use Pathoma as a primary source as opposed to lecture).
-Be ready to make mistakes, fail, and learn from the mistakes and failures.
-Repetition, repetition, repetition!!!

This is my general outline. If anyone else would like to share their struggles, that would be great. Laziness was never an issue for me. And I never thought the material was hard. The issue had more to do with learning itself. And while I may be done with medical school, I would still like to figure out what went wrong for the future.

 

[Oh_Gee]

at the least, i had to do practice questions to "actively" learn. BRS books have decent questions and Umich for anatomy

 

[ParallelLines]

at the least, i had to do practice questions to "actively" learn. BRS books have decent questions and Umich for anatomy

Am an incoming OMS-1 and have bought BRS Physiology. Do you recommend/know of any other good practice question books/supplements?

 

[shadowlightfox]

Am an incoming OMS-1 and have bought BRS Physiology. Do you recommend/know of any other good practice question books/supplements?

Kaplan for biochem.

 

[Oh_Gee]

Am an incoming OMS-1 and have bought BRS Physiology. Do you recommend/know of any other good practice question books/supplements?

the rohen anatomy book if you're too lazy to go to anatomy lab to look at cadavers

 

[DrfluffyMD]

Hello all.

I have question to all of those students that were dismissed due to academic struggles. I was wondering if people can share what their struggles were when in school that would be great. This is open to everyone to comment but am looking specifically at dismissed students.

For me, for example, I felt paralyzed mentally. I didn't really know what I was doing. I was not retaining information. I wasn't actively recalling. And I would always fall behind. I believe I was too passive of a learner. If I had to do it again, I'd say I would:

1). Attend class regularly (to avoid falling behind) 1st cycle
-Sit in the middle and close to the front to ensure maximum attention
-Attend either both core courses or one of them.
2). Take hand written notes (most probably on a notebook)
-I would avoid ppts because that acts as an aid
3). In the afternoon, pre-study recall
-I would take 15 minutes to recall facts from the lecture
-First, I would recall without using my notes. Then, afterwards, I would look at my notes, edit it
and/or add questions if needed.
-Develop a rough outline
4). Detailed Study 2nd cycle
-Go through the lecture again with detail
-Note any potential test questions (any concept that is emphasized in lecture or anything I think they will ask; very important to go to the professor and ask them for questions to expect).
5). Mind Map and Repeat 3rd cycle
-Create a mind map and review a couple of times.
-This map is what you will rely on moving forward when you review the material again throughout the week and before the exam.
6). Practice questions (weekend)
-Review mind map (15 minutes)
-Go through practice questions. Make sure you understand why a choice is right or wrong.
-May want to do this with a group.

Other important things I would do:
-Go to professors and ask them what type of questions to expect.
-Make sure I get to step 5 every day; stay up late if I have to.
-Realize that much of medical school is memorization.
-Not underestimate medical school courses.
-Adjust accordingly (I hear that in second year, most students will use Pathoma as a primary source as opposed to lecture).
-Be ready to make mistakes, fail, and learn from the mistakes and failures.
-Repetition, repetition, repetition!!!

This is my general outline. If anyone else would like to share their struggles, that would be great. Laziness was never an issue for me. And I never thought the material was hard. The issue had more to do with learning itself. And while I may be done with medical school, I would still like to figure out what went wrong for the future.

The system you gave is not a good system because it would take too long in the real world.

 

[IslandStyle808]

1). Attend class regularly (to avoid falling behind) 1st cycle
-Sit in the middle and close to the front to ensure maximum attention
-Attend either both core courses or one of them.

This is a matter of discipline. I knew I would fall into this trap. So instead of going to school to go to go to class. I would go to school and hole myself in one of the study rooms (then proceed to 2x speed the lectures when they became available). However, if going to class helps you then by all means go.

2). Take hand written notes (most probably on a notebook)
-I would avoid ppts because that acts as an aid

On the contrary, I would try to annotate the powerpoints or write in the note section as much as possible. I would get so many questions right because I could remember the vivid pictures of DIC and the likes.

3). In the afternoon, pre-study recall
-I would take 15 minutes to recall facts from the lecture
-First, I would recall without using my notes. Then, afterwards, I would look at my notes, edit it
and/or add questions if needed.
-Develop a rough outline

I don't know what its like to have an afternoon to study most days. Usually classes are 8-4pm for me. I usually take this time to skim my notes from class and make Anki cards. Its a big time sink, but it agitates me that I get questions wrong because my professor feel its more important to remember a certain factoid. So Anki helps in this regard. The outlines are time consuming and don't work for me since I'm a visual learner.

4). Detailed Study 2nd cycle
-Go through the lecture again with detail
-Note any potential test questions (any concept that is emphasized in lecture or anything I think they will ask; very important to go to the professor and ask them for questions to expect).

Yep, I do this also.

5). Mind Map and Repeat 3rd cycle
-Create a mind map and review a couple of times.
-This map is what you will rely on moving forward when you review the material again throughout the week and before the exam.

I used to do this quite frequently. However, after some point it becomes time consuming. I still do mind map for lectures from time to time. This are lectures that have too much details and I need a way to organize them in my head. So make these in moderation.

6). Practice questions (weekend)
-Review mind map (15 minutes)
-Go through practice questions. Make sure you understand why a choice is right or wrong.
-May want to do this with a group.

Yep, I also do this. Props for working with a study group.

Other important things I would do:
-Go to professors and ask them what type of questions to expect.
-Make sure I get to step 5 every day; stay up late if I have to.
-Realize that much of medical school is memorization.
-Not underestimate medical school courses.
-Adjust accordingly (I hear that in second year, most students will use Pathoma as a primary source as opposed to lecture).
-Be ready to make mistakes, fail, and learn from the mistakes and failures.
-Repetition, repetition, repetition!!!

Main thing is to not to make too many study tools. You want to create only one or two at most (the rest of your time is better spent on repetition of materials). I would also suggest reading relevant sections in the book when the details don't stick in your head. Understanding how the body works adds cohesion to the details and makes them stick in your brain better . I discovered this very quickly in my neuroscience block (it was crazy to realize I was learning both anatomy and physiology at the same time because I understood function of the body).

My advice in bolded.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Am an incoming OMS-1 and have bought BRS Physiology. Do you recommend/know of any other good practice question books/supplements?

I recommend nothing. The reason why is you want to be able to do well on the questions that your school provides. These books like BRS, etc. are designed for board review and don't necessarily test on the same things your professors consider to be important.

When the time comes to start reviewing for boards, any resources outside of FA, Pathoma and Sketchy should be avoided. There's also this new series called Physeo that I think looks good for anyone doing poorly in that department. These are the gold standard and having too many resources will interfere with your productivity.

 

[hallowmann]

The problem with all of this is that people have very different styles of learning. Some are better for some people, but not for others. I would not be able to sustain OP's method. It would take me too long, I'd burn out, and honestly staying up to review is honestly something I'd never do, because most days I'd choose my family or a good night's sleep over a 3rd or 4th review of the same material.

I will also say, that I tried not to memorize things. I'm not particularly good at memorizing things, I remember them much more if I understand it or make certain associations. Obviously in medicine, you have to memorize a lot, and some subjects that is virtually all you're doing (anatomy or pharm), but anywhere that I could replace memorizing with understanding, I did.

The most important thing about your learning style is to be flexible. You should be able to switch from one method to another quickly if you find that it is not serving you well. You also need to talk to people above you about what material is valuable.

Anyway, good luck to everyone struggling. We've all struggled in med school at some point. Its just the nature of the sheer quantity of material.

I recommend nothing. The reason why is you want to be able to do well on the questions that your school provides. These books like BRS, etc. are designed for board review and don't necessarily test on the same things your professors consider to be important.

When the time comes to start reviewing for boards, any resources outside of FA, Pathoma and Sketchy should be avoided. There's also this new series called Physeo that I think looks good for anyone doing poorly in that department. These are the gold standard and having too many resources will interfere with your productivity.

Agree, but you forgot UWorld.

 

[samsamani]

Hello all.

I have question to all of those students that were dismissed due to academic struggles. I was wondering if people can share what their struggles were when in school that would be great. This is open to everyone to comment but am looking specifically at dismissed students.

For me, for example, I felt paralyzed mentally. I didn't really know what I was doing. I was not retaining information. I wasn't actively recalling. And I would always fall behind. I believe I was too passive of a learner. If I had to do it again, I'd say I would:

1). Attend class regularly (to avoid falling behind) 1st cycle
-Sit in the middle and close to the front to ensure maximum attention
-Attend either both core courses or one of them.
2). Take hand written notes (most probably on a notebook)
-I would avoid ppts because that acts as an aid
3). In the afternoon, pre-study recall
-I would take 15 minutes to recall facts from the lecture
-First, I would recall without using my notes. Then, afterwards, I would look at my notes, edit it
and/or add questions if needed.
-Develop a rough outline
4). Detailed Study 2nd cycle
-Go through the lecture again with detail
-Note any potential test questions (any concept that is emphasized in lecture or anything I think they will ask; very important to go to the professor and ask them for questions to expect).
5). Mind Map and Repeat 3rd cycle
-Create a mind map and review a couple of times.
-This map is what you will rely on moving forward when you review the material again throughout the week and before the exam.
6). Practice questions (weekend)
-Review mind map (15 minutes)
-Go through practice questions. Make sure you understand why a choice is right or wrong.
-May want to do this with a group.

Other important things I would do:
-Go to professors and ask them what type of questions to expect.
-Make sure I get to step 5 every day; stay up late if I have to.
-Realize that much of medical school is memorization.
-Not underestimate medical school courses.
-Adjust accordingly (I hear that in second year, most students will use Pathoma as a primary source as opposed to lecture).
-Be ready to make mistakes, fail, and learn from the mistakes and failures.
-Repetition, repetition, repetition!!!

This is my general outline. If anyone else would like to share their struggles, that would be great. Laziness was never an issue for me. And I never thought the material was hard. The issue had more to do with learning itself. And while I may be done with medical school, I would still like to figure out what went wrong for the future.

Do you mind telling me if you were a science major (biochem, biomedical sciences...) during undergrad?

 

[shadowlightfox]

the rohen anatomy book if you're too lazy to go to anatomy lab to look at cadavers

Actually, it should be used IN CONJUNCTION with going to the lab to look at the cadavers. As great as the book is, if you can't see it in real life, it won't help you for the exams.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Despite anatomy being low yield for the boards, I think it only makes sense for someone interested in surgery to dedicate a good amount of their anatomy studying to the lab. Despite being 2 years out from anatomy, the information stuck and I likely won't have to spend any dedicated board time reviewing anatomy or neuro specifically. The anatomy lab is gold and I honestly think it's under utilized by medical students - at least at my school.