Drowning high- stat M1- need advice

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rodain

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I suppose it is cliche, but I am struggling heavily in medical school.
I graduated from an top- 15 undergrad institution with a fairly standard GPA, and scored within 99% on the MCAT, coming in at 100% on the verbal section.
And yet half the time I cannot break the mean on medical school exams, and have
already failed a molecular exam.

I study all the time. I rarely have a life outside of studying just because I have an intense
fear of failure, and know that I have to work like this just to come short of the average.
And sometimes, I don't come just short. I am a full standard deviation or two below the mean.

I don't know what the problem is. At this point, I am just at a loss . I can't believe how hard I have
to struggle just to stay afloat. I am not at a high- tier institution either; it is a low- tier institution.

For a while, I blamed it on my being several years out of undergrad, and my being a non- science
major, but I'm running of excuses, and just have to accept that fact that I'm just stupid.

I just don't know. Perhaps it is my test taking strategies. Unless I practice it specifically, I do fare poorly
on knowledge application. I do tend to focus more on the little details without fully understanding the bigger picture. But... I just don't know how else to do it. I'm scared that if I don't do that, I'll fail.

I'll take any advice; any suggestions for review books, test- taking techniques, anything. Because we just hit
our final block and now I am really, really, really scared that I might not be able to pass.
 
Lannister said:
How do you study?
Click to expand...
It's memorization intensive.
I memorize first, understand second. Now that I am saying this, I'm starting to realize that this is a problem.
But I need to repeat things, say things out loud, and have a "vocabulary" to work with, which I then use to understand.
That's how it generally goes.
 
What gets me is that I just feel so pathetic. I study way too hard and I can barely scrape the mean. I have no life, and its not by choice.
I'll fail if I don't.
I don't know what's wrong with me. It's like a persistent imposter syndrome. I just feel so inadequate and stupid.
 
It's okay to feel completely defeated in med school. That was me for an entire year. The truth is studying doesn't get easier, but you get better at it. Have you tried rewriting your notes or white boarding? Questions were instrumental in solidifying concepts for me. If you find that the details really slowly you down, questions will help shift your focus to where it's most important and train you to think like the test writer. The people who did best in my class also stuck to a four or five pass system:

1st pass = preview
2nd pass = lecture
3rd pass = next day review
4th pass = weekend review

By the time exams came around, they were already pretty familiar with the material and only needed to look at it a few more times. Try that out and let me know if you have any questions!
 
rodain said:
It's memorization intensive.
I memorize first, understand second. Now that I am saying this, I'm starting to realize that this is a problem.
But I need to repeat things, say things out loud, and have a "vocabulary" to work with, which I then use to understand.
That's how it generally goes.
Click to expand...

Like another poster mentioned, I think repetition is super important. Do they provide you with PowerPoints? Reread them over, and over, and over, until you know and understand every word. That's what works best for me and I know that's the advice I've gotten from most people.
 
Med school is all about memorization. It's sad to say but don't study to "understand". I have never seen a question on an exam where I thought "man, what are they talking about" but have plenty of times thought, "****, I don't have that tiny minute detail memorized". I know plenty of people who sound like they have rocks rolling around in their heads who dominate cause they can memorize. Play the game-- that's what med school is all about.
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
Med school is all about memorization. It's sad to say but don't study to "understand". I have never seen a question on an exam where I thought "man, what are they talking about" but have plenty of times thought, "****, I don't have that tiny minute detail memorized". I know plenty of people who sound like they have rocks rolling around in their heads who dominate cause they can memorize. Play the game-- that's what med school is all about.
Click to expand...
Sadly, I've found this to be strangely true. Most of the stuff we get tested on is minutiae. I've found it pointless to constantly go over all those little details and instead save it all for the weekend before the test. That way, it's fresh in your head and you won't forget it come Monday. Otherwise, I find myself forgetting it a week later anyway. I just focus on the big picture and honestly just one thorough pass through each lecture has been enough. Google everything you don't know, just the first few links are usually enough. Textbooks are awkward to fumble through and I can't say I've opened one once that wasn't digital.

Once you get your study methods down, you'd be surprised how much free time you have. Study smart, not long.
 
rodain said:
It's memorization intensive.
I memorize first, understand second. Now that I am saying this, I'm starting to realize that this is a problem.
But I need to repeat things, say things out loud, and have a "vocabulary" to work with, which I then use to understand.
That's how it generally goes.
Click to expand...
Medical school requires both. I understand first, fill in the blanks second, because that's just easier for me. But I still need to do a lot of brute force memorization, because no amount of conceptual understanding can make up for gaps in core knowledge come the boards. That being said, don't stress about being average- do your best, and if your best turns out average, that's just where the chips fall. You're probably at a decent school, surrounded by others that were at the top of the bell curve, so just learn to deal with being average when compared to the top 1%.

Failure is concerning though. It takes most people a while to learn what works for them and their school- first year for me required a lot of reading, watching lectures twice, Sketchy, UFAP, the works. Read the PowerPoints. Watch the lectures at 2x once if you can. Master FA related to the class. Dunno what else to say. It's just a lot of work.
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
Med school is all about memorization. It's sad to say but don't study to "understand". I have never seen a question on an exam where I thought "man, what are they talking about" but have plenty of times thought, "****, I don't have that tiny minute detail memorized". I know plenty of people who sound like they have rocks rolling around in their heads who dominate cause they can memorize. Play the game-- that's what med school is all about.
Click to expand...
zero0 said:
Sadly, I've found this to be strangely true. Most of the stuff we get tested on is minutiae. I've found it pointless to constantly go over all those little details and instead save it all for the weekend before the test. That way, it's fresh in your head and you won't forget it come Monday. Otherwise, I find myself forgetting it a week later anyway. I just focus on the big picture and honestly just one thorough pass through each lecture has been enough. Google everything you don't know, just the first few links are usually enough. Textbooks are awkward to fumble through and I can't say I've opened one once that wasn't digital.

Once you get your study methods down, you'd be surprised how much free time you have. Study smart, not long.
Click to expand...
The stuff in the boards though- a lot of it feels like minutiae, but only if you don't understand the underlying concepts. I'm terrible at bulk memorization, but did average on the boards because of my conceptual skills. I think to truly excel and land an excellent score, you need the concepts and the details though, because so many of the difficult questions are based on lab studies that just won't make sense without both.
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
Med school is all about memorization. It's sad to say but don't study to "understand". I have never seen a question on an exam where I thought "man, what are they talking about" but have plenty of times thought, "****, I don't have that tiny minute detail memorized". I know plenty of people who sound like they have rocks rolling around in their heads who dominate cause they can memorize. Play the game-- that's what med school is all about.
Click to expand...

Do not listen to this guy. This is a load of steaming hot horse crap. Understanding is the key to everything you do in medical school. The more you understand, the less you will have to memorize. It is true that some memorization is required but if you understand how things work together it will be much easier and quicker to memorize what is left over. I guarantee you many of those "pure memorization" questions you talk about can be answered using conceptual understanding and test-taking skills but you just don't realize it because you have only memorized and not understood. What good is a bunch of random facts in your head if you don't understand why they're important or how to apply them. Why do you think NP's can be so *****ic? It's because they don't know anything, they operate purely off a memorized algorithm without an understanding of why to do anything.


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FindMeOnTheLinks said:
Do not listen to this guy. This is a load of steaming hot horse crap. Understanding is the key to everything you do in medical school. The more you understand, the less you will have to memorize. It is true that some memorization is required but if you understand how things work together it will be much easier and quicker to memorize what is left over. I guarantee you many of those "pure memorization" questions you talk about can be answered using conceptual understanding and test-taking skills but you just don't realize it because you have only memorized and not understood. What good is a bunch of random facts in your head if you don't understand why they're important or how to apply them. Why do you think NP's can be so *****ic? It's because they don't know anything, they operate purely off a memorized algorithm without an understanding of why to do anything.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...
Lol, ok keyboard warrior. It's called an opinion for a reason, slick.
 
socal6 said:
It's okay to feel completely defeated in med school. That was me for an entire year. The truth is studying doesn't get easier, but you get better at it. Have you tried rewriting your notes or white boarding? Questions were instrumental in solidifying concepts for me. If you find that the details really slowly you down, questions will help shift your focus to where it's most important and train you to think like the test writer. The people who did best in my class also stuck to a four or five pass system:

1st pass = preview
2nd pass = lecture
3rd pass = next day review
4th pass = weekend review

By the time exams came around, they were already pretty familiar with the material and only needed to look at it a few more times. Try that out and let me know if you have any questions!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I feel you OP. First round of exams I was below average, barely passing anatomy. Next round of exams I did a bit above average. I changed my approach after that first round. First part was planning and making a schedule. I also realized that I put tons of effort into memorizing everything the first time I see it but I won't understand or remember it. My school provides us with notes online as well as powerpoints. I don't go to lecture. My first day with material I go over the powerpoint and modify the notes in word so I have to fill in blanks or answer questions that can be taken from those notes, while trying to understand the important points. Go over that adjusted lecture the next day after watching the lecture. A few days later I do practice questions and briefly read over the lecture or ppt again. We have quizzes between tests so between that and the method I'm working with material is pretty fresh come test time. I fill in the gaps then as well as making sure I haven't forgotten what I knew. I was sick of seeing this stuff by test day but I knew it. That'll be part of my barometer from now on.

I think the biggest things are trying different things and having a plan/ schedule. It only gets more intense and I think focusing on just grades rather than what's to come is a bit myopic. Make sure to pass classes obviously, but don't let fear of the next exam trap you into a study plan that isn't efficient or works minimally. You're smart and you'll be fine. If effort isn't the problem, strategy is. You can fix that.
 
I know that feel, bro. I was the same way. I was a demon in undergrad, LizzyM in the 80s, etc, but once in med school it was work all the freaking time every waking hour and never beat the average.

I wish I could give you a path to higher grades, but I can't. I remember not having much luck with Anki after about 5 attempts, so I resorted to a butt load of paper index cards. They actually worked well for me. I liked USMLERx for second year, but it wouldn't have made much sense first year. There are too many second year concepts in their questions (which is a good thing).

At a certain point I realized that my maximum human effort would result in a grade of X in med school. And then I realized I could work less hard and still get a grade of X. So I experimented until I found the least amount of work that would still get a grade of X, and I stayed there. This choice is very unpopular on SDN, but it kept me sane. I'm a 4th year now, and I have tons of interviews in a specialty I enjoy.

Good luck.
 
socal6 said:
It's okay to feel completely defeated in med school. That was me for an entire year. The truth is studying doesn't get easier, but you get better at it. Have you tried rewriting your notes or white boarding? Questions were instrumental in solidifying concepts for me. If you find that the details really slowly you down, questions will help shift your focus to where it's most important and train you to think like the test writer. The people who did best in my class also stuck to a four or five pass system:

1st pass = preview
2nd pass = lecture
3rd pass = next day review
4th pass = weekend review

By the time exams came around, they were already pretty familiar with the material and only needed to look at it a few more times. Try that out and let me know if you have any questions!
Click to expand...

This is pretty much what I do + Anki cards, so I'm constantly reviewing all the material. I'm only scoring the class mean on every test but I never really feel stressed around exam week. I think my mental health is worth more than a few points on the exam
 
FindMeOnTheLinks said:
Sure you can have your opinion but that doesn't give you the freedom to not be called on it when it is completely asinine.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...
It's accurate in my experience, hence why it is my opinion. Do you comprehend what an opinion is there, chief?
 
3hrs per 1-hr lecture is not unreasonable. That's how long i took on average. You will get faster though through out the years as concepts begin to overlap
 
I just make and memorize flash cards on Anki. The caveat is that I don't write anything down without first grasping the meaning. So, in that sense, understanding does indeed come before memorization...but memorization is HUGE. In certain classes, memorization is definitely more important. Anatomy and cell bio/histology, for example, are essentially pure memorization. Biochemistry and physiology, on the other hand, are mostly conceptual and will require lots of practice problems. To summarize, I think the best strategy is to read the material closely for understanding WHILE making flash cards/study material on the first pass, and only write down statements that you fully understand. This will be a slow process, but it will be worth it because then you can just crank through your super high-yield flash cards over and over again. I find that additional layers of understanding / connections then emerge while making passes through your cards...this is sort of what you said about having a "vocabulary" to work with, which you then use to derive deeper understanding. The first pass is the most important. Don't waste it. I see a lot of people who do a cursory read through of the material just to "familiarize" themselves with it. This is a waste of time in my opinion. Read it slowly and extremely thoroughly the first time through. If you can't wrap your head around a concept, don't move on. Google like crazy. Do whatever you need to do to fully grasp it, write down what you learned, and then move on...

One final thing is that, if your professor provides practice problems in any way, shape, or form, you need to do those over and over again until you're sick of them. Those are gold, especially for those "conceptual" classes I mentioned, i.e. biochem and physio...

These methods have allowed me to score above class average on 17 out of 18 tests that we had so far. About half of those were 100's. That one test where I scored below average was the very first test of my med school career, and it was totally a fluke (hadn't figured out my strategy yet).
 
Last edited:
Mad Jack said:
The stuff in the boards though- a lot of it feels like minutiae, but only if you don't understand the underlying concepts. I'm terrible at bulk memorization, but did average on the boards because of my conceptual skills. I think to truly excel and land an excellent score, you need the concepts and the details though, because so many of the difficult questions are based on lab studies that just won't make sense without both.
Click to expand...
It sure feels tedious like minutiae, but yeah, really it's just learning how the human body works in excruciating detail.
0ncogene said:
3hrs per 1-hr lecture is not unreasonable. That's how long i took on average. You will get faster though through out the years as concepts begin to overlap
Click to expand...
I keep hearing this over and over again, but this isn't anywhere near the amount of time I've been putting in. Then again, I'm content with just beating the average.
 
Last edited:
Top-15 undergrad and a 99% MCAT doesn't necessarily mean that you should be at the top of your class, or that you're smarter than your classmates. In fact, being at a top undergrad doesn't really have much of a correlation to intelligence, IMO. What I'm trying to say is, there's no shame in being at the mean.

Regarding the failed exam and a desire to improve, I'll echo what other posters have said. How do you study, and have you considered other methods of studying? Don't be afraid to mix things up if what you're doing now isn't working. A lot of my classmates who outlined in undergrad and still try to outline in med school aren't doing so well. Some changed strategies, some haven't. Some people started outlining and are now doing well.
 
Have you tried studying with a group? I always preferred selfstudy in college but have found that working with a group really helps me to UNDERSTAND the material I'm learning and identifies things I may have missed. Explaining something to my group mates helps them learn new material and helps me solidify concepts for myself. Similarly, hearing them explain something differently from how the lecturer presented it can help me understand what's going on. I'm generally a big picture/how is this all connected sort of person and one of my group mates is a fine minutia guy. When you put us in a room with a white board we can fill in the gaps for each other. I consistently get 5+ points on exams because of things my group taught me and I think they would say the same. Studying with a group is also a lot more fun/allows me to still feel like a human being after studying for four hours.
 
Go read my post on guide to medical student success.
In the mean time seek out your school's counseling center AND the education or learning center.


rodain said:
I suppose it is cliche, but I am struggling heavily in medical school.
I graduated from an top- 15 undergrad institution with a fairly standard GPA, and scored within 99% on the MCAT, coming in at 100% on the verbal section.
And yet half the time I cannot break the mean on medical school exams, and have
already failed a molecular exam.

I study all the time. I rarely have a life outside of studying just because I have an intense
fear of failure, and know that I have to work like this just to come short of the average.
And sometimes, I don't come just short. I am a full standard deviation or two below the mean.

I don't know what the problem is. At this point, I am just at a loss . I can't believe how hard I have
to struggle just to stay afloat. I am not at a high- tier institution either; it is a low- tier institution.

For a while, I blamed it on my being several years out of undergrad, and my being a non- science
major, but I'm running of excuses, and just have to accept that fact that I'm just stupid.

I just don't know. Perhaps it is my test taking strategies. Unless I practice it specifically, I do fare poorly
on knowledge application. I do tend to focus more on the little details without fully understanding the bigger picture. But... I just don't know how else to do it. I'm scared that if I don't do that, I'll fail.

I'll take any advice; any suggestions for review books, test- taking techniques, anything. Because we just hit
our final block and now I am really, really, really scared that I might not be able to pass.
Click to expand...
 
Hello,
Thanks for all the advice everyone. Almost a year later, things are much better, I am doing
well enough, and most importantly, very happy to be in medical school.

Just thought I'd get back because I know this is the time when a lot of M1s struggle.
It really does get better, so just hang in there.
 
rodain said:
Hello,
Thanks for all the advice everyone. Almost a year later, things are much better, I am doing
well enough, and most importantly, very happy to be in medical school.

Just thought I'd get back because I know this is the time when a lot of M1s struggle.
It really does get better, so just hang in there.
Click to expand...
:clap::clap::clap::soexcited::soexcited::soexcited:👍👍👍
 
Psai said:
You're wrong. Understanding is key.
Click to expand...
Lol, all this talk about understanding. ChiTown is absolutely correct, nobody got TIME to understand poorly strung together information that I assume is the mainstay at most schools. It's not that hard to understand a few concepts, but med school so far really has been more memorization than understanding. If you say otherwise you're kidding yourself.
 
sovereign0 said:
Top-15 undergrad and a 99% MCAT doesn't necessarily mean that you should be at the top of your class, or that you're smarter than your classmates. In fact, being at a top undergrad doesn't really have much of a correlation to intelligence, IMO. What I'm trying to say is, there's no shame in being at the mean.

Regarding the failed exam and a desire to improve, I'll echo what other posters have said. How do you study, and have you considered other methods of studying? Don't be afraid to mix things up if what you're doing now isn't working. A lot of my classmates who outlined in undergrad and still try to outline in med school aren't doing so well. Some changed strategies, some haven't. Some people started outlining and are now doing well.
Click to expand...
I kinda disagree with this. No matter what people keep trying to believe, my bet is those who are capable of scoring this high on a tough standardized test are indeed more intelligent (but the problem is intelligence only gets you so far in med school and hence why I didn't underline the first part). This opinion leads me to believe it is a study technique/strategy issue as others have said.

EDIT: grr...did not realize the time lapse (just saw the time of the most recent posts), sorry
 
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