Failed. What now?

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Muehrcke

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So it's official. I failed two of my classes by about ~2% and now I have to repeat the ENTIRE first year because more than one fail is enough. I am just at such a loss of what to do. I busted my ass all year long and worked so hard only to come up short. I just don't get what I did wrong. I don't want to make any excuses but I don't know what to do differently. I'm so embarrassed and I don't know what to say to all the friends I've grown close to in my class this year. All the people applying who I gave advice to will now see me in their class. The girl who dumped me and then got accepted into the class behind will now be sharing space with me again. I just don't know what to do. If I can't pass 1st year on the first go round, how am I supposed to pass 2nd year? What if I come to the end of 3 years of book work only to fail? Then I'll have 3 years of med school debt with nothing to show for it. I just don't know what to do... I'm really upset right now.

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So it's official. I failed two of my classes by about ~2% and now I have to repeat the ENTIRE first year because more than one fail is enough. I am just at such a loss of what to do. I busted my ass all year long and worked so hard only to come up short. I just don't get what I did wrong. I don't want to make any excuses but I don't know what to do differently. I'm so embarrassed and I don't know what to say to all the friends I've grown close to in my class this year. All the people applying who I gave advice to will now see me in their class. The girl who dumped me and then got accepted into the class behind will now be sharing space with me again. I just don't know what to do. If I can't pass 1st year on the first go round, how am I supposed to pass 2nd year? What if I come to the end of 3 years of book work only to fail? Then I'll have 3 years of med school debt with nothing to show for it. I just don't know what to do... I'm really upset right now.

While that situation definitely sucks, just remember you are not the first nor the last to fail and repeat. Being 2% off means the next go around it will be much easier and should be manageable.
 
So it's official. I failed two of my classes by about ~2% and now I have to repeat the ENTIRE first year because more than one fail is enough. I am just at such a loss of what to do. I busted my ass all year long and worked so hard only to come up short. I just don't get what I did wrong. I don't want to make any excuses but I don't know what to do differently. I'm so embarrassed and I don't know what to say to all the friends I've grown close to in my class this year. All the people applying who I gave advice to will now see me in their class. The girl who dumped me and then got accepted into the class behind will now be sharing space with me again. I just don't know what to do. If I can't pass 1st year on the first go round, how am I supposed to pass 2nd year? What if I come to the end of 3 years of book work only to fail? Then I'll have 3 years of med school debt with nothing to show for it. I just don't know what to do... I'm really upset right now.

I'm really sorry. When does the year end for you? Has it already ended? If not, I would stop going to class and if people ask, claim you took a leave of absence because of some family emergency or something that made you go back home and you had to miss the last block. Something like that would explain why you're repeating the year.

Aside from that, I wouldn't worry what others think. Going through first year again will you give you new insight. You've seen the material once so being introduced to it from the beginning may help you see how to scope out what's important (since you know what they tested this year) and how test questions come about. By next year, you could predict the test questions and that's a skill that will help you throughout.

As for not passing second year, don't think that way. Having gone through first year twice will give you a foundation no one else has. You'll be twice as ready for second year.

Finally, I just want to say that you should know you're lucky in a way. At some schools, they dismiss people without the opportunity to repeat first year. It happened to a friend of mine. He was gone by the end of first semester.
 
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Having gone through it once, you should do a lot better the second time around. I know it sucks and is demoralizing though, but keep strong.
 
One of my close friends failed MSI the first time. She also failed Step 1 the first time. She then passed MSII, MSIII, MSIV, and both Step 2 exams without a problem. She applied to psychiatry and got accepted to her top choice program of all the programs she applied to. She is a great girl and the program will be quite happy.

A failure will likely eliminate you from the most competitive fields, but that doesn't mean all is lost. Many people are in the same boat as you. Keep pushing yourself.
 
Sorry.

It's normal to feel like you did everything and couldn't possibly try much harder. But, you're doing it wrong, clearly :) I doubt you're dumb. You need to figure out exactly what the people who did well are doing differently.

I've had a couple of slumps in school too. You can turn this around.
 
Really sorry to hear your situation-that just really sucks. Especially the embarrasement part of it as I can totally understand that just is a horrible feeling for you. Unfortunately at this point in the year I do not think there is any other excuses that you could get away with other than simply you failed a class and they have you repeat.

I would tell people you failed just one class. Not that it SHOULD matter but fact is why make it any harder on yourself by giving people something more to talk about. Softening the blow and doing damage control is your prime goal at this point.

The other piece of advice I would give you is do not do the same thing you did this year in regards to studying even though you felt it was "right." Doing it wrong twice will really get you nothing out of this year, even if you happen to pass. The tecnique you use should enable you to learn the material sufficiently in the time frame setout or else your method is not working. You may pass by doing the same thing you did simply because you only failed by a couple percent and you will inevitibly soak up info the second go. But when it comes to the following years your tecnique will still be inadquate to learn material at the necessary rate. So do not get caught up in doing what you did in the past.

I personally would advise not going to lecture and spend that time studying in the library. If I had went to class I would have failed as I do not absorb anything in class and needed to "learn" it all in my free hours. this would not have been possible if I had gone to class.

I am just guessing but maybe you are not one to memorize? I personally am not and could have done MUCH better in year 1 and 2 but I was the type to "learn" and figure things out and almost refused to memorize things. However I learned memorizing is what gets you the best grades in the first 2 years. Down the line later in your career this is not true at all but you need to come to a happy medium of memorization with learning in a balance.

As far as the ex-just spread a rumor about her or sleep with her friends. That always shuts them up:smuggrin:
 
Wow, I'm so sorry about your situation. It seems quite unusual that you'd have to repeat the entire year! But based on others responses, I'm guessing that it's not so unusual. Does your school not offer summer remediation? Do you have to retake all the classes, including the ones that you passed? That just seems harsh.

Ok, off of my soapbox. I know you can't help but be bummed about this but after a couple of weeks you'll just need to embrace it. There's nothing you can do about it other than making sure that next year goes smoothly for you. I know it'll be embarrassing and people will talk, but at the end of the day, you'll still be a doctor. Plenty of people take a year off between year 2 & 3, there are MD/PHD students, and even dental surgery students that enter into the class on an off year or graduate later than 4 years so you won't be the only one that started with your class and finished with another.

At my school, we've lost over 10 first years... a handful dropped out, a few split their first year to two so are now doing a five year track, a couple took a leave of absence, and per the dean of student affairs, about 5 -7 a year have to repeat year 1. So, unfortunately, it happens. I've met a few that have had to repeat and they're making connections and good friends in our class too while maintaining camaraderie with their friends from the previous year's class. I should also mention that this year for them has gone by smoothly because they were already very familiar with the material and already adjusted to med school unlike the rest of us who went through the typical initial shock and constant readjustment of our study strategies.
 
really sorry to hear your news, OP. we have a couple people in our class who were held back from the '13s to repeat the year, and another that i'm aware of from our class who will be repeating M1 next year. the thing is though that no one would have known this if they hadn't chosen to share that info with us. certainly no one treats them badly. so really i do not think the stigma among your peers is as great as you think it might be.

i disagree with the people in here who are telling you to make up stories or say that you only failed one class. i don't think i'd have the stomach to go to lecture any more if i were you, but if someone asks about your situation, you shouldn't be afraid to be honest. if they don't understand, then ***k 'em.
 
Dont know if this helps or not but at my school, if you fail two classes, they kick you out.
 
So it's official. I failed two of my classes by about ~2% and now I have to repeat the ENTIRE first year because more than one fail is enough. I am just at such a loss of what to do. I busted my ass all year long and worked so hard only to come up short. I just don't get what I did wrong. I don't want to make any excuses but I don't know what to do differently. I'm so embarrassed and I don't know what to say to all the friends I've grown close to in my class this year. All the people applying who I gave advice to will now see me in their class. The girl who dumped me and then got accepted into the class behind will now be sharing space with me again. I just don't know what to do. If I can't pass 1st year on the first go round, how am I supposed to pass 2nd year? What if I come to the end of 3 years of book work only to fail? Then I'll have 3 years of med school debt with nothing to show for it. I just don't know what to do... I'm really upset right now.

If it is really that embarrassing for you, just say you had a personal issue you had to deal with and could not finish first year and you just decided to start over again.
 
Dude , you are not the first one and you are not going to be the last one to fail a year.

Don't make up stories to why you failed this year ... Because you will be like living the entire next year in a lie and i doubt that it will boost your confidence.... The sooner you tell people that you failed , the faster/sooner/better you will feel about it and eventually you will forget it.

What you must not forget though is the lesson you learned from this year...!!

You need to hit solid grounds next year and excel in classes...... in order to do that you need to figure out what went wrong this year .... even if one had passed (but was on the edge) then one should reconsider the study habits/techniques etc...

While you should try and be solid at 1st year stuff next year .... you can also try to integrate first and second year so that you get the big picture.

It's a natural thing to be down at the moment ...... Pick yourself up ,Look forward and never look behind and stay ahead of your class.

Best of Luck. :xf:
 
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I feel for you. This was always one of my fears.

They may wonder at the start, but once school is well underway, no one will care and will eventually come to see you as one of them. Just make sure to make new friends.
 
I'm sort of in the same situation. I had a real hard time first semester and was failing all but one class. My dean sat me down and told me the consequences of failing and said that I could split my year into two which I eventually did. I took half the load this year and will take the other half of the load next year. So I'm not technically repeating first year, but I'll still be a first year next year. For an entire month or so I was miserable about the decision. It still stings a bit now that first year's wrapping up and my class is moving on and I'm staying behind but I've decided that it is what it is. I'm not going to lie about it but I'm not going to be forthcoming about it either. I'll start first year again in the fall and sit there just like the other students. Only people I tell will know. And I'll only tell people that I feel comfortable with. No one will know. They'll be too busy taking in med school and adjusting to the load. I'm not embarrassed about it anymore.. that went away with time. I think what helped me the most is that I was honest about it. The people I know and have befriended in my current class know exactly what was happening. I told them that I was having a really hard time and I needed to do this so that I can adjust well and have a better med school experience. I was becoming extremely anxious and depressed and I'm in a much better place now. I've even secured a few tutors from my class to help me with the classes I had trouble with. I've pretty much embraced it and no one is treating me any differently.

You'll be fine and it'll fly by... just like this year did.
 
OP, I'm really sorry to hear about this. I agree with everyone saying you will have a much easier time this coming year with the material since you've already seen it once.

I don't think you should lie to your friends/classmates about what happened. When we hear that someone is failing; taking a leave of absence/ dropping out/ splitting the first year into two etc. no one (that I know of) talks for more than a few seconds about it, and no one would think to make fun. Most of us acknowledge that it could just as easily have been any one of us in that position. As long as you work hard and stick with it, your real friends and most if not all of your classmates will support you and treat you the same as they always did.
 
I had a tough time starting med school.
First exam of med school, got a 55.
And I really studied the best I knew how.

I thought about dropping out right there.
I ended up failing the first block.

I ended up getting an upper year to tutor me for the rest of the year.
Go to the Dean's office and see what kind of help they can offer.

It really just helped sitting with someone once a week and talking about what material was important and helping guide my studies.

In hindsight, it may have been the best thing that happened to me.

After a few more struggles in first year, I was worried about second year.
I heard how much harder it was, blah, blah.

Anyway, I did pretty darn well second year. Actually thought it was easier because I now had the foundation of first year behind me.

Third year was totally different and I did great.
Starting fourth year next week.

Just know that early struggles don't mean you can't do this.
You need to adjust your study habits and figure out what works for you.

If lectures help, great. If not, stop going to them or just go to the ones that help. Come up with a system that works and stick with it.

:luck:
 
We've lost a few people in our class this year. It sucks, but most classes (at least from friends in other years or other schools) have a few people remediating or repeating a year. Your school has invested in you, and they don't want to see you fail at your career and come out with lots of debt and no degree. Maybe you could talk to student services and see about tutoring for next year/MS2/MS3/MS4. Also, would any of your friends from your class be willing to help you next year? Our class has been pretty good about lending each other study aids and notes...
 
So it's official. I failed two of my classes by about ~2% and now I have to repeat the ENTIRE first year because more than one fail is enough. I am just at such a loss of what to do. I busted my ass all year long and worked so hard only to come up short. I just don't get what I did wrong. I don't want to make any excuses but I don't know what to do differently. I'm so embarrassed and I don't know what to say to all the friends I've grown close to in my class this year. All the people applying who I gave advice to will now see me in their class. The girl who dumped me and then got accepted into the class behind will now be sharing space with me again. I just don't know what to do. If I can't pass 1st year on the first go round, how am I supposed to pass 2nd year? What if I come to the end of 3 years of book work only to fail? Then I'll have 3 years of med school debt with nothing to show for it. I just don't know what to do... I'm really upset right now.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

You should take a long hard look at what you do when you study. Maybe you can keep a notebook about your study habits. How often do you zone out? How long does it take you to read sections? Do you have better study times and study locations? Something has to change, you just have to figure out what it is.

My technique was to go over the slides with all my notes (I would beef up my notes from lecture by watching the video recordings of the lecture) x6, and read the supplementary material x2-3. For me, it was all about repetition... to the exclusion of having a life. I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, so I have to make up for it with work ethic.
 
Thank you for all the kind replies everyone. I guess there is nothing left to do but learn the material better next time. I'm just not sure how to change my study technique. The way I learned in undergrad was to outline and right everything down. When I just read, even if I am highlighting or underlining, I tend to lose focus and I'm reading without "reading" if that makes any sense. The only problem is, it takes so dang long to write everything out and I'm not getting all the detail. I have no problem understanding the material, but when it comes to the actual memorization of tiny details, I am having problems with recall. Maybe when I'm writing things out, I'm not learning the detail either, I don't know. I just know my method worked in undergrad quite well, I did fine on GPA and MCAT, but obviously with 10x more material, now I'm not sure what to change. Our school tests are integrated; you have three ~125 question tests, with each question coming from a possible 8 different classes. I need to figure out how to prep for those kind of tests, especially because, well, that's what Step 1 is like. Again, thanks for the encouragment, I'm not trying to sound like a whiny b****, I'm no where near giving up on this, I just need to figure out how to pick up the pieces and try again.
 
Thank you for all the kind replies everyone. I guess there is nothing left to do but learn the material better next time. I'm just not sure how to change my study technique. The way I learned in undergrad was to outline and right everything down. When I just read, even if I am highlighting or underlining, I tend to lose focus and I'm reading without "reading" if that makes any sense. The only problem is, it takes so dang long to write everything out and I'm not getting all the detail. I have no problem understanding the material, but when it comes to the actual memorization of tiny details, I am having problems with recall. Maybe when I'm writing things out, I'm not learning the detail either, I don't know. I just know my method worked in undergrad quite well, I did fine on GPA and MCAT, but obviously with 10x more material, now I'm not sure what to change. Our school tests are integrated; you have three ~125 question tests, with each question coming from a possible 8 different classes. I need to figure out how to prep for those kind of tests, especially because, well, that's what Step 1 is like. Again, thanks for the encouragment, I'm not trying to sound like a whiny b****, I'm no where near giving up on this, I just need to figure out how to pick up the pieces and try again.


I did the same thing as you in undergrad with respect to writing it all down. The act of writing helped it stick. As you've mentioned, there's too much material in med school. You can't do that.

I've just finished my 2nd year, and I can tell you the biggest change in my studying, and the most effective, is to simply get your repetitions in. When reading the material for the first time, don't overwhelm yourself. Don't see all these little details and think to yourself you need to memorize them at that moment. Rather, that first pass should just be to "see what's there." Don't try to memorize a damn thing. By getting through the material once, your nerves should be calmed a bit, because you've seen it all.

On the second pass, things will seem more familiar. This is typically the most time-intensive pass. Use this pass to understand what you're reading. Again, this pass isn't about memorization either. It's about being comfortable with all the concepts, etcetera being presented to you. After you finish this pass, you should understand everything you've read, not be able to recite all the minutae about it that you'll be tested on.

Third pass: you'll be pretty comfortable with the material. Are you expected to remember every little stupid detail yet? No. But everything you're reading will now be very familiar. It's during this pass that the little factoids and details will start to stick.

Typically 3 passes should work (especially as you get more experience in med school). Sometimes, if you can fit it in, you can work a "high-speed, morning of, jam those pesky-hard-to-remember lat bits into your head" 4th pass. Again, I usually wake up a few hours before the exam (very early in the morning) to do this.

So even though I told you not to worry about memorizing the details in those first two passes, you'll be surprised at the role they play in the process of memorization.

The biggest no-no in medical school is to sit down to a set of new notes, and just try to start reading and retaining as you go. It's a fool's game. Unless you're Rain Man, that's not how it's done.

Knock 'em dead.
 
If your problem is recall, flash card programs are great. I use Anki myself. You don't have to have every fact on flash cards. Just those small details you keep missing.

Also, having a big picture understanding is much better than blindly memorizing. A lot of times you can work out the answer just by understanding basic principles.

Good luck. I'm studying for my very last final of second year. Feels good. You'll get there too.
 
I did the same thing as you in undergrad with respect to writing it all down. The act of writing helped it stick. As you've mentioned, there's too much material in med school. You can't do that.

I've just finished my 2nd year, and I can tell you the biggest change in my studying, and the most effective, is to simply get your repetitions in. When reading the material for the first time, don't overwhelm yourself. Don't see all these little details and think to yourself you need to memorize them at that moment. Rather, that first pass should just be to "see what's there." Don't try to memorize a damn thing. By getting through the material once, your nerves should be calmed a bit, because you've seen it all.

On the second pass, things will seem more familiar. This is typically the most time-intensive pass. Use this pass to understand what you're reading. Again, this pass isn't about memorization either. It's about being comfortable with all the concepts, etcetera being presented to you. After you finish this pass, you should understand everything you've read, not be able to recite all the minutae about it that you'll be tested on.

Third pass: you'll be pretty comfortable with the material. Are you expected to remember every little stupid detail yet? No. But everything you're reading will now be very familiar. It's during this pass that the little factoids and details will start to stick.

Typically 3 passes should work (especially as you get more experience in med school). Sometimes, if you can fit it in, you can work a "high-speed, morning of, jam those pesky-hard-to-remember lat bits into your head" 4th pass. Again, I usually wake up a few hours before the exam (very early in the morning) to do this.

So even though I told you not to worry about memorizing the details in those first two passes, you'll be surprised at the role they play in the process of memorization.

The biggest no-no in medical school is to sit down to a set of new notes, and just try to start reading and retaining as you go. It's a fool's game. Unless you're Rain Man, that's not how it's done.

Knock 'em dead.

This is EXACTLY what I recently discovered... a little late I know but better late than never I guess...

I have ALWAYS written everything down. Doing that, I was passing but not getting the grades I wanted. I would get through the material twice before the exam and NEVER got all the minutiae down . Now, I pre-read, go to class, review after class every single day. It's even less time consuming than the other way and I've seen significant improvements in every class.
 
Oh. If you're writing stuff down, the most important part is trying to recreate lists and diagrams from memory... then checking your work and recreating the list/diagram.
 
One thing that's helped me is to summarize in the margins when I read. I'm not great at listening to lectures or memorizing slides, but summarizing diagrams or writing some notes in the book margins helps me remember without having to highlight, underline, or otherwise passively read my books. That way, I know that I've been productive instead of thinking about something else while I'm trying to read. I hope that helps!
 
Sorry.

It's normal to feel like you did everything and couldn't possibly try much harder. But, you're doing it wrong, clearly :) I doubt you're dumb. You need to figure out exactly what the people who did well are doing differently.

+1

There's a lot to improve on when you're 2 pts away from passing. Your task is not just gunning for those 2 pts. Most schools' passing cutoff is about 5-10th percentile.

The first step is to be honest with yourself and your friends. Making up tales like some other posters suggested will only dampen your motivation to do well. Pretty soon you'll believe your own story.

You need to change your studying habits. You should use review books (BRS, RR) and do those questions behind each chapter in the review books. Believe it or not, making outlines and writing things down is still a very passive process and gives you a false sense of preparedness. Nothing beats problems, drilling and constant recall.
 
I did the same thing as you in undergrad with respect to writing it all down. The act of writing helped it stick. As you've mentioned, there's too much material in med school. You can't do that.

I've just finished my 2nd year, and I can tell you the biggest change in my studying, and the most effective, is to simply get your repetitions in. When reading the material for the first time, don't overwhelm yourself. Don't see all these little details and think to yourself you need to memorize them at that moment. Rather, that first pass should just be to "see what's there." Don't try to memorize a damn thing. By getting through the material once, your nerves should be calmed a bit, because you've seen it all.

On the second pass, things will seem more familiar. This is typically the most time-intensive pass. Use this pass to understand what you're reading. Again, this pass isn't about memorization either. It's about being comfortable with all the concepts, etcetera being presented to you. After you finish this pass, you should understand everything you've read, not be able to recite all the minutae about it that you'll be tested on.

Third pass: you'll be pretty comfortable with the material. Are you expected to remember every little stupid detail yet? No. But everything you're reading will now be very familiar. It's during this pass that the little factoids and details will start to stick.

Typically 3 passes should work (especially as you get more experience in med school). Sometimes, if you can fit it in, you can work a "high-speed, morning of, jam those pesky-hard-to-remember lat bits into your head" 4th pass. Again, I usually wake up a few hours before the exam (very early in the morning) to do this.

So even though I told you not to worry about memorizing the details in those first two passes, you'll be surprised at the role they play in the process of memorization.

The biggest no-no in medical school is to sit down to a set of new notes, and just try to start reading and retaining as you go. It's a fool's game. Unless you're Rain Man, that's not how it's done.

Knock 'em dead.

Wow that is exactly what I discovered during my late undergrad and grad years and yes it works. I would even review my material up to five times.
 
Yes just to reiterate what everyone else has been saying.. repitition is key** i feel so much better reading through all the material once and getting the big broad picture than sitting on one lecture for hours trying to learn it..well act i never do that. Its weirdhow all the details just randomly stick, especially after a good night sleep. I'm sorry to hear you have to repeat MS1 that is extremely rough, you got guts idk if I'd be able to do that. Good luck my man.
 
Dear OP;

I am sorry that things turned out this way, but at least you have a second chance. Have your pity party and cry, hit a bag, somehow get all of your frustrations out but give yourself a set time limit. Say, 30 minutes. When that time is up, then dust yourself off and plan ahead never to go back to that party.

If you have an academic resource center, make an appointment with them and sit down to try to figure out what advice they can give you to improve your study habits. Maybe it is your note taking, maybe you are having an issue with time management, maybe you need to take more practice exams (there are plenty on line if you use the right keywords).

Maybe you are a visual learner. Believe it or not, youtube was great for me because I was able to really visualize disease processes, biochemical reactions, etc. And when you get to more clinical learning, it is great also. I used to have a whole collection of pictures of different diseases so I can recall it better. Pattern recognition is the key, at least it was for me.

If your school offers you a tutor, take it. Have them test you.

Good luck
 
I know that I wouldn't have been able to make it this far in first year if I didn't have a study group/group of friends to help me out. We split up the lectures and make summary notes/charts on the computer that we then post for all of us to use. I then modify their notes so it makes the most sense for me. It really cuts down on the time it takes to go through everything. And its nice to see how other people categorize the information. Everybody benefits.

We also get together every now and then to talk about the info and explain it to each other. You really get a sense of how well you know or don't know something when you have to teach it to someone else. Speaking about it also provides another modality of repetition than just reading about it.

This has worked well for me - and I've also made some really good friends :) Maybe next year you can ask around and see if others would be interested in forming a study group - it really helped me. Good luck, you can get through this!
 
The biggest no-no in medical school is to sit down to a set of new notes, and just try to start reading and retaining as you go. It's a fool's game. Unless you're Rain Man, that's not how it's done.
Knock 'em dead.

Right on - there is no way to remember every little minuta in the 300 page syllabus (or textbook) that the professor gave out for each class - nor is it necessary to do so. I recommend that you divide information into 2 parts

1. Concept based ideas - these are the major concepts dealing with pathophysiology, biochemistry, anatomy. Once you understand the material, it is higly unlikely that you'll forget it again. There is little memorization involved but you may have to spend some time understanding the concept first.

2. Detail and memorization heavy facts - after you've understood and parsed down the major concept, there will undoubetedly be some facts that you just have to memorize (i.e. attachment and innervation of muscles, cranial nerves, the Krebs cycle etc). Unfortunately, you have to continually study, review, and look at the material again in order to retain it for the test. Like the others have recommended, once you understand the concept, it's easier to figure out what you have to memorize and you should spend time on the weekend, before exams memorizing these.

I would really recommend studying hard during the day of the lecture (putting in 8 solid hours after class studying, reading, and rereading) UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS FIRST and then coming back to the material and summarizing the most important thing that you have to memorize onto a 1-2 page summary for each day's lecture and then CONTINUALLY REVIEWING AND RECALLING THE MEMORIZED DETAILS. It may not sound like much, but believe me, after 2 months of lecture - when you only have a weekend or so to review the material. Having a 40 page summary of the most important concepts and details to memorize yield a much better outcome than rereading the syllabus and trying to recall every little detail that professor mentioned in his lecture
 
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You need to change your studying habits. You should use review books (BRS, RR) and do those questions behind each chapter in the review books. Believe it or not, making outlines and writing things down is still a very passive process and gives you a false sense of preparedness. Nothing beats problems, drilling and constant recall.

I actually recommend against this - the review books BRS & RR are a great resource if you're studying for the USMLE and need to quickly recall the important details or High Yield facts. But most medical school lectures and test questions are way more detailed or specific than the outlines and questions in the review book and can deviate substantially in the content.

I would recommend that the OP create his own High Yield outlines or use the lecturer's PowerPoint as a summary rather than board review book since they are much better focused on the specific details that his course is teaching him. I also recommend that the OP do whatever practice questions his professors post online or in the syllabus, and talk with some 2nd years or upperclassmen to ask how they studied and retained the information for each of his classes.
 
So it's official. I failed two of my classes by about ~2% and now I have to repeat the ENTIRE first year because more than one fail is enough. I am just at such a loss of what to do. I busted my ass all year long and worked so hard only to come up short. I just don't get what I did wrong. I don't want to make any excuses but I don't know what to do differently. I'm so embarrassed and I don't know what to say to all the friends I've grown close to in my class this year. All the people applying who I gave advice to will now see me in their class. The girl who dumped me and then got accepted into the class behind will now be sharing space with me again. I just don't know what to do. If I can't pass 1st year on the first go round, how am I supposed to pass 2nd year? What if I come to the end of 3 years of book work only to fail? Then I'll have 3 years of med school debt with nothing to show for it. I just don't know what to do... I'm really upset right now.


This is a blessing in disguise. The important thing to realize is that this is something that was meant to happen. If you did do as you say and put in a solid effort and you weren't distracted by girl troubles, video games, or something else, than this was always going to happen and the question was when would it show itself. Now that it's happened, you should be glad that it's happened early. The road to medicine is long and you're just at the beginning. At this point, you've encountered a hurdle. It's good to hit such a thing early on rather than later in during Steps, Clerkships, and Residency if you're looking for a fellowship. Now, realize that you are not probably not one the best at memorizing the basic sciences which unfortunately determines your residency placement. I won't sugar coat things and so that residencies won't see this as a red flag because they probably will. The thing is you still have a huge upside.

I know this may seem "dumb" consider making an appointment with a learning specialist. They're not gods, but they're decent and figuring out where you're wasting your time. At the very least, you'll likely gain some valuable introspection

As for friends, be very honest with those who matter to you. The best thing to do is to use humor, humility, and be positive about it. You'll only be seen in negative light if you try to like hide what your going through. This doesn't mean tell the whole world, but don't go out of your way to hide it. That's what people interpret as insecurity, not the failure itself. Be humble. Just say what happened and try your best to be positive. I am sure no one will look down on it and if you take it with an air of positivity, you'll even gain some admirers.

Importantly, don't isolate yourself from your current friends because you, for some reason, feel insecure about the newly established power dynamic. That will show insecurity. Maintain your close friendships and also make friends with people in your new class too. Also, with regards to your ex, if it ever comes up, I would own up to it and be proud of yourself. Chances are she won't ask though.

Also, realize that if you do do well on Step, get some research, and do well on your clinical rotations, you can still match at a competitive program. It may not be Derm/ENT but there are plenty of other programs that will be willing to overlook that Year 1 slip (especially since it's so early) as compared to a year 2 or even year 3 slip.

Also, I say this to everyone who experiences failure in medical school because I've seen lots of students who fail courses concurrently suffering with extremely common mental health issues that I would guestimate 50% of the general population struggles through at some point. At this point, if you think this applies to you, seek help because immediate help pretty much fixes the problem, whereas waiting just increases the spiral. If you need to, seek counseling. You don't need to seek a psychiatrist if you don't feel like you have a mental disorder, but seeing a university counselor or someone you just enjoy talking to may help.
 
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