Finished studying several days before the exam...What do I do now?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
username456789 said:
Of course not. You lean ever so slightly to the side, and reach down from the side to wipe.

The thought of someone standing up and having feces smear all over their butt cheeks is hilarious to me. The whole idea of a toilet (among other things) is that it keeps the buttocks separated by design.
Click to expand...
+1. How could anyone think that you're supposed to stand and wipe? On top of the fact that you have fecal smearage (let's not even think about if things are especially runny down there....) the toilet paper in all public bathrooms is at perfect reach for a person who is sitting down. Do these stand uppers just have to keep bending down to grab more toilet paper? Or do they prepare all their wipes prior to standing?

inb4 "you should just eat a diet heavy in plant fibers so you achieve a clean pinch every time not requiring toilet paper"
 
Donald Juan said:
+1. How could anyone think that you're supposed to stand and wipe? On top of the fact that you have fecal smearage (let's not even think about if things are especially runny down there....) the toilet paper in all public bathrooms is at perfect reach for a person who is sitting down. Do these stand uppers just have to keep bending down to grab more toilet paper? Or do they prepare all their wipes prior to standing?

inb4 "you should just eat a diet heavy in plant fibers so you achieve a clean pinch every time not requiring toilet paper"
Click to expand...
I think you're overestimating the straightening going on here. 'Stand' in this case basically means 'pick your butt up off the seat so you get a better angle and your hand doesn't enter the stagnant air of the feces-pool', not 'straighten up and clench', jeez. Most of the time you just lean forward until your butt picks up, same position as when you hover because some heathen left the seat a mess. Smearage is not an issue that way.
 
mehc012 said:
I think you're overestimating the straightening going on here. 'Stand' in this case basically means 'pick your butt up off the seat so you get a better angle and your hand doesn't enter the stagnant air of the feces-pool', not 'straighten up and clench', jeez. Most of the time you just lean forward until your butt picks up, same position as when you hover because some heathen left the seat a mess. Smearage is not an issue that way.
Click to expand...
I think you're a sitter who is trying to claim to be a stander. As a former Marine who spent lots of time pooping in bathrooms with multiple toilets with no walls or dividers between them, I consider myself an expert on people's pooping habits. Many people, do in fact, stand straight up after they poop, turn around and grab clumps of toilet paper to wipe their butt standing...they are not hovering. I noticed this strange trend, and for some time it even made me question my own pooping habits. After many restless nights trying to determine if I had been wiping my butt improperly for years, I have decided that it is best to keep your butt cheeks on the seat, nicely spread, and wipe front to back. Continue using toilet paper until visual inspection confirms no more fecal matter is present on a wipe. Unless you have some extremely high flowing toilet (or a port-a-potty that is in severe need of changing) you should not be dipping your hand in your own poop water.
 
Foot Fetish said:
I totally agree, man. Don't get me wrong. I'm super risk-averse. That's why I'm continuing to make multiple passes even though it feels like my brain is already saturated.. I'm just worried that there is something that I should be doing that I've overlooked. Ultimately, no matter how prepared I feel, I'm going to end up studying 8+ hours per day this weekend. Overshooting is better than undershooting obviously...But I was just hoping for some insight as to what would be the highest yielding form of review at this point.

I guess I could crack open First Aid and look at the chapters that correspond with my current exam material. My only concern is overloading my brain with things that won't be on Monday's exam. My sole objective at this point is to ace this first exam.
Click to expand...
I'll feed the troll, I guess. First Aid covers the absolute basics. Firecracker probably covers whatever your lectures didn't emphasize, but nothing MCAT review missed. Either way, if it seems "too easy," relax, it will gain momentum quickly. In the meantime, just know all the basics and chill out.
 
Donald Juan said:
I think you're a sitter who is trying to claim to be a stander. As a former Marine who spent lots of time pooping in bathrooms with multiple toilets with no walls or dividers between them, I consider myself an expert on people's pooping habits. Many people, do in fact, stand straight up after they poop, turn around and grab clumps of toilet paper to wipe their butt standing...they are not hovering. I noticed this strange trend, and for some time it even made me question my own pooping habits. After many restless nights trying to determine if I had been wiping my butt improperly for years, I have decided that it is best to keep your butt cheeks on the seat, nicely spread, and wipe front to back. Continue using toilet paper until visual inspection confirms no more fecal matter is present on a wipe. Unless you have some extremely high flowing toilet (or a port-a-potty that is in severe need of changing) you should not be dipping your hand in your own poop water.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your service
 
Want to do a competitive specialty like neurosurg, Ortho, ENT, Derm? Consider shadowing one throughout school and get a letter for applying to residency!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
OnePunchBiopsy said:
Want to do a competitive specialty like neurosurg, Ortho, ENT, Derm? Consider shadowing one throughout school and get a letter for applying to residency!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...
I'm kind of 50/50 on this. I know someone who did this at my school and they ended up being kind of a joke in the department because they were always just showing up random places and trying to be seen by and with attendings and residents. It's worth meeting people in your department of interest but I'm not sure of the value of a ton of long term shadowing, and I don't think a lot of shadowing somebody would make for a compelling residency letter compared to folks with whom you worked clinically or did research.
 
Lol y'all really believe OP would tell us if he/she bombed the exam or "ONLY" managed a 80% or something?

OP. No matter what you got fam, you still a real one. Keep working hard boo. Do yo thang shorty, I ain't mad atcha.
 
mcloaf said:
I'm kind of 50/50 on this. I know someone who did this at my school and they ended up being kind of a joke in the department because they were always just showing up random places and trying to be seen by and with attendings and residents. It's worth meeting people in your department of interest but I'm not sure of the value of a ton of long term shadowing, and I don't think a lot of shadowing somebody would make for a compelling residency letter compared to folks with whom you worked clinically or did research.
Click to expand...

Your example outlines an important point: there is a difference in shadowing OUT OF GENUINE INTEREST IN THE SPECIALTY vs just trying to look good/be seen. Physicians, nurses, and even fellow med students can sniff out the latter.

When starting medical school, there is nothing stopping someone from shadowing an Orthopod, ENT, Dermatologist through 1st, 2nd year, 3rd year clerkships in their spare time, and 4th year during free time. There is almost NO exposure to these specialties until 4th year. One could shadow, then PROGRESS to working with them clinically and build quite a strong working relationship leading to a spectacular LOR and extensive experience in the specialty.

Or you could be scared of looking bad and not do it.... Your choice...
 
OnePunchBiopsy said:
Your example outlines an important point: there is a difference in shadowing OUT OF GENUINE INTEREST IN THE SPECIALTY vs just trying to look good/be seen. Physicians, nurses, and even fellow med students can sniff out the latter.

When starting medical school, there is nothing stopping someone from shadowing an Orthopod, ENT, Dermatologist through 1st, 2nd year, 3rd year clerkships in their spare time, and 4th year during free time. There is almost NO exposure to these specialties until 4th year. One could shadow, then PROGRESS to working with them clinically and build quite a strong working relationship leading to a spectacular LOR and extensive experience in the specialty.

Or you could be scared of looking bad and not do it.... Your choice...
Click to expand...

I fully support shadowing fields one might be interested in and to which you wouldn't otherwise get much exposure.

I'm just offering a cautionary anecdote that being overly aggressive as a med student shadower isn't always the best thing, and that the time could potentially be more productively spent doing research with a mentor you shadowed a few times rather than continuing to shadow them regularly until you graduate.

Was that last sentence really necessary?
 
Above class average on one exam; below class average on the other exam (barely passed)...

🙁

I guess I need to change my strategy...
 
Foot Fetish said:
Above class average on one exam; below class average on the other exam (barely passed)...

🙁

I guess I need to change my strategy...
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, that's rough. Good to find out now, though...you've got plenty of time to figure out what works for you. And the most important thing (aside from learning what works for you in the future) is that you did pass both and that you did quite well on at least one! Good luck moving forward.
 
That's a bummer, it's tough to figure things out at first but you have plenty of time to find a study strategy that works for you. I'd recommend focusing less on memorizing everything and try instead to really understand the information. It'll serve you much better because most tests aren't made up of questions asking about specific facts, they're usually formulated from questions designed to make you think and reason out an answer. Good luck!
 
Foot Fetish said:
Above class average on one exam; below class average on the other exam (barely passed)...

🙁

I guess I need to change my strategy...
Click to expand...

That sucks, sorry to hear it. Were you studying the same for both exams? Did you feel equally confident about the material for them?
 
Foot Fetish said:
Above class average on one exam; below class average on the other exam (barely passed)...

🙁

I guess I need to change my strategy...
Click to expand...

More or less the same thing that happened to me last year, except I stayed below average for about 4 months.

Two things helped me:

1) Started writing as I studied. Every blurb you read on a powerpoint, try to rewrite it in a couple words. I didn't even keep these notes (erased them after each session), but med school exams are all about keyword association. If you're of the lucky ones with written exams, well, good luck.

2) If a random minutiae wasn't covered in lecture, but it's on a slide, don't waste time learning it. I missed out on a couple questions by doing this, but saved myself hundreds of hours in the process (which I used to reemphasize the important stuff).

I have a 4.0 in my last two blocks, and on track for another 4.0 this block. I consider myself to be someone of very average intelligence, certainly nowhere near the top of the class.
 
Mr Roboto said:
That sucks, sorry to hear it. Were you studying the same for both exams? Did you feel equally confident about the material for them?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I studied the same way for both classes, by making flash cards. It was definitely very effective for the exam I did well in, but the other one had more application/conceptual questions that my memorization didn't prepare me for. To be honest, I had a gut feeling that I was under-prepared going into the exam, but I guess I just convinced myself that I would be able to synthesize the applications on the fly... I need to do more practice problems for that class I guess. Also, there were only 10 questions on the whole exam (the one that I barely passed), so getting even a few wrong is lethal....is this typical of med school exams? It's scary how easy it is to fail these 10-question exams...
 
Foot Fetish said:
Yeah, I studied the same way for both classes, by making flash cards. It was definitely very effective for the exam I did well in, but the other one had more application/conceptual questions that my memorization didn't prepare me for. To be honest, I had a gut feeling that I was under-prepared going into the exam, but I guess I just convinced myself that I would be able to synthesize the applications on the fly... I need to do more practice problems for that class I guess. Also, there were only 10 questions on the whole exam (the one that I barely passed), so getting even a few wrong is lethal....is this typical of med school exams? It's scary how easy it is to fail these 10-question exams...
Click to expand...
Hmm...not sure about other schools, but I'm surprised there were just 10 questions. We had 10-15 question quizzes, but never an exam that short.

Sorry it didn't go as you'd hoped. Many of us have been there. What matters is you did your best, and you now have a better idea of how to prep for the next one. The first round of exams is really a learning experience.

Also, passing your first set of exams is a big deal, so congrats. A bunch of students failed the first anatomy exam when we started, cause we didn't know how to study for it. I just barely passed it by a few points, and ended up failing the two following exams. It took me months to get comfortable with my study tactics, and I'm still trying to figure things out. It's part of the process.

Give yourself a little break, and try some new tactics for the next exam. I'm confident you'll come back stronger. 🙂
 
mcloaf said:
I fully support shadowing fields one might be interested in and to which you wouldn't otherwise get much exposure.
Click to expand...

So we agree then! OP is a-first year. I've never heard of a first-years getting exposure to competitive fields in their first few weeks of school outside of shadowing. Research comes later and clinical work later as well. Shadowing could be a gateway to both.

mcloaf said:
Was that last sentence really necessary?
Click to expand...

I just want OP to not doubt themselves is all.
 
Foot Fetish said:
Above class average on one exam; below class average on the other exam (barely passed)...

🙁

I guess I need to change my strategy...
Click to expand...


It's ok. Just keep going. My friend scored below class average on his first anatomy exam (although he killed histology) but still came back to get AOA. It's not a big deal. Try not to get yourself in a self-hate cycle. It never ends well and makes you a worse student. Props for the honesty btw.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
I still don't get how the average and SD stuff works with exams. Our average for our last exam was 80 and one girl made it well known on facebook how she had "only" received a 87 on the exam while the SD was like 8. There were a good amount of folks (30-40) that received Cs.

So technically... wouldn't that still be "above average"?
 
DetectiveAlonzo said:
I still don't get how the average and SD stuff works with exams. Our average for our last exam was 80 and one girl made it well known on facebook how she had "only" received a 87 on the exam while the SD was like 8. There were a good amount of folks (30-40) that received Cs.

So technically... wouldn't that still be "above average"?
Click to expand...

Kick her from the facebook group
 
DetectiveAlonzo said:
I still don't get how the average and SD stuff works with exams. Our average for our last exam was 80 and one girl made it well known on facebook how she had "only" received a 87 on the exam while the SD was like 8. There were a good amount of folks (30-40) that received Cs.

So technically... wouldn't that still be "above average"?
Click to expand...
Ugh, that girl needs a swift kick in the butt. If your median was around your mean, then theoretically half your class got a C or below. That kind of douchebaggery usually has a way of catching up to people.

We had a girl in my class in M1 who loudly proclaimed that a biochem exam that half the class failed was far too easy. Now, as an M3, she has a reputation among residents for being a terrible and annoying student to work with (and we're only 2 months in).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
MD & DO Should I take a practice Step 1 exam just to see where I stand/ What's the best way to study this summer?
Replies
13
Views
1K
Med Ed
Med Ed
S
MD & DO What if I do nothing this summer?
Replies
8
Views
2K
GoSpursGo
GoSpursGo
X
What would you do if you were me?
Replies
24
Views
2K
X46412
X
J
  • Locked
Am I insane do this?
Replies
10
Views
2K
Ascent23510
A
aricena318
What to do After Medical School
Replies
10
Views
3K
abc123412
A
Top