I'm just over halfway through my first semester, and I'm kind of freaking out. I feel like everyone in my class is SOOO much smarter than I am 🙁 I'm doing fine in all my classes (have A's in all so far), but there is so much material and we have 2-3 tests each week, I feel like it isn't actually learning so much as memorizing stuff for the test. Is this normal? Do/did other people feel this way too? I just don't want to be an idiot when I go to my clinicals or be a bad PT.
First Semester of PT School..and freaking out
- Thread starter sarah14
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I failed my first practical of PT school and I was freaking out too. I ended up graduating and now I'm making good money treating patients. Keep going. Everyone thinks "everyone else is smarter." Your classmates worry just as much as you do.
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The fact that you are doing fine and getting great grades, means you are likely in the top % of your class (unless you go to some strange school where everyone gets As). Our average grade falls around a B/B-. So at my school, if you get As you are the uber smart crowd. I failed my first 2 tests and my first 2 practical attempts in my first semester. I'm doing fine now and feel right on track with my classmates. Keep in mind, that just because you hear someone talking about a topic and they sound smart, doesn't mean anything...that may be the ONLY thing they know. I found it surprising at the end of first semester when one guy in particular failed out. I would have never guessed he wasn't doing well. I thought he was way smarter than me and I was the dumb one. But I didn't end up being even close to the fail line by the end of the semester and he didn't make it through. Just goes to show don't put too much weight in your perception.
Remember that you will re-cover a lot of the material you are learning now. Not in the exact same way but a good review. Like in your physical therapy musculoskeletal classes, you will run back through pertinent anatomy and brush up on it again. It comes back a lot easier the second time.
Remember that you will re-cover a lot of the material you are learning now. Not in the exact same way but a good review. Like in your physical therapy musculoskeletal classes, you will run back through pertinent anatomy and brush up on it again. It comes back a lot easier the second time.
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I agree with what starrsgirl said. Often times people study classes at different times, so you might think that someone knows everything or studies harder than you if they learned something that you haven't yet. You probably have studied things that that person hasn't, too.
I started falling into the trap of comparing myself to others, especially because a lot of the people who get A's or the people that I'm around often like to share their grades and ask how everyone did. Not in a competitive manner or to put anyone down, but it's definitely easy to not feel good when you know that others did better on tests.
Plus, you're getting A's! You should be so proud that you have a 4.0 right now, so keep doing what you're doing! It also feels like I'm trying to learn all the material for one test and then moving on, and I wish I had more time to focus on really retaining the information in the long run, but just remember that you're learning the basics right now. All your future classes will build upon what you're learning now, and that'll be the stuff that you remember. The 2nd year students don't remember a lot of the anatomy that we learn in the first year, and the 2nd year TA's have to look over their notes to prepare to teach us.
I'm also bummed about how much memorizing there is. I've used flashcards a LOT, but I've also learned by understanding probably more than I realize.
I started falling into the trap of comparing myself to others, especially because a lot of the people who get A's or the people that I'm around often like to share their grades and ask how everyone did. Not in a competitive manner or to put anyone down, but it's definitely easy to not feel good when you know that others did better on tests.
Plus, you're getting A's! You should be so proud that you have a 4.0 right now, so keep doing what you're doing! It also feels like I'm trying to learn all the material for one test and then moving on, and I wish I had more time to focus on really retaining the information in the long run, but just remember that you're learning the basics right now. All your future classes will build upon what you're learning now, and that'll be the stuff that you remember. The 2nd year students don't remember a lot of the anatomy that we learn in the first year, and the 2nd year TA's have to look over their notes to prepare to teach us.
I'm also bummed about how much memorizing there is. I've used flashcards a LOT, but I've also learned by understanding probably more than I realize.
