First test over...and I feel like crap

[Slide]

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My class just had its first test today and we got our results back. I thought I knew the stuff pretty well, and was thinking how well I did on the test. Turns out that when I got the results back, I barely passed the test. Now I feel horrible and I'm now regretting how I spent my time studying. I probably won't get much sympathy for this rant and I don't want it either. I just wanna know how people who've just had the same experience dealt with it.

 

[samenewme]

Just barely passing, for a lot of us, is doing pretty well in med school. I was so sure I was prepared to cope with the bigger, smarter pond I'd be swimming in in med school, but I had a lot of trouble. I had to do a level of studying that I would previously have associated with knocking the cover off the ball just to be within a standard deviation of the mean score.

Your first test is a way to calibrate your studying, to know what works, what doesn't, and how much you have to know about the material to do as well as you can possibly do. For most people there's a lot of regrouping, readjusting, and refining that goes on as you start taking those first exams. Take a deep breath, look around, look at the exam and see what you did well and what you didn't do so well, and start thinking about adjustments.

You'll be okay. It's a big change.

 

[Law2Doc]

My class just had its first test today and we got our results back. I thought I knew the stuff pretty well, and was thinking how well I did on the test. Turns out that when I got the results back, I barely passed the test. Now I feel horrible and I'm now regretting how I spent my time studying. I probably won't get much sympathy for this rant and I don't want it either. I just wanna know how people who've just had the same experience dealt with it.

Learn from it. If your previous study methods didn't pan out, don't be afraid to change them up. Stagnation is death.

 

[MSKalltheway]

I think far more of us can relate to your situation than you think. Like L2D said, see it as a learning experience. A lot of my classmates and I fumbled around much of 1st year, trying to figure out what the best way to study was. I didn't figure out how I ticked until ~8 weeks left in the entire year. Don't regret how you studied, realize that you may need to change things up and try something different. I know its cheesy and cliche, but what's important that you put forth your best effort, which is the most important thing. Hang in there, you'll figure it out!

 

[Twitch]

We've got our first test next week. Just curious if you kept up with the material.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

My first test is tomorrow, though it's an introductory Pass/Fail course...I still feel overwhelmed. I think once you get your first test out of the way, you can step back and analyze how you will attack the next block of classes and exams. Just keep plugging away at it, trying different things until you find what works for you.

 

[Law2Doc]

Just curious if you kept up with the material.

Trouble on the first test is rarely about keeping up with the material. Everybody shows up to med school gung ho, and the pace of med school isn't usually at its fastest during the initial month. (I also doubt the OP would have felt upset if s/he hadn't really kept up). But lots of people do show up with notions from college of how to prepare that don't work as well in med school. So it's more a matter of figuring out how to study at this level. And there is no one recipe for success -- no "one size fits all" -- everyone needs to find out what works for them. And it's not simply a matter of hours logged plugging away, it's a matter of effectiveness - what method actually gets things into your brain. Some of the people who do poorly spend more time in the books/notes than some of the best, but simply aren't effective studyers. The key is to keep switching up things until you find a method that works. Trial and error. But try not to have too many big errors.

 

[Slide]

We've got our first test next week. Just curious if you kept up with the material.

I kept up with the work, but not as much as I should've. I blew off the first day, then studied the rest of the week for maybe 2 hours a day. On the weekend I studied 3 hours per day, and the two days before the test I upped it to 6. Definitely did not study properly, I only looked over the slides instead of analyzed them. For Developmental I didn't get my book until 3 days before the test, so that kinda sucked too. What I should've done was studied the material more in depth and focused on the work, instead of just glimpsing stuff I had in undergrad.

For your first test, what I strongly recommend is to study for it much harder than you think you should. That way you can adjust your strategies later with more ease.

 

[inside_edition]

I kept up with the work, but not as much as I should've. I blew off the first day, then studied the rest of the week for maybe 2 hours a day. On the weekend I studied 3 hours per day, and the two days before the test I upped it to 6. Definitely did not study properly, I only looked over the slides instead of analyzed them. For Developmental I didn't get my book until 3 days before the test, so that kinda sucked too. What I should've done was studied the material more in depth and focused on the work, instead of just glimpsing stuff I had in undergrad.

For your first test, what I strongly recommend is to study for it much harder than you think you should. That way you can adjust your strategies later with more ease.

or just make your learning/studying objective exactly what my UG biochem professor said: Know everything (meaning that you should be able to explain what every slide talks about).

 

[Blade28]

Very common feeling. Early on, med school is brutally hard (in terms of volume of material, mainly) for almost everyone.

 

[nightowl]

I'm a second year and I think I might go to your school bc M1s just had a test. Anyway, just wanted to say my first few test blocks, it felt like I was killing myself just to pass. At this point, you should enjoy your freedom for a few days before you have to pull yourself up and do it all over again. You can't get down about making bad grades though, just be happy you passed these first tests. It'll get better once you get used to it 😉

 

[Medikit]

I've never felt good after a medical school exam. But the first exam was definitely my worst.

 

[senseiturtle]

C = MD

And you will adjust.


I'm fearing my first test... coming up in 2 weeks from today.

 

[DoctaJay]

Our first group of tests are coming in september, and although I have no idea how ready I'll be, one thing that I've been doing to prepare my mind is studying the BRS books along with the lecture notes they give us. Someone told me that what gets 1st yr. med students into trouble is that think that the questions will be somewhat factual, since they throw all these facts at you. But what they really do is that the questions are factual, but in a wierd tertiary way. In the BRS Anatomy book, they never asked what nerve innervated a muscle, but they did want to know what miniscule foramen it traveled through, or where on the brachial plexus it branched off of. Anyway, I'm saying all this to say that I am morbidly scared also of my first test, but I figure that if you can get some handle on "how" the teachers phrase their questions, it may help in the long run. But hey man, you are IN MEDICAL SCHOOL!. You've come so far already; this was just one battle in a long war, so keep at it.

 

[Slide]

On closer inspection of the test I just took, I realized part of the problem wasn't the knowledge, but it was my test taking skills.

When I got the answer key and my personal copy of the test back, I noticed that some of the questions I marked wrong were questions I originally had answered correctly. 4 questions were wrong because I chose the correct answer, but had second thoughts and changed the answer! Also, for one question, I skipped over one word in the question, and that alone would changed the answer I would've given if I had paid attention to it.

Wow, I thought I got this crap out of my system during the MCAT! Anyway, read your tests carefully and don't doubt your answers!

 

[Blade28]

4 questions were wrong because I chose the correct answer, but had second thoughts and changed the answer!

You should know never to second-guess yourself unless you have a VERY good reason to change your answer! 🙂

 

[Ashers]

C = MD

And you will adjust.


I'm fearing my first test... coming up in 2 weeks from today.

That is a horrible mantra. Our M1 psych lecturer had us say it after him a couple of times, well, "P=MD," and so many people fell for it for a while. Now they're like, "Will I be OK for this competitive specialty since I passed a lot of classes?" (When they weren't applying themselves fully). I think a P is perfectly fine, if someone is working hard and that's as well as they can do. Sorry, that's just one of my big pet peeves. I kinda went by that first year and got a bunch of HP's and regretted it because I missed honoring several classes by 1 to a few points.

 

[pagemmapants]

I know they told you this in MCAT prep classes, but it's true again here. PAY ATTENTION TO NEGATIVES. By the end of the year I was circling all of the "not"s before answering the question.

 

[Law2Doc]

You should know never to second-guess yourself unless you have a VERY good reason to change your answer! 🙂

Agreed -- always go with your first impression unless you are positive that it's wrong. Your subconscious brain often will "know" the right answer from stuff even if you don't know why -- trust it if you don't have a good reason not to.

 

[SeventhSon]

there are so many times where you will feel incompetent in med school... even if you do relatively well. Either you will feel like most of the class did better than you, or even if you did well, other people got your grade with less effort.

I think Law2Doc said it best.. MS-1 is a trial and error ground for your studying approach. I was very inefficient for most of the year and finally startred to somewhat get it together by the end of the year.

good luck

 

[medstylee]

Our first group of tests are coming in september, and although I have no idea how ready I'll be, one thing that I've been doing to prepare my mind is studying the BRS books along with the lecture notes they give us. Someone told me that what gets 1st yr. med students into trouble is that think that the questions will be somewhat factual, since they throw all these facts at you. But what they really do is that the questions are factual, but in a wierd tertiary way. In the BRS Anatomy book, they never asked what nerve innervated a muscle, but they did want to know what miniscule foramen it traveled through, or where on the brachial plexus it branched off of. Anyway, I'm saying all this to say that I am morbidly scared also of my first test, but I figure that if you can get some handle on "how" the teachers phrase their questions, it may help in the long run. But hey man, you are IN MEDICAL SCHOOL!. You've come so far already; this was just one battle in a long war, so keep at it.

BRS is good for a study supplement, but just beware that most of them lack the detail that your medical school exams will require. i think in most cases the notes you get from your professors are the best things (and sometimes the only things) you should use for studying. and, just fyi, innervations are usually way more important than knowing what foraminae the nerves pass through. i guess it depends on your school, but i'd be sure to know some innervations - at least the key ones.

 

[Blade28]

I know they told you this in MCAT prep classes, but it's true again here. PAY ATTENTION TO NEGATIVES. By the end of the year I was circling all of the "not"s before answering the question.

If it makes you feel any better, your MS-I and MS-II grades don't count for much come residency application time. 🙂

 

[Slide]

If it makes you feel any better, your MS-I and MS-II grades don't count for much come residency application time. 🙂

Yeah after my silent venting I realized that grades during rotations are more important. The only reason I want to do well is to get AOA and a decent rank so I can have options for residency.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Yeah, don't change an answer if you're waffling between two things. Only change it if you know for sure the your initial answer was wrong. I still mess this one up sometimes. 😳

Anyway, you passed, and that's good. Now you've gotten some ideas about how you messed up while taking the test and what may or may not work for you for studying. That's a good thing about having exams relatively early in the year.

 

[baylormed]

OP: You are scaring me. We have our first test next Wednesday.






**Turns away from computer determined to study harder**

 

[SeventhSon]

BRS is good for a study supplement, but just beware that most of them lack the detail that your medical school exams will require.

not to mention that rigorous textbooks lack the specific detail that your narcissistic professors will sometimes test on

 

[GreenShirt]

Oh good, I'm not the only one who barely passed the first exam! We just had ours on Monday. Passing is good, but remediation doesn't sound too good. My physician told me before I went to med school that med school was the first time in his life when he learned how to actually study. I think I understand what he means now. You just can't study the way you did as an undergrad because there's just not enough time to do it that way. You have to figure out how to make your studying quick and to the point in order to keep up (by the way, if anyone figures out how to do this let me know).

 

[Law2Doc]

(by the way, if anyone figures out how to do this let me know).

Lots of people will figure it out, but the truth is that the answer is different for everybody. What works for some doesn't work for others. At the end of the year you can pick out the top dozen people and they will have a dozen different methodologies, and there will often be a dozen people at the bottom of your class using those same dozen methodologies to no effect. You have to find what works for YOU, and basically ignore what else anyone "figures out". Keep your eyes on your own plate and you will be better for it. 🙂

 

[shantster]

I know they told you this in MCAT prep classes, but it's true again here. PAY ATTENTION TO NEGATIVES. By the end of the year I was circling all of the "not"s before answering the question.

I've always done this on multiple choice tests where I can write on the test (and I hate when I'm given MC tests where I'm not allowed to write on them). Any word I feel important to the question or answer stem is marked in some way when I'm reading it to make sure I have fully grasped the problem at hand.

 

[DCDAWG]

I've always done this on multiple choice tests where I can write on the test (and I hate when I'm given MC tests where I'm not allowed to write on them). Any word I feel important to the question or answer stem is marked in some way when I'm reading it to make sure I have fully grasped the problem at hand.

I wish they published GPAs and class rankings to go along with board scores of residency matches.
I wonder how much a C average would inhibit someone with an above average Step 1 score.

 

[njbmd]

My class just had its first test today and we got our results back. I thought I knew the stuff pretty well, and was thinking how well I did on the test. Turns out that when I got the results back, I barely passed the test. Now I feel horrible and I'm now regretting how I spent my time studying. I probably won't get much sympathy for this rant and I don't want it either. I just wanna know how people who've just had the same experience dealt with it.

Now you probably can understand why we "party" so hard after exams! Not only is it fun but we let off loads of "steam".

You shake if off and keep moving forward. Make some adjustments and chalk it up to "experience". No 100% on a test ever made anyone a "higher form of life". If you are like most freshmen medical students, you will adjust and probably end up doing quite well overall as long as you learn from your mistakes, take another approach and head back into battle.

How did we deal with it? Loads of ETOH, loud music and laughter mostly at ourselves.

 

[Law2Doc]

I wonder how much a C average would inhibit someone with an above average Step 1 score.

Hardly at all (and most schools have Ps, not Cs, making it harder to compare). If you score above average on Step 1, your passing preclinical grades aren't going to hurt you too much. There are lots of listings of what criteria are focused on by residency directors and in almost all, the preclinical grades are quite far down the list. But it should be cautioned that Step 1 is largely on the same material covered by the first two years of med school, so how you do during those years is often an indicator of how much of an obstacle you will find that exam.

 

[IHeartNerds]

All of our current courses (well, 3 of them) end in early September. They have exactly one exam, which comprises 100% of our grade. Nothing like not having a midterm to figure out the test style before it actually matters...

Coming from the land of four exams and a final in undergrad, it's an adjustment...

 

[Law2Doc]

All of our current courses (well, 3 of them) end in early September. They have exactly one exam, which comprises 100% of our grade. Nothing like not having a midterm to figure out the test style before it actually matters...

Coming from the land of four exams and a final in undergrad, it's an adjustment...

Ouch -- I feel your pain. Many law school courses often had one exam for the entire YEAR. You get used to it. Sort of like going off to war with only one bullet. Builds character.

 

[SeventhSon]

All of our current courses (well, 3 of them) end in early September. They have exactly one exam, which comprises 100% of our grade. Nothing like not having a midterm to figure out the test style before it actually matters...

Coming from the land of four exams and a final in undergrad, it's an adjustment...

well... at our school, there is a test almost EVERY week. We almost took as many tests as total weeks of instruction. That is a far worse experience than having one for a class... at least you get a chance to breathe deep.

 

[Sondra]

If you want some help on how to prepare for each class or what the professors look for or the best books to use, come find me between or after class. I would be happy to tell you as much as I can. While the first test seems rough, they only get more fustrating between now and December because of gross. Gross will take up so much of your time that you won't feel like you can adequately prepare for you other classes and keep up with gross too. After Christmas break, it will seem a little easier.

 

[45408]

Now I feel horrible and I'm now regretting how I spent my time studying.

Now you really know you're in med school. Many/most of us have been there. I failed a neuro exam, but I learned from my mistakes, and I had a great score on the final. Just take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes, but don't get too down on yourself for making them.

Just remember - people who score well tend to talk louder than those who score poorly. Even when I could see that I scored the average on an exam, I would hear 10 people talking about how they did better, and 3 people talking about how they did worse. Either that, or I have selective hearing (also quite possible).

 

[moonpie]

hey slide, so we are in the same class, but since i'm socially weird i have no clue as to who you could be...but i sit in the back...(and i only know this because i saw you post in the school thread, i swear i'm not a stalker!)

since i had the "luxury" of being in the class last year, i can tell you some stories about horrible tests and nervous breakdowns. just to remind you, it's only the first test, med school sucks, and after you figure out how the phd guys are trying to screw the med students, it actually does get easier. well, at least easier to predict what they'll think is "important". also, going over old tests is key to doing good. and talking to the professors is also a good thing because if you tell them your case and whatnot, they can kinda ascertain your learning style and give you pointers.

 

[RokChalkJayhawk]

My class just had its first test today and we got our results back. I thought I knew the stuff pretty well, and was thinking how well I did on the test. Turns out that when I got the results back, I barely passed the test. Now I feel horrible and I'm now regretting how I spent my time studying. I probably won't get much sympathy for this rant and I don't want it either. I just wanna know how people who've just had the same experience dealt with it.

Just barely passing or doing better than average? Because if you are doing better than average have a little mini-celebration

 

[Kazema]

Oh good, I'm not the only one who barely passed the first exam! We just had ours on Monday. Passing is good, but remediation doesn't sound too good. My physician told me before I went to med school that med school was the first time in his life when he learned how to actually study. I think I understand what he means now. You just can't study the way you did as an undergrad because there's just not enough time to do it that way. You have to figure out how to make your studying quick and to the point in order to keep up (by the way, if anyone figures out how to do this let me know).

Yeah, I think the main thing during first year is just learning how to do the whole medical school thing: how to study, how to take tests, how to divide your time between studying and doing fun stuff to keep yourself sane.

By the time second year comes around, you hopefully have your methods down and are ready to fill in the blanks with actual content. In other words, actually start learning AND understanding medical stuff. And maybe learn how to find stuff out on your own and not depend so much on lectures and lecture notes to teach you everything.

 

[Slide]

Just barely passing or doing better than average? Because if you are doing better than average have a little mini-celebration

If you were to divide the class rank into three tiers, I would've made the middle tier, but I wouldn't be too far away from the lowest tier. I didn't barely pass, but for me, the margin I made between passing and not passing was still too close for comfort. The good thing though is that the non-biochem sections count for only a relatively small portion of the entire grade (I believe 10% of the written section, which itself is 40% of the grade).

 

[pagemmapants]

Yeah after my silent venting I realized that grades during rotations are more important. The only reason I want to do well is to get AOA and a decent rank so I can have options for residency.

*note* only 1/3 of orthopedic residents were AOA.

http://www.nrmp.org/matchoutcomes.pdf

 

[Law2Doc]

The good thing though is that the non-biochem sections count for only a relatively small portion of the entire grade (I believe 10% of the written section, which itself is 40% of the grade).

I wouldn't spend much time figuring out final grades -- worry about each section as if it's the only section. Consider the last one as an experiment -- it didn't work, but you can learn something form it. Change your approach. Trial and error. This is a marathon, and even if you end up barely passing the first course, if you can learn a study method from it that helps you later on down the road, it was valuable. It's not accidental that first year counts the least.

 

[78222]

Welcome to medschool. You are no longer a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the all singing all dancing... you get the point.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Just got my first quiz score back, got a 75% with the average being a 78%. I feel average, lol...and like crap. Found out I need to focus more on memorizing the details, not so much the big picture/mechanisms/decision making because I always forget the minute numerical detail (which you could always lookup) but remember the big points. For me, I need to be more detailed oriented. Good lesson to learn. Thank God the course is Pass/Fail, so a lesson learned cheaply.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Just got my first quiz score back, got a 75% with the average being a 78%. I feel average, lol...and like crap. Found out I need to focus more on memorizing the details, not so much the big picture/mechanisms/decision making because I always forget the minute numerical detail (which you could always lookup) but remember the big points. For me, I need to be more detailed oriented. Good lesson to learn. Thank God the course is Pass/Fail, so a lesson learned cheaply.

Yeah, welcome to med school where it's all about the small details. I'm a big picture person, too, and it is a hard transition. Now you know, though.