getting set up to fail

[Livineasi]

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Anyone else feel like your school is setting you up to fail? I've got so many exams and practicals overlapping each other that we are being forced to rush learning some important hand skills. I'm teaching myself how to do preps and only have time to memorize information rather than learn it.

I'm not sure how being forced to do things half-assed is going to make me a better doctor?!

 

[newyorkblork]

1styear perspective, definitely a lot of information coming in, but there's enough time to learn it all, as long as I don't allow myself to indulge too much in the mentality of "I have the right to a few days off".

I let that mentality take over last week and I'm still catching up from it, haha. It's tiresome to do it every day, but working constantly and efficiently seems to leave more than enough time to get everything done.

 

[yorkiepoo]

Dental school's really hard. You were smart enough to get in, and you are smart enough to pass and get through it. It really sucks and it sucks the life out of you, but there is a very big (curing) light at the end of the tunnel 😛

Here's how I survived the first two years:

-stayed in the pre-clin/lab after class to finish the project for the day so that they wouldn't all pile up and leave me with a 100 things to do at the end of the month
-study all day on the weekends but took the nights off. sometimes that meant stopping at 6pm, but sometimes it meant studying until 9, but I always did something with friends on both Fri and Sat night.
-studied with friends before exam blocks--broke up the monotony and helped me pick up on facts that I may have missed during lecture.
- i tried to maintain as normal of a life as possible-- still hang out with friends, dated, watched a little TV.
-try to get enough sleep. I had a lot of trouble falling and staying asleep 1st and 2nd yr-- i was always nervous and stressed, but honestly, if you are able to sleep well, get your 8 hrs so that you can be alert in class. there isn't as much use sitting in class if you are dozing off or not paying attention.

 

[yorkiepoo]

1styear perspective, definitely a lot of information coming in, but there's enough time to learn it all, as long as I don't allow myself to indulge too much in the mentality of "I have the right to a few days off".

I let that mentality take over last week and I'm still catching up from it, haha. It's tiresome to do it every day, but working constantly and efficiently seems to leave more than enough time to get everything done.

i disagree with this mentality-- i definitely recommend taking a day or evening off every now and then; just make sure you have finished everything before hand-- there is no reason if you are caught up that you can't take a little "me time"

and remember, they aren't setting you up to fail-- it's just that there is a LOT of material to learn, and two years to learn it (didactic) and then two years to implement it (clinical years) isn't as much as it sounds.


oh also, i tried to go away during winter break for the last two years, and sometimes april break too. getting away was a BIG life-saver and let me recharge. DEFINITELY UTILIZE VACATIONS!!!

 

[Drabuisa]

Anyone else feel like your school is setting you up to fail? I've got so many exams and practicals overlapping each other that we are being forced to rush learning some important hand skills. I'm teaching myself how to do preps and only have time to memorize information rather than learn it.

I'm not sure how being forced to do things half-assed is going to make me a better doctor?!

Hell yeah I feel like that! I just put a similar post up a few days ago. I just hope in the end we aren't incompetent because of it.

 

[DrReo]

Dental school's really hard. You were smart enough to get in, and you are smart enough to pass and get through it. It really sucks and it sucks the life out of you, but there is a very big (curing) light at the end of the tunnel 😛

Here's how I survived the first two years:

-stayed in the pre-clin/lab after class to finish the project for the day so that they wouldn't all pile up and leave me with a 100 things to do at the end of the month
-study all day on the weekends but took the nights off. sometimes that meant stopping at 6pm, but sometimes it meant studying until 9, but I always did something with friends on both Fri and Sat night.
-studied with friends before exam blocks--broke up the monotony and helped me pick up on facts that I may have missed during lecture.
- i tried to maintain as normal of a life as possible-- still hang out with friends, dated, watched a little TV.
-try to get enough sleep. I had a lot of trouble falling and staying asleep 1st and 2nd yr-- i was always nervous and stressed, but honestly, if you are able to sleep well, get your 8 hrs so that you can be alert in class. there isn't as much use sitting in class if you are dozing off or not paying attention.

This really hits the nail on the head. Will going threw that packet of lectures just one more time really help? Most likely not if you've been threw it several times. A lot of it is time management.

With regards to hand skills, it's all about where you fall on the learning curve. Just because there are a lot of exams, doesn't mean they're setting you up to fail. It is just a demanding curriculum.

 

[La fea]

Also you get better at dentistry with time. For me it all started to come together around mid D3 year- 2 quarters or so of clinic. It sure takes time. Just gotta plod on.

 

[Livineasi]

I didn't say I was failing. I said I think they are setting us up to fail. I'm sure every school is set up differently. Most of our lab work must take place out side of class time...not because we don't finish it in time during class, but because there is no time in class set aside for it. Example - we have a practical on a maxillary tooth - prep and temp for a crown. We have never done this in class - so we need to spend hours everyday outside of class teaching ourselves techniques without any faculty guidance. On top of this, we need to be practicing drilling Class IIs, we need to make dentures, and of course study for all didactic classes. There is not enough time in the day or week for this to all get done with out rushing it and in the end learning things half-ass instead of correctly.

And someone mentioned utilizing vacations....lol....we have finals week after Thanksgiving; we take Pt. 1 of the Boards the last week of December so winter break is just a massive study session; we have 3 big exams the week we return from Spring "break"....there are no real breaks; no time to recharge...just more time to stress and study.

I know that D-school is a formidable task...I know how to organize my time; I know how to maintain some semblance of a life...but in my opinion our schedule is just really poorly organized to the point of sacrificing our education, not to mention our sanity!

 

[achilles2]

stress breeds adaptation

 

[DrReo]

I know that D-school is a formidable task...I know how to organize my time; I know how to maintain some semblance of a life...but in my opinion our schedule is just really poorly organized to the point of sacrificing our education, not to mention our sanity!

Now this just sounds like a dental school whiner.

 

[flapaTron]

stress breeds adaptation

👍

 

[Livineasi]

I'm not really sure that being concerned about how I'm getting educated really qualifies me as a "whiner." But thanks for the support and helpful criticism.

 

[DrReo]

I'm not really sure that being concerned about how I'm getting educated really qualifies me as a "whiner." But thanks for the support and helpful criticism.

You're complaining there's so much to do and so little time. You're the one who is claiming to be "half assing" your education. There are many people who can read the lectures ones and have the lectures down. With regards to lab, your situation isn't great. Can you ask faculty for feed back after you finish the preparation the next day?