Haven't needed to study much for pre-med. Will I be unprepared for medical school?

[BellaVerde]

Hello!
I created an account just to post this question because it's been stressing me out for a while. I've received great grades in all of my pre-med classes and didn't really need to study for them. I'm worried that once classes get even harder in med school I won't know how to study enough to keep up with the work.

I had a preview of this situation when I took biochemistry. I needed to come up with a study schedule for the first time in order to keep up. It worried me because I felt like my peers already to knew how to study and prepare, and now I feel like I've missed out on years of study training. Does anyone have any advice or stories about similar situations? Thank you!

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[Goro]

Hard to tell. Your courses might be just easy with lots of grade inflation, or, give yourself a little credit and maybe you are just a really, really smart person?

Different subjects have differing challenge levels. In grad school I easily handled metabolic pathways, but enzyme kinetics and receptor/ligand binding interactions just killed me!

Some of my student just sail through anatomy, others struggle.

Sounds like you were proactive and did the right thing. So have some faith in yourself.

 

[alw44]

I do believe you should be concerned if you have not established a good study method that suits you. You don’t want to be spending a significant amount of time in med school learning how to study. However, it’s never too late.

Have you taken or started studying for the MCAT yet? If not, you can use this opportunity to establish a solid study technique. For example, do you learn best with videos (YouTube, Khan Academy, etc), audio (books, podcasts), or textbooks? Do you take notes (which is not a very effective technique in most situations)? Do you practice active recall? Do you use flash cards (Anki is a widely used app for medical students)? Start exploring all of these techniques now. It’s not too late.

 

[deleted1005514]

Hello!
I created an account just to post this question because it's been stressing me out for a while. I've received great grades in all of my pre-med classes and didn't really need to study for them. I'm worried that once classes get even harder in med school I won't know how to study enough to keep up with the work.

I had a preview of this situation when I took biochemistry. I needed to come up with a study schedule for the first time in order to keep up. It worried me because I felt like my peers already to knew how to study and prepare, and now I feel like I've missed out on years of study training. Does anyone have any advice or stories about similar situations? Thank you!

What did you do that made you successful in biochem?

 

[TLITTLE]

I don't think you should be concerned. Almost everyone changes the way that they study once they begin med school, most even change it multiple times. There is always a transition period when starting med school until you find what study strategies work best for you. Just relax

 

[LizzyM]

How have you prepared for the MCAT? Have you taken it yet? If yes, what did you score? What were your grades in O-Chem I and II?

 

[longhaul3]

Med school is different for everyone. In a class of 100-200 people, there's going to be a pretty wide distribution of academic ability and intelligence despite the rigorous admissions process. Some people don't study that much and do well; some people study hard and do well; some people can't do well no matter how hard they study; and some people don't care about doing well so they don't study hard.

However, only a very small minority can't meet the bare minimum. Something like 95% of people who start med school graduate, I think. And with more and more schools and Step 1 moving to P/F, the bare minimum is becoming more and more acceptable.

 

[BellaVerde]

What did you do that made you successful in biochem?

I spent an hour or so per day making Quizlets from the slides for each lecture and then reviewing the previous day's flashcards. At the end of the week I would review the quizlets from that week and then I would periodically revisit each lecture's flashcards until the exam.

 

[BellaVerde]

How have you prepared for the MCAT? Have you taken it yet? If yes, what did you score? What were your grades in O-Chem I and II?

I got A's in O-chem. I'll be preparing for the MCAT this summer and based on other replies it looks like it would be a good idea for me to use that as an opportunity to hone my study skills!

 

[BellaVerde]

I do believe you should be concerned if you have not established a good study method that suits you. You don’t want to be spending a significant amount of time in med school learning how to study. However, it’s never too late.

Have you taken or started studying for the MCAT yet? If not, you can use this opportunity to establish a solid study technique. For example, do you learn best with videos (YouTube, Khan Academy, etc), audio (books, podcasts), or textbooks? Do you take notes (which is not a very effective technique in most situations)? Do you practice active recall? Do you use flash cards (Anki is a widely used app for medical students)? Start exploring all of these techniques now. It’s not too late.

That's a great point! I'll start working on that while I study for the MCAT this summer.

 

[deleted1005514]

I spent an hour or so per day making Quizlets from the slides for each lecture and then reviewing the previous day's flashcards. At the end of the week I would review the quizlets from that week and then I would periodically revisit each lecture's flashcards until the exam.

You'll be fine if you keep up a schedule like that. You might want to look into Anki if you like flashcards, but what you've been doing indicates you know how to study actively & efficiently. Speed will come with time. Add in some practice questions for application and you're gold.

P.S. Search Anki on this site and you'll get more information than you know what to do with.

 

[BellaVerde]

Hard to tell. Your courses might be just easy with lots of grade inflation, or, give yourself a little credit and maybe you are just a really, really smart person?

Different subjects have differing challenge levels. In grad school I easily handled metabolic pathways, but enzyme kinetics and receptor/ligand binding interactions just killed me!

Some of my student just sail through anatomy, others struggle.

Sounds like you were proactive and did the right thing. So have some faith in yourself.

Thank you! Any suggestions on evaluating how inflated my grades are? My school has a database where you can see the average grades for different courses and instructors and I've been looking at that for some of my classes.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

The best solution to ones problems are usually the ones you construct. Different strategies work better for some than others. I often say GRIT is the best characteristic a med student can have. You will need to adapt and work hard to be successful. Looks like you are well on your way. Good luck and best wishes!

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

If you can get 529 in MCAT you don't need to study much in medical school