How do you force yourself?

[mudphudwannabe]

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Oh, have a heart people. 😛 I think we've all had times where we know we could have studied more and done better, but just couldn't find the motivation. Or maybe it's just me and the OP. Anyhow, there's no real solution, I'm sad to say -- you either become comfortable with the idea of getting less than ideal grades and perhaps not learning as much as you could, or you get your butt in gear and study. Either way, you will be a much happier and more well adjusted person if you just decide which of those two choices it is going to be. During the first two years, I never really decided, and it was a constant source of unnecessary emotional turmoil.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Is this really possible in medical school? Serious question.

I think my standards of "sort-of" studying are different than most peoples. I really do....I feel like to do well in medical school I should be getting a good 4-5hrs of serious no interruption studying. Where as mine is more like 6-7hrs of sort-of studying interspersed with a lot of AIM, SDN and craigslist.

I think its just perspective. I even took this stupid test our school made us take about study habits and it basically told me its a miracle I got into college let alone through and into medical school...

I laughed about it, and my roommate pointed out that its probably just perspective of what I consider focusing etc. I think she's right.

So strike the comment - I appologize if I offended anyone.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Ya, I agree. How can you be like this? Are you perpetually unsatisfied no matter what you do? Does nothing make you happy? Are you here looking for some sort of pity?

If you can do well enough by "sort of studying" than feel satisfied with that, get outside, and live life man! Relax.

Haha lots of things make me happy - like watching movies and playing on SDN. Or spending time with my bf. I think I just still have senioritis still.

I'm just distracted easily. And barely passing isn't really well-enough for me. I don't want to realize I want to do EM and find that I didn't do well enough in med school to get in.

And no, did I say I was looking for pity? I asked for suggestions about how people force themselves to study. And I got some great advice. I also got a lot of idiots [not you] bitching at me. But thats just the way of it on SDN. Thanks to those who did answer or PMd me - you gave me some great suggestions.

I'm sorry that my question somehow offended people. I'm so glad you all can sit down and focus so easily. I hope someday I can be just like you.

 

[baylormed]

I think I just still have senioritis still.

Tell me about it. I'm not quite sure how to get rid of it, either.

(And here I am, on SDN instead of studying)

I'm so glad you all can sit down and focus so easily. I hope someday I can be just like you.

The funny thing about medical school is that, at least in my opinion based on what I've seen so far, everyone is very reluctant to admit that they have vestiges of senioritis, or trouble concentrating, or that simply procrastination gets the best of them at times. It's like everyone feels forced to put up this "I-can-do-all" front in fear that somebody might question their intelligence. I mean, God forbid a medical student admits that studying isn't their favorite activity in the world.

But you're not the only one.

 

[ZagDoc]

It's like everyone feels forced to put up this "I-can-do-all" front in fear that somebody might question their intelligence.

VERY true. Also baffling to me. With such a ridiculous graduation rate of medical students, everyone at this level can cut it.

 

[ubcredfox]

OP - Sorry, didn't mean to come down real hard on you. I can totally relate to where you're coming from, it's just that for me it's a brutal fight just to stay in the game.

I think I get distracted pretty easily as well, and I know that the hours that I'm "sortof" studying should be much better spent doing something else. I mean, I can spend 4 hours looking at something, and only really doing an hour of solid, focused work. I really have to clean that up.

I'm also really quite driven to understand things and I hate memorizing things blindly, so I'm usually up to my elbows in reading that's really not relevant at all to the exam (but is to me, so I don't care).

I guess, what really makes me study, I mean what really makes me want to do that extra reading is finding something really pretty interesting and figuring out why it is the way it is. I don't know, I tend to come up with questions while I'm reading through material, and it's nice finding answers to some of them.

 

[sentrosi]

I've heard of people setting like a timer every day for however many hours. Then just studying straight until the timer runs out. Some even pause it when they take a bathroom break.

Anyway, I'm a horrible procrastinator (even during first year) and I passed everything during first year. I did most of my studying in the few days prior to an exam. But when I do that, I'm extremely focused and so on. It also kind of helped that I took a far amount of the classes in undergrad already (biochem, molecular bio) and being an EMT helped somewhat so I was at least basically familiar with a lot of things (like for Physical Diagnosis/History Taking). I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it can work for some people.

I think I'm going to have to change for second year though. Since were getting into stuff that is brand new to me. Though it is good that it is more interesting to me now (since it's more directly medical).

 

[Blade28]

I've heard of people setting like a timer every day for however many hours. Then just studying straight until the timer runs out. Some even pause it when they take a bathroom break.

Hey, I actually did that in college one quarter! Wow, bad memories... 🙂

 

[baylormed]

I've heard of people setting like a timer every day for however many hours. Then just studying straight until the timer runs out. Some even pause it when they take a bathroom break.

Anyway, I'm a horrible procrastinator (even during first year) and I passed everything during first year. I did most of my studying in the few days prior to an exam. But when I do that, I'm extremely focused and so on. It also kind of helped that I took a far amount of the classes in undergrad already (biochem, molecular bio) and being an EMT helped somewhat so I was at least basically familiar with a lot of things (like for Physical Diagnosis/History Taking). I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it can work for some people.

I think I'm going to have to change for second year though. Since were getting into stuff that is brand new to me. Though it is good that it is more interesting to me now (since it's more directly medical).

I think I could try this but I would probably get tired of it pretty soon. Plus, if for any reason I didn't do my 4 hours (or however many), I would just get frustrated with myself.

 

[trevagandalf]

I think I have a combination of ADD with sleep disorder.. Every time I pick up that biochem syllabus, I just feel soo tired and want to sleep...

 

[baylormed]

I think I have a combination of ADD with sleep disorder.. Every time I pick up that biochem syllabus, I just feel soo tired and want to sleep...

Haha.

But where does the ADD fit into this? Sounds like biochemistry-induced narcolepsy to me (my first diagnosis!).

 

[45408]

I'm sorry that my question somehow offended people. I'm so glad you all can sit down and focus so easily. I hope someday I can be just like you.

Most of them are significantly exaggerating. As much as SDN would like to convince you otherwise, you DON'T have ADD just because you can't sit down and study biochemistry for four straight hours without needing a significant break (or two or three or four). I have fully accepted the fact that I will not be able to get more than 1-2 hours of completely productive study time in a row, ever. I did reasonably well my first year, sliding above and below the mean from one class to the other. I definitely benefited from studying with a partner - not so much for the academic aspect, but to keep me from falling asleep or zoning out. Know your weaknesses! If it's the Internet (ahem, Baylormed), don't even bring your laptop with you. You can study without it, trust me. I know a guy who got a tablet PC and used it greatly to his advantage. He probably honored everything. I know another guy who had a tablet PC that used it to waste time, all the time.

I think my standards of "sort-of" studying are different than most peoples. I really do....I feel like to do well in medical school I should be getting a good 4-5hrs of serious no interruption studying. Where as mine is more like 6-7hrs of sort-of studying interspersed with a lot of AIM, SDN and craigslist.

When they're not trying to brag, you'll find that this is the case for most med students. Some people are lean, mean, studying machines, but most people aren't.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I think I have a combination of ADD with sleep disorder.. Every time I pick up that biochem syllabus, I just feel soo tired and want to sleep...

Because biochem is the most boring horrible medical school subject ever. I think we'd all have ADD if it's defined as having trouble with concentrating on biochem. Prowler's post is pretty accurate about studying. You get the impression that everybody but you is a total study monster, but it's not true. I think we all have trouble focusing a lot of the time.

 

[Blade28]

Because biochem is the most boring horrible medical school subject ever. I

IMHO, Embryology is worse.

 

[45408]

IMHO, Embryology is worse.

Agreed.

 

[Doctor J]

Uhh.. the thought that some day someone's life might depend on my knowledge of this ridiculously esoteric fact.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Uhh.. the thought that some day someone's life might depend on my knowledge of this ridiculously esoteric fact.

See but in general thats just not true...every doctor I've ever talked to just tells me that the information you learn in first and second year is pretty much useless to actually being a doctor.

 

[Slide]

As people have already seen in the other thread I started a while ago, one of the best ways to force yourself to study and get your arse in gear is to see how your first test went.

 

[Engin]

Like getting a speeding ticket, that only works for the first couple days....

And the drum beat on.

For me, I wake up every morning between 10:30-11:00 and hate myself. Another day and precious half day wasted. Help me.

 

[baylormed]

Like getting a speeding ticket, that only works for the first couple days....

And the drum beat on.

For me, I wake up every morning between 10:30-11:00 and hate myself. Another day and precious half day wasted. Help me.

Go to bed earlier. I never use an alarm (except on test days) and yet I wake up at ~6am automatically. I can't stay in bed longer than that. However, it only happens if I go to bed no later than 11pm.

 

[45408]

Go to bed earlier. I never use an alarm (except on test days) and yet I wake up at ~6am automatically. I can't stay in bed longer than that. However, it only happens if I go to bed no later than 11pm.

I can naturally sleep 10-12 hours every single night. Going to bed at 11pm would mean that I could get out of bed at 10am. There's no chance I'd be waking up at 6am. I had to get up at 6am all summer, but other than briefly peeking my eyes at the clock at about 7am on Saturday, it didn't "wake me up" the rest of the time.

 

[alphaholic06]

IMHO, Embryology is worse.

I agree with this totally.