I need some advice from med students, please

[Amy B]

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Greetings all,

I was wondering.... What is a subject or topic you wished you had studied up on before med school that could have made your first year a bit smoother.

I feel like I have nothing to do right now except worry about med school next fall. I graduated from school in 2002 so I have had all this time to do nothing but spend time with my family and play video games, travel, relax, etc.... Quite frankly I am bored to death and need some brain activities.

I am really wanting to do something that is important and will help my studies next year.

Should I learn all the bones, or muscles, or biochem pathways, etc....???????

If you could go back to the summer before your MSI year and learn one topic what would it be and how would you go about learning it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🙂 🙂 😎 😎

 

[BlueFalcon]

Relax. There will be plenty of time for you to learn what you need once school starts. Keep in mind that you're going to be working pretty hard for the next four years plus and enjoy the free time that you have now because it will soon evaporate to a large extent. In my opinion, studying now really isn't going to give you much of a leg up.

But... if you really are that bored.... I might grab a Step I First Aid book and start hammering away at Biochem, Immunology and Histology. But that's just me. I would stick with a study guide like the First Aid book because I think without one, you may have a tendency to study things in far too much detail.

 

[DOtobe]

I wish I knew more Gross Anatomy when I started med school. Gross and pharmacology were the two classes I had the most difficulty with first year, but gross was the worst of all for me.

As for how to go about studying them (I also think that it is a little too early to study, but anyway), I agree with BlueFalcon. I'd just maybe get a board review book like the High Yield books. I wouldn't study anything in too much detail until school starts.

 

[Elysium]

Yeah, I've heard that taking an anatomy course before starting school is a good idea to get familiar with the material. I think I'll probably take it next semester P/F just for the hell of it.

It's not gonna hurt, right?

🙂

 

[DireWolf]

If you're REALLY bored, biochem would be good to read up on. But I suggest not doing anything med school related. You'll have plenty of time for that. 😀

 

[drchris33]

I agree with the other posters. Maybe one other avenue you could approach would be that of medical terminology. If you haven't taken a course on that or haven't worked in the hospital, it would be an excellent course to take. i took it in undergrad, and I am so glad I did. Medicine is a language all in itself (if you haven't figured that out already). Understanding the material isn't all that bad, but if you don't know what some word roots/prefixes/suffixes mean, it makes it a lot tougher.

My weak areas first year were Embryo and Immuno. As well as Histology. I didnt have the opportunity to take them in undergrad, so I wished I had those classes.

That is my $0.02

-C

 

[luckystar]

Originally posted by drchris33
Maybe one other avenue you could approach would be that of medical terminology. If you haven't taken a course on that or haven't worked in the hospital, it would be an excellent course to take. i took it in undergrad, and I am so glad I did. Medicine is a language all in itself (if you haven't figured that out already). Understanding the material isn't all that bad, but if you don't know what some word roots/prefixes/suffixes mean, it makes it a lot tougher.

That's a great idea, or maybe medical spanish, and if you really want to have fun, take Latin or Greek 😉 I found that my year of Latin in college (and yes, I did take that for fun) really helped with a lot of the terminology, and made for interesting discussion during dissections because two of my lab partners had taken Latin before too.

Anyway, a class in terminology or medical spanish might be something that interests you, especially if you want to save the hardcore drilling until after you officially start school.

 

[DrSmiles]

PHYSIOLOGY. I took it in undergrad and it really helped me a lot, not to mention physio is huge on the boards. Some of my classmates that didn't have physio find themselves struggling through some of the concepts. You don't even need to take a class, just get a good medical physio book and learn some concepts.

 

[NUgirl]

I was in your shoes last year, and I decided to read Lippincott's (a GREAT review book of biochem). It helped make biochem a little easier this year. But do not memorize any pathways! You'll forget them anyway by the time school starts, and you may not even have to memorize them in med school (we don't need to at CCOM). I really regret not studying some anatomy before starting school. I had never taken it, and it would have helped if I had been exposed to it. If you consider studying anatomy, I suggest learning the bones and maybe the muscles, not much else.

But if you don't do any studying that's ok too! You'll be doing plenty of it med school. You as might as well enjoy the free time you have now! 😉

 

[Heeed!]

If you're really bored, I would take an anatomy class. Knowing the names of everything is a large part of the anatomy battle. I took a 6 week summer class in anatomy at a junior college at I think it benefited me. But I'd do more relaxing than studying!!

 

[Amy B]

Thank you to all for the great advice. I guess I am feeling restless since my husband hasn't found a job in the city where my school is, we haven't sold our house and haven't been able to find a new one. I though if I kept my mind busy I wouldn't worry about all these things.

Thanks again. I think I am going to look for a good medical terminology text as suggested and maybe some basics in anatomy just to get a bare bones understanding about some main parts of the body.

Thanks and good luck to all this year!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fenrezz]

I agree with some of the posters. I would have been happier if I had taken anatomy just to get familiar with the terminology.

 

[gtb]

Oh man, oh man, oh man I wish I had taken biochemistry and nailed down the pathways before first year. After that I would have bought the new Netter flash cards and memorized those. Then I wish I had a course in cell biology complete with molecular stuff. Of course a class in pharmacology would have helped too. My advice? The road is very, very long and if you have any free time after getting accepted then you should play and have fun. I'm in the middle of my 4th rotation in third year and I'm getting tired. Relax, enjoy yourself, there's plenty of time to kick ass later on.

 

[bustbones26]

hell I was working as a plastics engineer when I got accepted to med school. Before that, I earned a degree in mathematics and another in chemical engineering, so, As you can imagine, the only biological sciences I had were bio I and II, just enough to get into med school.

Many students in my class that had a strong undergrad anatomy classes did well in med school anatomy.

Biochem is only hard because you are asked to memorize so much bull**** stuff that you will never actually use as a physician. So if you could learn some of this stuff, it may soften the blow a bit.

My thoughts on first year, first semester was this, it was a time of hazing. You had so much idiotic test questions related to things that wre relevant to the course, but irrelevant to teh boards and medicine. These questions were put there to "toughen" you up, kind of like basic training in the army.

So, if you have a good background in the biological sciences, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Me, I did not, so I got me arse kicked a bit, but I did survive and even managed to pass my boards.

Just keep one thing in mind, the difficulty of your biochemistry, microbiology, etc. will not be as difficult as the courses you had in undergrad, believe it or not, they will be easier. But the challenge is, taking 10 courses at a time, over 30 credits in a 20 week semester, that will be the challenge for you.

 

[LovelyRita]

physiology.