I think I'm going to fail my first test

[Imogen]

I have my first anatomy, physio, and histo exam of med school next week (not this week), and I legitimately think I'm going to fail. I have been studying, going to class, going to TA office hours, going in to the anatomy lab every weekend, etc. I feel like I'm working hard. But I just looked at an old practice exam and panicked because I have no idea how to answer most of the questions.

I feel like no matter how hard I study, the information I'm learning isn't being retained properly because I have no time to go over it again. I can barely keep up with my lectures (I'm like 4 behind right now) and I just feel awful.

I used to rewrite all my notes into outlines in undergrad, but I stopped in med school because it was taking me WAY too long to do. Now I'm wondering if that was a huge mistake and I should try to switch back to that and write out my LO's?

I just don't know what to do. I feel like crap. If anyone has any study advice, I'd love to hear it.

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[Nephronlearner]

What kind of questions are you missing?
I suppose the tests are MCQ?
Are you missing the details (i.e the name of some channel or origin of some muscle) or are you missing the questions about concepts (i.e you forget the smooth muscle contraction process)?

Writing outlines is time consuming. There are review books that you can use as outlines - to memorize the data. Then afterwards you could go through the lecture and just write down the information you haven't been able to learn from the review book.
Also, especially if the problem is the concept, you could refer to the textbook. Textbooks explain the concept much better than a board review book or lecture power points. (Costanzo - Physiology is an amazing book)
Regarding histology: do you have issues interpreting slides or answering stuff like "what type of collagen can be found here or there"? If it is the former, try the histology website from the University of Michigan - they have an excellent virtual lab. If the problem is the latter, get a book like BRS Histology and try to memorize as much as you can.

 

[Akali]

You expect to be able to do a practice exam an entire week before the exam? lol, that's cute. Don't worry, that fear will drive you during exam week and exam weekend and you'll most probably be fine.

Edit:
I just realized that maybe your school doesn't have tests as frequently and so it might be a bigger deal in your case. We have an exam usually ever 2 or 3 weeks.

Still, panicking and getting stressed out over each exam is just a part of the game.

http://whatshouldwecallmedschool.tu...-my-study-partner-is-having-a-meltdown-a-week

 

[GoZags]

Go see the education specialist at your school to see what kind of learner you are. You may approaching your studying the wrong way. The way I studied in undergrad does not even closely resemble the method I use currently in medical school. Getting a plan will help you in the long run

 

[Akali]

Old practice exams are effing golden. Obviously, the first thing you should do is go through the questions you missed and learn those topics. It's best to not only figure out why the correct answer is right, but why the other answers are wrong. You just do that and then bam, you're all set to at least pass. Easy-peasy.

Most professors aren't going to just make up a whole bunch of new questions on different aspects or topics, that would be too much work for them. They're much more likely to just recycle the same stuff.

I don't think getting behind in lectures is all that rare. When it gets closer to the exam and it's crunch time, the pressure will force you to study more efficiently. Over time you'll figure out what works best for you. It's a an adjustment process everyone has to go through. I know I've personally gone into more than 1 exam having not even looked at certain lectures and still managed to honor the exam. Again, practice tests are golden.

 

[ChrisGriffen]

Keep in mind, everyone's successful/unsuccessful study habits are different and +/- effective.
That being said, what I found was that doing less is more in the first years. If you are spending an absurd amount of time on each lecture and are falling behind, try cutting down on your time spent on each lecture and doing them multiple times. I got to the point where I would go through my notes for each lecture probably 40-50 times each before exams.

For me (and again everyone is different) I do the lectures once, top to bottom with good notes, then rapid fire over and over again review my notes. You will be able to review the material 10 times in the same amount of time it takes to meticulously slug through lectures one at a time. Plus if you miss something, you go over it so many more times that it will inevitably stick.

And most importantly remember Pirate's Code:
"all who fall behind, stay behind." -Captain Jack Sparrow

 

[Kaustikos]

I have my first anatomy, physio, and histo exam of med school next week (not this week), and I legitimately think I'm going to fail. I have been studying, going to class, going to TA office hours, going in to the anatomy lab every weekend, etc. I feel like I'm working hard. But I just looked at an old practice exam and panicked because I have no idea how to answer most of the questions.

I feel like no matter how hard I study, the information I'm learning isn't being retained properly because I have no time to go over it again. I can barely keep up with my lectures (I'm like 4 behind right now) and I just feel awful.

I used to rewrite all my notes into outlines in undergrad, but I stopped in med school because it was taking me WAY too long to do. Now I'm wondering if that was a huge mistake and I should try to switch back to that and write out my LO's?

I just don't know what to do. I feel like crap. If anyone has any study advice, I'd love to hear it.

I don't understand that, honestly. I did that during second year and I never felt pushed for time. If anything, it was way easier to study that for exams than the powerpoints and books. I can't do full-sentences and need bullet points, so I went through the book and basically broke it down into that. Yeah, it took a bit, but it definitely was awesome for several reasons:

Reading texts I highlighted was cumbersome and I tended to miss certain things. That and things would become a blur. Using my notes made it easier to recall certain topics because of how I broke it down. That and I could put mnemonics anywhere. I didn't do it for anatomy because the notes were sufficient. But other classes - take 1-2 hours/day to type it up and you'll be fine. That and I found rewriting/typing made me remember things.

Find what works and go with it. This is your first year, so don't panic just yet. I didn't have trouble until second year and boy did it suck. I had to readjust my studying but I didn't give up. It's all about not letting it get to you and finding a pattern that works.

Also - Going into lab a lot =/= success. It's all about the identification before the exam. Don't stress yourself out about cleaning everything perfectly. It's stupid and a waste of time.

Also - You have time. I only reviewed notes until exam time. I couldn't tell you anything in full detail during that time and was considered an idiot. But then I would sit down before exam time and "study". I'd have everything down in those 3-4 days because I'd read the stuff before which made things easier.

I also didn't do practice questions. I first thought it was stupid... but then I tried and found it made me worry more/stress out. I felt like I wasted time doing these questions instead of studying. Some people (like myself) do better studying with less questions. Other people use questions and it helps a lot. It sounds like questions aren't what you need. But you're honestly doing it wrong if you're doing questions this far in advance. These are things you should be doing closer to exam time, not now.

 

[Anastomoses]

Hm. Do you find the information interesting or do you look at it as "study material"? I suspect one of the best tools to make studying easier and for you to grasp things is your perception of what you're studying - as simple as that sounds.

Visualize concepts. Make analogies and jokes about processes. (I think of Hb cheating on oxygen with carbon monoxide because the attraction is so strong but bad - and CO still leaving Hb with a little time (leftover binding sites with increased affinity) for oxygen, hence the left shift.)

Take a genuine interest. When you learn about a disease or a clinical...take 10 minutes to run a search and learn just ONE thing about it if you can't retain everything. It adds up.

Write down steps of mechanisms numerically and then repeat them aloud from memory or write them on a white board while visualizing where they occur. For whatever reason writing things on white board does not feel like writing them on paper.

Find several modules for learning the same information.

Don't stress yourself. Exams should be exciting, not horrifying. Good luck.

 

[Kaustikos]

Hm. Do you find the information interesting or do you look at it as "study material"? I suspect one of the best tools to make studying easier and for you to grasp things is your perception of what you're studying - as simple as that sounds.

Visualize concepts. Make analogies and jokes about processes. (I think of Hb cheating on oxygen with carbon monoxide because the attraction is so strong but bad - and CO still leaving Hb with a little time (leftover binding sites with increased affinity) for oxygen, hence the left shift.)

Take a genuine interest. When you learn about a disease or a clinical...take 10 minutes to run a search and learn just ONE thing about it if you can't retain everything. It adds up.

Write down steps of mechanisms numerically and then repeat them aloud from memory or write them on a white board while visualizing where they occur. For whatever reason writing things on white board does not feel like writing them on paper.

Find several modules for learning the same information.

Don't stress yourself. Exams should be exciting, not horrifying. Good luck.

The worse the mnemonic, the better.

Also - diagrams/charts are key in med school, imo. The break-down diagrams in step-up medicine are really helpful in narrowing down the disease process. This is extremely helpful in MC questions.
Acute or Chronic?
Upper/Lower Quadrant?
Male/Female?

You narrow it down and stop yourself from second-guessing. I also find teaching/discussing it helps out a ton. My friend and I would spend countless hours bouncing questions off each other on topics we didn't understand fully and that made things easier on exams. Partly because it reinforced our concepts, but because I would remember those conversations from the jokes we made about the diseases.

 

[Imogen]

Thank you for the help everyone. And apologies for taking so long to get back to this thread (I banned myself from sdn the week before my test).

Turns out, I did not fail anything! Yay! My school is pass/fail and I passed everything basically right at the average. I am tweaking my habits a bit and I think my biggest problem is just efficiency (as in not taking the entire evening to write out notes for just one lecture). Going to try to work on that.

I read through everyone's tips and will consider them all!