Just took my first Anatomy exam...

[LordVader89]

---

Members don't see this ad.

and I did horribly. The class average was a 81 +/- 13 and I got a 64. I did well in the previous course which was Biochemistry and ended up with a 91% at the end. However Anatomy is much different. I'm interested in Interventional Radiology but now I feel I have little to no chance of even getting into a moderately competitive specialty. I'm wondering if there's still a chance for me to improve my numbers for a decent match even though I have this one bad Anatomy exam.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm a humungous procrastinator that works best under pressure (or I used to for my previous classes rather). I did completely fine (and even above average) in my college courses as well as Med school biochemistry by studying all of my lecture notes 1 or 2 days before my exam. However the way they teach Anatomy at my school is different. It's in a team based format so basically there are no lectures and you have to learn everything on your own by using the indicated textbooks. You have your team members to help you and the professors walk around to guide you during the TBL sessions but ultimately you have to learn everything on your own. So you aren't being spoon fed the information like in a lecture. And even though I studied everything 2 or 3 days before the exam I still did poorly because the important parts weren't emphasized since there is no lecture. On top of that the amount of information in anatomy dwarfs that in biochemistry or any other course I've taken rather. I only got to go over each TBL assignment (there were 8 on the exam each averaging 50 pages with pictures of course) once and didn't even get to do the practice questions.

I am willing to start studying for the exams earlier obviously after my first exam grade but I'm wondering what I can do to stop procrastinating. Often I have my laptop on my desk ready to work on the TBL assignments (we go over the assignments as a team of 6 and thus it's good to prepare for them by going over it once on your own the day before) but I end up just going on facebook or playing games on my PC. Before I know it it's 12 AM and I haven't gotten anything done. If I was being spoon fed the information I would be okay since the lecture would keep my attention but that isn't the case here. What can I do to stop procrastinating and improve my grades in anatomy? My school uses a pass/fail system for preclinical years with above a 70 considered passing but your numerical grades are still used to divide everyone into quartiles at the beginning of 4th year.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Sorry I didn't read the entire post, but one bad exam in preclinical years shouldn't ruin your shots at any residency. General consensus among my housemates (other MS1s) seems to be that preclinical grades don't matter much at all. Unless you're gunning for AOA. Just make sure you're learning the material well, so you can do well on Step 1 (which really matters) and you do well 3rd/4th year.

 

[VisionaryTics]

and I did horribly. The class average was a 81 +/- 13 and I got a 64. I did well in the previous course which was Biochemistry and ended up with a 91% at the end. However Anatomy is much different. I'm interested in Interventional Radiology but now I feel I have little to no chance of even getting into a moderately competitive specialty. I'm wondering if there's still a chance for me to improve my numbers for a decent match even though I have this one bad Anatomy exam.

Your grades early M1 year have no bearing on your ability to match to a competitive specialty. Relax.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm a humungous procrastinator that works best under pressure (or I used to for my previous classes rather). I did completely fine (and even above average) in my college courses as well as Med school biochemistry by studying all of my lecture notes 1 or 2 days before my exam. However the way they teach Anatomy at my school is different. It's in a team based format so basically there are no lectures and you have to learn everything on your own by using the indicated textbooks. You have your team members to help you and the professors walk around to guide you during the TBL sessions but ultimately you have to learn everything on your own. So you aren't being spoon fed the information like in a lecture. And even though I studied everything 2 or 3 days before the exam I still did poorly because the important parts weren't emphasized since there is no lecture. On top of that the amount of information in anatomy dwarfs that in biochemistry or any other course I've taken rather. I only got to go over each TBL assignment (there were 8 on the exam each averaging 50 pages with pictures of course) once and didn't even get to do the practice questions.

I shouldn't have to tell you this: stop procrastinating. "I work better under pressure" is a BS excuse. You clearly didn't have enough time to develop understanding the tested material.

I am willing to start studying for the exams earlier obviously after my first exam grade but I'm wondering what I can do to stop procrastinating. Often I have my laptop on my desk ready to work on the TBL assignments (we go over the assignments as a team of 6 and thus it's good to prepare for them by going over it once on your own the day before) but I end up just going on facebook or playing games on my PC. Before I know it it's 12 AM and I haven't gotten anything done. If I was being spoon fed the information I would be okay since the lecture would keep my attention but that isn't the case here. What can I do to stop procrastinating and improve my grades in anatomy? My school uses a pass/fail system for preclinical years with above a 70 considered passing but your numerical grades are still used to divide everyone into quartiles at the beginning of 4th year.

Put your computer away. Sit down and study for 45-50 min blocks with 10-15 breaks.

As above. Good luck.

 

[LordVader89]

Sorry I didn't read the entire post, but one bad exam in preclinical years shouldn't ruin your shots at any residency. General consensus among my housemates (other MS1s) seems to be that preclinical grades don't matter much at all. Unless you're gunning for AOA. Just make sure you're learning the material well, so you can do well on Step 1 (which really matters) and you do well 3rd/4th year.

Thanks for the response. I hear that the preclinical years don't matter either but I keep hearing mixed views about the subject.

And in case anyone is wondering one exam is worth 10% of your grade with the practical at 6%. I "passed" the practical but still did below the average so right now I'm already down 93.42% (assuming I get 100% on everything else which is impossible). The first exam was musculoskeletal which I hate but the rest of the exams are stuff I love like the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, etc. But I feel down after this grade and don't know how to pick myself up and stop procrastinating as well.

 

[GangaMaster]

First, the reason you didn't so well because Anatomy requires doing practice questions to understand how they will be presented, if you don't see how they are presented, all you are studying is a string of seemingly unrelated facts.

To address your second inquiry about procrastination, well, I can't help you with that because I experience the exact same problems, and I also work best under pressure. To give you an example, I hadn't studied at all for midterms until 2 weeks before the exams for Neuro/Physio/Genetics/Immuno. When I was under this extreme pressure I made sure after each section I studied I would do atleast 20-30 questions (doing 500 questions for CVS alone); I pulled out with 3 Bs and 1 A. But, I digress because this won't help you with your procrastination but illustrates how paramount study questions are to prep you for tests.

 

[Frazier]

and I did horribly. The class average was a 81 +/- 13 and I got a 64. I did well in the previous course which was Biochemistry and ended up with a 91% at the end. However Anatomy is much different. I'm interested in Interventional Radiology but now I feel I have little to no chance of even getting into a moderately competitive specialty. I'm wondering if there's still a chance for me to improve my numbers for a decent match even though I have this one bad Anatomy exam.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm a humungous procrastinator that works best under pressure (or I used to for my previous classes rather). I did completely fine (and even above average) in my college courses as well as Med school biochemistry by studying all of my lecture notes 1 or 2 days before my exam. However the way they teach Anatomy at my school is different. It's in a team based format so basically there are no lectures and you have to learn everything on your own by using the indicated textbooks. You have your team members to help you and the professors walk around to guide you during the TBL sessions but ultimately you have to learn everything on your own. So you aren't being spoon fed the information like in a lecture. And even though I studied everything 2 or 3 days before the exam I still did poorly because the important parts weren't emphasized since there is no lecture. On top of that the amount of information in anatomy dwarfs that in biochemistry or any other course I've taken rather. I only got to go over each TBL assignment (there were 8 on the exam each averaging 50 pages with pictures of course) once and didn't even get to do the practice questions.

I am willing to start studying for the exams earlier obviously after my first exam grade but I'm wondering what I can do to stop procrastinating. Often I have my laptop on my desk ready to work on the TBL assignments (we go over the assignments as a team of 6 and thus it's good to prepare for them by going over it once on your own the day before) but I end up just going on facebook or playing games on my PC. Before I know it it's 12 AM and I haven't gotten anything done. If I was being spoon fed the information I would be okay since the lecture would keep my attention but that isn't the case here. What can I do to stop procrastinating and improve my grades in anatomy? My school uses a pass/fail system for preclinical years with above a 70 considered passing but your numerical grades are still used to divide everyone into quartiles at the beginning of 4th year.

I'm your opposite: did great in anatomy -- below average in biochem.

As you found out, the subjects require different study strategies. Anatomy is very visual & relationship-focused (i.e. "patient gets stabbed between X and Y, what's most likely going to go wrong") versus [comparatively] more conceptual-focused (i.e. "patient presents with XYZ and ABC symptoms, but with no sign of CDE, which enzyme is deficient?").

Once you become familiar with the types of questions YOUR anatomy professor asks, then you know how to approach the material. Then it's really just a matter of exposure, repetition, and solidifying the details of an anatomical map in your mind. Biochem wasn't like this so much...at least at my school. Since we only had one exam and I approached it like anatomy (i.e. not as concept-focused as I should have), I paid the price.

You paid the price on this anatomy exam.

Good news is that you can now regroup and get your revenge on the next one. You now know the types of questions to expect. You know that studying only a couple days beforehand isn't going to cut it. You're willing to strive to improve.

Among the specialties I'm interested in, Radiology is def at/near the top. I'm currently learning more about IR -- I agree with you, looks like a cool field...and you're right, other than a surgical field, not many medical specialties requires a mastery of anatomy to the degree rads does. However, one bad exam grade will not (and should not) stop you from pursuing your goals.

PS: Is that +/-13 a SD or the range? If the former, I'm jealous. Our SD is usually around 7-8 pts.

 

[alpinism]

and I did horribly. The class average was a 81 +/- 13 and I got a 64. I did well in the previous course which was Biochemistry and ended up with a 91% at the end. However Anatomy is much different. I'm interested in Interventional Radiology but now I feel I have little to no chance of even getting into a moderately competitive specialty. I'm wondering if there's still a chance for me to improve my numbers for a decent match even though I have this one bad Anatomy exam.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm a humungous procrastinator that works best under pressure (or I used to for my previous classes rather). I did completely fine (and even above average) in my college courses as well as Med school biochemistry by studying all of my lecture notes 1 or 2 days before my exam. However the way they teach Anatomy at my school is different. It's in a team based format so basically there are no lectures and you have to learn everything on your own by using the indicated textbooks. You have your team members to help you and the professors walk around to guide you during the TBL sessions but ultimately you have to learn everything on your own. So you aren't being spoon fed the information like in a lecture. And even though I studied everything 2 or 3 days before the exam I still did poorly because the important parts weren't emphasized since there is no lecture. On top of that the amount of information in anatomy dwarfs that in biochemistry or any other course I've taken rather. I only got to go over each TBL assignment (there were 8 on the exam each averaging 50 pages with pictures of course) once and didn't even get to do the practice questions.

I am willing to start studying for the exams earlier obviously after my first exam grade but I'm wondering what I can do to stop procrastinating. Often I have my laptop on my desk ready to work on the TBL assignments (we go over the assignments as a team of 6 and thus it's good to prepare for them by going over it once on your own the day before) but I end up just going on facebook or playing games on my PC. Before I know it it's 12 AM and I haven't gotten anything done. If I was being spoon fed the information I would be okay since the lecture would keep my attention but that isn't the case here. What can I do to stop procrastinating and improve my grades in anatomy? My school uses a pass/fail system for preclinical years with above a 70 considered passing but your numerical grades are still used to divide everyone into quartiles at the beginning of 4th year.

Yeah don't do that. Treat med school like a full time job (9-5) and study a few hrs every day after lecture.

 

[metopic]

I don't know why you felt the need to post about this.

Did you really expect to succeed in medical school cramming for 2 days before a test? Is this some huge surprise?

You should be studying at least an average of 8 hours a day, every day.

You are lucky you didn't fail by more. This is a pretty common phenomenon. Those with a solid science background cram initially and do well not realizing 1) the first tests are easier because hte administration wants to ease you in and 2) the tests are targeted at the level of the econ and English majors in your class that have a very limited background in biochem/cell bio. Then the material gets faster and it's all new stuff, and suddenly those that try and cram get wrecked.

 

[metopic]

Huh, this new system is lame I can't edit spelling errors after 5 minutes.

 

[yehhhboiii]

you studied for anatomy 2-3 days before the exam and expected to do well hahah

 

[mcloaf]

You should be studying at least an average of 8 hours a day, every day.

This is variable. I'm nowhere 8hrs/day and I'm doing fine, but I am putting in hours everyday and not trying to cram.

 

[Missorleans]

What book are you using? Do you have high yield or BRS anatomy? I couldn't tell what resources you were using other than TBL readings.

 

[yehhhboiii]

is tbl the same thing as pbl except they call it team instead of problem?
i remember some downstate students complaining about it a while ago and when i see tbl all i can think of is terrible based learning

 

[Missorleans]

At my school it's two different things. PBL is with larger groups and you're supposed to look up stuff about the case beforehand and then work through the questions. TBL is a smaller group with a reading beforehand, individual test, then group test.
PBL is like pulling teeth. TBL is taking two hours to learn something you could learn in 20 min.

 

[Medstart108]

and I did horribly. The class average was a 81 +/- 13 and I got a 64. I did well in the previous course which was Biochemistry and ended up with a 91% at the end. However Anatomy is much different. I'm interested in Interventional Radiology but now I feel I have little to no chance of even getting into a moderately competitive specialty. I'm wondering if there's still a chance for me to improve my numbers for a decent match even though I have this one bad Anatomy exam.

I think my biggest problem is that I'm a humungous procrastinator that works best under pressure (or I used to for my previous classes rather). I did completely fine (and even above average) in my college courses as well as Med school biochemistry by studying all of my lecture notes 1 or 2 days before my exam. However the way they teach Anatomy at my school is different. It's in a team based format so basically there are no lectures and you have to learn everything on your own by using the indicated textbooks. You have your team members to help you and the professors walk around to guide you during the TBL sessions but ultimately you have to learn everything on your own. So you aren't being spoon fed the information like in a lecture. And even though I studied everything 2 or 3 days before the exam I still did poorly because the important parts weren't emphasized since there is no lecture. On top of that the amount of information in anatomy dwarfs that in biochemistry or any other course I've taken rather. I only got to go over each TBL assignment (there were 8 on the exam each averaging 50 pages with pictures of course) once and didn't even get to do the practice questions.

I am willing to start studying for the exams earlier obviously after my first exam grade but I'm wondering what I can do to stop procrastinating. Often I have my laptop on my desk ready to work on the TBL assignments (we go over the assignments as a team of 6 and thus it's good to prepare for them by going over it once on your own the day before) but I end up just going on facebook or playing games on my PC. Before I know it it's 12 AM and I haven't gotten anything done. If I was being spoon fed the information I would be okay since the lecture would keep my attention but that isn't the case here. What can I do to stop procrastinating and improve my grades in anatomy? My school uses a pass/fail system for preclinical years with above a 70 considered passing but your numerical grades are still used to divide everyone into quartiles at the beginning of 4th year.

I recommend the library. It helps you concentrate when everyone else is studying. It also looks bad if you are at the library and playing games... You will get dirty looks.

 

[yehhhboiii]

I recommend the library. It helps you concentrate when everyone else is studying. It also looks bad if you are at the library and playing games... You will get dirty looks.

last year, the library was packed during finals week
some kid started playing league of legends in the middle of the room
judging by the dirty looks he got from literally everyone, i'm pretty sure he would have died if i didn't say something

 

[mdtobe249]

there's a lot of things to do to fight procrastination - i would actually search online at blogs by cal newport, scott young, tim ferriss - they write a lot about how to time manage efficiently and beat procrastination. i used to have a huge procrastination problem in college and it took me until med school to really become a "good" student - i think 95% of one's problems could be solved by just FORCING yourself to start early, and do little chunks each day rather than save it all for the end. there's a lot of info to be learned and it'll be harder and harder to stay on top of things otherwise.

 

[evilbooyaa]

there's a lot of things to do to fight procrastination - i would actually search online at blogs by cal newport, scott young, tim ferriss - they write a lot about how to time manage efficiently and beat procrastination. i used to have a huge procrastination problem in college and it took me until med school to really become a "good" student - i think 95% of one's problems could be solved by just FORCING yourself to start early, and do little chunks each day rather than save it all for the end. there's a lot of info to be learned and it'll be harder and harder to stay on top of things otherwise.

No better way to stop procrastinating than to find other ways to continue procrastinating..... right.