Medical school: Is it just me or is it not that bad?

[BlinkyCat]

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[Law2Doc]

so..i'm a first year...and i just had my first test..and got an A on my first test. I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but is that going to be indicative of medical school first two years? It didn't seem so bad and so I'm just wondering for those of you who are second years, is it typical of med school to start out with easy test to kind of ease you in or are they pretty much all the same level of difficulty?

The work load will become progressively heavier at most places -- they often carry you a few rounds before really wailing on you. But whether the test was easy or you are actually doing well is hard to say. Did you find out what the mean grade was? If the class average was a B+ or above, then the test was just an easy one, and a lot of the class got A's -- don't expect it to be the norm. If the average was B- or below, then congrats, you are doing something right... so far.

 

[ils]

i got an 'A' on my first couple of test too....

and then anatomy started.

 

[Dr JPH]

It gets harder. But, you also get smarter. Hopefully the latter can keep up with the former. Good luck.

 

[BlinkyCat]

Hmm..the mean was 76%. We get curved against each other at my school and only a small percentage of A's are given so if the test was easy for everyone, there will still be some distribution.

I'm sure i'll be here bawling my eyes out as soon as anatomy exam come around

 

[Law2Doc]

Hmm..the mean was 76%. We get curved against each other at my school and only a small percentage of A's are given so if the test was easy for everyone, there will still be some distribution.

I'm sure i'll be here bawling my eyes out as soon as anatomy exam come around

Somebody has to get the A, so it might as well be you. Just stay focussed and keep pushing yourself.

 

[curlycorday]

The work load will become progressively heavier at most places -- they often carry you a few rounds before really wailing on you. But whether the test was easy or you are actually doing well is hard to say. Did you find out what the mean grade was? If the class average was a B+ or above, then the test was just an easy one, and a lot of the class got A's -- don't expect it to be the norm. If the average was B- or below, then congrats, you are doing something right... so far.

I couldn't agree more-- this thinking works both ways: if the average is in the 50s and you get a B, then go celebrate. Don't underestimate your 'enemy' because of your first A (congrats). Just try to stay above average.

 

[78222]

Don't brag or someone will shove a spork in your eye.

 

[BlinkyCat]

Thanks everyone for the tip. It's helpful to know that things will get progressively harder before I get all excited and join every club at school or try to get a job.

 

[medicomel]

Thanks everyone for the tip. It's helpful to know that things will get progressively harder before I get all excited and join every club at school or try to get a job.

congratulations! think of it as fuel for the fire. keep working hard with the mentality that should things get rough, you'll have strong early grades to cushion a potential backslide.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

i got an 'A' on my first couple of test too....

and then anatomy started.

lol, how i remember that

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Hmm..the mean was 76%. We get curved against each other at my school and only a small percentage of A's are given so if the test was easy for everyone, there will still be some distribution.

I'm sure i'll be here bawling my eyes out as soon as anatomy exam come around

well then congratulations great job; keep up the good work.

 

[MattD]

Don't do like I have, and do well on the first test, get kinda complacent, then realize you're WAY behind and the second test is next week (my situation at the moment LOL) Also, remember that those people who didn't do so well are probably super motivated now to catch up, so if you're not staying on your A-game they could easily knock you off that high average. Keep working!

 

[beponychick]

Hey Blinky,

Congrats on your first A! Im sure there will be many more to come.

Im just curious, what class was this in?

 

[bairde]

I'm also curious, because we don't have 'class' exams @ my school - we do it boards-style, all of our classes, 3 exams (including the final) a semester. Anyone else do it this way?

 

[fun8stuff]

so..i'm a first year...and i just had my first test..and got an A on my first test. I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but is that going to be indicative of medical school first two years? It didn't seem so bad and so I'm just wondering for those of you who are second years, is it typical of med school to start out with easy test to kind of ease you in or are they pretty much all the same level of difficulty?

It is typical for the first couple exams to be easier and for it to progressively get harder. The thing is, the difficulty of the tests will probably little bearing on your grade since you are compared to everyone else. The test is harder for everyone, not just you.

Sure, my raw percent scores have fluctuated test to test, but how well I have done compared to others (my z-score) has been fairly constant from test to test. Once you find out how much you have work to obtain the results you want, if you stick to this strategy, you should have similar results. Of course, this may not be true if your first test was in anatomy and you have a PhD in anatomy....

 

[Taurus]

so..i'm a first year...and i just had my first test..and got an A on my first test. I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but is that going to be indicative of medical school first two years? It didn't seem so bad and so I'm just wondering for those of you who are second years, is it typical of med school to start out with easy test to kind of ease you in or are they pretty much all the same level of difficulty?

Med school likes to lull you into a false sense of superiority initially. And then...*BOOM*...it dumps a sh*tload on you just like that.

 

[MarzMD]

Wait, are you taking anatomy yet? Seems like a lot of people that have not had their anatomy block are preemptively saying med school is easy. Unless memorizing a million factoids of information is easy to a lot of people. Me on the otherhand, I think med school is pretty insane right how. Doable, but still extremely time consuming and exhausting.

 

[beponychick]

Wait, are you taking anatomy yet? Seems like a lot of people that have not had their anatomy block are preemptively saying med school is easy. Unless memorizing a million factoids of information is easy to a lot of people. Me on the otherhand, I think med school is pretty insane right how. Doable, but still extremely time consuming and exhausting.

I agree, and yup, its cause of anatomy.

 

[nebrfan]

Med school likes to lull you into a false sense of superiority initially. And then...*BOOM*...it dumps a sh*tload on you just like that.

You mean like head and neck?

 

[WhatUpDoc!]

I agree, and yup, its cause of anatomy.

Yeah, anatomy is the only class throwing me over the threshold as of now. My other classes have just been one big review session thus far, although I think my undergrad knowledge will run out sometime next week

 

[psipsina]

I'm also curious, because we don't have 'class' exams @ my school - we do it boards-style, all of our classes, 3 exams (including the final) a semester. Anyone else do it this way?

Yah this is how we do it too. My first exam isn't until the end of september and we started two and a half weeks ago. This semester we do embryology, histo and all of anatomy with clinical forums, skills and ethics thrown in for fun, and some DXR cases. For me its just the volume of things I will have to know by the end of september, it seems like everytime I learn something new I'm shoving some piece of info I need out to make space. Like today when I finally felt that I really got the axillary region and then we flipped the body over to look at a nerve and I couldn't remember the layers of muscles in the neck anymore. . . which I knew like three days ago. Ugg. Anywho, I'm sure medschool would be much easier if testing was more frequent and just for each class seperately, but then you wouldn't be ready when the boards came at you and I'd rather sweat it now and be better prepared then.

 

[bairde]

Anywho, I'm sure medschool would be much easier if testing was more frequent and just for each class seperately, but then you wouldn't be ready when the boards came at you and I'd rather sweat it now and be better prepared then.

Agreed. I just started my 2nd year two weeks ago and I did it the first year so looks like I can do it again - this semester is supposed to be my school's hardest one though - micro & immuno, path, genetics, ethics

 

[78222]

Two weeks down, and I feel two weeks behind. I don't really think it would be that bad without anatomy, because without anatomy I could actually study for my other classes.

 

[fun8stuff]

Two weeks down, and I feel two weeks behind. I don't really think it would be that bad without anatomy, because without anatomy I could actually study for my other classes.

hmm we had a really extensive anatomy course (16 weeks) that really went into depth and I didn't find it that bad... neuro was definately harder.

 

[tupac_don]

so..i'm a first year...and i just had my first test..and got an A on my first test. I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but is that going to be indicative of medical school first two years? It didn't seem so bad and so I'm just wondering for those of you who are second years, is it typical of med school to start out with easy test to kind of ease you in or are they pretty much all the same level of difficulty?

I got a 97% on my first test. So what, yea the fact that you did well helps out and you probably won't have trouble in med school, but some courses are tougher than others. You will still have to work pretty hard.

 

[78222]

hmm we had a really extensive anatomy course (16 weeks) that really went into depth and I didn't find it that bad... neuro was definately harder.

Anatomy isn't hard, it's just a lot of material and I am not used to studying.

 

[BlinkyCat]

anatomy is kicking my @ss.. I want to cry for mommy everytime i'm in the lab. i don't even know where to start studying... I definitely think anatomy is the hardest...

 

[kittykat]

Med school in a vacuum is not so bad...dealing with life and med school is the tough part. For some of us as the classes get tougher and the financial burden gets heavier, your priorities and interests change...along with your friends.

In med school you will experience something that most outside our clique will never understand ....the dedication and sacrifice it takes when you invest 8+ years and a quarter of a million dollars into YOURSELF.

Stay curious, be positive and keep up the good work. When times are tough remember two things :
1. If it was too easy then everyone could do it.
2. Don't give up because even C = MD...sometimes graduating "thankya Lordy" instead of "Cum Laude" brings more smiles and appreciation.

Oh I almost forgot....3rd year sucks....but, 4th year electives/sub-I's rock!

 

[WhatUpDoc!]

sometimes graduating "thankya Lordy" instead of "Cum Laude" brings more smiles and appreciation.

I love it

 

[Callogician]

Hierarchy of difficulty:

1: wiping your a**hole
2: remembering to take your cell phone charger on vacation
3: keeping a straight face at a Bush press conference
4: convincing yourself that the ten pounds you gained is all muscle
5: med school
6: pseudointellectual public policy banter when you haven't watched the news in 14 months.
7: retaining knowledge of physics/O-chem/calculus etc.
8: maintaining sanity
9: dating
10: avoiding SDN

 

[SwineLake98]

Med school likes to lull you into a false sense of superiority initially. And then...*BOOM*...it dumps a sh*tload on you just like that.

Haha...yea...our first course was Epidemiology/Biostats (which I eventually got the hang of, even with 0 stats background). We had our first Biochem test today (I was a Biochem major), so I'm reserving judgement on the difficulty of first year until the first anatomy test!
Luckily, we have a "practice practical" on Tuesday so we can see what kind of things we're expected to know and kind of see if our studying techniques work. I hope all that time with the anatomy coloring book pays off

 

[potato51]

so..i'm a first year...and i just had my first test..and got an A on my first test. I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but is that going to be indicative of medical school first two years? It didn't seem so bad and so I'm just wondering for those of you who are second years, is it typical of med school to start out with easy test to kind of ease you in or are they pretty much all the same level of difficulty?

congrats, BlinkyCat... I'm surprised how much free time I have, though much of that is because I'm not studying yet for anatomy, which has been exhausting. But overall, med school isn't as intense as I thought it would be. More senior students do tell me the MS2 year is killer though.

 

[BlinkyCat]

I know what you mean potato51. everybody i talked to seem to find med school so far to be not so bad.... I think we're also the same people who are in absolute denial about anatomy. hahaa

 

[peppy]

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. With all the different topics med school covers, I'm quite sure that there will be a few classes that challenge you. Speaking for myself, I'd say Pharmacology and Neuroscience were a lot more difficult than Anatomy was in terms of the work itself (I found anatomy difficult because it was the first class and I was a bit overwhelmed by the adjustment to med school). However, as long as you keep working hard and don't get complacent, you'll do fine.

 

[Shangal]

I think some people are smarter then others. People like me think med school is rough, but I know alot of smart people like you that won't have a problem acing every class they take. Just don't be arrogant about it

 

[NonTradMed]

Our first 'real' exam (on a science course) is anatomy, and it's later this month. We have anatomy our first semester and I've heard they go easy on us the first half semester, but really start ratchting up the pressure later on. And I thought things were getting bad now......

As for exams, I figure as long as I stay on top of things as we go along, and study whenever I get a chance, I should be able to do enough to pass, right? And right now, passing is all I want to do. Once I get my first exam back, I may readjust my goals.

 

[BooMed]

I didn't think anatomy was so bad... until we got our first test grades back. I was really underestimating the evilness of the practical.

I just get so bored studying for one class all of the time. I can't wait for anatomy to be over, but next block we have four hours of biochem lecture per day. So I guess I'm not looking forward to that either.

 

[45408]

it's just you

 

[silas2642]

I didn't think anatomy was so bad... until we got our first test grades back. I was really underestimating the evilness of the practical.

I just get so bored studying for one class all of the time. I can't wait for anatomy to be over, but next block we have four hours of biochem lecture per day. So I guess I'm not looking forward to that either.

You poor bastard; I can't imagine doing four hours of biochemistry lecture per day. On our double headers where we have 2 hours of biochem lecture per day, I'm climbing the walls.

 

[WhatUpDoc!]

I didn't think anatomy was so bad... until we got our first test grades back. I was really underestimating the evilness of the practical.

Ours is in a couple of weeks... I'm already dreading the possiblities of what can be tagged even while I'm dissecting. What kills me is the artery XYZ branching off into deep and superficial artery XYZ which then branches into 123 and ABC while following nerve bla bla bla distally to insertion wtf Yes, wtf sums it up quite nicely sometimes.

 

[bubbleyum]

Ours is in a couple of weeks... I'm already dreading the possiblities of what can be tagged even while I'm dissecting. What kills me is the artery XYZ branching off into deep and superficial artery XYZ which then branches into 123 and ABC while following nerve bla bla bla distally to insertion wtf Yes, wtf sums it up quite nicely sometimes.

exactly.

 

[getunconcsious]

hmm we had a really extensive anatomy course (16 weeks) that really went into depth and I didn't find it that bad... neuro was definately harder.

I think it depends on the person. I disliked both gross and neuro, but found neuro to be much easier for some reason.

 

[FenderHM]

its really just you

 

[felipe5]

yup its definitely you....you should definitely should get that checked out

 

[indo]

yup its definitely you....you should definitely should get that checked out

haha. But wait as long as possible before starting the meds that will fix that problem.