MSI's: How's it going so far?

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OncoCaP

OncoCaP

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Just wanted to check in with a few of my fellow MSI's about how it's going. My school is pretty enjoyable so far. Yes, you really do have to study as an MSI, but the material seems interesting and the profs along with many other people (classmates, MS2's, etc.) are making the experience fun. My school has block exams every 1.5 months at the beginning of the basic sciences and I view that as a good thing.
 
Clinical stuff is great (standardized patients, shadowing, scrubbing in for the OR), and anatomy and physiology are good, but genetics and biochem are terrible boring to me. Overall I'm hoping once we go into the systems-based courses starting in January and start talking about real medicine that things will pick up in intrigue.
 
IHeartNerds said:
Clinical stuff is great (standardized patients, shadowing, scrubbing in for the OR), and anatomy and physiology are good, but genetics and biochem are terrible boring to me. Overall I'm hoping once we go into the systems-based courses starting in January and start talking about real medicine that things will pick up in intrigue.
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Our curriculum is systems-based from the start. Seeing the patients with the illnesses and shadowing physicians helps keep the motivation level high.
 
LifetimeDoc said:
I'm getting a cold/sick, and I have a test on Monday. Not happy.
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If you have been studying all along, my guess is that you'll remember more than you realize. Hope you feel better soon.
 
Hmm... I eat, breathe, sleep med school. I wish sometimes my life could be a little more well-rounded--friends with other interests, time to pursue my other interests, etc. I do feel very productive. I wish I could spend more time learning anatomy and less drudging through biochem. I want to be a clinician, not a researcher!!! And I swear to you, after undergrad intro biochem I know more about the subject already than half the practicing doctors of the US. What does that tell you?

I like the fact that my school is subject-based and we only have standard patient contact. Anything more to me would be too much to handle. I think it's hard to be amicable with patients after 8 hrs of studying. Do I even have anything to talk about?
 
sprinkibrio said:
Hmm... I eat, breathe, sleep med school. I wish sometimes my life could be a little more well-rounded--friends with other interests, time to pursue my other interests, etc. I do feel very productive. I wish I could spend more time learning anatomy and less drudging through biochem. I want to be a clinician, not a researcher!!! And I swear to you, after undergrad intro biochem I know more about the subject already than half the practicing doctors of the US. What does that tell you?

I like the fact that my school is subject-based and we only have standard patient contact. Anything more to me would be too much to handle. I think it's hard to be amicable with patients after 8 hrs of studying. Do I even have anything to talk about?
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Med school does take a lot of time. However, most med students I know find time for a few other activities at least.

Seriously, have you lost the ability to be amicable with ease? Med school can suck that out of you I suppose. My school tries to encourage us to retain and improve our people skills (some people don't like that and would rather not have those classes). Our patient-related classes require that we demonstrate teamwork, communication, and other people skills. It's really not difficult as far as I can tell.

Most of my classmates (and also I) also take electives (including non-medical ones), which are pretty fun in my opinion. However, I realize that some people would rather just focus on learning the basic science full-time, since that's what Step 1 covers. We do go through the material quickly and the emphasis is different (like on clinical correlations, for example) so the courses are different from UG. Maybe they should just require biochem as an UG course and pull that part of it out the med school curriculum.
 
If it weren't for the fact that I feel behind every week, even with 3-4 hours of studying a night, I'd enjoy M1 year more. I just loooove having class from 8-5 almost everyday (/sarcasm).
 
LifetimeDoc said:
I'm getting a cold/sick, and I have a test on Monday. Not happy.
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You know you aren't the first person around USF to tell me they've been getting sick recently. I seriously think something is going around. I hope you and my other friends feel well soon.
 
Help!

All right, well I'm going to be ok, I just need to get some things out.

I just took my first anatomy exam on Monday and got the results today. I've been totally jarred by the results. While I definitely passed, I scored in the bottom third of my class. Having studied studiously since (literally) day one, I expected a heck of a lot more out of myself. I kept on top of things, went to lab, practiced questions, and have spent the last two weekends completely at home just to ensure a solid start.

Well, quite unexpectedly, I got a real jolt. Let me back up. I went to a small, private college with a really solid science program known for its great pre-med preparation. I graduated with excellent grades and got into my medical school of choice early fall of my senior year. After a long and wonderful summer of just chilling and doing research, I started medical school here, 3 hours from my home.

I'm no gunner, but I'm no slacker either. I worked for my grades in college and am used to putting time in = getting grades out. I expect to be able to consistently place at least somewhere in the middle of my class (~125 kids). Now, it's too early to make any calls, but this start has my groove completely shattered. We've had a quiz and exam (today) in molecular-cell and I've been rocking that class. Biochem is unknown as of yet, but anatomy! I expected more out of myself.

What do you think I should do? I love medicine and would never think of trying anything else. But I can't believe I'm having trouble hacking this. My deficit on the exam was mostly the practical. I rocked the straight MC part of the written exam until the section where you have answer choices like this:

A. None of these are correct
B. One of these is correct
C. Two of these are correct

...etc all the way up to three and then the choice that "All of these are correct." Those screwed me.

But what eats and eats at me is that I put in time. I can bet you kids in there coming from the same background as I spent the same or less time and rocked the exam. I'm thinking my sub-par performance is not a function of time spent studying as it is efficiency of time spent studying...

It's really hard to kick yourself back into full-speed again once you take a blow like this. I can't afford to stumble lest my other classes start suffering (let alone the inevitably more difficult 2nd anatomy exam). It's a real jab to self-confidence. Maybe I'm just a 30%tile person no matter what I do? I refuse to succumb to such a thing 🙁

...and all I can think is that if I start slipping now, the moderately-competitive specialties I have my eye on will start to become less and less possible to match into.

Stress! But I plan on picking up and moving on and seeing where I end up.
 
straight up subject blocks here, so no biochem or physio. two test blocks completed so far. First exam was a bit of a shock, but thus far I'm managing to beat the average in 3 of four exams. I'm not drunk every night like undergrad, but I'm managing to have a life outside of school (as best as someone can when you move to a new city without knowing anyone outside of the people in your class). For all my friends who deny themselves sleep and study 10+ hours per day, I just want to scream at them, "you're doing it wrong!". So far, I'm pretty satisfied with life.
 
DocYuki said:
Help!

All right, well I'm going to be ok, I just need to get some things out.

I just took my first anatomy exam on Monday and got the results today. I've been totally jarred by the results. While I definitely passed, I scored in the bottom third of my class. Having studied studiously since (literally) day one, I expected a heck of a lot more out of myself. I kept on top of things, went to lab, practiced questions, and have spent the last two weekends completely at home just to ensure a solid start.

Well, quite unexpectedly, I got a real jolt. Let me back up. I went to a small, private college with a really solid science program known for its great pre-med preparation. I graduated with excellent grades and got into my medical school of choice early fall of my senior year. After a long and wonderful summer of just chilling and doing research, I started medical school here, 3 hours from my home.

I'm no gunner, but I'm no slacker either. I worked for my grades in college and am used to putting time in = getting grades out. I expect to be able to consistently place at least somewhere in the middle of my class (~125 kids). Now, it's too early to make any calls, but this start has my groove completely shattered. We've had a quiz and exam (today) in molecular-cell and I've been rocking that class. Biochem is unknown as of yet, but anatomy! I expected more out of myself.

What do you think I should do? I love medicine and would never think of trying anything else. But I can't believe I'm having trouble hacking this. My deficit on the exam was mostly the practical. I rocked the straight MC part of the written exam until the section where you have answer choices like this:

A. None of these are correct
B. One of these is correct
C. Two of these are correct

...etc all the way up to three and then the choice that "All of these are correct." Those screwed me.

But what eats and eats at me is that I put in time. I can bet you kids in there coming from the same background as I spent the same or less time and rocked the exam. I'm thinking my sub-par performance is not a function of time spent studying as it is efficiency of time spent studying...

It's really hard to kick yourself back into full-speed again once you take a blow like this. I can't afford to stumble lest my other classes start suffering (let alone the inevitably more difficult 2nd anatomy exam). It's a real jab to self-confidence. Maybe I'm just a 30%tile person no matter what I do? I refuse to succumb to such a thing 🙁

...and all I can think is that if I start slipping now, the moderately-competitive specialties I have my eye on will start to become less and less possible to match into.

Stress! But I plan on picking up and moving on and seeing where I end up.
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You have many options on how to proceed. One option is to fine-tune your approach to how you study the material. Now that you know how the test goes, adjust the way you study accordingly. Since you passed, I wouldn't worry excessively, but look for opportunities to improve. Maybe you could study with a few other people a couple of times to see what others do. You could also talk to your prof.

My personal approach (which I'm quite sure you won't do) is to stop comparing yourself with others and find a self-worth that isn't rolled into what kind of specialist you are going to be. Yes, learn as much as you can but look for opportunities to live in medical school as well (brief as those opportunities might be).
 
OncoCaP said:
You have many options on how to proceed. One option is to fine-tune your approach to how you study the material. Now that you know how the test goes, adjust the way you study accordingly. Since you passed, I wouldn't worry excessively, but look for opportunities to improve. Maybe you could study with a few other people a couple of times to see what others do. You could also talk to your prof.

My personal approach (which I'm quite sure you won't do) is to stop comparing yourself with others and find a self-worth that isn't rolled into what kind of specialist you are going to be. Yes, learn as much as you can but look for opportunities to live in medical school as well (brief as those opportunities might be).
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Yes, I understand. I didn't mean to sound like all I care about is what everyone else is doing. That said, it is a reasonably objective way to gauge your progress.

I realize that self-worth isn't all bundled up in numbers/grades/rank etc. It's beaten into you in this medical education system of MCATs and USMLE and grades and really hard to get away from. I'm quite an individual person and have a strong sense of autonomy and worth outside of medicine. In fact, I'd say I'm way out on the "has interests outside of medicine" edge of the spectrum, as I do a lot of things outside as I can.

But my performance is primarily my performance, and regardless of percentiles, my grade is way below what I believe I'm capable of. That's my main qualm. I hope that the rest of the semester proves to be a proving-ground for me and not a trap to fall in.
 
Let's see.

1) Biochem is profoundly boring.
2) My cadaver is particularly stinky. This one probably died of sepsis, and stuff started rotting pretty quickly.
3) Barely passed the first test, and had a 74/118 class ranking with that... Very disappointed, but I realized I could have put more time into it. Changing study methods and putting lots more time into it now.

It's going well.. .just intense.

I think it's funny how everyone puts particular emphases on specialties here (at school, and online). It's like you're not even a real doctor if you got into general practice. That's kinda what i'm starting to lean towards.
 
Most of the material is interesting, but sometimes (okay, a little more than sometimes) I fall asleep in class. I'm desperately trying to break my internet addiction (SDN, youtube, facebook...), but it's not going particularly well. I'm a little frustrated that my boyfriend (working on his PhD, first long distance relationship) doesn't seem to understand the time demands of med school...and that calling at the end of his night (an hour earlier than my time zone) is not a good time because that is when I am trying to get to bed. Though he is supportive most of the time, other times (weekend before a test) he will say "Oh, you're not going out to the bar tonight?" He knows that doesn't help. I'm also frustrated that my college friends living in a 2.5hour radius feel like I can easily give up a weekend to visit.

I have waves of being completely disappointed in my performance and being comfortable with it. I have never studied this hard in my life. If I had done this in undergrad, it would have been 100% all the way. Now it is not. Sometimes I'm fine with that, and sometimes I want the d*mn 100.

My classmates are all nice, but I'm struggling with the whole clique thing (I hated high school). I don't want to assign myself to one group, but at the same time I worry if I don't I will become an outsider.

We start standardized patient interviews soon and I worry I will be very awkward.

But I'm just chuggin' along. Studying too much. Sleeping too little. Going out for some fun this weekend. Excited for a mini-vacation to Cedar Point in a couple weeks with some classmates.
 
cedar point... I miss that place. It'll probably be years before I ever find a reason to be in northern ohio again though.
 
maestro1625 said:
cedar point... I miss that place. It'll probably be years before I ever find a reason to be in northern ohio again though.
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Do a rotation or summer internship out here 🙂

I think Cedar Point is going to be a great way to blow off steam after the first 2 months of school. Hellooooo Dragster. Nothing like being shot 120mph 420feet toward the sky to make you forget about biochemical pathways.
 
Been pretty tough here. I will be having my 2nd test in one week. So far we've been on just Anatomy and Embryology. It's been difficult, but not overwhelming.
 
Just to clear it up, that means we will have had 2 exams in 5 weeks. I don't know if that's abnormal or what, but it sure keeps you studying.
 
Meh. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it.

I like it when I learn clinical correlations and get to read about cases, because then I see a point to what I'm studying. It reminds me why I wanted to do this in the first place.

I hate it when I've studied every day until the exam, and yet I don't feel like I know enough. Or when I always feel like I should be studying. Or when I can't get the muscles and their innervations straight after I studied them just yesterday.

However, as long as I can see that light at the end of the tunnel I think I can keep going.
 
DocYuki said:
Yes, I understand. I didn't mean to sound like all I care about is what everyone else is doing. That said, it is a reasonably objective way to gauge your progress.

I realize that self-worth isn't all bundled up in numbers/grades/rank etc. It's beaten into you in this medical education system of MCATs and USMLE and grades and really hard to get away from. I'm quite an individual person and have a strong sense of autonomy and worth outside of medicine. In fact, I'd say I'm way out on the "has interests outside of medicine" edge of the spectrum, as I do a lot of things outside as I can.

But my performance is primarily my performance, and regardless of percentiles, my grade is way below what I believe I'm capable of. That's my main qualm. I hope that the rest of the semester proves to be a proving-ground for me and not a trap to fall in.
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Ah, ok. Very good then. In that case, I would just tweak how I studied a little bit here and there. For me that means prereading and writing summaries of lectures, and doing certain study groups to have peers test me. I wouldn't change everything because that could make things worse. Sounds like you are doing everything you should be doing. Celebrate improvements. Some subjects like anatomy just take some getting used to. You might try some different books to study and work through practice problems (BRS Anatomy, etc.). There is an (older) thread on how to study anatomy in this forum. You might look for tips on that thread.
 
Abilene85 said:
I have never studied this hard in my life.

My classmates are all nice, but I'm struggling with the whole clique thing (I hated high school). I don't want to assign myself to one group, but at the same time I worry if I don't I will become an outsider.
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Yep, my thoughts exactly. I have never studied this much in life, and I still don't know a d*mn thing... or so it seems. Also have the issue of clique/outsider thing. I tried really hard to get to be involved in all the different groups of people during the first few weeks, but now everyone seems to have split up and I don't have a fit.... 🙁 Not sure how to deal with that just yet. I still pretty much can have a conversation with anyone, but it would be nice to have a few close med school friends.

senseiturtle said:
2) My cadaver is particularly stinky. This one probably died of sepsis, and stuff started rotting pretty quickly.
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My cadaver is particularly over-chemicaled. I have to wear goggles from gen chem class so that my eyes don't fill / over-run with tears during the entire lab.

maestro1625 said:
For all my friends who deny themselves sleep and study 10+ hours per day, I just want to scream at them, "you're doing it wrong!". So far, I'm pretty satisfied with life.
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:laugh: Yeah, me too. I know a few people in my class that are already severely sleep deprived, even though are block exams don't start until next week. I can follow the logic of getting less sleep during the week OF test block, but two weeks before hand? I got to see a girl start crying randomly and somewhat uncontrolably today... and another confessed to crying all the night before... I'm stressed out, too, and I feel tired all the time, but I'm not severely sleep deprived. I study pretty much all the time, but I take study breaks frequently for SDN/myspace/Alias/etc. I just don't think I could function if it was all-on all the time.

baylormed said:
Meh. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I hate it.
I hate it when I've studied every day until the exam, and yet I don't feel like I know enough. Or when I always feel like I should be studying. Or when I can't get the muscles and their innervations straight after I studied them just yesterday.
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Yep... I have studied every single day for hours every day for at least the last 2 weeks and I still just don't feel like I've learned anything. I've been taking practice questions where I am repeating the same questions I did last week and still get them wrong. 👎 Took one for the third time today and managed to get most right, so that was comforting!!!

There is just so much stuff that I can't even figure out how to get it all to stay in my brain!

I've found my favorite thing right now is spending one afternoon a week volunteering at a free clinic. You get patient contact, the docs/patients let you practice on them, the docs teach you things and don't expect you to know anything, and you get to do something for someone else. It is so easy to get incredibly self-absorbed in medical school, that I desperately need something in my life to remind me... it's not all about me!!! So... if you can find a way to do that - I highly recommend it. We are learning a very valuable trade here. Who are we to keep that to ourselves? Now is the best time for us to learn to be giving of our precious time to help others.

Did you guys catch on that I have tests next week? Thus the staying up to 3am posting long-winded comments... I don't have class tomorrow so it's okay. Anyone else think it is so much easier to get up w/six hours of sleep if you go to bed at 4am and get up at 10am instead of going to bed at midnight and getting up at 6am? I hate mornings...
 
I'm really enjoying every aspect of medical school, except the exams. It's annoying when you really understand the concept in quite a bit of detail that the question is testing but it's written vaguely or is in some other way misleading.

I wish the courses were pass/fail and the NBME determined class rank.

FYI: Biochem/cell biology is the first 8 week block.
 
So far, I've been doing well in coursework. This next block is going to be beastly though and I've been trying to keep up. We have biochem, anatomy of the head and neck and development. School is fine but I'm struggled outside of school because I feel alone. I go to school all day, and go home and study. I really working. I loved it when my shift was over and I was done for the day or the weekend. I won't get that again for a long time. I just hope I can do this for another two years since third and fourth will be very different.
 
It's been humbling. I've had 2 exams so far... been working my ass off and been scoring solidly in the mid 70's, a good 10 points below the mean. Takes a little getting used to.

But, honestly the stuff that's been the biggest stressors are the lack of time to keep the rest of my life in order and the random other stuff that has popped up (car getting broken into, getting that fixed, other finances, etc.)
 
Abilene85 said:
Do a rotation or summer internship out here 🙂

I think Cedar Point is going to be a great way to blow off steam after the first 2 months of school. Hellooooo Dragster. Nothing like being shot 120mph 420feet toward the sky to make you forget about biochemical pathways.
Click to expand...

I still havent gotten on that ride... it's always closed when I'm there. (last time, some girl got hit in the face with a piece of metal the day before)
 
Abilene85 said:
Most of the material is interesting, but sometimes (okay, a little more than sometimes) I fall asleep in class. I'm desperately trying to break my internet addiction (SDN, youtube, facebook...), but it's not going particularly well.

Excited for a mini-vacation to Cedar Point in a couple weeks with some classmates.
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Step 1. Don't study near the Internet. I learned VERY quickly not to bring my laptop with me to school, and so I only can use the school lab computers to surf (which I only use to look at SDN, and not anywhere near as much time as I can spend if I go to all the other sites I like). I don't study at home - at all - so when I'm home, I can surf the Netz all I want and not feel guilty.


I want to go to Cedar Point. 🙁 I've never been there, but it's not *that* far away, and I'm sure it's better than Six Flags Great America.
 
OncoCaP said:
Seriously, have you lost the ability to be amicable with ease? Med school can suck that out of you I suppose. My school tries to encourage us to retain and improve our people skills (some people don't like that and would rather not have those classes). Our patient-related classes require that we demonstrate teamwork, communication, and other people skills. It's really not difficult as far as I can tell.
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You can't teach people skills. You need time and desire to experience different types of people, socialize, and self-reflect, which NO medical student has. We are all too selfish, self-absorbed, haughty, and busy. A life of no new social situations or experiences is what I have to look forward to for the next two years. Learning to interact with other educated people your age doesn't take a lot of effort... I'm talking about something a little above that.
 
Well, we just finished Block I exams--biochem and anatomy. I'm curious to see how I performed, esp. in Biochem, because I'm scared I was way too confident going in and way too chill while taking it. Weird, right?

The last 2-3 weeks before the test I was practically sleeping at school b/c that's where I study. This wasn't cramming, I had been studying regularly, but as the exam approached I turned it up. I stopped attending classes aside from anatomy about halfway during the block. The lecture notes are pretty good, and I can read the lecture at least twice, before the lecturer can deliver it once, so I feel that gives me a leg up in terms of working my way to memorizing and understanding.

Medicine has become my life. We all went out to Applebees for a bday/study break and all we talked about were lumbricals and interossei. Yeah, that's just sad.

I shadow a cardiologist who allows me to be very hands-on. If only I really knew what the hell I was doing with my stethoscope. What should I be listening for other than a regular heartbeat?

Speaking of my stethoscope, every once in awhile when I'm feeling down, I pull it out of the closet and go, wow, I have a stethoscope. And I realize I'm exactly where I want to be. Despite the torture, and the lack of a life, I asked for this. This is what I want.
 
ChickFingaz said:
And I realize I'm exactly where I want to be. Despite the torture, and the lack of a life, I asked for this. This is what I want.
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👍👍 That I knew what I was getting into when I signed up makes the process a lot less painful.
 
well
I have been gettng good grades on all my tests so far, but working really hard. So, it is possible to get high grades, but you have to work for it.
The one thing I don't like is we have wayyy too many tests in a row, so there is not a lot of down time. Also, I made a bunch of silly mistakes on my anatomy test yesterday just because I was nervous/felt disoriented during the practical, so we will see. I did know all the material, but it seems like getting used to the format.
My professors are all really nice and helpful, and really seem to care about the students. I like what I am learning, so that's good.
As for individual classes, biochem is pretty easy (so I like it🙂 Anatomy is really interesting, so I like that too. Histo is a little confusing to me, but I don't put as much time into that as I did into others.
Ok that is it for now.🙂 good luck everyone
 
We started off with a 3-course combined exam after our 3rd week. I did pretty well on all of the subsections (above the mean at least), although I must admit that the anatomy hit me hader than I expected. Gross is definitely my most intense course so far. I think the experience of the first test really kicked everyone in the butt to raise their game, me included. The study areas have been a lot more full since then, that's for sure. Monday we have the first of a series of 3 more exams (one per week on different subjects) for the next 3 weeks. And these are promising to be real monsters. It is hard for me to try and stay caught up with all classes courses when I am trying to study for whatever exam is pressing in next. I can't help but feel always behind.

That said, I am definitely convinced that I made the right choice to pursue medicine. I absolutely love med school, warts and all. Granted there is some material or lectures that I don't care for, but on the whole it is an amazing experience. I just hope that my stamina can keep up with the constant level of focus and study needed! Just when I feel like I am catching my stride, another course starts or the speed of the material picks up even more. I can't even imagine what the pace in second year is going to be like, but I guess I will adapt. I keep telling myself that many have gone before me and succeded, so I can too. I think in some ways it comes down to sheer willpower and determination.
 
I was getting overwhelmed at first because of all the info, but then I quit going to class, and I read about iFlash on SDN, and my studying became 400% more efficient. I think the hardest thing about studying all this material is that we don't know if its sticking or not. If you have a program to constantly quiz yourself or a study partner, then you can really figure out whether its sticking.

By the grace of God I passed all of my tests during our first test block this past week. The challenging part of medical school is that you have 150+ A students, and 50% of them have to be at the bottom of the class. I"m truly content with passing, and even happier when I am also above the class average. Simply a "pass" may not equal "dermatology", but I couldn't imagine the amount of time I would have to put into be rocking an A on every test consistently. I'm a happy B student 🙂.
 
OncoCaP said:
Med school does take a lot of time. However, most med students I know find time for a few other activities at least.

Seriously, have you lost the ability to be amicable with ease? Med school can suck that out of you I suppose. My school tries to encourage us to retain and improve our people skills (some people don't like that and would rather not have those classes). Our patient-related classes require that we demonstrate teamwork, communication, and other people skills. It's really not difficult as far as I can tell.

Most of my classmates (and also I) also take electives (including non-medical ones), which are pretty fun in my opinion. However, I realize that some people would rather just focus on learning the basic science full-time, since that's what Step 1 covers. We do go through the material quickly and the emphasis is different (like on clinical correlations, for example) so the courses are different from UG. Maybe they should just require biochem as an UG course and pull that part of it out the med school curriculum.
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I happen to know which school you are at from your earlier posts on SDN. As I recall, you guys are done with lecture by noon every day. My average MS1 day involved 7 hours of lecture/lab , especially for the first three months. There was really not a spare minute if I wanted to pass.
 
SoCuteMD said:
I happen to know which school you are at from your earlier posts on SDN. As I recall, you guys are done with lecture by noon every day. My average MS1 day involved 7 hours of lecture/lab , especially for the first three months. There was really not a spare minute if I wanted to pass.
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Yes, an 8-12noon class schedule does help provide more time to study. We do have our problem-based learning and preceptor-led learning (in the clinics plus class instruction) that takes up time on two of the afternoons and most of our MSIs take a couple of electives that meet in the early afternoon as well.
 
So far....OK. Like parts, hate parts. Passing all my classes but not too sure about my anatomy exam tmr. Our first Molecular and Cell Bio exam was last Monday so I fell behind a little in Anatomy and am now regretting it. It's gonna be a late night tonight. 😡 I just cannot believe how much they expect you to learn...and then bunch tests together.
 
LifetimeDoc said:
I quite possibly failed my first biochemistry exam, and hope I don't get kicked out of medical school. Other than that, just fine.
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The only thing harder than getting into medical school is getting kicked out of medical school. :luck:
 
LifetimeDoc said:
I quite possibly failed my first biochemistry exam, and hope I don't get kicked out of medical school. Other than that, just fine.
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I did fail my 1st biochem test, but then questions were challenged (though not by me), and subsequently thrown out. After the dust settled, I wound up passing (but barely). Never has a "C" felt soooo good!

I guess the moral of the story is that whining and b!tching is rewarded? 😕
 
DocYuki said:
Help!

It's really hard to kick yourself back into full-speed again once you take a blow like this. I can't afford to stumble lest my other classes start suffering (let alone the inevitably more difficult 2nd anatomy exam). It's a real jab to self-confidence. Maybe I'm just a 30%tile person no matter what I do? I refuse to succumb to such a thing 🙁

QUOTE]

Don't feel bad. Think of it this way. Somebody else in your class has to
succumb to being a 2%tile person. The 30% doesn't sound that horrible
now does it? I'm not expert but from what I hear you can improve if
you change your study habits somehow.
Click to expand...
 
menaniac said:
I did fail my 1st biochem test, but then questions were challenged (though not by me), and subsequently thrown out. After the dust settled, I wound up passing (but barely). Never has a "C" felt soooo good!

I guess the moral of the story is that whining and b!tching is rewarded? 😕
Click to expand...

:laugh: yep.

Just took my first full-length med school exam - biochem. I'm pretty sure I passed, but by how much, I have no idea. If guessed well, then I might have pulled off a B. It would have to take a miracle and a lot of whining to get an A. A "c" is entirely possible. So I remind myself that my goal was not to be in the top of my class. With 168 other over-achievers, the likelihood that I will be in the top 1/4 is nil. Aiming for top half, but even that may be pushing it. It is test block week (biochem test mon, embryology tues, anatomy wed, and human behavior thurs), which I really like better than them just throwing random tests in whenever they want, but still painful. Trying to learn embryo is a b***h. I hate it 😡. Have about got half of it down for the test tomorrow at 10am.

It is so freaking hilarious and ironic how much effort/sweat/blood/tears we put into getting into medical school, and how that is so quickly turned into freaking out about WTF are we doing here? They want us to know HOW MUCH???

If it weren't for expecting to feel exactly like I do right now, it would be killer. Knowing what you were getting into is key to surviving.
 
DoctaJay said:
I was getting overwhelmed at first because of all the info, but then I quit going to class, and I read about iFlash on SDN, and my studying became 400% more efficient.
Click to expand...

This iFlash intrigues me. Bless you, DoctaJay.
 
LifetimeDoc said:
I quite possibly failed my first biochemistry exam, and hope I don't get kicked out of medical school. Other than that, just fine.
Click to expand...

Was it that brutal?? I heard Dr. Keller was referred to by the current second years as Killer Keller!!!

:laugh: :laugh:

I had my first biochem test for the molecular medicine grad program and heard half of our questions were like a quarter of your questions. same questions. Surprisingly the grad student's test wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be but I figured your test would probably be more brutal because I know one of the girls repeating first year and a few of the second years have given me an impression of how tough biochem was for them.
 
LifetimeDoc said:
I quite possibly failed my first biochemistry exam, and hope I don't get kicked out of medical school. Other than that, just fine.
Click to expand...

BTW even if you do end up failing a course in med school, know that USF will give you a chance to repeat the year. Hell, if you fail a course and do end up getting pushed back a year, I think you are able to pull yourself out of the remainder of the year so you don't have to do all those courses again and only have to do them next year.

That however won't be an issue for you. Everyone feels like **** after their exams. That's reality of it. But from what I've heard, the people who fail first year and repeat usually mess up either because gross anat or because of physio. Most people, even if barely so usually pass the molecular medicine block.

keep your head up high.
 
OncoCaP said:
Yes, an 8-12noon class schedule does help provide more time to study. We do have our problem-based learning and preceptor-led learning (in the clinics plus class instruction) that takes up time on two of the afternoons and most of our MSIs take a couple of electives that meet in the early afternoon as well.
Click to expand...

Ha! I have a friend at UF and its opposite for her. When your class ends is when their classes start and it goes from 12-5.
 
We had our first interviews today. I feel like I would be much more comfortable in a room one-on-one with someone than in front of 3 classmates with a facilitator over my shoulder. And next week we get to be video taped and then write a summary of our performance and that of one of our classmates. Yay...
 
To sum up the MS1 experience so far:

Review book > Textbook

Anatomy = Biochem

Friday > Saturday

Beer > Liquor



All-in-all, pretty decent. There are some bumps in the road, but most days I find myself thinking "Wow, I really DID learn a lot today." It's just expected that not every day is gonna be a cakewalk. Most people in my class seem used to it already.
 
OncoCaP said:
Yes, an 8-12noon class schedule does help provide more time to study. We do have our problem-based learning and preceptor-led learning (in the clinics plus class instruction) that takes up time on two of the afternoons and most of our MSIs take a couple of electives that meet in the early afternoon as well.
Click to expand...

All I can say is, thank the lord that we only have 4 hours of lectures a day. Any more and I'd have to start taking prozac on a regular basis.
 
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