Need Some Urgent Advice.

[DeusSolInvictus]

Perhaps a little bit of back ground about me would help paint a better picture of my predicament (srry I dont mean to make a long post). I just turned 19 and last year was my first year of med school, I went straight out of highschool from the states. I study in UAE (middle east) and I had three courses during my first year (6 year program incl. 1 year internship) Biochem, Anatomy [gross,histo,embryo,neuro all in 1 big subject], and physiology.

In my final exams I failed 2 (biochem and Anatomy) and passed physio with 75% (60% is passing for us). Now I have to wait 6 months before I can take my supplementary exams and if and when I pass those, I will sit in 2nd year with the new batch of students so basically I waste 1 year. However I found another med school in Dubai that is willing to accept me as a transfer student conditionally as long as I pass Anatomy and Biochem in their school while attending my 2nd year classes.

The catch is that they have a semester (as oppose to a year long study of each subject) system and they cover all of Anatomy, gross, embry everything in 1 semester and biochem, physio in the 2nd semester.

Now I made a lot of mistakes in my first year that I never want to repeat again, it was a mixture of ignorance, and well I just didn't understand the stuff because I had 0 background on university level education system.

But do you think it is possible for me to do both, is it a good idea? I mean my scores for Anat& biochem were both 55% [60 is passing] at my old college. And I really like the way the have split up the schedule for 2nd year classes.

The big benefit here is I save 1 year, and I don't have to sit at home wallowing in depression, and this new school's program is 4 1/2 years with rotations in the UK and US, which means I can go back home after this year, if everything goes okay. And If I happen to fail a subject in my 2nd year I don't have to waste a year, I have to wait for a semester to clear it.

Also this college is more geared towards USMLE and less towards MOH (UAE's licensing exam) unlike my old college.

Advice/input would be greatly greatly appreciated thank you. Im really at a crossroads.

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[Depakote]

Perhaps a little bit of back ground about me would help paint a better picture of my predicament (srry I dont mean to make a long post). I just turned 19 and last year was my first year of med school, I went straight out of highschool from the states. I study in UAE (middle east) and I had three courses during my first year (6 year program incl. 1 year internship) Biochem, Anatomy [gross,histo,embryo,neuro all in 1 big subject], and physiology.

In my final exams I failed 2 (biochem and Anatomy) and passed physio with 75% (60% is passing for us). Now I have to wait 6 months before I can take my supplementary exams and if and when I pass those, I will sit in 2nd year with the new batch of students so basically I waste 1 year. However I found another med school in Dubai that is willing to accept me as a transfer student conditionally as long as I pass Anatomy and Biochem in their school while attending my 2nd year classes.

The catch is that they have a semester (as oppose to a year long study of each subject) system and they cover all of Anatomy, gross, embry everything in 1 semester and biochem, physio in the 2nd semester.

Now I made a lot of mistakes in my first year that I never want to repeat again, it was a mixture of ignorance, and well I just didn't understand the stuff because I had 0 background on university level education system.

But do you think it is possible for me to do both, is it a good idea? I mean my scores for Anat& biochem were both 55% [60 is passing] at my old college. And I really like the way the have split up the schedule for 2nd year classes.

The big benefit here is I save 1 year, and I don't have to sit at home wallowing in depression, and this new school's program is 4 1/2 years with rotations in the UK and US, which means I can go back home after this year, if everything goes okay. And If I happen to fail a subject in my 2nd year I don't have to waste a year, I have to wait for a semester to clear it.

Also this college is more geared towards USMLE and less towards MOH (UAE's licensing exam) unlike my old college.

Advice/input would be greatly greatly appreciated thank you. Im really at a crossroads.

It sounds like you're rushing. This is a marathon process, you'll crash and burn again if you try to shortcut your way through this. I would stick with your current program (which already sounds like it's rushing things a bit) and spend the time between now and then building yourself a foundation and getting ready. The response to one failure should not be to accelerate things more.

 

[DeusSolInvictus]

Thanks, I took your advice. Im staying with my current program. I have four months to prepare for 2 exams.

Anatomy [Paper 1: Gross Anatomy; Paper 2: Embryo, Histo, Neuroanat]

and Biochemistry

Any tips on how to study biochem? My main problem with biochemistry is the stuff has no meaning to me, I mean when I look at cAMP or Acetyl CoA, its just words, I didn't do any premed before and the college never required it. So when I look at the notes by the professors, Im lost because the notes itself make assumptions that you know at least the basics. Much of it is some diagrams with arrows pointing everywhere and enzymes and reactions abbreviated with some basic text explaining it.

The books they've recommended is Harper's, Lippincotts, and Baynes&Domiczack(sp?).

But Harper's is too complicated for me and a lot of questions don't come from Lippincotts, and Baynes is too simplified(for the tests). The success I've had (i failed biochem by 3 marks/points) was mainly due to Notes which I had to memorize, and past class test papers (they tend to repeat some MCQ's but not enough to say the least) and reading 2 books that look like they've been printed on toilet paper by some Pakistani Dr. written 2000 years ago.

Any advice on how to tackle this subject would be extremely appreciated. My professors are very open and I can call them and visit them for help but when it comes to writing the test papers they are bastards.

 

[peace zealot]

for biochemistery concepts i ll advice you to study lipincot......this is the basic book and i think without that you ll never be able to digest harper....now if most of questions come from professor's notes do them...use harper only when you dont have any alternative...if you do everything from harper you ll be at trouble in the end...

 

[peace zealot]

well while going through this thread a question comes to my mind that what ll be the effect of these supplies in future on getting residency in USA....does it matter for IMGs...or its just the score of steps that matters.....if somebody has supplies but performs very well in usmle can he get residencies in top fields....???

 

[Law2Doc]

...And If I happen to fail a subject in my 2nd year I don't have to waste a year, I have to wait for a semester to clear it.
...

Your focus on "wasting a year" is misplaced. As depakote noted, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Go check out the nontrad board and you will see that there are folks just starting their med school journey in their 40s and beyond. You can "waste" a decade and still finish up ahead of them. That should put things in perspective. This is not a race, and you win nothing in particular by finishing "on time". You only win by actually doing what you need to to become a good doctor.

 

[DeusSolInvictus]

That is what I realized, because going to an easier school is not going to help me in the long run. Its just I was so depressed from having to do this sht all over again that I was looking for a way out for a while. But now Ive come to terms with it and look at it as a positive.

And my current school happens to be one of the best in the region (education wise) with facilities to match.

Thanks for the replies guys, so im going to start with lippin cott's and lecture notes. I was thinking that Baynes had some good clinical boxes. That's one of the good things about the book, it has lots of clinical info in neat little boxes all over the place.

 

[Depakote]

Honestly, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle if you're attempting to do this without a foundation in the basic sciences.

My advice would be to make absolutely sure you understand every concept before moving on.

If you don't know what cyclic AMP is, look it up and make sure you understand it before trying to understand a pathway that involves it. These things build upon each other and it will only get harder if you get too far in.

As for biochem in general, what worked best for me was to map out pathways. A lot of biochem relates to itself. If you can find a way to tie one thing to another then it makes a lot more sense. Link Glycolysis to Gluconeogenesis. Tie in the Pentose Phosphate Pathway... add in any other pathways you learn. Just keep building. That's what worked for me anyway.

 

[RxnMan]

As a student who was once obsessed with getting to...wherever early, I'm telling to not worry about "losing a year." In the grand scheme of things, if you learn from your mistakes, fix what you did wrong, and learn from your mistakes, you'll have spent that time well.

 

[DeusSolInvictus]

Thanks everyone, I realised that I got a lot of time to do things right u know? I guess I was just trying to find the quickest route home, I haven't been home in a year!

At first it didn't have much of an effect on me, and I just shook off the feeling of homesickness but eventually it catches up with you. But trying to dodge subjects and get home isn't a very good way of going about doing things.

Once agaain thanks for the advice.