Passed my first anatomy exam!

[Katie]

I know this is a frivolous thread, but I hadn't been on here for about a week because I was incredibly stressed about how horribly I must have done on our first anatomy test (to avoid any confusion here, we take the course second semester at Tufts). Well, I got it back today, and my score was not good, but was much better than I expected, and in the "acceptable" score range for the first exam. So I am very happy, and have some advice from what I learned from stressing myself out over something that should be easily correctable as long as I don't slack off:

1) To all incoming first year students, DO NOT CRAM for anatomy. I wish I had followed this advice when it was given to me by other students.

2)Get plenty of sleep and exercise and attempt to keep a normal schedule. Seems obvious to most people, but sometimes easier said than done in medical school.

3) Trust your own instincts while studying and don't just go along with the way a friend tells you to study. Sometimes it's too easy to doubt yourself while under stress, and you should try to get to a happy medium between your studying techniques and others' in order to find out what works for you.

4) If you come to med school not knowing anyone and without a sig. other, family, and/or pets, be sure to make some friends that are RELIABLE and will help you through the bad times and stress. Minimize your interactions with people who are ultra-competitive, ALWAYS distracted by their gf, bf, children, spouse, etc. when you try to talk to them or need advice or a study pal, and/or people who are incredibly insecure and needy (i.e. always asking "am I too fat, thin, ugly, etc..). I am still working on #4 unfortunately

Anyway, just wanted to share some sort of good news and procrastinate a bit. Good luck to everyone taking anatomy now and who will be taking it next semester.

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[iowaboy]

YEAH!!! Congrads! It is a great accompishment to pass the first anatomy exam.

I remember when I took the course a couple years ago..i failed that first exam MISERABLY. I mean, there was the low end on the curve and then there was me...30% below that.

How ironic though...that I am now TAing the course!!

But anyways, your advice should be engraved below the 10th commandment..you know what I mean???

Anatomy is by far not a course you can cram for 1)learning or 2)teaching (as I am now learning!!!) <img border="0" alt="[Pity]" title="" src="graemlins/pity.gif" />

 

[ckent]

Hey Katie, you posted some good advice for your fellow first years. I remember right after my first anatomy exam, I was all worried that I had failed too, but I ended up doing fine. The first couple exams of med school are always the most never-wracking, but by the time that you get to second year, taking exams will be second nature. I've actually talked to some second years over here that look forward to the day that they get to take exams because after taking the exam, that means that they have the rest of the night and (hopefully) the next couple of days off from studying. Most people with exam anxiety quickly overcome their anxiety during medical school because we just have so many exams that it becomes impossible to be anxious all the time. I also wanted to note that many of the people at my school that seem "ultracompetetive" during my 1st yr calmed down as summer approached, many of them seem to just burn themselves out and stopped caring after a while, then they became much more bearable to be around. Good luck with your many future exams.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Congratulations Katie! You continue to be an inspiration!

I recently read the 20 page-long wait list thread from last July, so I know what you've been through....and thanks for posting your words of wisdom on the pre-allopathic board. We appreciate your encouragement and advice.

I wish you the best of luck in the future.

p.s. I haven't heard anything from tufts since completion of my app but I know they're slow

 

[guardian]

Hey Katie,
Congrats! Anatomy is definitely one of those hallmarks of the medical school experience (even though it'll probably be my most hated subject the memories were priceless ). How's histology going?

 

[Cody1MD]

Hi Katie,
Thanks for ur advise and congrats on ur passing grade. I will be starting this year. Are u still single?

mike

 

[dr.evil]

congrats on passing the anatomy exam. my first year we had a mini-exam prior to the first real anatomy exam. the mini kicked all of our tails which caused us to figure out we needed to get in gear.
t

 

[Katie]

yes, we had the exact same experience here; the second years created a mock practical for us which was HARD. We were told that the real exam would be easier (it wasn't!), but I still needed to get my butt in gear, albeit almost too late.

yes, mike, I am still single; haven't had the best luck in that area lately.. cest la vie i guess.. :wink:

guardian, hope all is well with you.. histology is not too bad here; we just had our second exam this past monday. i'm passing the class by a good margin and don't expect that to change. man it is boring though; at least they do a good job of making anatomy clinically relevant here but histo puts me to sleep.. I have found that I do better sleeping in through some histo lectures (where they regurgitate the syllabus notes) and the lab sessions can be done on your own time through the class website. I should add that as another peice of advice; if you have the option to not go to histology lectures, take the time to do something more productive/interesting or study something else.

Foxy, hope you hear from Tufts soon; it took them 3 months after my application was complete to offer me an interview and I know others who waited for even longer periods of time. thanks for the good wishes and best of luck. weren't you accepted to BU recently? if so, congrats; maybe I'll see you at the Sharewood Clinic next year (which is run by Tufts, BU, and Harvard students).

ckent, I think they had us start out with the easier courses first semester here so that we wouldn't get freaked out by med school exams; there were plenty of exams last semester but the hardest course was Biochem, which was not bad at all. Anatomy is a totally different story however, and many people here fail physio (15 people last year failed it, and 5 of those 15 failed it a second time over the summer and are repeating it with us). Oh well, I should go study a little more physio before bed (they have our first physio, second physical diagnosis, and second anatomy exam all in the same week starting the 19th, are they on crack?? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> ) thanks for the encouragement everyone; take care..

 

[Cody1MD]

How old r u Katie? <img border="0" alt="[Lovey]" title="" src="graemlins/lovey.gif" />

 

[neilc]

that is good advice on the cramming, but i have yet to take it... :wink:

i just passed my genetics, and i think that i have more trouble on the "easy" courses than the biggies...i just cannot motivate for some things.

but, after i got my genetics grade i was thinking about how much i stress out for EVERY exam, and EVERY time i am sure that i will fail...but it never happens. and all of the people in my class who do the work (even what we think is too little work) seem to pass. i guess it shows that we can do this, we will do this, and that we don't need to worry so much. i really am starting to think that those of us who made it this far can do this, and should do it without too much worry.

so, from now on, i will study in advance, do all my work and not stress, and i know all of you out there will as well!

yeah, right....