What advice do you have for students entering this year that want to get a head start over the summer. Worst classes???
Get Gross Anatomy: Board Review Series and memorize it. I wouldn't have had the discipline to do that before school began, but if you do, go for it. It obviously can't help you completely with the lab part of Gross, but it will certainly, certainly ease your learning a lot. In my humble opinion. 
Here is what you absolutely have to do before medical school starts. If you do not do this there is no way you will be able to stay caught up with the material. All your classmates will be doing this also, so you don't want to get behind.
1. Buy all of your textbooks for the first year (right now preferably), and read them all cover to cover.
2. Get yourself a copy of the Netter Atlas and the Rohen atlas and memorize every structure.
3. Get a good histology atlas and do the same thing.
4. Get a neuroanatomy atlas and do the same thing.
5. Pick up the PreTest books for every M1 subject and work every question. Then go pick up some copies of the review question series and do the same thing. Same thing with all of the questions in BRS.
6. Pick up a copy of Grant's Dissector and a good dissection kit. Then go to your local cemetary at night and dig up a body. Make sure you get a relatively fresh one, this should be easy to do because the grass over the grave won't have started to grow yet. Bring the body back to your garage and do the dissection. Try to do this as quickly as you can or the body will start to stink really bad.
Hope this helps.
Seriously, these pre-meds don't ever seem to want to take the advice that is ALWAYS given of do nothing and enjoy your Summer, so I figured I'd just tell them what they really wanted to hear.
1. Buy all of your textbooks for the first year (right now preferably), and read them all cover to cover.
2. Get yourself a copy of the Netter Atlas and the Rohen atlas and memorize every structure.
3. Get a good histology atlas and do the same thing.
4. Get a neuroanatomy atlas and do the same thing.
5. Pick up the PreTest books for every M1 subject and work every question. Then go pick up some copies of the review question series and do the same thing. Same thing with all of the questions in BRS.
6. Pick up a copy of Grant's Dissector and a good dissection kit. Then go to your local cemetary at night and dig up a body. Make sure you get a relatively fresh one, this should be easy to do because the grass over the grave won't have started to grow yet. Bring the body back to your garage and do the dissection. Try to do this as quickly as you can or the body will start to stink really bad.
Hope this helps.
Seriously, these pre-meds don't ever seem to want to take the advice that is ALWAYS given of do nothing and enjoy your Summer, so I figured I'd just tell them what they really wanted to hear.
ha 
but, you seem to be forgetting that there are some people going back to school after time off from undergrad... i sure as hell know i FORGOT how to study, and i think reviewing a little over the summer will just help me get back into that mode, and of course learning a few things along the way will also help. there's no point in "practice" studying if you dont learn anything useful!
i dont want to be a month into school and just getting back in my groove...
just keep it in mind, we arent ALL gunners
but, you seem to be forgetting that there are some people going back to school after time off from undergrad... i sure as hell know i FORGOT how to study, and i think reviewing a little over the summer will just help me get back into that mode, and of course learning a few things along the way will also help. there's no point in "practice" studying if you dont learn anything useful!
i dont want to be a month into school and just getting back in my groove...
just keep it in mind, we arent ALL gunners
In my case I took off a year between undergrad and medical school but I didn't forget how to study, because I never knew how to study in the first place! I ordered all my textbooks and every review book under the sun, and even some books on study methods for medical school. I was convinced I was going to go from being a relative slacker in undergrad to a gunner in med school. Well it didn't happen as you just can't change overnight, and I really struggled my first semester