Repeating second year

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PreMedical73

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Hello,

I have to repeat 2nd year of medschool. I failed 2 classes this year, got a 69.45 in one of them , but I have to repeat and if I fail anything my repeat year, I have to have a hearing for dismissal. My problem this year was that my school changed to NBME exams and I have done poorly on them, and the level of studying I should've being doing I wasn't because I started second year with an extremely traumatic experience that was getting in the way of me focusing on school. I wish I had just pulled out when I started to see bad patterns instead of going through and failing, now I am in this tough situation and I feel like I'm going to be kicked out or won't make it. I never thought I would be in this situation. I am no genius but I am not too stupid for medschool either. I have really low confidence and that gets in the way when I'm taking tests and don't answer confidently and I change answers a lot. Any advice on how to build confidence in med school when everyone around you seems to know everything, also how deal with being labeled repeater socially in medschool, I feel everyone will look down on me when I repeat and that won't help my already low confidence. I also started in medschool young (21) and have had a hard time "growing up" in medschool.

My plan now is, I have 3 months before 2nd year starts again, I have already started reviewing the first semester material. I plan on reading physiology & FA, do DIT and Kaplan videos, RX questions and UWORLD question, plus pathoma for the first semester classes. Some flaws I identified was I didn't focus on physiology that much this year and the test had a lot of that. This year I read FA, did pathoma, and do RX and UWORLD questions. I plan on doing question earlier this time because I would leave them till the last week before exam.

I really want advice on critical thinking for NBME subject exams, also building endurance. I get tired during test around. Question 50 and also have trouble finishing on time. Also, any advice on increasing confidence in my ability. I have being looking at a lot of dismissal post and they really get me down, I want to hear about any people who repeated and made it.
I go to US allopathic school and want pediatrics residency.

Any advice on how turn this crappy situation around.

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This has to be difficult for you. Second year is rough, and I'd hate to repeat. There are a couple of repeaters in my class who had issues similar to yours. You can do this. I would ask your friends from this year for notes, charts, and other prep materials for classes from this year. Second year has a lot of material in it, and the better organized your studying is the better off you'll be.

The best way to pass NBME is to know the material, although a good understanding of physiology helps with educated guessing. If you didn't do well in Phys, I'd review that too this summer. I think BRS books help since they have questions at the end of every chapter. You can use RX and UWORLD as study practice. If you do enough questions in a row, it's like taking a NBME exam.
 
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Hey, I am an example of someone who had to repeat 2nd year and came through it with an awesome residency in my field of choice (radiology). Sorry about what happened, but know that it is not the end of the world (it may feel like it at this moment). The number one thing I would suggest is to eliminate your negative mindset. Yes you had a bad outcome, but it's how you respond right now that will determine how you do next year and beyond. Rebuild your confidence this summer, and not just by re-reading material. Go out, hang with friends, clear your mind and make sure you're ready for the grind again. You need to come into the year with a positive outlook and a do-or die attitude. Figure out your studying and test taking issues, and improve your preparation. Step 1 scores are your lifeline and it will be important for you to master this standardized exam to improve your chances for pediatric residency. Use this time off as a chance to better yourself in your work ethic, confidence, and as a person. If all goes well, you will hardly remember this extra year come match day. Good luck man.
 
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You get an extra year to see the same information. You are so lucky. You should do well this time around. Use the extra time over the summer to do an overall review of first and second year. Pretend like you are going into STEP, and keep going back and reviewing stuff over and over while doing qbanks - kaplan, usmlerx, and usmelworld. I often fantasize about having to repeat 2nd year just so I have extra time to review everything extra extra well.
 
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I would recommend doing Uworld questions for each subject test. Uworld helped improve my scores dramatically on NBME exams (10-15 points on each test). What I did: Firecracker + First Aid + Uworld. Use Uworld as a learning tool, don't focus on your percentage correct but on why you got a question right or wrong. People say to save Uworld for step, but that's bs, use NBME shelf exams for seeing where you are for Step, Uworld should be used as a learning tool.

Don't worry about repeating the year, no one in the class below yours knows every1 in their class. Chances are they won't even know your repeating, and even if they do, they can't and won't say anything because they could get slammed with professionalism issues. Honestly, I can say from experience, no one will care that you are repeating. Just take it slow, take it one class at a time.

Talk to your deans for advice and guidance. They will tell you what is ruled out for residency.

No one gets dimissed from medical school. Even if you fail one more class while repeating, chances will go to the hearing and be granted another chance. The school looks bad if you don't graduate so they have your back when it comes to academic difficulties.

Also, find something else beyond classes to build your self esteem. For some people it's research. This may give you an outlet from classes and your success in research (or something else) will motivate you for studying for medical school.

You were young when you started medical school, one extra year is not going to change your life considerably. Just think about all the people who are in their 30s and 40s when they started medical school, it didn't affect their careers too much, so one year won't be a big deal.

Relax, reach out to your deans, and take it one class at a time.

You will be surprised how much easier repeating is compared to starting second year for the very first time.

You got this.
 
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Also in the next few months before you start second year, DO NOT focus on what repeating the year will be like, it could drive you crazy. Just focus on the task at hand, and pretty soon you will be done with the year.

Plenty of people have had to repeat a year and managed to make it to graduation. Do not let this one bump on the road get you down. Sure you ran into problems early in medical school, but you will learn from this and move on. EVERYONE goes through difficulties at some point in their lives. It is how you overcome them that define you, not having a little trouble in medical school.
 
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Thank you all for the advice!! It truly helped me have a better outlook at this situation and see it as an opportunity to strengthen my knowledge for step 1 instead of living in fear of failure everyday. It's so refreshing to hear positive advice because I have just being looking at all these negative senarios that happened to other people. I guess things happen and we need rise above them. I will definitely focus more on UWORLD questions and have a better work ethic this time around. I might start a low Maintaince blog to help keep my sanity throughout all this and make it to the other side.
 
Don't overextend your self with too many resources though. Pathoma is a definite imo as is UWorld.
You can do it! Best of luck
 
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Wanted to update this for any other medschool repeaters out there quietly lurking to find hope and gain advice on how to survive this journey after failure. Well I passed, actually I more than passed and you can too and I fully accept that I am an underdog, always have being and I did it. I know "if I did it, you can to" must sound like something people just say after they come to the other side, but my repeat year was the worst and the best thing for me not just in my career but for life. If I had even passed 2nd year on the first try, I guarantee I would've have failed STEP 1 or had to take a year off anyways to learn so much I didn't know. I sit here grateful to my awesome school and experienced administrators for not letting me slip through the cracks. Even though I was really annoyed that they didn't let me pass because of 0.04 points and in absolute no way was it easy, there were days I kept feeling stuck in life and felt that life isn't moving forward but it does move forward with every test you pass, with every class you finish, with every day you had a bad or good day, its still moving forward. Things I suggest if you are repeating:

1. Your priority is getting your MD and being happy & healthy. That's it. It's not your relationship, your friends, your social life. Get your freaking degree because you got into medical school so you must have done something right to deserve to be here. So give it your all and finish each step to get that degree.

2. Give no ****s about what people say about you, your repeat status, your life, your existence, your reason for failure. You owe no bish any explanation. The sooner you stop giving a **** about what anyone will think, the happier you'll be and the more you'll focus on give ****s about what you think of yourself. Your true friends and people who believe in you will shine so bright during your repeat year. Whoever backs away when you fail, is the best way to weed out toxic mother****er from your life. And anyone that's in medical school knows, there's a lot of negative, judgy, full of themselves people in medschool, not to say they won't be good doctors but they just don't need to be in your life when you picking yourself up.

3. Discipline. Routine. Schedule. Ambition. One thing I realized during my repeat year, is my absolute horrible study habits. If you are spending 10 hours studying, then you are studying wrong (I'm still struggling with this but at least now I am aware of the problem). I realized also that I honestly had no direction the first time doing 2nd year. The resources my friends were using from the beginning, I was using way later. So ask people what they are doing!! I wish someone told me that Costanzo physio is a must for the NBME tests (my school is NBME exams and not subject exams so lectures/ppts a useless and FA/UWORLD is your bae). Ask people what they are doing, and get direction, obviously you'll fail if you aren't using the right stuff. On to Ambition... I mean be ambitious about the stuff you are doing, I felt that I cared about my grades a lot this time around, I cared about every.single.point. even if our group EBM was worth 1%, I gave a **** about it. Because you know what, If I cared that much the first time around I wouldn't have failed. So stay ambitious, its keeps you alive in medschool. I felt so jaded to the process before and felt that I was just going through the motions, that might be due to my maturity as well since I entered kinda young, but failing woke me up, it re-lit my fire.

This may sound like you need give up everything and just do medschool and never go to a party, or get drunk or celebrate you birthday cuz you don't deserve that kinda happiness. It's not, if anything I had more time to do things, was happier overall, succeeding more, learning more, sleeping more and yet still doing better and no its not just because I was seeing the content 2nd time around. My school actually changed a bunch of stuff when I did 2nd year again, added individual in class quizzes and changed exams but I still felt more comfortable because I was trying to control the situation and not let it control me. I had direction and motivation to finish, also I believed in myself. Most of the times you fail not because "you aren't smart enough" but because you are lost, directionless, ****ty study habits, bad relationships, crappy priorities, depression, anxiety, insomnia. It's not because you are not capable. Get your other things in life in order. Go see your doctor if you have a medical condition, go see your school therapist if life gave you ****ty cards, listen to audiobooks on discipline and habits and improve yourself as a student and human being.

At the end of MS2Repeat- I gained knowledge, I learned to bet on myself, I made some few cool friends that I like, I still have awesome life long friends from my original class, I matured as an adult, I am happier.

LONG POST but I know the people that are repeating will read it. If you have questions, need motivation, feeling hopeless PM me because I think its important to feel supported in this process. Okay back to STEP studying! (another massive beast).
 
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Since my school also uses NBME, the only advice I can give you is that ignore the power point presentations and focus on step1 prep materials...
 
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Wanted to update this for any other medschool repeaters out there quietly lurking to find hope and gain advice on how to survive this journey after failure. Well I passed, actually I more than passed and you can too and I fully accept that I am an underdog, always have being and I did it. I know "if I did it, you can to" must sound like something people just say after they come to the other side, but my repeat year was the worst and the best thing for me not just in my career but for life. If I had even passed 2nd year on the first try, I guarantee I would've have failed STEP 1 or had to take a year off anyways to learn so much I didn't know. I sit here grateful to my awesome school and experienced administrators for not letting me slip through the cracks. Even though I was really annoyed that they didn't let me pass because of 0.04 points and in absolute no way was it easy, there were days I kept feeling stuck in life and felt that life isn't moving forward but it does move forward with every test you pass, with every class you finish, with every day you had a bad or good day, its still moving forward. Things I suggest if you are repeating:

1. Your priority is getting your MD and being happy & healthy. That's it. It's not your relationship, your friends, your social life. Get your freaking degree because you got into medical school so you must have done something right to deserve to be here. So give it your all and finish each step to get that degree.

2. Give no ****s about what people say about you, your repeat status, your life, your existence, your reason for failure. You owe no bish any explanation. The sooner you stop giving a **** about what anyone will think, the happier you'll be and the more you'll focus on give ****s about what you think of yourself. Your true friends and people who believe in you will shine so bright during your repeat year. Whoever backs away when you fail, is the best way to weed out toxic mother****er from your life. And anyone that's in medical school knows, there's a lot of negative, judgy, full of themselves people in medschool, not to say they won't be good doctors but they just don't need to be in your life when you picking yourself up.

3. Discipline. Routine. Schedule. Ambition. One thing I realized during my repeat year, is my absolute horrible study habits. If you are spending 10 hours studying, then you are studying wrong (I'm still struggling with this but at least now I am aware of the problem). I realized also that I honestly had no direction the first time doing 2nd year. The resources my friends were using from the beginning, I was using way later. So ask people what they are doing!! I wish someone told me that Costanzo physio is a must for the NBME tests (my school is NBME exams and not subject exams so lectures/ppts a useless and FA/UWORLD is your bae). Ask people what they are doing, and get direction, obviously you'll fail if you aren't using the right stuff. On to Ambition... I mean be ambitious about the stuff you are doing, I felt that I cared about my grades a lot this time around, I cared about every.single.point. even if our group EBM was worth 1%, I gave a **** about it. Because you know what, If I cared that much the first time around I wouldn't have failed. So stay ambitious, its keeps you alive in medschool. I felt so jaded to the process before and felt that I was just going through the motions, that might be due to my maturity as well since I entered kinda young, but failing woke me up, it re-lit my fire.

This may sound like you need give up everything and just do medschool and never go to a party, or get drunk or celebrate you birthday cuz you don't deserve that kinda happiness. It's not, if anything I had more time to do things, was happier overall, succeeding more, learning more, sleeping more and yet still doing better and no its not just because I was seeing the content 2nd time around. My school actually changed a bunch of stuff when I did 2nd year again, added individual in class quizzes and changed exams but I still felt more comfortable because I was trying to control the situation and not let it control me. I had direction and motivation to finish, also I believed in myself. Most of the times you fail not because "you aren't smart enough" but because you are lost, directionless, ****ty study habits, bad relationships, crappy priorities, depression, anxiety, insomnia. It's not because you are not capable. Get your other things in life in order. Go see your doctor if you have a medical condition, go see your school therapist if life gave you ****ty cards, listen to audiobooks on discipline and habits and improve yourself as a student and human being.

At the end of MS2Repeat- I gained knowledge, I learned to bet on myself, I made some few cool friends that I like, I still have awesome life long friends from my original class, I matured as an adult, I am happier.

LONG POST but I know the people that are repeating will read it. If you have questions, need motivation, feeling hopeless PM me because I think its important to feel supported in this process. Okay back to STEP studying! (another massive beast).
 
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What's worse for residency, failing step 1 or having to repeat 2nd year?
 
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There is something about failure, esp. overcoming it that brings about a certain level of respect... Great job, OP. You'll make a great doc =)
 
What's worse for residency, failing step 1 or having to repeat 2nd year?

Failing step 1.

~75% of US residencies screen you out if you failed step 1. The 25% remaining are not very competitive specialties/locations. It's our country's way of handcuffing residents to less desirable regions of the country without calling ourselves commies, but it's secret clockwork that goes unspoken.

There is no formal screening or hard block such as that with repeating a year, although both look pretty abysmal to top tier locations or subsurgical specialties.
 
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Are you planning on doing one or the other? If not, what's the point for asking this, especially in a thread celebrating the OPs achievement?

Shut your mouth freshmen
 
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Shut your mouth freshmen
Haha thanks.

What's worse for residency: being older than the average resident or attending a bottom-120 medical school? [/offtopic]

OP: congrats on the turnaround!
 
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Wanted to update this for any other medschool repeaters out there quietly lurking to find hope and gain advice on how to survive this journey after failure. Well I passed, actually I more than passed and you can too and I fully accept that I am an underdog, always have being and I did it. I know "if I did it, you can to" must sound like something people just say after they come to the other side, but my repeat year was the worst and the best thing for me not just in my career but for life. If I had even passed 2nd year on the first try, I guarantee I would've have failed STEP 1 or had to take a year off anyways to learn so much I didn't know. I sit here grateful to my awesome school and experienced administrators for not letting me slip through the cracks. Even though I was really annoyed that they didn't let me pass because of 0.04 points and in absolute no way was it easy, there were days I kept feeling stuck in life and felt that life isn't moving forward but it does move forward with every test you pass, with every class you finish, with every day you had a bad or good day, its still moving forward. Things I suggest if you are repeating:

1. Your priority is getting your MD and being happy & healthy. That's it. It's not your relationship, your friends, your social life. Get your freaking degree because you got into medical school so you must have done something right to deserve to be here. So give it your all and finish each step to get that degree.

2. Give no ****s about what people say about you, your repeat status, your life, your existence, your reason for failure. You owe no bish any explanation. The sooner you stop giving a **** about what anyone will think, the happier you'll be and the more you'll focus on give ****s about what you think of yourself. Your true friends and people who believe in you will shine so bright during your repeat year. Whoever backs away when you fail, is the best way to weed out toxic mother****er from your life. And anyone that's in medical school knows, there's a lot of negative, judgy, full of themselves people in medschool, not to say they won't be good doctors but they just don't need to be in your life when you picking yourself up.

3. Discipline. Routine. Schedule. Ambition. One thing I realized during my repeat year, is my absolute horrible study habits. If you are spending 10 hours studying, then you are studying wrong (I'm still struggling with this but at least now I am aware of the problem). I realized also that I honestly had no direction the first time doing 2nd year. The resources my friends were using from the beginning, I was using way later. So ask people what they are doing!! I wish someone told me that Costanzo physio is a must for the NBME tests (my school is NBME exams and not subject exams so lectures/ppts a useless and FA/UWORLD is your bae). Ask people what they are doing, and get direction, obviously you'll fail if you aren't using the right stuff. On to Ambition... I mean be ambitious about the stuff you are doing, I felt that I cared about my grades a lot this time around, I cared about every.single.point. even if our group EBM was worth 1%, I gave a **** about it. Because you know what, If I cared that much the first time around I wouldn't have failed. So stay ambitious, its keeps you alive in medschool. I felt so jaded to the process before and felt that I was just going through the motions, that might be due to my maturity as well since I entered kinda young, but failing woke me up, it re-lit my fire.

This may sound like you need give up everything and just do medschool and never go to a party, or get drunk or celebrate you birthday cuz you don't deserve that kinda happiness. It's not, if anything I had more time to do things, was happier overall, succeeding more, learning more, sleeping more and yet still doing better and no its not just because I was seeing the content 2nd time around. My school actually changed a bunch of stuff when I did 2nd year again, added individual in class quizzes and changed exams but I still felt more comfortable because I was trying to control the situation and not let it control me. I had direction and motivation to finish, also I believed in myself. Most of the times you fail not because "you aren't smart enough" but because you are lost, directionless, ****ty study habits, bad relationships, crappy priorities, depression, anxiety, insomnia. It's not because you are not capable. Get your other things in life in order. Go see your doctor if you have a medical condition, go see your school therapist if life gave you ****ty cards, listen to audiobooks on discipline and habits and improve yourself as a student and human being.

At the end of MS2Repeat- I gained knowledge, I learned to bet on myself, I made some few cool friends that I like, I still have awesome life long friends from my original class, I matured as an adult, I am happier.

LONG POST but I know the people that are repeating will read it. If you have questions, need motivation, feeling hopeless PM me because I think its important to feel supported in this process. Okay back to STEP studying! (another massive beast).
really glad you have achieved all this and that you came back with an update
 
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EDiT: Nevermind. Looks like you updated.
 
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You get an extra year to see the same information. You are so lucky. You should do well this time around. Use the extra time over the summer to do an overall review of first and second year. Pretend like you are going into STEP, and keep going back and reviewing stuff over and over while doing qbanks - kaplan, usmlerx, and usmelworld. I often fantasize about having to repeat 2nd year just so I have extra time to review everything extra extra well.


As crazy as this sounds, I also fantasize about putting the knowledge/motivation I have now into a second year me.
 
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Wanted to update this for any other medschool repeaters out there quietly lurking to find hope and gain advice on how to survive this journey after failure. Well I passed, actually I more than passed and you can too and I fully accept that I am an underdog, always have being and I did it. I know "if I did it, you can to" must sound like something people just say after they come to the other side, but my repeat year was the worst and the best thing for me not just in my career but for life. If I had even passed 2nd year on the first try, I guarantee I would've have failed STEP 1 or had to take a year off anyways to learn so much I didn't know. I sit here grateful to my awesome school and experienced administrators for not letting me slip through the cracks. Even though I was really annoyed that they didn't let me pass because of 0.04 points and in absolute no way was it easy, there were days I kept feeling stuck in life and felt that life isn't moving forward but it does move forward with every test you pass, with every class you finish, with every day you had a bad or good day, its still moving forward. Things I suggest if you are repeating:

1. Your priority is getting your MD and being happy & healthy. That's it. It's not your relationship, your friends, your social life. Get your freaking degree because you got into medical school so you must have done something right to deserve to be here. So give it your all and finish each step to get that degree.

2. Give no ****s about what people say about you, your repeat status, your life, your existence, your reason for failure. You owe no bish any explanation. The sooner you stop giving a **** about what anyone will think, the happier you'll be and the more you'll focus on give ****s about what you think of yourself. Your true friends and people who believe in you will shine so bright during your repeat year. Whoever backs away when you fail, is the best way to weed out toxic mother****er from your life. And anyone that's in medical school knows, there's a lot of negative, judgy, full of themselves people in medschool, not to say they won't be good doctors but they just don't need to be in your life when you picking yourself up.

3. Discipline. Routine. Schedule. Ambition. One thing I realized during my repeat year, is my absolute horrible study habits. If you are spending 10 hours studying, then you are studying wrong (I'm still struggling with this but at least now I am aware of the problem). I realized also that I honestly had no direction the first time doing 2nd year. The resources my friends were using from the beginning, I was using way later. So ask people what they are doing!! I wish someone told me that Costanzo physio is a must for the NBME tests (my school is NBME exams and not subject exams so lectures/ppts a useless and FA/UWORLD is your bae). Ask people what they are doing, and get direction, obviously you'll fail if you aren't using the right stuff. On to Ambition... I mean be ambitious about the stuff you are doing, I felt that I cared about my grades a lot this time around, I cared about every.single.point. even if our group EBM was worth 1%, I gave a **** about it. Because you know what, If I cared that much the first time around I wouldn't have failed. So stay ambitious, its keeps you alive in medschool. I felt so jaded to the process before and felt that I was just going through the motions, that might be due to my maturity as well since I entered kinda young, but failing woke me up, it re-lit my fire.

This may sound like you need give up everything and just do medschool and never go to a party, or get drunk or celebrate you birthday cuz you don't deserve that kinda happiness. It's not, if anything I had more time to do things, was happier overall, succeeding more, learning more, sleeping more and yet still doing better and no its not just because I was seeing the content 2nd time around. My school actually changed a bunch of stuff when I did 2nd year again, added individual in class quizzes and changed exams but I still felt more comfortable because I was trying to control the situation and not let it control me. I had direction and motivation to finish, also I believed in myself. Most of the times you fail not because "you aren't smart enough" but because you are lost, directionless, ****ty study habits, bad relationships, crappy priorities, depression, anxiety, insomnia. It's not because you are not capable. Get your other things in life in order. Go see your doctor if you have a medical condition, go see your school therapist if life gave you ****ty cards, listen to audiobooks on discipline and habits and improve yourself as a student and human being.

At the end of MS2Repeat- I gained knowledge, I learned to bet on myself, I made some few cool friends that I like, I still have awesome life long friends from my original class, I matured as an adult, I am happier.

LONG POST but I know the people that are repeating will read it. If you have questions, need motivation, feeling hopeless PM me because I think its important to feel supported in this process. Okay back to STEP studying! (another massive beast).


I admire your ambition and your strength for overcoming failure. When I was reading your update, it felt like a real relief to know that my feelings are similar to other students.
Maybe you will have a detailed post about this year, about situations and feelings.
 
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Repeating second year

I tried to post a reply to my original thread about repeating year however I consistently get a blocking message stating that posting a reply is not necessary. I think it is. I get messages from student often on this original post about being in a similar situation and how this post gives them hope to continue. Knowing another individual struggled in this situation is important. Everyone on here should be encouraged and I hope that me updating this topic offers another student the confidence to face this obstacles. So I had to start a new thread to talk about the topic of repeating a year because despite the error message “a response is not necessary”, the direct messages I receive tell me that it is necessary to update this post.
UPDATE!!!!
Since I posted this over 3 years ago, I have gotten messages from people asking questions about repeating a year. Many read this post and tell me it’s helped them get through the initial shock of having to repeat a year because someone else did too. Countless people view this post and don’t message me at all but they too are in similar situations. So my point with this is to remind everyone: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

In medical school we are under the impression that we are the only one struggling and everyone else seems to have it figured out. This is false. Everyone is struggling in some way, even the top of the class kid is scared about something in someway. I realized this during graduation week a month ago when all my classmates would talk about their stories in medschool and all these stories would go something along the lines... “ I felt I was dumb during patient encounter”... “ I thought I failed that test..” ... “ I actually failed the nephrology midterm..” ... “ I completely botched my patient presentation on neurology”... “ I got yelled at by the scrub nurse and was super embarrassed”... “ I was so sleep deprived on OB”. Everyone has their battle in medschool, so my most important advice is please don’t feel alone in this game.

As far as update: I passed my repeat year, I passed all my board exams on first try, I graduated and have my giant M.D. deup on the wall, I start residency in my field of choice on Monday, July 1st!

From my personal experience, my wisest advice is, be mentally strong. Yes changing test taking strategy, finding the right resources, and learning how to productivity study is important. Being mentally strong and being your own ally is what going to actually help you get through this. The journey is never smooth sailing, but work hard on getting rid of your white coat syndrome and believe that you can learn the tools needed to succeed.
 
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I have linked the original post in the first line, to give context about the update.

I hope it helps someone, from the DMs I get it at least provides students with hope. We can always use positivity and encouragement on this platform. That’s really just my goal here.
 
This is the most profound testimonial that I’ve read thus far regarding my situation. I’m so happy that there is a glimpse of hope in this situation. My 3rd semester was absolutely HORRID. I went in with a newly diagnosed chronic illness and performed subpar. Went to the next semester thinking I could bring it up and although I improved, I failed the year by 1 point. The comp score is scaled. It caused me to fail. Now I’m faced with repeating year 2. It absolutely sucks. But reading this thread has given me the motivation to continue as I know running through the toughest content again and building a solid base would allow me to pass comp and ultimately make a great score on step 1. Thanks for your post and continue to be the best YOU despite what stigma may come from repeating a year or even 2 years of medical school. Everyone’s situation and battle is different.
 
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Wanted to update this for any other medschool repeaters out there quietly lurking to find hope and gain advice on how to survive this journey after failure. Well I passed, actually I more than passed and you can too and I fully accept that I am an underdog, always have being and I did it. I know "if I did it, you can to" must sound like something people just say after they come to the other side, but my repeat year was the worst and the best thing for me not just in my career but for life. If I had even passed 2nd year on the first try, I guarantee I would've have failed STEP 1 or had to take a year off anyways to learn so much I didn't know. I sit here grateful to my awesome school and experienced administrators for not letting me slip through the cracks. Even though I was really annoyed that they didn't let me pass because of 0.04 points and in absolute no way was it easy, there were days I kept feeling stuck in life and felt that life isn't moving forward but it does move forward with every test you pass, with every class you finish, with every day you had a bad or good day, its still moving forward. Things I suggest if you are repeating:

1. Your priority is getting your MD and being happy & healthy. That's it. It's not your relationship, your friends, your social life. Get your freaking degree because you got into medical school so you must have done something right to deserve to be here. So give it your all and finish each step to get that degree.

2. Give no ****s about what people say about you, your repeat status, your life, your existence, your reason for failure. You owe no bish any explanation. The sooner you stop giving a **** about what anyone will think, the happier you'll be and the more you'll focus on give ****s about what you think of yourself. Your true friends and people who believe in you will shine so bright during your repeat year. Whoever backs away when you fail, is the best way to weed out toxic mother****er from your life. And anyone that's in medical school knows, there's a lot of negative, judgy, full of themselves people in medschool, not to say they won't be good doctors but they just don't need to be in your life when you picking yourself up.

3. Discipline. Routine. Schedule. Ambition. One thing I realized during my repeat year, is my absolute horrible study habits. If you are spending 10 hours studying, then you are studying wrong (I'm still struggling with this but at least now I am aware of the problem). I realized also that I honestly had no direction the first time doing 2nd year. The resources my friends were using from the beginning, I was using way later. So ask people what they are doing!! I wish someone told me that Costanzo physio is a must for the NBME tests (my school is NBME exams and not subject exams so lectures/ppts a useless and FA/UWORLD is your bae). Ask people what they are doing, and get direction, obviously you'll fail if you aren't using the right stuff. On to Ambition... I mean be ambitious about the stuff you are doing, I felt that I cared about my grades a lot this time around, I cared about every.single.point. even if our group EBM was worth 1%, I gave a **** about it. Because you know what, If I cared that much the first time around I wouldn't have failed. So stay ambitious, its keeps you alive in medschool. I felt so jaded to the process before and felt that I was just going through the motions, that might be due to my maturity as well since I entered kinda young, but failing woke me up, it re-lit my fire.

This may sound like you need give up everything and just do medschool and never go to a party, or get drunk or celebrate you birthday cuz you don't deserve that kinda happiness. It's not, if anything I had more time to do things, was happier overall, succeeding more, learning more, sleeping more and yet still doing better and no its not just because I was seeing the content 2nd time around. My school actually changed a bunch of stuff when I did 2nd year again, added individual in class quizzes and changed exams but I still felt more comfortable because I was trying to control the situation and not let it control me. I had direction and motivation to finish, also I believed in myself. Most of the times you fail not because "you aren't smart enough" but because you are lost, directionless, ****ty study habits, bad relationships, crappy priorities, depression, anxiety, insomnia. It's not because you are not capable. Get your other things in life in order. Go see your doctor if you have a medical condition, go see your school therapist if life gave you ****ty cards, listen to audiobooks on discipline and habits and improve yourself as a student and human being.

At the end of MS2Repeat- I gained knowledge, I learned to bet on myself, I made some few cool friends that I like, I still have awesome life long friends from my original class, I matured as an adult, I am happier.

LONG POST but I know the people that are repeating will read it. If you have questions, need motivation, feeling hopeless PM me because I think its important to feel supported in this process. Okay back to STEP studying! (another massive beast).
Thank you for this. Truly, it helped shed some new perspective.
 
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I have linked the original post in the first line, to give context about the update.

I hope it helps someone, from the DMs I get it at least provides students with hope. We can always use positivity and encouragement on this platform. That’s really just my goal here.
Thank you so much for your post. How did you study differently when you repeated a year?
 
I echo this sentiment and wholeheartedly agree. You're never alone, even if you're repeating a year, even if you're on academic probation, even if you've been dismissed. There are others in your shoes. Learn what you can, believe in yourself, pick yourself up, and get back in the game.
 
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I echo this sentiment and wholeheartedly agree. You're never alone, even if you're repeating a year, even if you're on academic probation, even if you've been dismissed. There are others in your shoes. Learn what you can, believe in yourself, pick yourself up, and get back in the game.
@0:35
 
Repeating second year

I tried to post a reply to my original thread about repeating year however I consistently get a blocking message stating that posting a reply is not necessary. I think it is. I get messages from student often on this original post about being in a similar situation and how this post gives them hope to continue. Knowing another individual struggled in this situation is important. Everyone on here should be encouraged and I hope that me updating this topic offers another student the confidence to face this obstacles. So I had to start a new thread to talk about the topic of repeating a year because despite the error message “a response is not necessary”, the direct messages I receive tell me that it is necessary to update this post.
UPDATE!!!!
Since I posted this over 3 years ago, I have gotten messages from people asking questions about repeating a year. Many read this post and tell me it’s helped them get through the initial shock of having to repeat a year because someone else did too. Countless people view this post and don’t message me at all but they too are in similar situations. So my point with this is to remind everyone: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

In medical school we are under the impression that we are the only one struggling and everyone else seems to have it figured out. This is false. Everyone is struggling in some way, even the top of the class kid is scared about something in someway. I realized this during graduation week a month ago when all my classmates would talk about their stories in medschool and all these stories would go something along the lines... “ I felt I was dumb during patient encounter”... “ I thought I failed that test..” ... “ I actually failed the nephrology midterm..” ... “ I completely botched my patient presentation on neurology”... “ I got yelled at by the scrub nurse and was super embarrassed”... “ I was so sleep deprived on OB”. Everyone has their battle in medschool, so my most important advice is please don’t feel alone in this game.

As far as update: I passed my repeat year, I passed all my board exams on first try, I graduated and have my giant M.D. deup on the wall, I start residency in my field of choice on Monday, July 1st!

From my personal experience, my wisest advice is, be mentally strong. Yes changing test taking strategy, finding the right resources, and learning how to productivity study is important. Being mentally strong and being your own ally is what going to actually help you get through this. The journey is never smooth sailing, but work hard on getting rid of your white coat syndrome and believe that you can learn the tools needed to succeed.

UPDATE:

I still get a lot of questions regarding repeating year and unfortunately I don’t check my SDN that continuously. It breaks my heart that I haven’t been able to respond to some of the private messages I get on this topic. I know when you’re in that situation it helps to talk to a person who did make it just to hear, hey you can do it! Don’t doubt yourself!

Well here’s another UPDATE almost exactly from the time I started my repeat year in 2016. I am a PGY2 now. I have been ranked best first year in my residency class. I have been chosen for leadership roles and research award by my program.

Here’s the deal: test scores do not = a good clinician. To this day I know I won’t be highest scoring in a test but I am a good clinician. So guys that are messaging me, JUST. GET. THROUGH. MEDSCHOOL. P=MD/DO
Even after working 80+ hours of night float a week in the ER during a pandemic, I still thought medschool was a harder. Do it for your future self, I love what I get to do everyday, it’s not always a perfect day but I’m grateful for being in this field.

Also since I don’t check SDN that much I have decided to start a public insta account in which I will inevitably talk about this topic at some point and am probably a little easier to reach through, it’s called namaste_wellbeing on insta (I know right? What a sellout name lolol) but no I started this account to help people. I don’t just get message on SDN from people in these situation I get contacted by many students in all levels of training that failed something. I have no interest in selling crap or buying crap on insta, just to help people! There’s too many goons glorifying and making medicine look cute on insta and I figured I might add something authentic. Medicine don’t not look like a cute FIGS commercial, it looks like this post and the messages I get from this post.

Although I haven’t “made it” yet, I can say, I did it, you can too.
 
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I couldn’t reply to this thread last year when I wanted to update it so I created another thread responding to it here:



But now I can reply to this original thread so just to consolidate this journey that I know many lurk and read. Here’s all my updates throughout the years since the posting of this in 2016.

I am only doing this because I have been the person you are now, I’m talking to the person that’s going through this devastating news of having to repeat now. I have been in your shoes, I have not forgotten the feeling. my repeat year made me a stronger human being, and I am glad it led me on the path to becoming the human I am today.

I’m also on insta tryna be inspiration and stuff, it’s called namaste_wellbeing, yeah I hate the word “wellbeing” too but all the good stuff was taken.

since I don’t check SDN that much I have decided to start a public insta account in which I will inevitably talk about this topic at some point and am probably a little easier to reach through, it’s called namaste_wellbeing on insta (I know right? What a sellout name lolol) but no I started this account to help people. I don’t just get messages on SDN from people in these situation I get contacted by many students in all levels of training that failed something. So no way are you alone. I have no interest in selling crap or buying crap on insta, just to help people! There’s too many goons glorifying and making medicine look cute on insta and I figured I might add something authentic and real. Medicine does not look like a cute FIGS commercial, it looks like this post and the messages I get from this post

Here all the updates for the peeps that won’t see the other thread. it would’ve been easier if I started some blog about this but I was too busy studying and not wasting time like I did when I failed.


“I tried to post a reply to my original thread about repeating year however I consistently get a blocking message stating that posting a reply is not necessary. I think it is. I get messages from student often on this original post about being in a similar situation and how this post gives them hope to continue. Knowing another individual struggled in this situation is important. Everyone on here should be encouraged and I hope that me updating this topic offers another student the confidence to face this obstacles. So I had to start a new thread to talk about the topic of repeating a year because despite the error message “a response is not necessary”, the direct messages I receive tell me that it is necessary to update this post.

UPDATE!!!!

Since I posted this over 3 years ago, I have gotten messages from people asking questions about repeating a year. Many read this post and tell me it’s helped them get through the initial shock of having to repeat a year because someone else did too. Countless people view this post and don’t message me at all but they too are in similar situations. So my point with this is to remind everyone: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
In medical school we are under the impression that we are the only one struggling and everyone else seems to have it figured out. This is false. Everyone is struggling in some way, even the top of the class kid is scared about something in someway. I realized this during graduation week a month ago when all my classmates would talk about their stories in medschool and all these stories would go something along the lines... “ I felt I was dumb during patient encounter”... “ I thought I failed that test..” ... “ I actually failed the nephrology midterm..” ... “ I completely botched my patient presentation on neurology”... “ I got yelled at by the scrub nurse and was super embarrassed”... “ I was so sleep deprived on OB”. Everyone has their battle in medschool, so my most important advice is please don’t feel alone in this game.

As far as update: I passed my repeat year, I passed all my board exams on first try, I graduated and have my giant M.D. deup on the wall, I start residency in my field of choice on Monday, July 1st!
From my personal experience, my wisest advice is, be mentally strong. Yes changing test taking strategy, finding the right resources, and learning how to productivity study is important. Being mentally strong and being your own ally is what going to actually help you get through this. The journey is never smooth sailing, but work hard on getting rid of your white coat syndrome and believe that you can learn the tools needed to succeed.

[/QUOTE]


I still get a lot of questions regarding repeating year and unfortunately I don’t check my SDN that continuously. It breaks my heart that I haven’t been able to respond to some of the private messages I get on this topic. I know when you’re in that situation it helps to talk to a person who did make it just to hear, hey you can do it! Don’t doubt yourself!

Well here’s another UPDATE almost exactly from the time I started my repeat year in 2016. I am a PGY2 now. I have been ranked best first year in my residency class. I have been chosen for leadership roles and research award by my program.


Here’s the deal: test scores do not = a good clinician. To this day I know I won’t be highest scoring in a test but I am a good clinician. So guys that are messaging me, JUST. GET. THROUGH. MEDSCHOOL. P=MD/DO

Even after working 80+ hours of night float a week in the ER during a pandemic, I still thought medschool was a harder because you don’t see the fruit of your labor. Even when residency is hard I feel privileged & appreciated by my patients and that makes it easier than medschool. The things is our medschool education has become just a bunch of tests. Medstudent on clinical rotations are too busy doing uworld than talking to patients because of its test focused nature. They rather study to get the highest USMLE score to get into Derm than actually take the time to see the Derm patient in front of them.

Do it for your future self, I love what I get to do everyday, it’s not always a perfect day but I’m grateful for being in this field.

Although I haven’t “made it” yet, I can say, I did it, you can too.
 
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Your story is inspirational. I failed my first exam in my 2nd year due to a stupid mistake in study habits. Hopefully I can remediate and won't have to repeat a year. But seeing this is giving me confidence. I thought the world was over and I had to drop medical school. But I'm feeling a lot better now and really apprecaite it.
 
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