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[NYMC MD 2B]

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Hey all. I am just a little freaked right now. I graduated from college with a degree in microbiology and immunology from a competetive university near the top of my class. I got a respectable MCAT score, and I have never received a grade lower than a B on any major assessment. I just had my first anatomy exam, and I feel like I must have failed. I don't know how this could have happened. I did all the reading, and I studied every day (for at least 3 hours) for two weeks straight. I was so sure I understood the material, but the board-like multiple choice questions really threw me for a loop! I am so discouraged. I just started and I already feel like I am flunking out. I talked to some of my classmates and they felt the same way. My question is, if only one or two people fail out each year, how could so many of us feel like we are drowning? Any suggestions?

 

[njbmd]

Hey all. I am just a little freaked right now. I graduated from college with a degree in microbiology and immunology from a competetive university near the top of my class. I got a respectable MCAT score, and I have never received a grade lower than a B on any major assessment. I just had my first anatomy exam, and I feel like I must have failed. I don't know how this could have happened. I did all the reading, and I studied every day (for at least 3 hours) for two weeks straight. I was so sure I understood the material, but the board-like multiple choice questions really threw me for a loop! I am so discouraged. I just started and I already feel like I am flunking out. I talked to some of my classmates and they felt the same way. My question is, if only one or two people fail out each year, how could so many of us feel like we are drowning? Any suggestions?

Hi there,
Here is a copy of a post that I did a while back. It outlines my study method that worked well for me for Gross Anatomy:

Hi there,
Here is how I studied Gross Anatomy and honored the course:

1. Once you get your syllabus, figure out how much you have to cover per night and get the job done. Preview for tomorrow's lecture & lab, review your atlas as you are studying and make a list of structures (copied from your dissector) that you have to find in the lab. For lecture: Preview, listen to lecture, review and study then preview next day's material etc.

2. Our text was Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy but I studied, read and learned Baby Moore, the abbreviated version of the big text. I read every Blue box in Big Moore but I knew Baby Moore cold.

3. Keep up! If you find that you have fallen behind, let it go and catch up on the weekend. Stay with your class.

4. As you study in the evening, again, keep the atlas handy and look at the atlas as you study your notes. Review the week's info on the weekend both lab and lecture. My other trick was to photocopy plates from Netter and color them with colored pencils for things like the cervical, brachial and lumbar plexi.

5. Look at every cadaver (with the permission of its owner) in the lab on a regular basis. About a week before the lab practical, take five or six of your buddies and ask one of the instructors to drill you. Ask them to be brutal. Take notes!

6. I used Grant's dissector & Netter's atlas. I used the reserve copy of Rohen to get an idea of the size of certain structures but Netter and Grant's Dissector were my main study tools. I also had a book of cross sectional anatomy (called Cross-Sectional Anatomy) that I used to study cross sectional structures.

7. Finish all dissections. We assigned folks outside of lab time to complete the dissections (on both sides) and teach the group. Practically, it takes two people to dissect; one to expose structures and one to guide them. The rest of us reviewed as they worked.

8. Review on your own after hours on a regular basis. Don't wait until just before the exam to do this. In Gross Anatomy, you cannot review too much.

9. Finally, use a skeleton to review the origins and insertions of muscles. This will greatly help you get your bearings during a lab practical.

10. You will get used to the pace and become very efficient as you go. As you dissect you learn things like use scissors more than the scalpel. Clean fat very carefully because you can destroy nerves if you are too aggressive. You learn to recognize fascial planes and follow them. You will not be able to get rid of the formaldehyde smell so learn to live with it. Tie off the bowel before you cut or your will have fecal material everywhere. Don't let anything dry out. Keep things covered with formaldhyde-soaked paper towels. Be nice to the deiner because this person can help you keep your body in great shape.

Here is a copy of another post:

Hi there,
I did not take any anatomy course during my undergraduate career. You cannot actually compare anything from undergraduate with what you will be doing in medical school. The volume is greater than anything you have encoutered. My Gross Anatomy ran 2 hours of lecture every Monday, Wednesday and Friday followed by 5 hours of laboratory time. In addition, it took about 10 hours of dissection per week outside of lab just to finish the dissection. Then there is the study and review time which was above the dissection time. Besides Gross Anatomy, you will have other courses that have a huge amount of volume such as Developmental Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology.

As I stated in one of my previous posts, keep up and study every day. That goes for most of your pre-clinical stuff in medical school anyway. There is just no way of getting around putting in the time.

Most people do just fine in medical school as they ramp up whatever study techniques got them there in the first place. A few get overwhelmed but generally settle down after the first set of exams. Rather than trying to compare Gross Anatomy or any other medical school course to your undergraduate stuff, enjoy the rest of your summer and be rested up for fall. It gets here sooner than you think.

Nothing in medical school is "bad" as it is all rather and aimed toward what you will be doing in life. There are courses such as Epidemiology and Biostats, that I found dull and boring so I stayed home or did something else during those lectures. In any professional school, time management is one of the most useful tools that you have.


Take out what is useful and disregard the rest. It does't matter what you did as an undergraduate, medical school is different and takes a somewhat different strategy to get the job done. Ramp up what got you there in the first place and push forward. You will get through this but take action now.

njbmd 🙂

 

[Law2Doc]

I did all the reading, and I studied every day (for at least 3 hours) for two weeks straight.

Agree with the above post. Would also suggest that 3 hours a day for two weeks is not exactly setting records -- many school advisors will recommend 4+ hours a day as a good rule of thumb for non-exam weeks, and many people tend to do far in excess of that during the week before an exam. Welcome to the big leagues.

 

[Nerdoscience]

After all those, "Med school isn't as hard as I thought it would be" posts from orientation week, now we see the average response to the first test of med school. Don't worry; it's normal to be shocked at how hard the first test is. Now, you just have to figure out how to study better, study more, and answer the questions right.

 

[Blade28]

You cannot actually compare anything from undergraduate with what you will be doing in medical school. The volume is greater than anything you have encoutered.

Excellent point. 👍

I also found gross anatomy overwhelming during the first week of med school - truly the most infomation-packed class in first year. We had lectures MWF followed by dissection lab, and most of us found that just wasn't enough. So a bunch of us would meet on Sunday mornings in the cadaver lab, to work on the prosections and dissections and quiz each other. We did this for 4-6 hours every Sunday for the first several months of our MSI year, and I think it really helped.

While I'm not a big fan of so-called "study guidelines," I agree with Law2Doc that a lot of studying needs to be done in the first two years of med school. IIRC, an old formula stated that you should be studying 30 minutes for every hour of lecture (or something like that).

I spent pretty much every weekday during my first two years of med school studying for around 6 hours. Of course I did lots of other things too to stay sane and well-rounded (plus I went to med school in Hawaii, for crying out loud!), and of course I also studied some during the weekends, too, but you just gotta put in the hours for some of the more intensive classes (anatomy, neuroscience, pathology, etc.).

 

[Law2Doc]

While I'm not a big fan of so-called "study guidelines," I agree with Law2Doc that a lot of studying needs to be done in the first two years of med school.

I'm actually not a big fan of hour-specific guidelines either, as it varies drastically from person to person -- just that a mere 3 hours per day seemed low and doesn't tend to work out well for everyone. I think the smartest technique for first year is to err far on the side of doing too much work at the onset and then cut things back, rather than get sandbagged by the first test (as the OP apparently was) when you find you didn't do nearly enough. Plus you need to study smart -- not all studying hours are equal. And what worked in undergrad usually needs significant tweaking/revamping for med school.

 

[Igor]

I actually failed Gross Anatomy - only course I had to repeat in all of Med School. Took it the 2nd time between 1st and 2nd year (actually got a 94 - which was about double my previous score) and graduated with my class.

Matched at competative program (which was my #2 choice) and got a great job after residency. I'm a real attending (honest) and no one (patient, employer, co-worker or consultant) has ever asked me what I got in any class in med school. [OK, ocasionally my sister mentions it to embarrass me but that's not work related]

If you got into med school, you are obviously very smart. Gross is like nothing else you've ever done (or will again, for that matter).

I was a fan of "the anatomy coloring book" but you know how your brain works. You already know what will and won't help you learn the material. Find one text/tool/study partner or whatever that helps and use it as needed.

DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that this is in any way related to your ability to be a good doctor or that it will somehow prevent you from having a fulfulling career. It's just one more obstacle to conquer.

 

[Doc Oc]

Med school gross anatomy was my fifth anatomy course, fourth with real cadavers, and third that allowed me to dissect. So one might say I had a bit of an advantage, but some of what I have to say could still be helpful:

About being behind....
1) You will always be behind. So will everyone else, whether they admit it or not. It's a fact. Saying it does nothing but create stress, and informs no one, as stating that you are behind while you are in med school is like telling someone that you are breathing.

2) You can trick the system by using any method similar to nbmdjklsjaljd's method of having a learning plan. If you finish your daily assigned learning material, then in your world, you are NOT BEHIND!!! You can actually stop studying, and feel OK about it, because even though you don't know everything, you are scheduled to 😉

About learning plans...
1) It needs to be a "learning plan", not a time block, not a # of pages, especially for anatomy. KNOW THE INFO COLD by the end of the day. If you are not sure if you are retaining, take out a blank sheet of paper and start drawing the arteries in the areas that you are studying labelling what they supply, or list the muscles you were supposed to learn and their innervations and actions, etc. Find some way to quiz yourself at the end of the day. It is a waste of time to passively glance something over, as practicals are not multiple choice and you will have to come up with the answer without hints.

About lab...
1) All of the answers are on the bodies and on yourself. If something is tagged and you don't know what it is, go look at the same structure on another body (or try to). This actually helps, so says people that I have tutored.
2) This sounds dumb, but look at the tagged structures as a differential diagnosis, and learn areas of the body that way. For example, if a nerve is tagged on the anterior surface of the upper arm, there are only a few things that it could be. know the information so that you can create a multiple choice in your head, and narrow the answer down that way. If you look at a structure and think "Ok, this blood vessel has to be X, Y, or Z, it is much less stressful than thinking, "****e, what the heck is that!!!"
3) Spend lots of time in lab. Live in the lab. Study other crap about anatomy that doesn't need to be studied in the lab, in the lab anyway.
4) Follow structures to their innervation and blood supply, origin and insertion (or proximal and distal attachment, however you are learning it). This will give you more information when trying to identify a structure.


The most common problems in people that I tutored (I tutored the people that failed the first exam) were:
1) Studying pages or a certain # of hours, then not being able to state anything that the learned. (Ineffective studying)
2) Stressing out immediately when the answer does not come to them in a few seconds. (Can be combated with a differential diagnosis approach to identifing structures.)
3) Not cross referencing blocks of information. (Knowing the innervations, attachments, and actions of each muscle, but not noticing which muscles are supplied by artery X, Nerve Y, or attached to bony structure Z. Specifically try to recall the same information in different ways. It will help you on the written portion.)
4) Not noticing the orientation of a body on the practical, thus labeling extensors as flexors, using the wrong differential set for determining which nerve, ligament, etc. is tagged. (Stand back, and before approaching the body, tell yourself whether the body is supine or prone, and where the tagged structure is located, extensor surface of forearm, medial plantar surface of foor between metatarsals 4 and 5, etc.)

Just remember, everyone feels behind and stupid at some time or another in med school, whether they admit it or not. You're there because you're capable. Even when you are behind, lost, stressed, etc. you are still capable, so hang onto that and pull yourself up. Good luck!

 

[NYMC MD 2B]

Agree with the above post. Would also suggest that 3 hours a day for two weeks is not exactly setting records -- many school advisors will recommend 4+ hours a day as a good rule of thumb for non-exam weeks, and many people tend to do far in excess of that during the week before an exam. Welcome to the big leagues.

Ummm...we just started two weeks ago!!! I have been studying every day, for 3-4 hours, and I studied all day every day each weekend. What more could I have done? Studied before school started?

 

[Law2Doc]

Ummm...we just started two weeks ago!!! I have been studying every day, for 3-4 hours, and I studied all day every day each weekend. What more could I have done? Studied before school started?

No - I'm saying that in the week preceding an exam it's not uncommon to ramp up the hours pretty significantly. Many folks I know would have studied more in that latter week than you reportedly studied in the two weeks combined. But as the prior couple of posters indicated, it isn't about the hours per se (although there is only so much you can accomplish in just a few hours), it is what you got out of them. And given that you already had an exam you are not happy with, the proof is in the pudding and it is time to revamp your study habits and do things differently.

 

[worried05]

Hey,

I'm a first year at NYMC and feel the same way! Not only did the written exam not go well, but I know I got killed by the practical. I'm suprised that people actually admitted that they didn't feel too good about the written. I had the general feeling that everyone thought that neither test was that bad and eaiser than they expected. The second years said the average on the practical was around 88% and the wrriten exam was low 80s/high 70s. I don't even know how that is possible. I know that I am nowhere in that range for either exam.

Also,the 8 people to cadaver is not working out well. I'm in group B and by the time our group gets to the cadaver, it seems like group A has already hacked out half the stuff we need to know.

The schedule for the school is killing me as well. I wish we had more independant study time and the exams were spaced out a bit better. Way too many long and boring histo lectures. Plus, they keep on using figures from a book that they never assigned. The second years also said that most of the class failed the first histo exam because it was only a day or two after the anatomy exams. I don't know what to expect.

And for the 3 hours of studying, given the schedule of this school, I can completely understand where you are coming from. I tended to study more like 4-5 hours each weekday and all week long but it still didn't help. Also, there aren't any weeks leading up to exam in this school. You have an exam almost every two weeks. Again, way too much time in lecture!

Anyway, I think both of us should just go back to cramming histo.

Ummm...we just started two weeks ago!!! I have been studying every day, for 3-4 hours, and I studied all day every day each weekend. What more could I have done? Studied before school started?

 

[Dr. McDreamy]

yes, 3-4 hours a day for 2 weeks won't cut it. 5-6 hours EVERY DAY is what will cut it.

I'd say you've had a pretty relaxing schedule so far!

There is no post-exam "down week" in medical school. When you start a new block, you start studying that day.

We're not in undergrad anymore Toto.

 

[Blade28]

I think the smartest technique for first year is to err far on the side of doing too much work at the onset and then cut things back, rather than get sandbagged by the first test (as the OP apparently was) when you find you didn't do nearly enough. Plus you need to study smart -- not all studying hours are equal. And what worked in undergrad usually needs significant tweaking/revamping for med school.

Agreed. Well said. 👍

 

[beponychick]

I dont know if this will help you at all (Im a first year currently taking Anatomy) but our instructors stressed that we look at old exams and take them seriously. Many of the questions repeat themselves and if not, the themes are similar. Is there a way you can get a hold of a few exams? I feel that if you looked at some of them, you would have a better idea of how much you need to know. My first anatomy exam will be in 4 weeks (we have 5 weeks worth of anatomy for the first exam 😱 ) and when I looked at the questions on topics we already covered, and got them all wrong, I knew that I wasnt studying the material in the way that is expected.

Good luck.

 

[LuckyBambooGirl]

It's pretty common to feel that way. Half way through my first med school exam, I actually felt like getting up, handing in my test right then and saying I don't belong here! Now I'm a second year, and I found out like many of my friends felt like that about our first test. Don't worry, it is just one test! You just need to find the way of studying that works for you. I struggled all the way through gross anatomy and definitely did not make stellar grades, but I made it through! You will do the same. Definitely do not worry about failing out of school just because you did poorly on one test. A med school anatomy test was the first test I ever really bombed. It was so discouraging, especially after how much I thought I had studied. It also really motivated me to study smarter and study harder. I did awesome on the next test and brought my average up from failing to a B in the course!

 

[loveumms]

I'm pretty far removed from first year but, I still remember the a** lickin I received on the first anatomy test. Almost everyone walks away feeling they are a complete failure and if they tell you otherwise they are just putting on a front (and trying to convince themselves that they are smarter then everyone else).

Once in med school you can no longer go back to grades, MCATs, SATs or whatever else you have aced in the past. Everyone in med school has an awesome GPA, did well on the MCATs or graduated summa cum laude at X University. For the most part, these are the prerequisites for med school. Once you get there, all those things become obsolete - everyone is smart and almost everyone knows how to work hard. I’m sure I’ll get the responses “oh, well I got into med school with a 3.0 GPA and a 22 on my MCATs” – these are just generalizations so don’t get your panties in a bustle.

My advice would be to study as much as you need - take time off every week (I never studied on weekends unless we had a Monday test), do something you enjoy for at least half an hour a day, don’t loose track of who you are and why you came to med school, spend time with non-med school people and realize that even though you may feel like you’re a failure, everything will turn out OK in the end. I'm sure you didn't fail and that it will become easier and easier with each test you take. There are no 'painless' tests in med school but, as long as you work hard you will be just fine. Keep repeating to yourself "I'm here for a reason, I worked hard to get here, I will work hard while I'm here and I will be alright".

Best of luck!

 

[MarzMD]

I hear a lot of upperclassmen on here saying how they took weekends off. I dont even see how this is possible. Ive been studying every day and Im still behind. Has anyone studied every day for first year and not burned out?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I hear a lot of upperclassmen on here saying how they took weekends off. I dont even see how this is possible. Ive been studying every day and Im still behind. Has anyone studied every day for first year and not burned out?

You know, I'm thinking at some point we're going to fall into the "you can't learn everything" phase, which will allow us to take weekends off. Also, anatomy will be over after this semester, which will be freaking fanstastic. 🙂 I'm only on week 2, but I think I hate anatomy with a burning passion.

 

[Doc Oc]

I usually took Sunday afternoons off and went to lunch and a movie with my husband. I had a study schedule that I stuck to, and I just made a couple of long days and didn't schedule as much material for Sunday, then got up early and usually got most of it done before our "date". That's why I like a material-based study schedule. Otherwise, you could conceivably study all day every day during 1st year (or 2nd for that matter), and still not know everything because as stated, it is impossible to know everything even if you syllabus says otherwise 😉

 

[joe6102]

It really helps to do some questions, too. Most of my class loved BRS Anatomy - plenty of tough multiple choice questions in there. Some people walk into a written test like anatomy or histology and haven't looked at any questions related to the material. There are only a few ways to ask questions about a concept or anatomical relationship.

 

[boyz of 4d]

I'm currently a 2nd year student at NYMC, so I understand what you guys are going through. To clear up the rumors, the avg on the first exam was an 88 on written, 89 on practical (i'm looking at my score email so i'm sure these are right). The test schedule is hard, but I found that I was not retaining much from lecture so I stopped going. I know its hard to do that since most people go but, if you can better use your time you should. That being said anatomy is VERY visual, and I was not a visual learner. I personally just read the scribes with my netter so I could see what I was reading. I found it easier to remmeber things if I could see the picture while reading. Also, using GRANTS is key, Dr. Pravetz takes questions directly frm the relationships given in it. For example, it might say this nerve loops under this vein. What I always did was I would read grants in advance (which is key if you wnat to learn anything in lab), and then type up all the relatyionships they had. By the end of that section i had maybe 5 or 6 pages of relatoinshpis from that, which I basically used as high yield points and then read my scirbes. Remmeber that hardest part of first block is the transition. I struggled to get by firstb lock, but ended up getting distinction later in the year. If you have any more questions feel free to PM me, and good luck on your histo exam.

 

[loveumms]

I hear a lot of upperclassmen on here saying how they took weekends off. I dont even see how this is possible. Ive been studying every day and Im still behind. Has anyone studied every day for first year and not burned out?

I never studied on weekends and if I did it was only for two to three hours on Saturday. Sunday's were always a "free" day. Of course, during my second year the administration decided Monday tests were better so about half of the time we had Monday tests which meant I would study both days the weekend before (but never longer then six hours a day).

You have got to realize that you're never going to know everything. It's impossible! If you let yourself become a slave to studying you are going to be absolutely miserable (unless you have some perverse need to study). Honest, if you just relax and really use your study time wise, you will find that the time spent will be much better used. Then you can truly enjoy your time "off".

What I would often do is study for 45 minutes, then take a 15 minute break (get a snack, listen to some 'pump up' music, do some jumping jacks to wake myself up). I would study for about 4-6 hours each day depending on how hard the lecture material was. I would spend about 1 hour each day reviewing old material. Then the week of the test I would spend a little longer each day to review.

Now, I'll be honest - I wasn't in the top of my class but, I was happy and enjoyed (well, as much as anyone can) the first two years. Believe me, it can work - just takes some getting used to.

 

[blz]

I don't know what most of you are smoking but there's no reason to hype med school as this crazy. Three to four hours a day is more than enough (even less is fine, just kick it up closer to the exam). A common problem I saw at my school for people who studied like crazy and only ended up barely passing was that they were really inefficient. One typical type of inefficient studier I saw was the overzealous note taker. Taking crazy amounts of notes worked in college, but all it does is waste your time in med school. Most of the people I saw who did this basically rewrote the books and never even had enough time to review it. Then they do something even more ******ed - they take notes on their notes. This cycle continues until they have notes on their notes on thier notes on their notes...you get the idea. So my advice is to try to pinpoint your inefficiencies and rework your gameplan. A good start is to limit the note taking and for many, skip out on class.

 

[Hard24Get]

Again, it depends on how you learn. I learn by synthesizing information, so I would reqork the information by ordering and rewording that made sense to me. What you're talking about only applies to mindless, "get your hours/pages in" note taking.

I probably averaged 1-2hrs a day studying, and ramped it up to maybe 3 or 4 before the exam if I was nervous! (of course, I only honored a few classes, whereas NJBMD and probably others posting the crazy hours are AOA 😛 ).

I don't know what most of you are smoking but there's no reason to hype med school as this crazy. Three to four hours a day is more than enough (even less is fine, just kick it up closer to the exam). A common problem I saw at my school for people who studied like crazy and only ended up barely passing was that they were really inefficient. One typical type of inefficient studier I saw was the overzealous note taker. Taking crazy amounts of notes worked in college, but all it does is waste your time in med school. Most of the people I saw who did this basically rewrote the books and never even had enough time to review it. Then they do something even more ******ed - they take notes on their notes. This cycle continues until they have notes on their notes on thier notes on their notes...you get the idea. So my advice is to try to pinpoint your inefficiencies and rework your gameplan. A good start is to limit the note taking and for many, skip out on class.

 

[Dr Who]

I find that for me 4 hours of study a night on non test weeks and 6- 8 hours on test weeks are good enough. Since we usually have exams on monday I use the weekend to really get my stuff together and tie loose ends, maybe 8- 10 hours a day.

 

[FenderHM]

I'm with the people that say you don't NEED to study but an hour or two a day, then PRN before an exam...

Just make the time you do spend studying COUNT, you know what they say, work smart, not hard

 

[outofhere]

Hey all. I am just a little freaked right now. I graduated from college with a degree in microbiology and immunology from a competetive university near the top of my class. I got a respectable MCAT score, and I have never received a grade lower than a B on any major assessment. I just had my first anatomy exam, and I feel like I must have failed. I don't know how this could have happened. I did all the reading, and I studied every day (for at least 3 hours) for two weeks straight. I was so sure I understood the material, but the board-like multiple choice questions really threw me for a loop! I am so discouraged. I just started and I already feel like I am flunking out. I talked to some of my classmates and they felt the same way. My question is, if only one or two people fail out each year, how could so many of us feel like we are drowning? Any suggestions?

I felt like I failed my first anatomy exam too. I realized that it did me no good to 'read' for anatomy. I picked up BRS and literally memorized the chapters. I did fine in anatomy this way.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm with the people that say you don't NEED to study but an hour or two a day, then PRN before an exam...

Just make the time you do spend studying COUNT, you know what they say, work smart, not hard

Only one person (not "people") on this thread said 1-2 hours per day was adequate. You need to study smart, but you still need to study. 1-2 hours isn't going to be enough for other than a small handful of people no matter how smart you study. There is no fixed number of hours, but unless you've already had the material or have an atypical mind it will take hourS.

 

[PoorMD]

Only one person (not "people") on this thread said 1-2 hours per day was adequate. You need to study smart, but you still need to study. 1-2 hours isn't going to be enough for other than a small handful of people no matter how smart you study. There is no fixed number of hours, but unless you've already had the material or have an atypical mind it will take hourS.

If your school goes by the block system, then 3 hours per day for non-exam weeks, and 6-8 hours per day on exam weeks, should get you a passing score. I've found the more you invest on non-exam weeks (for example studying 5 hours per day instead of 3) will create a dramatic increase in your understanding and grades. this varies by person, because some people only convert 3 hours of real work out of 5 hours spent in the library...

The people who honor at my school put in 6-7 hours on the non-test weeks and never leave the study hall except for food and sleep on exam week (essentially 12+ hours spent studying per day).

however I need to agree with Law2Doc that no pre-set number of hours can define success, it's all about understanding and repetition, keep reading the lectures, again and again..

 

[Haversian Canal]

Only one person (not "people") on this thread said 1-2 hours per day was adequate. You need to study smart, but you still need to study. 1-2 hours isn't going to be enough for other than a small handful of people no matter how smart you study. There is no fixed number of hours, but unless you've already had the material or have an atypical mind it will take hourS.

I agree !

also,, i think that the most important thing med student MUST have (after morals) is critical thinking ..

 

[Nerdoscience]

The good news is that you will eventually learn how to study better. Then, everything will be easier, even if the material is harder. sorry, can't tell you when that will happen. It took me a while...

 

[Miami_med]

This is the hardest class you will have in your first two years. As a word to the wise, study with a real cadaver or an atlas with actual cadaver photos. If you can label a picture in your head, you will do well on a practical. Do this, learn the relationships out of Grant's Dissector and learn the blue boxes out of Moore. This may not get you 100%, but it will get you through. Also, most people think they failed the first anatomy exam. This is what I thought, and I ended up with a 90% (Other scores didn't quite measure up, but they were good enough).

In Medical School, everyone was at the top of their undergrad class. This means that 50% of the people who were at the top of there undergrad classes are now below average. There will always be someone who is both brilliant and has a 12 hour attention span that will ace every test. Ignore this person.

It is hard to keep it in perspective at the beginning. We all started with the expectation that we would be at the top of our class. Realize that most residency directors really don't care how well you did in the first two years. Just study well for the boards and work hard in your clerkships.