MD Terrified

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spadecricket

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My second set of exams are Monday and I’m terrified. I know what will be high yield and I’ve been studying but I feel woefully unprepared and I’m trying to get “B”s on these exams. We have recorded lectures and I’m going to listen to them today. In the future and for now, how should I be studying? In undergrad, I read and took notes a lot but I know this is not sustainable in medical school.

I’m just so terrified of failing and not fulfilling my dream but I know it’s not good to work scared.
 
Questions mainly and then read your lectures for the 10-15% of questions which your lecturers will throw in because they're interested in the topic etc.

There must be plenty of question banks online? I know I have several to access and i'm UK. Go through the questions, skip irrelevant ones, for relevant ones look up every answer etc so you can fully understand why its wrong/right. Sure you can read through the lectures but i'd assume you have about 1500+ slides to go through which is not only extremely tedious but probably low yield and quite a waste of time. I usually go through the lectures quite fast but will write down any highlighted or main topics which i'll then look in a bit of detail. E.g If i'm studying pregnancy i'll also go a little bit into placenta previa, PPH and placental abruption or whatever else is mentioned slightly in the lecture just to cover all bases.
 
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IMG69 said:
Questions mainly and then read your lectures for the 10-15% of questions which your lecturers will throw in because they're interested in the topic etc.

There must be plenty of question banks online? I know I have several to access and i'm UK. Go through the questions, skip irrelevant ones, for relevant ones look up every answer etc so you can fully understand why its wrong/right. Sure you can read through the lectures but i'd assume you have about 1500+ slides to go through which is not only extremely tedious but probably low yield and quite a waste of time. I usually go through the lectures quite fast but will write down any highlighted or main topics which i'll then look in a bit of detail. E.g If i'm studying pregnancy i'll also go a little bit into placenta previa, PPH and placental abruption or whatever else is mentioned slightly in the lecture just to cover all bases.
Click to expand...


Thank you!

I guess I was just stressed but I discussed material with friends and went to lab and I feel better.

I’m answering most questions correctly so maybe I should just calm myself.
 
This sounds more like a anxiety/stress management issue than an actual study skills issue IMHO. As someone who just finished step 1, I think the sooner you realize you’re going to be taking dozens of exams nonstop for the next 5-7 years, the better. You’ll always have a chance to change things up and improve if you reflect on what worked and didn’t from the previous exam. Preclinical years is the best time to get into that continual-improvement mindset


Also if you’re at a US school, consider a few commonly used resources like anki, zanki, first aid, sketchy, pathoma. They get more high yield for the pathology/pharm/micro portions of your classes so that you only have to add on a few extra details from lectures to your notes/flashcards
 
Spaced repetition is key, as is taking some time after the exams to self-reflect and see what areas need improvement. Things are too school dependent to say exactly what needs work.
 
Active learning and spaced repetition are 2 buzzwords you’ll be hearing a lot of
 
spadecricket said:
Thank you!

I guess I was just stressed but I discussed material with friends and went to lab and I feel better.

I’m answering most questions correctly so maybe I should just calm myself.
Click to expand...

You'll be fine dude relax, it's really not that difficult as long as you study every week/familiarize with the material, very different to undergrad where you learn everything in the last 2 weeks or so.
 
Caribbean school?

Bail now before it's too late. Their business model depends upon them failing you out, or making you repeat a year, and then failing you out.

Can you enlighten us as to why you took this path?
 
I'm in my lates 20s and time/finances wouldn't allow me to keep trying the U.S.?
Goro said:
Caribbean school?

Bail now before it's too late. Their business model depends upon them failing you out, or making you repeat a year, and then failing you out.

Can you enlighten us as to why you took this path?
Click to expand...
 
For your anatomy practicals, spend the time in lab.
Make sure you've seen everything on your tag list in at least 3 different cadavers.
At the beginning of a block, or as soon as you get the tag list, copy it out by hand a couple times so you get familiar with the terms. Any words you don't know the meaning of, look them up as you're doing that...10/10 they will be Latin descriptors telling you exactly what that structure is.
Then repeat. Go with friends and quiz each other. If you have TAs, hire them as tutors for a couple hours on the side to run through the tag list with you. Just make sure you know the words and have seen every structure in the flesh multiple times.
 
Going to lab tonight and feel a little better. Did about 60 questions in Snell and got a 70%- what else should I be doing?
 
Keep doing question sets and hitting 70%-fml.

Have do you move from competency to mastery?
 
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