University of Oklahoma -- everyone welcome -- Part 4

[PreMedMommy]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Luckily for me, I let my creative juices really flow when I make my internet screen names so one would need the assistance of Sherlock Holmes to figure my real identity out. I feel like my secret is safe...😀

I noticed. I'll never tell anyone that I had you figured out from the day you posted that you got accepted and then joined the FB group. 😛

 

[Bravofriendly]

I DON'T WANNA TAKE THE PSYCH SHELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cr*p. Poor me. Poor, poor, sleepy me. I hope this misty sleet keeps coming down tonight - a blocked-out study day would be just lovely.

Good luck NTT. May your night be sleety and your Wednesday, patient-free!

 

[shortitalian]

Probably too late, but if you have the chance or can stand it, look at the PCM questions on hippo. They were very similar to the questions on the exam. Sorry I didn't post this sooner. 🙁

Man... I just clicked through those questions, and there are more than a handful that were exactly or nearly the same as ones on our exam today. I can't believe I forgot those questions were on there. It definitely would have kept me from missing several questions.

Too many ambiguous questions on PCM, IMO. Lots of "which of these is the LEAST likely diagnosis?" and, like soonereng said, too much GU.

 

[PreMedMommy]

I accidentally got too much sleep today. The upside? I'm flippin' wired. I'll be up all night. I slept 7 hours last night. Went and took the embro exam, came back home, and accidentally napped 5 hours. I'm actually in a good mood. For now. This is better the no-doze.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Man... I just clicked through those questions, and there are more than a handful that were exactly or nearly the same as ones on our exam today. I can't believe I forgot those questions were on there. It definitely would have kept me from missing several questions.

Too many ambiguous questions on PCM, IMO. Lots of "which of these is the LEAST likely diagnosis?" and, like soonereng said, too much GU.

Yeah, I'm really sorry I forgot about mentioning that until too late for you guys. I keep on forgetting where you guys are at and missed that that was the exam you guys were hitting.

 

[soonereng]

Yeah, I'm really sorry I forgot about mentioning that until too late for you guys. I keep on forgetting where you guys are at and missed that that was the exam you guys were hitting.

That's OK, I only missed 1 on the heart stuff. Seriously all the rest that I missed were on neonates and UG which I planned to hit right before the test but b/c of traffick and the roads, I had no time.

Any thoughts on this pharm test?

 

[Jwax]

They posted it 7 minutes after you posted this...

As per norm. I can't count how many times that has happened.

Open mouth - insert foot... that test had my number. I missed a whole lot of questions, and only a few of them were ones I had even marked as something I didn't know. I can't believe how poorly I did on PCM. It's been my one class to consistently score better than average on, and I just nose-dived on this one. Nothing like thinking you did well and finding out you didn't to completely bring you down. 🙁

When I have to be at the hospital very early, though, sometimes I'm stunned by how pretty a sunrise can be. There's something about the colors and things that are quite different from even the prettiest sunset. But, those sunrises for me are like a nice vacation. Pretty to look at, but certainly not a world where I ever want to live on a permanent basis.

That's how feel about it, too 🙂. I like morning atmosphere on the days I have to be up and about in them. I just prefer to sleep.

After the nose dive in pcm, and the fact that despite my good intentions of knowing all of pharm already... I still know none of it... I'm not in the happiest of moods. Yay for memorizing 150 drugs in one night!

 

[PreMedMommy]

Surely I'm not the only one still up? Where are you people? I need my study break entertainment!

 

[Bravofriendly]

Surely I'm not the only one still up? Where are you people? I need my study break entertainment!

Definitely still up...just sitting here making a long list of reasons why spending the summer remediating anatomy will be a good and marvelous thing. Well, alternating between that and reminding myself that each new little thing I learn between now and 10:50 is one step closer to sunshine and margaritas instead of the goodness and marvelousness of nitrile gloves and cadaver reek.

Jwax, sorry your night's sucking.

I'm going for a nap, maybe I'll wake up with a better attitude.

 

[PreMedMommy]

Definitely still up...just sitting here making a long list of reasons why spending the summer remediating anatomy will be a good and marvelous thing. Well, alternating between that and reminding myself that each new little thing I learn between now and 10:50 is one step closer to sunshine and margaritas instead of the goodness and marvelousness of nitrile gloves and cadaver reek.

Jwax, sorry your night's sucking.

I'm going for a nap, maybe I'll wake up with a better attitude.

Just keep swimming Bravo, you can do it! I may take a nap, too. All that sleep hasn't made me any less sleepy at 4:15. Actually it has, but I'm sleepy anyways.

 

[Jwax]

Definitely still up...just sitting here making a long list of reasons why spending the summer remediating anatomy will be a good and marvelous thing. Well, alternating between that and reminding myself that each new little thing I learn between now and 10:50 is one step closer to sunshine and margaritas instead of the goodness and marvelousness of nitrile gloves and cadaver reek.

Jwax, sorry your night's sucking.

I'm going for a nap, maybe I'll wake up with a better attitude.

Ehh... par for the course. It's overall been a really lousy semester. After a while, you kind of get used to the disappointment, frustration, and suffering. I'm not even all that down about it now. I actually managed to study really really well for pharm between 10p - 3a. Unfortunately, I still only got 1/2 through before I realized how much I had left and how little time there was left. That disheartened me for the last 2 hours, but I'm getting back to it now and whipping through thyroid & bone drugs, soon I shall whip through cortisol stuff and then it's just nsaids and androgens/estrogens. It can't go any worse than last TB. 🙂

 

[InertiaCreeps]

Haha, I now know who you are, too! My internet personality is so much more witty than my real one. Embryo was fine. I didn't study for it much, so I did about how I expected. I didn't need much to get a B in the class, and I needed a whoooooooole lot to get an A, so I just said screw it. You?

I was in much the same boat - so I wound up studying for it less and getting my best grade yet in that class. Figures.

And I think you're plenty witty in real life.

Anatomy has me alternating between periods of unwarranted confidence and complete and utter panic. (Also unwarranted, I hope). I feel like I understand the abdomen and lower extremity decently well, but the pelvis intimidates me. I just want to have it over with - and hope that I'm not completely deluded on what I think I know.

And worst case scenario - Christmas is only 8 days away!!

 

[PreMedMommy]

I was in much the same boat - so I wound up studying for it less and getting my best grade yet in that class. Figures.

And I think you're plenty witty in real life.

Anatomy has me alternating between periods of unwarranted confidence and complete and utter panic. (Also unwarranted, I hope). I feel like I understand the abdomen and lower extremity decently well, but the pelvis intimidates me. I just want to have it over with - and hope that I'm not completely deluded on what I think I know.

And worst case scenario - Christmas is only 8 days away!!

Ugh, don't even get me started on anatomy. Anatomy and I do not get along at all. I always think I understand it, and then I always get a C. I can study my *ss off and get a C, and I can slack and still pull a C. So at this point, I'm completely apathetic about anatomy. I've never made a C in a class before, but if I do in anatomy, I'm throwing a frickin' party. I've only got through half the material anyways, so here's to Chung videos!

And Christmas is only 8 days away, and because of stupid school, I haven't done ANY shopping yet. So the thought of such a miserable Monday isn't refreshing after test block.

 

[InertiaCreeps]

Ugh, don't even get me started on anatomy. Anatomy and I do not get along at all. I always think I understand it, and then I always get a C. I can study my *ss off and get a C, and I can slack and still pull a C. So at this point, I'm completely apathetic about anatomy. I've never made a C in a class before, but if I do in anatomy, I'm throwing a frickin' party. I've only got through half the material anyways, so here's to Chung videos!

And Christmas is only 8 days away, and because of stupid school, I haven't done ANY shopping yet. So the thought of such a miserable Monday isn't refreshing after test block.

I know how you feel about the whole grade thing. This semester is the worst in GPA terms I've ever had in my life. Not that it'll get me kicked out, I just have to revise my thinking in terms of how much work I need to do and what acceptable is.

And in terms of shopping - can I highly recommend Amazon? It's cheap, easy, and will probably get wherever you need it to be in time. Free shipping and no tax are also quite nice.

Oh, and did I mention that I've done pretty much all of my shopping when I should have been studying instead? 🙂

 

[thiems]

If it makes you feel PMM I have done zero Christmas shopping, too. I just hope all the good stuff isn't gone from the Salvation Army when I get there.😱

 

[Amxcvbcv]

I was in much the same boat - so I wound up studying for it less and getting my best grade yet in that class. Figures.

And I think you're plenty witty in real life.

Anatomy has me alternating between periods of unwarranted confidence and complete and utter panic. (Also unwarranted, I hope). I feel like I understand the abdomen and lower extremity decently well, but the pelvis intimidates me. I just want to have it over with - and hope that I'm not completely deluded on what I think I know.

And worst case scenario - Christmas is only 8 days away!!

The pelvis screwed me too. It was my worst practical and written anatomy grade by far.

 

[PreMedMommy]

OMG, I'm so stressed. I just flipped out on a guy trying to offer the hubbs a job over the phone. I thought he was a telemarketer. Whoops, I hope he didn't want that one too bad.

 

[InertiaCreeps]

The pelvis screwed me too. It was my worst practical and written anatomy grade by far.

Thank you for giving me the additional motivation of fear I needed to refocus my cramming. For what good it'll do me.

Oh well - decisions were made.

 

[Jwax]

The pelvis screwed me too. It was my worst practical and written anatomy grade by far.

The pelvis & H/N are the hardest anatomical areas, IMHO. I did fine on H&N b/c he threw us some pretty big softballs, but the pelvis was rough. The abdomen is by far my favorite anatomical area - there is so much stuff going on in there. My appreciation for the abdomen is one of the reasons that general surgery appeals to me. Although I kind of like gyn onc / surg as well. Even though I hated the pelvis section, I really enjoyed my PCM-1 rotation with a gyn onc/surg doc.

This pharm test resembled the 1st test far more than the 2nd as far as straight-forwardness is concerned. Somehow, I managed to know most of the drugs on the exam. 👍 There were a few non-drug specific questions that I'm sure I messed up on, but like I said before, it can't be worse than last block.

Time for an episode of House while enjoying a glass of wine followed by bedtime. 👍

 

[InertiaCreeps]

Time for an episode of House while enjoying a glass of wine followed by bedtime. 👍

My first thought was to question what time of day I thought it was, my second was the consider mentioning a maladaptive behavior. But then I remembered you're on the miraculous inverted sleep schedule, and I got a little jealous.

 

[Jwax]

My first thought was to question what time of day I thought it was, my second was the consider mentioning a maladaptive behavior. But then I remembered you're on the miraculous inverted sleep schedule, and I got a little jealous.

😉 yeah, it could probably still be considered aladaptive behavior on some levels, but it is so much easier to fall asleep with a glass (or two) of wine in your system. Especially when you haven't really drank anything in weeks due to studying.

So I actually got to check my grade before going to bed! My episode of House just finished & I checked hippo once more and lo and behold, the answer key was up. I didn't quite do as well as I felt like I did based on how I felt walking out, but I did a whole heckuva lot better than I thought I would walking in. So I guess that's a fair balance.

Time for a good 8 or 9 hours of 😴. I am pretty sure I won't get more than 4 hours tomorrow since I have a bazillion things I want to get pounded into my head for IHI before Friday.

 

[PreMedMommy]

For the record, that was awful.

 

[InertiaCreeps]

For the record, that was awful.

Agreed. The practical was HORRIBLE. I felt ambivalent about more of my answers than I ever have before. At least the written was decent.

 

[PreMedMommy]

Agreed. The practical was HORRIBLE. I felt ambivalent about more of my answers than I ever have before. At least the written was decent.

It is probably a matter of how you define decent.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

It is probably a matter of how you define decent.

Sorry, guys, the pelvis is just no fun. I couldn't ever manage to picture the brim and "bowl" of the pelvis in my mind in 3-dimensions accurately, and I still can't. Fortunately, in the real world, you can look stuff up when you need to.

If it makes you feel any better, I remember being a little shocked on my OB/Gyn rotation when a uro/gyn specialist told me that HE can't accurately form a mental image of the pelvis in 3 dimensions, either.

 

[Bravofriendly]

NTT - your comment just made me feel much better. OBGyn is on my short list of possible interests, but today when I was staring at a pile of tissue with what appeared to be a nerve sticking out of it, it crossed my mind that I might need to be considering something that was out of my league.

This wasn't my brightest day, but overall I expect that the week could have gone much worse. Now: bedtime.

 

[PreMedMommy]

Is it just me, or is having a PCM final not only pointless, but a waste of time? I get the purpose of the class, but seriously, do we need an exam to test us on our definition of empathy?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Is it just me, or is having a PCM final not only pointless, but a waste of time? I get the purpose of the class, but seriously, do we need an exam to test us on our definition of empathy?

All the PCM tests are pretty much worthless. In fact, that about sums up my feelings about the class as a whole. The good news is that studying is pretty much pointless for this first PCM test because you really haven't covered any material. Don't even think about looking at the text book.

Adding that my presentation tomorrow is going to be embarassingly bad.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

All the PCM tests are pretty much worthless. In fact, that about sums up my feelings about the class as a whole. The good news is that studying is pretty much pointless for this first PCM test because you really haven't covered any material. Don't even think about looking at the text book.

Adding that my presentation tomorrow is going to be embarassingly bad.

Wish I was gonna be there for your presentation, Bagel! Just remember... DON'T go over 15 minutes - I keep hearing that from your rotation-mates.

PCM taught me a few things, but not many. I remember trying to learn physical exam for orthopedic stuff was especially worthless. Studying and studying and I still didn't understand what the heck they were talking about.

Tuesday I had a pt who had "blown" his knee. My attending taught me the whole knee exam - collateral ligaments, menisci (meniscuses??), and "drawer" test. It's WAY easier to learn when you have a real patient and something you can move and feel. What a waste of time, trying to read about it.

 

[PreMedMommy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

 

[PreMedMommy]

I have a question. I have heard a nasty little rumor going around that last year the ARS points were not factored into your grade. This is contrary to what I believe. Enlighten me, O might MSII's.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

I have a question. I have heard a nasty little rumor going around that last year the ARS points were not factored into your grade. This is contrary to what I believe. Enlighten me, O might MSII's.

God, does nothing ever get settled around there? In my class, Chung promised that ARS points would increase the grade but you-know-who had some different ideas at the end of the semester. I defer to the current MS-IIs for accurate information - but I'm always amazed when I hear the same cr*p is going on as was happening two years ago!!

 

[Jwax]

I have a question. I have heard a nasty little rumor going around that last year the ARS points were not factored into your grade. This is contrary to what I believe. Enlighten me, O might MSII's.

I think they were factored in, but you don't get any points beyond a certain number. I think last year we could get a max of 60, which made it so we could miss about 3 classes without losing any points. But if you made it to all the classees, you didn't get the extra 6 points on top of the 60. I only vaguely remember this (it was one of my arguments for bumping my grade that was 1 point shy of an A up since they had originally told us that anything beyond the 60 would be bonused), but I am not suret that this is entirely true. I've had to pound so much stuff into my head since last year that I could be entirely making this up and not even know it.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

God, does nothing ever get settled around there? In my class, Chung promised that ARS points would increase the grade but you-know-who had some different ideas at the end of the semester. I defer to the current MS-IIs for accurate information - but I'm always amazed when I hear the same cr*p is going on as was happening two years ago!!

This has been an ongoing problem with lack of clarity. Yeah, our year Chung did say something about ARS points only raising your grade, not lowering it, but the syllabus was a little ambiguous. One of our classmates didn't go to class because of how she interpreted Chung's statements (I interpreted it the same way and considered doing the same thing) and wound up with a lower grade because of it. She posted about it here.

Then last year there was the thing where apparently the points you get over the 60 (or whatever number is allotted in your total grade now) do not count as bonus, which also went against my understanding of how it was explained the year before.

Moral of the story is that they probably need to do a better job writing the syllabus so there's absolute clarity about this stuff. We're medical students -- we're supposed to be anal about grading.

 

[PreMedMommy]

I think they were factored in, but you don't get any points beyond a certain number. I think last year we could get a max of 60, which made it so we could miss about 3 classes without losing any points. But if you made it to all the classees, you didn't get the extra 6 points on top of the 60. I only vaguely remember this (it was one of my arguments for bumping my grade that was 1 point shy of an A up since they had originally told us that anything beyond the 60 would be bonused), but I am not suret that this is entirely true. I've had to pound so much stuff into my head since last year that I could be entirely making this up and not even know it.

Okay, this is what was explained to me, and this is what I believed to be the case. I feel better. In that case, WOOOOOOOOOO! I PASSED ANATOMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think).

 

[SoonerGeek]

Ugh, that pharm test was the lowest test grade I have had since entering medschool. Thankfully, I have a few more tests to bring that up... sadly, there were really only two questions that had ambiguous wording. The rest was pure suck on my part... I hope angry studying is effective.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Okay, this is what was explained to me, and this is what I believed to be the case. I feel better. In that case, WOOOOOOOOOO! I PASSED ANATOMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think).

Fingers crossed! Gross is relevant to medicine on the one hand... on the other hand, you'll have many more opportunities to learn the anatomy that you actually need to KNOW - which depends on your specialty, of course. The only thing Gross did for me was to r/o radiology - I like photography and dark rooms, but I don't like anatomy enough to base my whole job on it. I'm more cellular, biochemical stuff.

Nebraska in the summer for remediation isn't quite Siberia, but it's close. 🙁

I'm finding Gregorian Chant to be a rather effective study adjuvant. More popular stuff distracts me, and I'm flamed-out on classical. Gregorian Chant gives a certain spiritual aspect to this rotten studying.

iTunes suggested that I buy Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" - and I did. One of my favorite very, very old tunes. I'll have to re-write the lyrics - I'll need some help, if any of you pups remember the song.

"When I think back on all the crap I learned in med school...
It's a wonder I can think at all."

Contributions welcome.

 

[Bravofriendly]

NTT - we never heard how the psych shelf went...

 

[Jwax]

Geez, I can't believe it is already 4 in the morning... I guess that is what happens when you sleep from 1 to 9pm and then spend 2 hours goofing off / cooking some corn chowder soup (mmmm).

Okay, this is what was explained to me, and this is what I believed to be the case. I feel better. In that case, WOOOOOOOOOO! I PASSED ANATOMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think).

Yay!

Ugh, that pharm test was the lowest test grade I have had since entering medschool. Thankfully, I have a few more tests to bring that up... sadly, there were really only two questions that had ambiguous wording. The rest was pure suck on my part... I hope angry studying is effective.

The last pharm test was my worst test in all of med school.. well, tied with the 2nd biochem test. I think it was Freeze that said pharm was so hit and miss. If we get those three questions that are being debated back, I'll have done almost as well as the first exam. So I think we might ping-pong in pharm all semester.

I'm spending today making flashcards based on the answered objectives. Tomorrow I'm studying the flashcards, doing Robbins qbook questions, and webpath. Anyone have any other suggestions? I skipped Goljan's this time around since I have the distinct impression it didn't help me last time. I think I might be in the not really liking Goljan's camp, but I'm too stubborn / cheap to admit it and switch to getting baby Robbins. I might cave and buy it over the break. I get tired of bullet points as well... but I just hate to have wasted so much money on a book I've scarcely used. 🙄

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I'm spending today making flashcards based on the answered objectives. Tomorrow I'm studying the flashcards, doing Robbins qbook questions, and webpath. Anyone have any other suggestions? I skipped Goljan's this time around since I have the distinct impression it didn't help me last time. I think I might be in the not really liking Goljan's camp, but I'm too stubborn / cheap to admit it and switch to getting baby Robbins. I might cave and buy it over the break. I get tired of bullet points as well... but I just hate to have wasted so much money on a book I've scarcely used. 🙄

Sometimes Goljan did it for me, and sometimes he didn't. I think maybe his stuff was useful for the endocrine material, especially since the syllabus was so lacking in that department. I generally relied more on BRS, though. It was more wordy and less charty, which is more my thing.

I think you're hitting all the big stuff. Good luck!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Wish I was gonna be there for your presentation, Bagel! Just remember... DON'T go over 15 minutes - I keep hearing that from your rotation-mates.

No you don't. 🙂 I'm clocking at 11 minutes, so I think I'm good. It's so scanty and lacking in detail, but I guess that's all you can do in a 15 minute presentation.

 

[soonereng]

Thankfully, I have a few more tests to bring that up... sadly, there were really only two questions that had ambiguous wording. The rest was pure suck on my part... I hope angry studying is effective.

I am thinking about emailing Ihnat to find out exactly how he scores things for the final grade. The beginning of the semester he said: X percent of the total, so since this test had less questions, that should mean that it will be worth less than the others, but that may not be what he thinks when he says X percent.

I missed two that after the fact I was like: Where did my brain go for those two? The others that I missed I think were poor questions.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

NTT - we never heard how the psych shelf went...

Friday, 1345. Prayers please for all MS3s with a shelf Friday!

 

[Jwax]

I am thinking about emailing Ihnat to find out exactly how he scores things for the final grade. The beginning of the semester he said: X percent of the total, so since this test had less questions, that should mean that it will be worth less than the others, but that not be what he thinks when he says X percent.

I missed two that after the fact I was like: Where did my brain go for those two? The others that I missed I think were poor questions.

Hmm interesting question. I imagine that this exam is probably worth equal weight as the others, he just didn't feel like digging for questions from less material... although I think there were just as many drugs for this exam, so I see no reason why he couldn't have made it 75 questions. Whatev... I would prefer this to be a % weight instead of a flat # rate since I did so much better on this one compared to the last.

I managed to convince myself that Segeline (the only MAO-B inhibitor) was the only drug that acted exclusively in the periphery and that carbidopa mostly acted in the periphery, but leaked a little to the CNS, which was stupid on so many levels. That was a big "duh". I mean, the whole point of carbidopa is that it acts to reduce dopamine in the periphery and Segeline is just another way to keep dopa in the brain.

I'm intending to stay up until ~4 this afternoon and getting back up at 9pm, so this is going to be a long (and hopefully efficient?) day.

 

[InertiaCreeps]

PCM, done. I'm an MS 1.5!

*whew*

 

[PreMedMommy]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Okay, that was all.

 

[Jwax]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Okay, that was all.

Congrats! 🙂

I can't believe I'm so tired already. I had figured it wouldn't be that freaking hard to stay up until 4p but I'm wiped. 👎 😡 Hopefully I'll be fine when I wake up in a few hours. Only got 1/2 through flashcard making. I think webpath is going to be neglected this block to make sure I get through robbins qbook instead.

 

[Bravofriendly]

to our favorite MS2s and 3s! Kick @ss!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Congrats to MS1s for being done! The classes next term do have more material, but they're also way more interesting, so it's good.

And good luck to MS2s on IHI tomorrow. I'm jealous of your 3 week vacation.

Personally I'm feeling entirely unmotivated to study for my IM test tomorrow, which could actually result in me making a B in the rotation, but eh.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Bagel - Piker. My shelf is 50% of my grade! It's a rather powerful motivating factor, tired as I am - and sick of this as I am...