Your Worst/Lowest Point In Medical School?
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mine is:
Struggling to prepare for a med/surg final 4 days away.
Running on lack of sleep and energy because of burnout + low self-esteem and non-remittting hay-fever.
ALSO, simultanrously questioning how am I gonna get the strength to study for step 1 for the next 10 weeks!
"Life's a bitch and so am I!"
Struggling to prepare for a med/surg final 4 days away.
Running on lack of sleep and energy because of burnout + low self-esteem and non-remittting hay-fever.
ALSO, simultanrously questioning how am I gonna get the strength to study for step 1 for the next 10 weeks!
"Life's a bitch and so am I!"
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Any time during anatomy, bar none.
Just reading this makes me fired up to begin med school. I JUST CAN'T WAIT!!! 😀👍
I'll second that. Anatomy blows. The worst moment of it, though, was definitely bombing head and neck despite studying fanatically and rocking practice tests. That sucked more than I can describe.
During the musculoskeletal section of my first year (we have a systems-based curriculum). Studying for my first anatomy practical (the night before the exam), I recall calling my folks up and straight up telling them that I thought I was going to fail out of medical school. I hadn't slept for days and I felt like I knew next to nothing. Well, I survived the exam (barely), but about a quarter of my classmates did not. They had to retake it. It was brutal.
After two years of medical school, I'd say that the absolute worst experience I've ever had was/is studying for Step 1. And it's not over yet. I would NEVER like to have this hell put on me again.
After two years of medical school, I'd say that the absolute worst experience I've ever had was/is studying for Step 1. And it's not over yet. I would NEVER like to have this hell put on me again.
...maybe this is a big separation between the pre-clinical year students and the 3rd/4th years, but my "worst moments" all involve patients I liked and cared for suffering/dying of terrible diseases...getting too little sleep or having a tough exam seems somewhat trivial in comparison now...
My surgery rotation. The entire thing.
Followed very closely by step 1 studying. That sucked BIG time.
Followed very closely by step 1 studying. That sucked BIG time.
Worst moment is a tie between failing my first test of med school (biochem) and getting my first clinical eval back (ob/gyn)
Both of these were notoriously bad at our school, but it still felt like falling off a cliff
With that said, I've had many more great moments that it doesn't even matter--i.e. some great parties, great friends, getting my step 1 score back, delivering 4 babies on my birthday, getting pretty much every other clinical eval back, . . . .
Both of these were notoriously bad at our school, but it still felt like falling off a cliff
With that said, I've had many more great moments that it doesn't even matter--i.e. some great parties, great friends, getting my step 1 score back, delivering 4 babies on my birthday, getting pretty much every other clinical eval back, . . . .
I liked anatomy. I passed the two partial tests we had, even though the first one was brutal (80% of my class failed the first try) and I had to take both re-takes. I still have the practical exam and NBME to pass next february, so lets hope I dont forget everything by then 
Worst thing by far is the biophysics exam I had last wednsday. I had only 4 days to prepare for it since I had 3 other exams withing 7 days. Only 26 out of 87 people past even though it was only 51% required to pass... It says something about how hard it was... The re-take is in 2 weeks, and I pray to God I pass so I dont have to take the last re-take in september. I suck at math and physics, so its really hard for me to study it when you have about 120 something different equations to understand + a ****load of other stuff you have to memorize. It is the one exam Ive always feared and that I belive could be the one thing to make me fail. Passed everything else this year though 🙂
GIVE ME STRENGTH!!!!
Worst thing by far is the biophysics exam I had last wednsday. I had only 4 days to prepare for it since I had 3 other exams withing 7 days. Only 26 out of 87 people past even though it was only 51% required to pass... It says something about how hard it was... The re-take is in 2 weeks, and I pray to God I pass so I dont have to take the last re-take in september. I suck at math and physics, so its really hard for me to study it when you have about 120 something different equations to understand + a ****load of other stuff you have to memorize. It is the one exam Ive always feared and that I belive could be the one thing to make me fail. Passed everything else this year though 🙂
GIVE ME STRENGTH!!!!
Tell me about it. Most of the class i started med school with are becoming attendings this summer.
I'm about to start MS1. I know theres some pimpage from friends in my future.
You started with a medical school class but are still an MS1 for some reason?
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During the OB portion of my OB/GYN rotation. I've never thought about quiting so many times per day.
I started in 2002 and was forced to quit at the end of MS1. Just got back in (to a different school) and about to start MS1.
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Failing the first neuro exam (second semester of M1). I didn't have the lowest score on the test, but I was close. I felt pretty stupid.
I managed to salvage a high pass out of that, but only because I did well on the final.
I managed to salvage a high pass out of that, but only because I did well on the final.
Anatomy.
Funny that people say studying for Step 1 was the worst. I was definitely very relaxed during that time. I knew I'd put in the hours in M1 and M2, so I just needed to brush up. I studied about 8.5 hrs/day, exercised 6x/wk, and my parents fed me great food!
I also didn't find STEP I study time to be that bad. I actually thought it was more enjoyable than the majority of M2. It was more focused and reviewing is always easier than learning for the first time.
I had 7 midterm exams in one week, and I had a whole 1.5 days to memorize over 600 pages of material for ONE microbiology exam. Yes, I had been doing the assigned readings on time, but every medstudent knows that that's differnet from actually memorizing! 😱
Well, anatomy is a close 2nd. I think it's awesome that Step 1 review was a good experience for some. For me, not so much.
I thought Step 1 studying was the worst because it wasn't relaxed (isn't relaxed, cuz it's not done yet). I did well my first two years and was in the top 1/2 of my class, but I do (did) not feel well-prepared for Step 1 material, so unfortunately, for me, it was more than simply reviewing or brushing up on material. I felt like I was learning under pressure vs. reviewing, which is something that is a lot more difficult. I'm studying close to 12 hrs per day and doing nothing else and nobody is helping me, least of all the those who you'd think might be able to. Other than that it's going okay. Can't wait until rotations. 😀
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Probably when i failed my OSCE. We had one like 2 months into the first semester and I misinterpreted the directions. I don't go to class and I just assumed I understood these directions:
"Verbalize your actions to the standardized patient as you are doing them."
I thought they must want us to explain what we are doing precisely so that the SP can see that we know what we're doing and not just mimicking some motions. So there I am actually saying out loud that "I'm auscultating the aortic, pulmonary, pulmonary, tricuspid, mitral" etc. Basically I used the most precise medical jargon, which I learned quickly thereafter was the polar opposite of what i was supposed to do.
The best part is none of the faculty, who were watching us on cameras, thought to come clarify the directions for me for the 4 remaining stations. One of the SPs even left the exam room after I finished to ask the faculty if i understood the directions. They let me finish them all, failed me, and made me do it all over.
Anyway I don't consider this a huge personal failure because the directions were at least slightly ambiguous, but let me tell you, in the half hour before I was to begin my retake I was as nervous as I have ever been I think. Even though I knew my failing grade was due to complete misinterpretation of the directions, it didn't help alleviate it much.
"Verbalize your actions to the standardized patient as you are doing them."
I thought they must want us to explain what we are doing precisely so that the SP can see that we know what we're doing and not just mimicking some motions. So there I am actually saying out loud that "I'm auscultating the aortic, pulmonary, pulmonary, tricuspid, mitral" etc. Basically I used the most precise medical jargon, which I learned quickly thereafter was the polar opposite of what i was supposed to do.
The best part is none of the faculty, who were watching us on cameras, thought to come clarify the directions for me for the 4 remaining stations. One of the SPs even left the exam room after I finished to ask the faculty if i understood the directions. They let me finish them all, failed me, and made me do it all over.
Anyway I don't consider this a huge personal failure because the directions were at least slightly ambiguous, but let me tell you, in the half hour before I was to begin my retake I was as nervous as I have ever been I think. Even though I knew my failing grade was due to complete misinterpretation of the directions, it didn't help alleviate it much.
Surgery was by far the WORST 8 weeks of my life (and this is coming from someone that entered medical school convinced that I was meant to be a surgeon). Rounding at 4am, seven days a weeks . . . trauma call . . . all of those things I could at least kinda tolerate, but being screamed at by practically everyone for everything just was too much for me. I thought studying for step 1 was pretty tough, but at least you have a little control over that. Surgery truly beat all of the motivation and self-esteem out of me. But at least I learned that surgery was not for me . . . only "silver lining"
The last few weeks of second year. The only thing that got me through it was knowing that it would soon be over. I hated school at that point. If I had talked to anyone about to go into medical school at that point, I would have found a way to talk them out of it.
I can really relate with your experience.
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I thought studying for step 1 was pretty chill, too - it was the first time I could actually focus on a single test, make a study plan, and follow it through. It was a lot of work but no more intense than the last couple of weeks of any given semester. Maybe I'll change my mind once I get my grade.
The OSCE is so inherently contrived and awkward. We luckily had a checklist of instructions with exactly what we were supposed to for every part of the exam. For some parts, you're treating the patient like a patient and for the rest you're speaking jargon, like reciting cranial nerves. weird.
Step 1 is the worst. I only had 5 weeks. 7 days a week with 10+ hrs a day studying. I only took 1 day off (the day before the test). What made it so bad was having no weekend, nothing to look forward to. I don't think I'll ever be able to focus like that again...
The first few days of anatomy were pretty bad. Once I figured out that we didn't really need to know EVERY origin and insertion and innervation I calmed down and actually kind of enjoyed it.
The first few days of anatomy were pretty bad. Once I figured out that we didn't really need to know EVERY origin and insertion and innervation I calmed down and actually kind of enjoyed it.
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No low points. It was simply a process that flew by fast.
Either I've been very lucky, or the worst is yet to come.
Have to agree with you. Nothing has really seemed that bad. That surg rotation is coming up though...
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Likewise. I knew just about all of the stuff that I was reviewing (if I didn't know it, I didn't really bother to review it, since it wasn't going to stick in the short time I had), so everything was much easier to learn. Plus, I had some great study partners. The sun was up early and down late, so I never felt like I was waking up in the middle of the night or studying into the night, and I knew that I put forward the best effort I possibly could.
Either studying for step 1 (we got 4 weeks, which, for me, consisted of 12-16 hour days in front of a book/computer cramming information, some of which was completely new to me... thanks lecturers who felt that presenting your esoteric research was more important than giving me the pathology/pathogenesis of COMMON CONDITIONS), my OB/GYN rotation (never an option for me, given certain ethical concerns, but nevertheless was laden with evil residents, nurses, and patients - the entire rotation was devoid of entertainment or educational value, perhaps because it was my first or because I didn't devote enough independent study to it), or watching Obama pander to the AMA yesterday morning only to reveal that, basically, we are going to be beholden to a single payer system in a few years (a rose by any other name...)
How about Step 1 score differences between those who say it wasn't that bad (or at least studing for it), and those who say it was their worst/low point in med. school?!
Probably no correlation with scores, possibly with how Type A people are or how much they value doing things other than burying their face in a book. A search of those peoples' names may reveal their scores, if you wanted to do the study. Excel line graphs are appreciated.
Anatomy was much worse than the Step for me. Studying late every night, tired all day every day, and barely passing the tests. Dreaming/hallucinating about body parts and names. Getting an email from the dean saying they are concerned about my recent performance and they would like to talk to me about how they can help <--- low point.
Step was much easier by comparison. Only 5 weeks. 8am to 6pm, then 8pm to 10pm every day. No late nights. No other demands on your time. Simply focus on one test.
Step was much easier by comparison. Only 5 weeks. 8am to 6pm, then 8pm to 10pm every day. No late nights. No other demands on your time. Simply focus on one test.
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I don't know, but it'd definitely be some time this year rather than anything in basic sciences or Step 1 studying. My current votes include my surgery rotation with early hours and absolutely no work that I enjoy, my peds rotation (boredom coupled with long hours coupled with weird politics) or the first month of my IM rotation (horrible senior and 2 interns who hated each other).
I'm only 3 weeks in and generally happy, so I really have no place in this thread. So far it is simply adjusting to the feeling that I will never know it all. I was one of those people that had horrendous study skills, so it is quite an adjustment for me to actually control my time and study every day. There are much worse things that can happen than that though.
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