|
 |
Starting Medical School
|
For many, August and September
bring the beginning of medical school. It will be one of the most
exciting transitions in your education, and no doubt one of the most
anxiety provoking too. You're probably wondering - Will I ever
get to sleep in again? Will I pass out in gross anatomy? How should
I study? Do I have to remember the difference between an sn1 and an
sn2 reaction? The quick answers are: yes, no, a lot, and no.
The long answer is, the first 2 years of medical school are a
lot like college - if you study hard and play enough you'll do great.
And I can pretty much guarantee you won't pass out in gross anatomy
(if you do happen to pass out, well, it has happened once before).
In fact, many people find first year to be pretty low stress.
It's not uncommon for the disciplined student to have plenty of
time for extra-curricular activities. One lawyer kept a weekend
law practice going, while many athletes keep rigorous training schedules.
The key in all these cases is discipline - studying in medical school
is a job. Plan to be in class or studying 40-50 hours a week, and
you'll succeed.
Here are a few other tips that will help make your first year
in medical school low stress and successful:
Go to class. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you'll
soon be strongly tempted to cut class. Most schools have note services
where lecture transcripts are available for a small printing fee.
Invariably, though, the people who rely solely on these notes and
their textbooks (this is can be 30 percent or more of the class)
fare much worse than the people who go to class regularly.
Study for the test. You're probably wondering if I'm
going to say anything that isn't obvious. The problem here is
that there can be so much material for a course, it's easy to
lose track of what you need to concentrate on. Some purists will
object to this advice, saying you should learn everything you
can, not just what you need for the test. The counter argument
is that if the professors are doing their jobs right, they'll
be testing what's important to medicine. The questions you see
on med school exams keep coming back - on national boards, in
the wards, and in dealing with patients. Here are a couple of
easy ways to get some focus into your studies.
- If allowed, get old tests from the course. Exams are often
built from a question database. Working several year's of exams
lets you study the question database.
- Use on-line tests. There are a lot of practice questions available
on the web. You can find a list of practice questions and tests
in the USMLE
questions-study guide section of the MSRG.
- Study for the national board exam section. This is great advice,
especially if your final exam is the national board.
Starting
Medical School continued (Part 2)
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
