Uni Stuff > The University Journey Journal
Just a guy in med school
justaloser:
End of week update, very short this time.
Continued studying examinations and trying to revise the branches of the brachial plexus. Had a lovely ICL session on Friday where we went through shingles and falls in the elderly -- there's really so much you have to consider when treating an elderly patient who had an injury/fall, like drug usage (might be on sedatives), brain disease (maybe Parkinson's), cardiovascular disease (eg. they could have a heart attack), history of fractures. List goes on. It's fun learning differential diagnoses. Also our tutor is a really cool guy so that makes sessions a lot smoother (people don't like how he calls out people to answer questions but I don't mind, it's a learning opportunity and it's low-stakes). Our group work assignment is heading swimmingly, everyone puts in the work and our meetings are efficient.
Continued the same studying techniques I used throughout this week. Drawing diagrams for nerve networks & muscles is helping a ton, I'm glad, and it makes studying easier. Also identified that a major flaw of my studying is that I spend 20 mins chatting with friends inbetween 1hour study blocks which severely dampens my momentum, so I take 5-10 minute breaks now.
I feel stupid for celebrating working 3h a day because apparently everyone else does 8-10h a day, not just other people in med but in BMed & Science as well. Apparently 3h is really low lol. I studied 6 hours today so far in response but it feels like the last hour I spent was spent in a daze not really learning anything. At least I got some stuff done .. it feels like the longer I study the less efficient I become with my time. But I need to do as much as my classmates.
That's it, take care.
Lear:
--- Quote from: justaloser on September 13, 2020, 08:44:38 pm ---...because apparently everyone else does 8-10h a day, not just other people in med but in BMed & Science as well.
--- End quote ---
Lol, no. Quite frankly, a small amount of people have a self-serving obsession with the idea of a med student being someone who works all day/doesn't have a life/whatever. It's the most bizarre of a flex, really. These are the types that spread silly rumours about how you need to spend x hours in a day studying.
To be very blunt, if someone is spending 8-10 hours a day studying in first year, they either are going all out on learning a massive amount of irrelevant content or are working shockingly inefficiently.
Within my group of friends, some of who scored highly in first year (not that it matters), absolutely no one works those kinds of hours. I'm sure it gets a bit more hectic in clinical years and especially beyond, but please don't feel you need to be spending that much time studying haha.
I can only comment on preclin, but medicine really isn't that much of a demanding course so far. From insight with my non-med friends, biomedicine or science students seem to need to work significantly harder.
Remember - P's get degrees.
grannysmith:
--- Quote from: Lear on September 13, 2020, 09:27:37 pm ---Lol, no. Quite frankly, a small amount of people have a self-serving obsession with the idea of a med student being someone who works all day/doesn't have a life/whatever. It's the most bizarre of a flex, really. These are the types that spread silly rumours about how you need to spend x hours in a day studying.
To be very blunt, if someone is spending 8-10 hours a day studying in first year, they either are going all out on learning a massive amount of irrelevant content or are working shockingly inefficiently.
Within my group of friends, some of who scored highly in first year (not that it matters), absolutely no one works those kinds of hours. I'm sure it gets a bit more hectic in clinical years and especially beyond, but please don't feel you need to be spending that much time studying haha.
I can only comment on preclin, but medicine really isn't that much of a demanding course so far. From insight with my non-med friends, biomedicine or science students seem to need to work significantly harder.
Remember - P's get degrees.
--- End quote ---
Great to see fellow pre-clins on here :)
8-10h of studying on top of classes? That's... the definition of masochism. Coming from a biomed background I'd have to say that Year A has been a definite step-up in terms of sheer volume of content. It seems that unlike in biomed, you can't leave things till SWOTVAC hahah :')
Lyra7:
As a 3rd year med student, can confirm 1000 times over that studying 8-10 hrs a day is not realistic or helpful (assuming this must include the time taken attending classes because otherwise that's quite insane).
In pre-clin the aim is to hang on to key concepts which will serve you well in clinical years - but know enough of everything else to pass/do well on exams. You don't want to burn out so early on, and some people like myself also fit in a few hours of work on some days.
As a 3rd yr I usually can't study past about 7pm at night because my brain switches off and there was a time where I didn't study on weekends (now I do a little bit on Sat mornings and sometimes Sun depending on how behind I am!) I also don't like just sitting at a screen and typing for most things (Except anki flashcards) so I do this routine with handwriting the bulk of my notes (if you can't draw something out simply why bother with the complexities?)
justaloser:
Damn, didn't expect so many med students to comment on my humble dropkick thread. Glad to see that 8-10h ISN'T the normal. And I think he meant on a day with no classes, not sure.
This week was more of the normal -- foot revision in anatomy which I found pretty easy, smashed out an anatomy Kahoot (I love those lol, guess I'm that guy) and robbed my mate of first place :P. I ignored the intrinsic muscles of the foot pretty heavily though, but apparently that's not that big of a deal according to the specimen tutors. Apart from that, there were some Microbiology lectures that I haven't watched yet which were uploaded late lol. I love Microbio, only problem is that they're 2 hours each and I had little time today. Also went through more leg exams on Tuesday, there was a pretty cool 2nd year who kept quizzing us on conditions & pathologies relating to the tests we were doing which helped me snap out of my post-anatomy daze. But everyone was dead basically during that tute.
Took the advice and decided to wind down this week. Been averaging 3 or so hours every day and I feel more confident about the content now. More exposure seems to equal more retention -- I joked to a friend that if you took a shot for every time they mention foot drop (due to dorsiflexor muscles being palsied from common fibular/deep fibular nerve damaged) in a tute, you'd drop dead. But the exposure thing works. Also salvaged an old whiteboard, gave it a clean with some WD40 and now I use it to sketch out things. I drew out the walking cycle and it proved effective in visualising things, also good way to practice my sketching anatomy lol. Just not sure if it's high-yield stuff, but it sure is vital for revising leg muscles' functions (finally got it through to my head that the iliacus flexes the hip).
--- Quote ---(if you can't draw something out simply why bother with the complexities?)
--- End quote ---
Lol, this is my life. Doodling arms & legs on my notebook has carried me through anatomy
Finally had my appointment with my psych. I think things will get better. I admitted that I got anxious over hours studied and she told me I'm a king for doing 3-4hours a day on top of classes. I feel like a bit of an impostor/fake still, since today I literally only did some pre-reading. But still, I think in that 40 minutes we managed to elucidate the underlying causes of my distress.
More detail on Sunday. I'll outline my goals for the holidays on that post. Everyone's telling me to take a break on the holidays but I feel if I lose my momentum/habit I'll have to pick it up again once semester resumes.
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