Hello everyone!
Its been a few days since my last post! A week actually. I wanted to post sometime mid week but the truth was I didn’t have enough time.. This week has been very busy and went by way to fast. Our block one exams are in 2 days so everyone has been going a little crazy. Even though I am so close to my first set of exams, I’m not really finding that I’m too stressed. If anything I worry about the unknown. This happens whenever you take a test from a new professor though. I’m pretty sure this is a huge source of stress for many students. I think that when we approach block two, people will be a little more at ease. That being said, I’ve been told that block two is the hardest for semester 1 students so we will still have stress no matter what. Looking forward to that. If I can give you one word of advice its to stay on top of your material. You are here to study medicine not to live the island life. My entire day consists of making sure I understand the material learned that day and in reality, unless you learn things real damn quick it’s the only way to be. You don’t want to fall within the minority group of students who haven’t been able to keep up with the material. When the majority of us show up to class and the prof questions us about the material from the previous day we all have no issues. The worst feeling is sitting in the class when everyone around you is answering the prof’s questions and you sit there quietly because you don’t know the answers. If you find yourself in that position the odd day, just know that you have to put in the time to learn that material plus the material you are about to learn. If you don’t do that it is then that you start to fall behind. The fact that I have kept on top of the material means that I can comfortably take the day before the exam off. I don’t have to be playing catch up on material that I fell behind on during the course of the previous three weeks. The pace here is incredible and if you find yourself on the wrong side you will surely struggle. So when you feel like taking the night off after class, don’t. I promise that you will be thanking yourself immensely down the road. Another thing to remember is that when you study you have to study well. Memorizing isn’t enough. You have to truly understand what you are learning. Every new disease, nerve plexus, diagnostic test and cellular pathway that you learn here is material you are going to have to know for the rest of your life. You can’t afford to memorize something only to dump it as soon as the exam is over. That technique may be okay in undergrad, but when the material you are learning is directly impacting your future you have to know it and retain it. 20 month form now I will be writing one of the most important tests of my life. 20 months from now I will be expected to know the disease process I learned last week at the same level as I know right now. So make sure you use your time wisely and know that your success is completely in your own hands. Be determined to succeed and everything will be fantastic!
Interesting things
Unfortunately, this week has been filled with mostly uninteresting things. A lot of cramming in last minute material and reviewing. The most interesting part I would say was anatomy lab. This whole week we were essentially learning about the heart and a few surrounding areas of the posterior mediastinum. To me this was very cool. Holding a human heart in your hands is something that is fairly unnatural but amazing at the same time. Through my years of first response, you hear a lot about the heart as it is one of the main organs in your body that gives rise to problems that first responders can actually try to correct. We have a general understanding of what a heart attack is, how CPR works, cardiac arrhythmias that can be corrected with electrical and chemical stimulation, valve defects etc. but it is all made very clear when you get to see the anatomy and structures giving rise to these issues for real. Its one thing to be learn from a book and it is a very different thing to be able to see the real structure. Being able to actually touch and feel the anterior interventricular artery (LAD) which is so commonly occluded in heart attacks or to open up the ventricles and see first hand how these valves function gives a whole new perspective on things. Another cool thing was seeing the surgical interventions taken on a number of the hearts. I got to see a pacemaker, bypass procedures, and even valve replacements. One thing for sure is that studying the heart over the last few days has made me very familiar with it. On day one even orienting yourself to the apex and base of the heart let alone the ventricles and atria was a challenge. Today I can grab a heart and right away know what’s what. Very cool. I will say however that on day 5 I was over it :P You can only take so much of one thing before you’re ready for the next. Enough about that..
Normally on the weekends I try to do something interesting, but this weekend I have yet to be successful with this. It is now Sunday and aside from sleeping I have done nothing except study (and clean my house). I walked to the ghetto last night and turned around when it got to scary. That was about the most interesting thing that happened. Today I tried to go snorkeling in the morning but when me and my roommate got to the beach it was too rough. For the past few days the ocean has really been ripin! Makes for a nice soundtrack from by room but not so great for snorkeling. The roughness wasn’t so much the issue, it was more the fact that you wouldn’t be able to see anything with all the sand being stirred up. So instead I’m going to go to a movie this evening. My plan today was to take it easy so before blocks, so I’ve only been studying a bit. Rest the brain for tomorrow.
On a less positive note, I heard that the AC in the anatomy lab died and the conditions are far from ideal. So let’s hope that they get it fixed today before we have to do our anatomy lab exam tomorrow.
After blocks I will give a rundown of what worked for me in terms of reviewing and studying. Everyone has very different study methods but I have found a few things very helpful. So ill be sure to pass it on.
Things I learned this week
-People who choose to study in non-quiet areas will still get mad when people make noise around them. Not too much sympathy for them.
-Many of my MED friends are thinking of dropping to EBS... boooo :,(
-When you have to study for an extra exam compared to most of your friends it kills you a little inside.
-I have very little time to make food. I wish there were more food options around (I will talk about this subject soon)
-I like whiteboards
-While I enjoy the weather being above 10ºc (sorry Ottawa), a cool day every once in a while would be much appreciated.
Good vibes everyone.
Mike
Its been a few days since my last post! A week actually. I wanted to post sometime mid week but the truth was I didn’t have enough time.. This week has been very busy and went by way to fast. Our block one exams are in 2 days so everyone has been going a little crazy. Even though I am so close to my first set of exams, I’m not really finding that I’m too stressed. If anything I worry about the unknown. This happens whenever you take a test from a new professor though. I’m pretty sure this is a huge source of stress for many students. I think that when we approach block two, people will be a little more at ease. That being said, I’ve been told that block two is the hardest for semester 1 students so we will still have stress no matter what. Looking forward to that. If I can give you one word of advice its to stay on top of your material. You are here to study medicine not to live the island life. My entire day consists of making sure I understand the material learned that day and in reality, unless you learn things real damn quick it’s the only way to be. You don’t want to fall within the minority group of students who haven’t been able to keep up with the material. When the majority of us show up to class and the prof questions us about the material from the previous day we all have no issues. The worst feeling is sitting in the class when everyone around you is answering the prof’s questions and you sit there quietly because you don’t know the answers. If you find yourself in that position the odd day, just know that you have to put in the time to learn that material plus the material you are about to learn. If you don’t do that it is then that you start to fall behind. The fact that I have kept on top of the material means that I can comfortably take the day before the exam off. I don’t have to be playing catch up on material that I fell behind on during the course of the previous three weeks. The pace here is incredible and if you find yourself on the wrong side you will surely struggle. So when you feel like taking the night off after class, don’t. I promise that you will be thanking yourself immensely down the road. Another thing to remember is that when you study you have to study well. Memorizing isn’t enough. You have to truly understand what you are learning. Every new disease, nerve plexus, diagnostic test and cellular pathway that you learn here is material you are going to have to know for the rest of your life. You can’t afford to memorize something only to dump it as soon as the exam is over. That technique may be okay in undergrad, but when the material you are learning is directly impacting your future you have to know it and retain it. 20 month form now I will be writing one of the most important tests of my life. 20 months from now I will be expected to know the disease process I learned last week at the same level as I know right now. So make sure you use your time wisely and know that your success is completely in your own hands. Be determined to succeed and everything will be fantastic!
Interesting things
Unfortunately, this week has been filled with mostly uninteresting things. A lot of cramming in last minute material and reviewing. The most interesting part I would say was anatomy lab. This whole week we were essentially learning about the heart and a few surrounding areas of the posterior mediastinum. To me this was very cool. Holding a human heart in your hands is something that is fairly unnatural but amazing at the same time. Through my years of first response, you hear a lot about the heart as it is one of the main organs in your body that gives rise to problems that first responders can actually try to correct. We have a general understanding of what a heart attack is, how CPR works, cardiac arrhythmias that can be corrected with electrical and chemical stimulation, valve defects etc. but it is all made very clear when you get to see the anatomy and structures giving rise to these issues for real. Its one thing to be learn from a book and it is a very different thing to be able to see the real structure. Being able to actually touch and feel the anterior interventricular artery (LAD) which is so commonly occluded in heart attacks or to open up the ventricles and see first hand how these valves function gives a whole new perspective on things. Another cool thing was seeing the surgical interventions taken on a number of the hearts. I got to see a pacemaker, bypass procedures, and even valve replacements. One thing for sure is that studying the heart over the last few days has made me very familiar with it. On day one even orienting yourself to the apex and base of the heart let alone the ventricles and atria was a challenge. Today I can grab a heart and right away know what’s what. Very cool. I will say however that on day 5 I was over it :P You can only take so much of one thing before you’re ready for the next. Enough about that..
Normally on the weekends I try to do something interesting, but this weekend I have yet to be successful with this. It is now Sunday and aside from sleeping I have done nothing except study (and clean my house). I walked to the ghetto last night and turned around when it got to scary. That was about the most interesting thing that happened. Today I tried to go snorkeling in the morning but when me and my roommate got to the beach it was too rough. For the past few days the ocean has really been ripin! Makes for a nice soundtrack from by room but not so great for snorkeling. The roughness wasn’t so much the issue, it was more the fact that you wouldn’t be able to see anything with all the sand being stirred up. So instead I’m going to go to a movie this evening. My plan today was to take it easy so before blocks, so I’ve only been studying a bit. Rest the brain for tomorrow.
On a less positive note, I heard that the AC in the anatomy lab died and the conditions are far from ideal. So let’s hope that they get it fixed today before we have to do our anatomy lab exam tomorrow.
After blocks I will give a rundown of what worked for me in terms of reviewing and studying. Everyone has very different study methods but I have found a few things very helpful. So ill be sure to pass it on.
Things I learned this week
-People who choose to study in non-quiet areas will still get mad when people make noise around them. Not too much sympathy for them.
-Many of my MED friends are thinking of dropping to EBS... boooo :,(
-When you have to study for an extra exam compared to most of your friends it kills you a little inside.
-I have very little time to make food. I wish there were more food options around (I will talk about this subject soon)
-I like whiteboards
-While I enjoy the weather being above 10ºc (sorry Ottawa), a cool day every once in a while would be much appreciated.
Good vibes everyone.
Mike