Year-End Wrap-Up

I'd like this post to do double duty as a monthly newsletter, but seeing as I'm actually writing it a month after the last one, that would be too inconsistent with my MO. Also, since it's not the typical
newsletter, I ran rather long - apologies.

Compared with a year ago, I'm doing very well. I was burned out at the end of my first semester and stayed that way through the second semester. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, second semester was tough. Knowing what I know now, I think being in a study group and spending more time with people would have helped, but I didn't devote much thought to such things and I didn't have the motivation to make changes. I did well enough to get through the semester, but I'm worried about how well I understand and remember the information. I'll get back to that, though.

I don't recall much of my brief summer off hand, but it was helpful to have a break and hit third semester with a fresh start. Before summer, during second semester, it actually had occurred to me to get involved with a study group and in the newness of third semester, I finally had time to consider it more and implemented the idea. I joined up with a good group of dedicated, mature students who helped keep me on the study bandwagon with their Saturday morning meetings. Toward the end of the semester, students and faculty/administration started waving the banner of board prep with a vengeance. The boards are a set of tests that gauge our progress and are mandatory to become a doctor. We take step one, the first test of three, after the second year (in six months). It assesses how well we learned all the basic medical sciences in the two lecture-based years. My school requires a passing score on step one before we're allowed to progress to the two years of clinically-based learning.

I'm not as worried about passing as I am about earning a competitive score; boards not only allow me to advance in my medical training, they'll also be one of the factors used to evaluate my application when I apply for residency, which is where I'll finally learn to be a surgeon. So, now that I've started getting the upper hand in this battle against med school, I'm reminded that I need to go beyond studying the material at hand and review everything I was so glad to have put behind me. I mentioned earlier that I'm not confident with how well I learned past material; I feel like I'm good at test taking and don't study well for long-term comprehension. I'm hoping my study of the next four systems courses plus my board review cover everything well enough not only to prepare me for boards but to make me feel like I'm prepared for boards.

In non-school (i.e., pleasant) news, I'll be cramming the rest of the prereading for my sailing course into the next two days since I leave early Sunday and the class starts Monday morning. Tomorrow (actually, later today, Saturday), amidst reading the sailing book, I'll be frantically and inefficiently packing, buying last-minute sundries, and debating whether to drive myself or ask my neighbor to take me to the airport at 11 tomorrow night (so I can catch the 12:59 flight on Sunday morning. Yes, I meant EARLY Sunday).

After this mini vacation, I'll need to select a board test date, organize my apartment, get cracking with board review, and prepare for next semester. In addition to getting used to the emotional roller coaster that is med school, I'm adding the skill of getting refreshed from short breaks. By the time of graduation day two and a half years from now, I might be close to knowing how to handle med school.

Scott