Jonathan's 1st Semester Anatomy Practical #2 Score:
- Anatomy Practical #2 = 60.0%
I color the title of this post with my own stupidity because getting kicked out of medical school for making stupid mistakes on exams really is a stupid reason to fail. If you've read my last post, you know that my score should have been at least a 62.5% minimum. And that's not counting other stupid mistakes I may have made. Not knowing the material is one thing, but not reading the questions carefully and not interpreting what's given is totally different. Any for anyone who's ever taken a practice exam, you also may have kicked yourself the bone head mess ups you've made that become so obvious when you look up the answers.
Now I'm a huge proponent in positive thinking (followed by planning and action) and you may be thinking that calling myself stupid does me no favors, but like I said, I'm running out of excuses. This anatomy practical cuts into another 15% of the total anatomy grade. This means that 65% of the anatomy grade has now been accounted for and the remaining 35% is going to be split up between Mini 3 and the Final.
I was hoping for the 70%+ that I sometimes talk about... and I didn't get it. The exams that are coming up aren't going to get any easier. At this point the plan is simple:
- More Studying
- More Practice Questions
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3 comments:
John, I think at some point you have to do a total REVAMP of the way you approach your studying. Clearly, something needs to be amended because it's not working for you.
Perhaps, you should try to seek outside help. Are there academic resources at your school? I know this is a hard conclusion to come to, after all, your strong will and motivation has gotten you this far. I just think that you may need a few tweaks in the way that you study to put you on the path that you envision for yourself. I've been reading your posts for a long while, and it seems to me that perhaps you should focus more on studying smarter and not necessarily harder. I've been reading post after post as each exam you slightly modify your study schedule to incorporate "more" study time. Perhaps, you're not thinking as deeply about the material as the professors expect? Perhaps, you are not accurately accessing the information and using critical thinking skills to apply, analyze, and synthesize the information? Lastly, if you've been doing that, perhaps you haven't been doing enough practice problems to rehearse the process of retrieving what you've learned to accurately answer the test questions. I am not sure. I just know that I would hate to read that you dropped out or were expelled from classes due to something as simple as modifying your study tactics.
I know that I'm just an anonymous person, heck, what do I know? However, I've been in your shoes before, and when I started thinking about how I studied, it turned my life around. Gone were the days where I was worried about being on the pass/fail margins, in fact, I became more concerned of whether I would finish first or second in line for highest exam score! I am sure it will do the same for you. I urge you to come to a resolve soon, because you're now skating on the brink of pass/fail -- that's scary!
I am reading your blog and medical school sounds scary to me now. I need to definitely study hard in undergraduate.
Good luck to you.
Hi Jonathan,
Let me be clear, I am STARTING at Ross in September, so take my advice as you see fit.
I have been collecting/researching effective study methods the past few days. Here are a few links to possibly help you and others (please understand that I have NOT used these methods yet):
http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/Success/default.htm
http://hsc.unm.edu/community/cnah/docs/handbook_2004.pdf
Go to office hours
Go to anatomy lab several times per week
Practice questions
Repetition
Study sessions w/ TA's
Academic Success center
Dry erase board
Diagram things out
Histology: read, memorize, review the images on the disc AND in the book
Know handouts inside and out
Be able to critically think
Know the pathways (like feedback pathways)
Don't fall behind!
Avoid caffeine and carbs
Sleep 6-8 hours/night
Set a schedule and stick to it!
Exercise
Eat healthy
NO group study
Study with 1 person for anatomy
Take study breaks….beach time!
1. Preview lecture (create a roadmap of 8-10 statements or general questions about the upcoming lecture)
2. Attend/view lecture (answer your questions, make your own notes, place a ? by things you don't understand, and then ASK THE PROFESSOR IMMEDIATELY for clarification)
3. Take 10-15 minutes immediately after class to read through your notes (Optional step)
4. Within 24 hours of the lecture, transcribe your notes into clear, concise fashion. Use diagrams, drawings, etc. Try to create your OWN diagrams, at least 5 diagrams per lecture. The diagrams should connect concepts together. When you have finished covering the material, your information should look like a lecture that you can present. Think how your professor would think.
5. Review. The first Review should be the day after lecture and should take about 10-15 minutes per lecture. To review, read over your previous notes (5-10 minutes). While reviewing your notes, add at least 5 sentences to your notes to make additional relationships between concepts. Write down the relationship in a brief sentence.
6. 2nd Review: This should take place within 72 hours of the lecture. Spend about 5 minutes skimming your notes, looking at major points of your notes and diagrams. Then add 2 additional sentences.
7. Master review: This should take place on the weekend. Re-read over all the material you were given (should take 2.5 hours). Add 5-10 more sentences to the entire week's worth of material.
8. Fast forward to day before test: Spent 4-5 hours reading through all of your concise notes and the added sentences. Reread through the original lecture notes as well.
The above steps are my own summary of the Word document posted here (which is also where the other sites above are from):
http://www.valuemd.com/ross-university-school-medicine/199737-ways-academic-success.html
Good luck to you and to everyone!
~H
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