Question for past first "termers"....advice for ne

[NickyMD]

Hi

I will be starting in Jan05 and did a search and saw somethings, however I was wondering if some of the past students could give some advice about classes/teachers to the new students about pitfalls to avoid, things to look for in certain classes, anything to help (example knowing past tests, etc..)...thanks in advance

[Tami]

Here's a few I can think of right off the bat:

- Resist the temptation to blow off Embryo.
- Weekly Histo review sessions with the Clinical Tutors - good stuff. Well worth your time.
- Dr Brahim's review sessions in the LRC. Also good stuff. Don't take his comments/insults to heart, he doesn't really mean them.
- CPR - The test my class took had almost nothing to do with the actual training that we'd received in the CPR sessions. The re-test is much simpler and just slightly more relevant (you can tell I made it on the re test! :oops:).
- Most of Dr Hansford's (Biochem chair) exam questions are v. tricky and designed to trip you up; if you don't understand the concept inside out, it's very easy to miss them.
- Gross table quizzes. Prep as a group with your lab partners. Know who you're facing @ the table on lab days - schedule is posted on the dept's bulletin board; if it's Dr B, know your stuff extra well, he tries his best to rattle you and very often succeeds. Dr Hage, a practicing clinician, loves to see if you grasped the clinical applications.
- Use DES resources, they are your friend. Figure out early on your learning style & you'll avoid a major stresser. Also, when people say silly little things like get @ least 7 hrs of sleep, don't study 15 hrs a day, make time to just chill every so often, take that advice. IMHO, it can seriously make the difference between being forced to decel or not. Trust me, I've seen it happen!
- Gross office hours are a great learning tool. Even if you know your stuff, it helps to get double exposure to new material. Take appointments with Drs Hage & Jordan in wet lab. I specially like Dr H's style of quizzing, helps make sure you really know the stuff backwards & forwards.
- Four words: pre-read-post-read. Every lecture. Every class.

Hmmmm.....that's all I have right now. Will share more later as I remember. :wink:

[NickyMD]

Thank you for taking the time to do this... :D


If anyone has more to add...please do...

[snitzle]

First off, I absolutely agree with everything Tami said above, especially about Embryo. BUT... The most important advice any first-term student can receive is this: DON'T LISTEN TO ADVICE FROM UPPER-TERMERS!!! :wink: Case in point:

Embryo is the least volume-intensive class as far as raw information is concerned, so Tami's quite right that the temptation to let it slide in favor of anatomy and biochem is very strong. I fell into this trap before midterms, reinforced by well-meaning advice from some random upper-termers who told me "don't waste your time on embryo; glance through the notes once and start studying for anatomy NOW!" Well, I failed the embryo midterm - which especially sucked because it wasn't a difficult exam, and I would have done fine with even 1 lousy day of solid study!!! :evil: I stopped listening to my "student elders" after midterms (except for a trusted few), did things my way, and ended up with a perfect score on the final, which gave me a "B" in the class. (I'll bet this dichotomy looked really strange to the Academic Progress Committee, now that I think about it!)

The moral of the story: don't take the advice of upper classmen as Gospel! You got some really good info from Tami above, but not everyone you encounter at SGU will be as well meaning as she (although I believe the vast majority are). But, even those who mean well may inadvertantly give you bad advice. Everyone has their own way of studying, and everyone works and learns differently. And, everyone is different as to their preferences toward professors.

Once you get there, learn to take EVERYTHING you here (advice, rumors, etc.) with a grain (if not an entire shaker) of salt, and you'll be fine!

Good luck!

[Kevin]

I agree with not taking advice from upper classmen. Every term is different. When I was in 1st term all of the 4th termers told us not to worry about the anatomy final. They said it would be really easy. That was the hardest test I have ever taken!!! And most of my classmates would agree. The only thing I have seen all departments do consistantly is try and keep the distribution of the class be equal. So if your class kills a midterm (which we did in anatomy) then be ready for a killer final. I've noticed that they do this in every class. My advice is to go into every test with the midset that it is going to be extremly hard. Also yes emb is a lot, but it is only 2 units, so do not spend too much time on it. Get A's or B's in the 6 unit classes and just pass histo and emb.

[lp378NJ]

thanks for the helpful info. Another question,

what does the biochem cirriculum consist of? is it pretty much the same as any other biochem class? thanks

[helpfulgrad]

funny, it's still happening ;)
when I was in first term, the 4th termers used to always say how easy everything was, like they got some high off of making the first termers feel dumb. I remember hearing "oh anatomy, yeah that was a piece of cake"
so once you get through it and know how hard you worked to get through it, don't make your juniors feel bad ;). tell them the truth - that you busted your hump to get a good grade and working hard was well worth it :)

2 cents...

HG

[stephew]

i would say that prestudying over the summer is always a bad idea. but that's grad advice.
s.

[Silenthunder]

After perusing this thread abit I agree with most of what is said,

Tami and Snitzle can definitely attest to what I'm going to say next:

don't assume the stuff your classmates tell you is true. The community
is really small, and rumors spread like wildfire.

I remember at least one time last term when faculty had to make
announcements about rumors not being true with regards to something
about anatomy quizes (snitzle should definitely remember this - he was in my dissection/quiz group) :D

oh yeah,

I definitely agree with Tami: take some time out to yourself to relax.
If you don't take this time out, you may regret it later!!

Cheers,

Silenthunder//

[stephew]

After perusing this thread abit I agree with most of what is said,

Tami and Snitzle can definitely attest to what I'm going to say next:

don't assume the stuff your classmates tell you is true. The community
is really small, and rumors spread like wildfire.

I remember at least one time last term when faculty had to make
announcements about rumors not being true with regards to something
about anatomy quizes (snitzle should definitely remember this - he was in my dissection/quiz group) :D

oh yeah,

I definitely agree with Tami: take some time out to yourself to relax.
If you don't take this time out, you may regret it later!!

Cheers,

Silenthunder//
a bit of received wisdom: studcents dont talk about what they dont know; that is the git who is dazzling you all with his knowledge of the anatomy of the forearm just read it. Ask him about the hand anatomy and he'll suddenly have to be somewhere else.