Our first Black Monday is over and here are my thoughts. As always these are my own opinions so take them with as many grains of salt as you wish.

The exams (4) were very fair and straighforward. Except for a couple obscure anatomy questions, I am sure everything that was asked was taught in class. Those anatomy topics were probably discussed but I missed them in translation - I am always a couple sentences behind Dr. Mohiti as it is.

It seems that the students that studied every day for a few hours were quite confident with their results while those who crammed this past weekend were having a tough go of it. Those of you coming for January I urge you to develop study habits now to make these exam days a bit easier (not to mention that the goal is to retain this information for the Step 1). The material is not difficult by any means but there is a ton of it to keep straight.

Any comments from fellow 1st termers ?

__________________
Leroy

"Teaching only takes place when learning does. Learning only takes place when you teach something to yourself"

Anthony de Mello, SJ

thanks for the post, leroy

I was wondering, on average, how many hours most people require to study each day? Are 3-5 hours sufficient to do well, or do most people suggest more studying time?

1. Anatomy = Evil: This is just my personal opinion; many students thought the exam was fair. I studied my ***** off for this exam and definitely did quite poorly, which was made obvious by the large number of empty spaces left on my exam sheet once I answered the ones I thought I knew. However, I think the flaw was not so much in the presentation of the class or the exam material, but in my method of studying. I tried to memorize everything, rather than conceptualize and understand the material, and this proved to be a rather fatal flaw. Fortunately, the Anatomy Mavens for our class have taken pity on me and offered to help me learn a new way of studying/conceptualizing this material, which I gladly accepted. Hopefully by the time the second exam rolls around I will actually have some knowledge/understanding of Anatomy.

2. Overall Black Monday Setup/Experience = Reasonable/Decent: The administration of the exam was handled very well and was not overtly overwhelming. Overall I thought the professors struck a good balance with regard to difficulty and material covered on each exam. I think many students would agree with me on this, although some thought that most of the examinations were rather difficult. I guess we will have to wait until the grades/curve comes back to see whether the material was indeed manageable or unreasonable.

not something I'd like to make a lifelong habit of doing, but for 20 months...its doable.

Everything Leroy said was basically true. Get into a good, responsible study group. Get with people who are serious about this and not "playing medical school". It will screw up class morale and your groups. This is not a testing ground...its the real thing. Don't believe it? Look into the faces of MS-2's coming out of POM tests and tell me they are playing at this.

This is a great school. Work hard...you'll become a doctor.

POM?

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary

don't you know your accronyms yet?

Practice of Medicine? Clinical evaluations you guys stressed over and the MS-2 (4ths) worried about?

See me after class for an acronym refresher.

Oh, do you mean PD for Physical Diagnosis? lol..

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary

I agree with what Leroy said up there.

For me, I felt pretty confident for all my exams, except for anatomy, but I can't complain since I know I didn't study hard enough for that exam. I hate making excuses for myself, but I was sick for the week before, honest

Anyways, fair and doable, but still stressful haha , that's Black Monday in a nutshell.

g'nite people, see ya in the morning 8)

__________________
"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverence and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained." ~ Marie Curie

Leroy is right on about Black Monday. It is all doable if you are willing to put the time into it. My advice for those coming in for January and future semesters is the following
1- Stay on top of the material. It may not seem like a lot each day but it does pile up.
2-Dont go and try to memorize the anatomy it is more important that you understand it. I am sure Leroy, Snazzy, Infinite, and futurephysian will all agree with me on this. If you understand the concepts and what is going on everything else will fall into place.
3-Try and form a study group when you get here. It does help a lot. For me it meant that the weekend before the exam i was not panicking because I knew what i needed to work on from reviewing with my group.

and watching people manipulate their arms looking for the test answer was hysterical in hindsight.

You see the occasional arm fly into the sky and people palpating for something they have no idea what they are looking for.

Sure beat wondering what the heck small structure was responsible for what on the cell bio test.