lebookwormkid

[lebookwormkid]

Oh hi! I need some help... or an advice.. a i didn’t pass a test from a difficult subject (med) and now i’m totally done with myself.i’m just overeating & crying in a corner i tried studying it again ,but im stressed i won’t pass again.Have you ever been in such a trashy” situation? Thanks for any advice

Hey there!

My road to medicine was not as smooth as others as my chemistry was 1 point away. I had to retake it whilst studying in the course prior to entering medicine. The chemistry test I was stuck at was a test that is.. on par to O levels (though much harder haha) but thankfully, I did enter the medicine journey. At first, I thought I'd never make in to medschool, but I couldn't imagine myself studying other than that of medicine. And upon entry, I am ever so grateful as I've been wanting to become a dr for such a long time. And nothing can stop me from achieving this dream.

It must've been tough for you, as medical school is quite stressful, and I understand the eating habits and the stress accompanied with the feeling of "is this enough? Is what I'm doing/studying enough". You can read my previous post on this ;)

Try your very best to look up, and go deep and revisit the purpose on why you started on this journey. It is okay to cry... it doesn't mean we are weak. We. Are. Humans. Too. But don't get dragged under.

For medicine, the "studying" varies among students.. but these are what I found helpful.

For pharmaco - flashcards is your bestfriend, and spaced repetition. Or... you can opt to compile into a table and review it.

Physiology - try and relate the other systems together as a whole... for example, you're on the renal system, whilst doing your notes, add in on how the renal system affects the cardiovascular as well as the haematology system. This way, you are able to make sense of all the things happening.

Pathology - create a document, with your own words, reexplain the etiology, pathogenesis, complications, clinical features etc(important for it to be in your own words, so that you will retain the information) .. include images and reexplain it to yourself or friends.

Anatomy- draw the images, it doesn't have to be looking artsy and aestheticly pleasing, as long as you understand how it flows and the clinical relation, you should be all good. Redraw the images again and again.

And, if you're ever in doubt or scared or don't know how and what to do... always... reach out. There are many helping hands available. Your seniors and peers will be there for you. But they wouldn't know what you're going through or if you are in need of help if you don't reach out... you can ask to compare notes, to further focus on the important sections of each theme.

It doesn't matter how many times you fall, it matters how you rise up, and believe in wanting to become the best and safest doctor to your patients. In the end, we're going through the years to bring the best service to our patients, they are counting on us with their lives. You can make a difference. You can change a person's world, and help in making their life a better place.

Don't stress on whats about to happen next in terms of examination. Be present. If you feel like you've given your all, you should be able to reap the rewards soon after. Never give up. No matter how many times you fall, always rise up, stronger than before. And never be afraid to ask for help, medical students are in a journey together. We are always here, to support each other. The community is strong 💪🏻

Sincerely,

Lebookwormkid

[lebookwormkid]

You re so inspirational ! I absolutely love Your blog!You definitely must be an A plus student! :) How do You cope with stress and pressure? Any strategy for exams and tests? Thanks , your fan :)

Hello there! 

You're the first person to send a question to me and I am flattered. Thank you so so much. Hope you're doing well during this covid time. 

Actually, I am not an A+ student though I was prior to admitting med school. Med school really is a whole different experience filled with amazing people and am hoping to get back to the top. 

To answer your question, I'll be quite frank, as I believe that people should be aware that its not simply how it seems.

1. How do I cope with stress?  😱

Truthfully, I eat  quite a lot whilst ensuring that it doesn't cause detrimental effects to my health. But still, I do eat quite a lot. Chocolate is my bestfriend through stress as well as apples. I always have a jar full of almonds by my study table which I'll  munch on every now and then. 

Another way is for me to cook, especially baking, and I'd do everything by hand to release the stress. Sports is also something that I am into, where I play futsal or have a little jog or a short run on evenings. Sleep always helped,  though I don't get that quite as often as I'd want to as the studying part of my brain constantly wakes me up. 

Lastly, I love music and art. So I destress by playing either the piano, guitar and kalimba or drawing and painting stuffs. They really do help. 

But in the end, after doing all these things, once I'm in a much better position/outlook, I'll look back to see the root cause of my stress and figure out how to handle them. If theres so much to do, I'd make a detailed list and a very short one, that I know I can achieve, and slowly but surely unwind them. 

2. How do I cope with pressure? 🥵

There are days though very rare (rare but not so rare but rare) , where I'll  have a few minutes of meltdown, and for that, I'd takeout a piece of paper and write exactly what is running through my mind and why its affecting me so much. This goes for any experiences that cause me pain. It's my coping mechanism eversince I was little. (I have a stash of these "letters" that I keep)

If you have a tight circle of friends, you can express these feelings and concerns to them just to relieve yourself. I believe everyone should have a good support system for this and if not, there are outlets and organizations that you can share thoughts and feelings to. 

Just to add on, something that I always say is, pressure is something that you put unto yourself. You may ask how so? 

Well, in my opinion, pressure is felt when you have this ideal expectation of yourself on what you would like to achieve or prove to people. That expectation is yours and yours alone to put, as only you know your capabilities and strength in pursuing something. Yes, people may put hopes unto you, or have a feeling of what you are capable to achieve with a little push. 

But again, it is you, who knows how, when and what you are capable of. A little bit of pressure is good but too much will definitely have an impact on your mental health and your performance.  

So to answer your question how I cope with pressure, is actually to control my level of expectation onto myself.  I would set small goals as checkpoints for me to acknowledge and be grateful of what I have achieved so far and how its moving me closer to my main goal. And by the way, when you're in that zone, the motivated I'm going to nail this kind of zone, write on a piece of paper as a reminder of how you felt that day. Read them when you feel demotivated, it works wonders to a tired and demotivated heart. It helps to reignite that joy and wonder as to why you are on your journey. A sense of purpose if you will.

3. What are my exam strategies? 💌✍🏻

A disclaimer, everyone has a different style of doing things which may or may not suit other people. With that being said, these are my exam strategies. 

At the beginning of the semester, I would check on the exam dates and look at how many topics are there to study. Then, it starts with how I prepare for classes, where I will go through my slides and make it much more compact by editing them into word form where I will make annotations during class. Most of these compact notes are the ones seen posted on my page. Then soon after would reread them. 

I am visual and auditary learner. Whatever I see and read and hear, I will be able to retain those information. 60% of my learning occurs during class.  (It was quite a change when covid happened, but all those are sorted now) Another thing is via videos, like, there are so many people teaching the same thing in youtube each with their different styles, surely, one or two would catch your eye and make you comprehend the subject at hand. 

How about the other 40%? 

Spaced repetition. I rewrite keypoints and draw so many, and really like a large amount of these information over and over and over again, it surely helped me retain and understand the information. The key here is to understand the information, looking at it through the bigger picture. Not forgeting to link each topics to one another. My university also provides these learning outcomes by the end of each topic where I then make an excel spreadsheet with all the answers to each one of them. 

Then, I would review my notes a month before my examination and start teaching myself each component to check on my grasp of the particular subject. Next, I would find online exam papers/quizzes for me to do as we would never know how much we've learnt without tests. From there, I will modify which area I am lacking and work it out. Editing my notes along the way by adding informations from the answered questions. 

If anything, I'd email my lecturers who loves to answer us student's questions and they are quite prompt and happy in replying (some would even go the extra mile and have a video call/a simple call to explain the concepts). Other than that, I'd clarify my doubts with my peers/seniors/lecturers way before the exam and just prep on understanding the subject. 

If you'd like study resources for med school do leave a note, as I am just giving a general review on how I prepare for my exams. And that's about it. Its about consistency really, and I'm sure my way of studying is, quite a usual, normal, nothing new per say. But everything is easier said then done. It all comes down to the effort and hard work and depends on how badly we want to achieve something. 

For me personally, I study alone, as I have friends but I don't have friends? Its complicated hahaha but yeah. Some people study better in groups some individually, so everyone would need to try and error to get that sweet spot on the ways of studying and the strategy for this battle aka exams. 

Hope I didn't bore you with this very long essay. And hope it to have been useful for you. 

Anything else, you can just leave a message/questions or something, as I would truly help/respond to it, to the best that I can.  

Cheers and all the best everybody!  💪🏻💪🏻

[lebookwormkid]

Alrighty, so T minus 14 days to my first professional exam part 1...

Is it just me, or medical school is like, you can't be satisfied with what you've read. I mean you feel productive etc, but when you think you've read enough, suddenly more info starts to pop out.

Then you feel like, am I going to survive this examination with the preparations that I've made so far.

And... also, I'm a paper kind of person, but recently some of my notes went missing kinda bummed for that. Am thinking if ipad is a good investment or can I do the same thing with my laptop. This is due to the peer pressure tbh, looking at my friends notes so pretty and organized. Hahahaha. I doubt I'm going to opt for ipad, coz paper is just... nice... for me 😬

Well, study smart and play hard. Thats all for today hihu.

[lebookwormkid]

One month more till my First Professional Paper Part 1...

Rereading my notes and adding more information as a cheat sheet sinces its open book (though we all know open book doesn't really give enough time to refer lol).

So, I'm hoping to get through all my lecture notes within 10-15 days (6 systems) and do SEQs and OSPEs. Hope to survive.

Will also attempt some formative assessments to train myself to answer within the restricted time. My seniors gave me a heads up saying the 1 hour mark is not enough but we can do this.

Anxiety crippling in quite fast... and the exam adrenaline is coursing through my veins. Those two factors alone made me seat at my studying table for 4 hours straight no breaks per study block. Hope to keep up the momentum though, lots to cover. Will keep an update on this journey. Tumblr has sort of been my Medschool diary sort of thing.

Have a good day people 💪🏻

[lebookwormkid]

4 more days till our Endocrine examination.

My last chapter review before the grind of questions and answers till the exam day. Then, will focus on my professional paper part 1 in december with SEQ, OSPE and VOSCE. Quite nervous really. Been snacking everynow and then. Substituted from brownies to fruits coz I would not like to get diabetes hahaha. Its been quite a journey, with a blink of an eye, I'm nearing halfway, sort of (still in 2nd year, 3rd Semester to be exact).

I am still amazed on how I am able to embark on this journey, the sweat and tears put into this is real. Hope to keep up this momentum. The other day, I was daydreaming on how on our graduation day (2024), I'd like to propose my batchmates to sing 2 songs from Hamilton, being "Raise your glass to freedom!" And "One last time". It'd be like a choir sort of thing with cool props in the dark with spotlights hahahahaha. Long way to go.... theres still 3 more years to this since here in Malaysia, its 5 years for MBBS.

Anyway, that's all for today's post. Have a great weekend everyone, eventhough we're in quarantine doesn't mean everything should be gloomy, you can still rock your halloween outfits at home. All the best guys and cheers!

[lebookwormkid]

Studying for the day, going to have CSSC on renal soon. Reviewing must ask questions for renal history taking/info gathering. I fell in love with medicine all over again hahahah, I just love reading them, its so interesting when you connect what you're looking for with the reason why you are doing it in the first place aka the pathology.

Btw... geekymedics is like a holygrail for history taking and PE, try and look them up. Todays notes is not that aesthetic I suppose, its how I memorize things, my memorisation notes you know hahaah it doesn't have to be nice 😂

My sister is in boarding school, she's turning 16 this Sunday, so I organized some things and placed an order for a star cake and some creamhorns and puff pastries to be sent to her school. Can't wait for her to receive them. She doesn't know whats coming hahahaha.

Thats all from me today. Happy studying and if its your chill day.... just chill and enjoy your time. Everyone needs to recharge and just reset their minds every now and then. Mental health is important okay... All the best guys, cheers! Till next time 😁

[lebookwormkid]

Had only 1 class today, and did a few revisions...

Woke up quite late as well hahahahaa, it has been a long time since I woke up late 😂 self-love and self-care is very important everyone..

Had a discussion with my parents on my career path for the future... and all of a sudden they mention marriage.. I'm like... I'm now single and enjoying life with myself, and am quite happy with what I have today. But yeah, the topic popped up, and my dad was like, you can find your partner when you're doing your masters and get married then or find them earlier... I'm like... okay dad, noted. Can we end the discussion now, thanks 😂

Well, thats all from me, I hope everyone is having an awesome day today.

Don't forget to stay safe yeah all the best in your endeavours 💪🏻💪🏻

[lebookwormkid]

This is how a day after my exam looks like... HAHAHA

Went for a run right after the exam, to hike up the hill and ran around the stadium. Was a nice stress reliever. Cooked some dinner was a good day. Exam was alright, thank God.

The next day we started with a new block, renal. Not bad... tomorrow would need to wake up early, as we have to come for clinical session, learning techniques of catheterization which... is interesting, kinda worried tbh....

And... just found out my next exam will be on my birthday, then the next day is presentation day... and the day after that is another clinical... my dad was like, welcome to professional life... Am planning to treat myself some delish food or a new book maybe... nothing extra.... most of my friends are not in the same uni, as some withdrawed and some are in other states, kinda sad but... celebrating my birthday with an exam... so... exci..ting... yay ...

Well, thats all for today's update ✌🏻

[lebookwormkid]

Am about to go out to eat with my parents...

Exam is on Tuesday though huhuuu exam anxiety is real....

My screensaver decided to show me this picture which kinda reminds me of our holiday back in Switzerland... It has been a while since went there...

Anyway... eat time is eat time... study is study... either way... you got to eat.. so.. yeah

[lebookwormkid]

Studying in the quiet study area in the library (in individual cubicles). Had a face to face medical museum session this morning on the identification of GIT organs with their nervous plexus, arteries and veins as well with their individual specifities on the gross anatomy.

Participated in a research conducted by peers from BMedSc which include measuring my height, arm span etc. My height was noted as 156.9cm (5ft 1) whereas my friend was 183cm (6ft) with his arm span being 190cm(6ft 2). I have stopped growing, but he still is... so good for him. At least I am within average height for my country. Hahahaha

Exam is this coming Tuesday. Its grind time!!!!! Lets goo

[lebookwormkid]

Hey guys...

Is it just me... or the nearer it is to the exam date.. the more concentrated our drinks tend to be.

For me, that'd be hot chocolate and matcha. These two are my study essentials during the grind.

I can't seem to drink coffee, gives me headaches amd anxiety.

Just a sip would make me stay awake for the next 6 hours. I have very very low tolerance for coffee. Hahahaha.

Ps... I think, I need to get a larger mug.

[lebookwormkid]

Studying for our CA. Not forgetting to eat lunch...

I had pathology lab this morning, and I kept sniffling for some reason, and no I do not have covid19 😂 Our lecturer kept on looking at me hahaah

Anyways, we also did some practice for the venipuncture and taking blood pressure as well in the cssc. I forgot to eat breakfast, so my tummy was rumbling the whole entire time...

The practice is for skills as well as our DOPs which is like a mini examination for our skills prior to OSCE to ensure we are competent and skilled enough to do it in real life. So yeah, twas fun.

Hope everyone is having a good day and well, stay safe!

[lebookwormkid]

Just a black and white moment for me today.

Lets go GI...

Is it just me or the more I study, the hungrier I get 🤔

Welp, thats life hahaha

[lebookwormkid]

This weeks meal prep... took only one picture of the spaghetti, but made like 7 cases of 2 kinds which are bolognese amd carbonara just to switch it up a little within the week.

Studywise... well, surviving HAHAHA

We had clinical sessions this morning on alcohol history taking and haematology examination zooming into lymph nodes examination within the cervical and axillary as well as inguinal lymph nodes. Twas interesting, had our peer tutor instead of the lecturers this time, and by the end of the session, the head coordinator came into our cubicle (there were 5 of us in each cubicle excluding simulated patient and peer tutor), and he just started viva-ing us.

It was intense HAHAAAH but was fun, as he left the room, our peer tutor was like "I am proud of you guys", as we managed to answer most questions phew. Quite happy with today really.

[lebookwormkid]

Matcha is life.

Learning the GI system is fascinating. The curvatures of the intestines nicely within the omentum.

Its much easier to understand once correlated with surgical and pathological conditions.

[lebookwormkid]

This weeks mealprep for lunch, some broccoli egg cheese rolls, spicy wedges and a little dessert of apples and peanut butter.

Reviewing through pharmacology for GI system, in regards to the metabolism of liver.

Some drilling noises from the neighbours house, good thing headphones exists hahahha.

Been kinda obsessed with Faouzia's songs... and currently listening to the Guild Of Ambience 2 hours library background noise whilst studying. Kinda makes me feel like I'm studying in hogwarts kind of vibe.

Wish I make more friends though so that I get to study with them and chill and do stuffs. But, yeah. Hahaha.

Medlife studentlife 😂

Missing playing futsal with my team due to covid. Life goes on though.

[lebookwormkid]

Its the medlife.

Enjoy the studying while it lasts.