To whomever makes it to this point, congratulations on being 1/8th of a doctor! To those pursuing this field, use this moment as inspiration and let it fuel your ambitions. There are many things you learn during your first semester of medical school. From medical knowledge to learning how to balance your life to making effective study schedules, I have learned a lot about myself and medical school so I would like to share some of that information with you in hopes that you guys learn these lessons a lot earlier than I did!
1) STUDYING IS DIFFICULT BUT WILL ALSO BE INTERESTING. There's no way around it. This might be a pessimistic view but there is absolutely no way to cut corners in medical school. You need to put in the proper hours in order to receive the grades. Everyone has different studying habits and methods so you have to do what works for you. Some people only need to study 5 hours a day while others, like me, have to study 10 hours a day. It just all depends on what works for you. It's also important to not lie to yourself about your studying habits. If you need more time to feel confident, there's no shame in that. With all of this said, the topics you will be learning about will also be interesting. You are learning about things that are directly related to your future career and your patient care so if you are actually passionate about medicine, you will find what you are learning about to be interesting. (You might not find everything interesting but you will find most interesting).
2) YOU MUST PLAN OUT A SCHEDULE. Exactly following a schedule might be difficult because things happen in life but you must make a schedule. 2 weeks before an exam, I list out what I want to do every single day just to give myself the ease of mind that I have time to finish everything I want to before the exam. Of course some days are better than others and you might have to push things around but having that schedule around really eases stress. Also make sure that you include ALL of your classes on this schedule, catching up on a class is tremendously difficult so I would not recommend waiting till the last week for any class. And yes, your life will revolve around studying but just imagine it like a job. You have to put in these hours of studying so it will pay off later. Your friends might be doing 10-12 hours of work a day in a different field and just like that, you are also doing 10-12 hours of work a day.
3) NEVER SACRIFICE ON SLEEP. You need 6-8 hours a day no matter what anyone tells you. Not only does sleep help you study and remember things better but it also helps you keep your sanity. It's been scientifically proven that sleep helps your cognition so that studying you do in 10 hours while sleep deprived is about as effective as the studying you can do in 5-7 hours when you get your sleep. Furthermore, if you sacrifice your sleep for several days, you will eventually get really bad headaches and burn out (trust me, I've been there). However, you must also make sure you're getting an efficient amount of sleep, there is no way possible to finish everything you want in a day if you're getting 10-12 hours of sleep; that's just the simple truth.
4) FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE IMPORTANT. We have all had those days where we simply feel down or our brains are fried and we cannot work anymore. These days happen more often in medical school due to the high stress environment we are faced with. Personally, I talk to my parents almost every day about our days even if it's for 5 minutes because its a nice break. Furthermore, it is important to realize that goofing off with your friends is completely normal and necessary. My friends and I always get into silly arguments about the NBA or deep discussions about religion for hours and might get a little behind on our schedules but that time off is NEEDED. Our brains can only handle so much medical knowledge at once. Having friends that truly care about you is extremely important because you know that these people will have your back. I would recommend having a few closer friends than a bunch of not close friends. Medical school is not only for studying but to make connections that will last a lifetime so those memories you make while sitting around talking about life or watching a movie are totally worth it. Never feel bad for allocating time for fun, just don't be excessive with it.
5) USE THE STUDYING TECHNIQUE THAT WORKS FOR YOU, DO NOT FOLLOW WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING. I've had several pre-meds come up to me and ask me about Anki (which is a flashcard program a lot of medical school students use). My simple answer is try it. If it works for you, go for it. However, if it doesn't, don't try to force it just because its working for other people. Personally, I do not use Anki because I think its time consuming and doesn't really work for me. I write out review sheets for each lecture or notes on the slides and that works perfectly fine for me. Maybe I'll use Anki on certain subjects or maybe I won't, who knows? I recommend that you try it and see how you perform but if it doesn't work for you, don't force it.
6) YOU WILL NEVER FEEL READY FOR A TEST. I know that's a really hard one to swallow but trust me, you will never feel ready for a test and there's nothing wrong with that. For our final, we had over 3000 slides with immense detail and it is physically impossible to memorize every single small detail on those slides. This is why I would recommend that everyone focus on higher-yield stuff first (broad topics) and then if they have additional time, I would learn the small details. Furthermore, I would recommend doing a bunch of practice questions from different sources because that'll give you an idea about whether you should put more focus on a topic as opposed to others. However, that feeling of not being ready for a test is completely ok and everyone feels like that. I wish I had known that fact earlier and accepted it because it would have alleviated a lot of stress and anxiety. You have to be confident in yourself and what you know. You were chosen into medical school for a reason.
For all of you pursuing medicine, I promise that if you are ambitious and serious about all of this, you will make it out and it will pay off. With interview season upon us, I know that a lot of people are extremely stressed about not getting interviews or not doing well at an interview so you guys can always contact me with questions or concerns and I will try my best to help. Furthermore, I know a lot of other people are studying for the MCAT so if you need advice or resources on that, do not hesitate to ask. Additionally, if you're a medical school student and would like to tell me some of the things that you learned during your time, I'd love to hear about it and feature you in one of my posts.
Since I am on winter break currently, I will be posting a lot more frequently! Good luck to you all and stay safe during these rough times! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter each day!
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