Hey readers, and happy holidays. I've finished basic sciences in medical school and would like to share my experiences and advice as well with things that came up.
Basic sciences was a rough academic experience. Rough in the amount of material we're responsible to know and naturally, with a dearth of that free time we enjoy so much to keep us relaxed and feeling our best. It's rough and really easy to become one-dimensional, but there are so many times I've noticed I didn't have to study as hard as I had to and I could've taken time off. So I encourage you to be more proactive in seizing that you-time, be well-rounded and feeling great.
Taking breaks/evenings off in med school:
I say do it, especially if you feel like you're at a point where you feel ready and comfortable with your material. I recommend:
1. Running/exercise
2. Recording music or playing an instrument
3. Reading a book outside of medicine
4. Spending time with friends/family
5. Any other creative pursuit
The reason I emphasize creative pursuits is because you can record a song or do a sketch and have an accomplishment you can look back on and feel good about and share with others. So much in life is transient, but your artwork and music will last.
The study schedule/environment:
Med school is rough by default, and one pitfall is that you can make it even harder on yourself if you're not careful. It's really easy to lose balance. For example: I actually would get up at 4:40am everyday and do school/study until around a little bit before midnight and do that 5 days week. I would "sleep in" on the weekends til around 5:30am or around 6am. I actually never woke up around 4:30 or 4:40am on the weekends because I'd sleep through my alarm.
I'd study at school if my shuttle wasn't running, so I'd just find a study carrel and get to work. Home was the best place to study for me since I have more control of the noise level around me and I can just go to my bed or couch for a comfortable nap, and I also don't have to worry about my personal belongings suddenly defying gravity and disappearing.
Basic sciences is very much a "do what you feel is right and is working for you" type of deal, so don't get stressed out if your classmates are doing different things, you'll get the hang of it.
What helped me get through basic sciences the most:
Just keeping a steady supply of new music did a whole lot for me. My life revolves around it and I constantly need new, creative, awesome songs. Live concerts are really reinvigorating and truly an experience when it's a rare chance to catch one of your favourite bands who are from overseas.
And seeing family of course, especially when they'd visit with pets. The only time I turn off the manly switch is when I'm hanging out with Captain Snugglesworth or my family's tiny dogs who love to travel inside handbags, haha.
What to expect of basic sciences in med school and study tips:
There's a balance: you can juggle hobbies and responsibilities or be one-dimensional until exams are over. Expect to feel tired and stressed out and anxious, but believe in yourself and know you'll get the hang of it. You'll look back and be amazed at how much you've learned.
The way you study will change too, and here's some stuff I did:
1. Flash cards
2. Reading straight from a PDF of First Aid and highlighting and doing annotations with the Adobe Reader PDF tools. A cool thing you can do is use the Comment Box tool to type in a question like "How is Aldolase B deficiency inherited?" then look on the actual document to check your answer
3. Just reading the material and writing notes on it in a notebook or writing out the material over and over until I could reproduce it by memory.
4. For neurological signalling pathways and biochemical pathways I'd draw out diagrams over and over. Visual learning really helps things stick, especially if it involves colour.
Anyway, happy holidays, I'll try to post some more later on. Thanks for reading.
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