How to Study for Pre-Clinical Medicine at Medical School

Studying for pre-clinical medicine is not about finesse or being able to know intricate details, it's about keeping your head above the water while waves repeatedly crash at you. Your aim of studying is subsequently, to cover as much material as possible in a manner that maximises retention. This will vary in context depending on each medical school i.e. Barts has OSCEs in the first year.

Prep
You need to make a schedule that is realistic. I like to treat medical school as a nine to five job. You start work at 9am, have an hour lunch and finish at 5pm. This gives you a repetitive routine that can be altered for days out and impromptu social occasions.

It requires determination to stick to this because it is so easy to push things to the weekend, then the next week then months have flown by and the deadlines rear their ugly head.

Don't make To Do lists, schedule work. When are you going to do it? How much time does it need? This is much more effective then an ever growing list that you'll just ignore. Get a diary or use Google Calendar. Barts is kind enough to put all out timetables on Google Calendar so it helps to correlate your work.

The process I outline aims to have you review your lecture notes FIVE times in the space of the month, attempting to maximise retention without significant outlay of your time.

Preading (Pre reading)
You first two years of medical school will be lecture heavy. This means a lot of lecture notes and handouts. I use my iPad to directly write on PDFs of lecture notes however you may have a different method. The night before you should print/load/organise your handouts. This forces you to organise yourself for the day. It is also the beginning of the recall process. By investing 5-10 minutes of your time, skimming through the handouts for the next day, you are already familiarising yourself with the material. This means that the first time you see this lecture is not in the lecture. You have a general grasp of the context and ordering, which allows you to peg new knowledge to. It also highlights any areas that you don't understand at all.

Lecture
This is 50-60 minutes of your time. I know they are dull, soulless events but lectures are the cheapest way for medical schools to teach us. You need to focus. You can't multitask effectively when learning so don't bother. This means no Facebook, Whatsapp or Snapchat. Put your phone down and pick up your pen/stylus. Make notes, draw diagrams and think of questions. If this is the only time you are going to look at this material, do it now. You are making a solid basis for all future retention, so don't fuck yourself over.

Evening Review
You need to review your notes within 24 hours. I time this with my preading for the next day. This helps to consolidate the knowledge the best and is significantly more effective than reviewing a few days later [source needed].

Go through the information, make sure you understand it and if you don't, find it out. Try to keep your source material in one place. If the lecture notes are adequate, then use them and cross out unnecessary information. If they useless (a common event) then make a mind-map. If you think you have enough time to rote learn medicine, then prepare to give up something else. Your brain will always remember visuals over text and relationships over random statements [source needed].

Weekend Review
At this point, you have review the information THREE times. This is your chance to truly learn the subject AKA study. It can be Saturday morning, Sunday night or a random free day in the week but you need to review on a regular basis to keep up. You should be relatively familiar with the subject matter so you'll be rushing through your notes to get outside.

How I Study
Rote memorisation is the toolbox of the traditional medical student. And it is very useful when you need to learn something and nothing else will do. However, I find that this method prevents you applying knowledge. You learn a list or a block of text and have no idea what it means, just the ability to repeat it if asked for definition.

Subsequently, I use very little writing after my initial note taking step in lectures. I know most of my fellow medical students like to re-write lecture notes, but I don't have time. I want to watch netflix and go out with my housemates, not keeping rewriting text hoping it will go in.

I will imagine that a fellow student is in front of me and I will talk them through the lecture as if I am teaching. The aim is to teach from memory and also talk in a way that shows I clearly understand it. This significantly helps my comprehension and ability to apply knowledge at a future date.

Talking to yourself can be weird but if you can't explain it with the notes in front of you, what luck do you have in the exam.

Month Review
A month is my preferred time, but this flexible for you. A fortnight or six weeks might be enough. This schedule forces you to review you knowledge and drag it up from the dregs of your memory. This is the final step to help transition it from short-term to long-term memory. At this point you have now reviewed the content FIVE times. You will have a good assessment of your strengths and weakness. Lectures that are not easy to recall can become focus points in your revision while you can ignore content that you are comfortable with.

Further Advice

• Be realistic - Trying to cover three modules in a week isn't going to happen. Your timetable needs to be practical e.g. if you have to watch Game of Thrones every Monday then watch it, don't pretend to work. 
• Pomodoro System - Wikipedia explains better, but basically, you work for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break and repeat. I find it effective at forcing myself to study and a timer gives you a clock to beat. It can be addictive.
• Block distractions - You've made the decision to study. Great! Now make sure it's efficient use of your time, otherwise you'll be there twice as long. Block social media, put your phone on airplane model and get going. 
• Food and Water - Make sure you have water and some snacks within easy access. It's tiring work studying and I've happily convinced myself that I need to bake for three hours instead of studying, because there isn't any brownies in the house.

Medical school is hard, not because of the subject, but because it requires time management skills that we are never taught.

The End of Pre-Clinical Medicine

It's almost August and I still can't believe that I've finished five years of university. I came back from Glastonbury festival to discover that I had passed second year of medical school and I could not be more excited.

The past two years have been difficult because I've had a lot of personal struggles (that I won't bore you with) but I wouldn't change it for the world. I use to question throughout Biomed if this was all worth it. When I look back at what I've studied in the past two years, I feel like I've discovered more and more of who I am. Medicine, the degree, is everything I hoped and more.

I was pleasantly pleased with my results. I stuck to my timetabling pretty well and had a week before the exam for OSCE practise and emergency revision, which I've never managed before. I heavily focused on the MCQs section of the exam but ultimately, this was my worst performance. I think I understand why because I was just doing a question bank without really supplementing the learning, the question bank was also more aimed at 3rd years than 2nd years so it was slightly over shooting.

What I've taken away from this year is again the need to plan REALISTICALLY i.e. a module cannot be done in two days however must I use too hope. I'm also most productive in the morning and I need scheduling to get myself into the routine. I found that by scheduling my time I was significantly less stressed and had a more realistic view of my goals. My main goal was to pass comfortably and be in the 5th quartile or higher. At the moment I am comfortable being an academically "average" medical student.

On the flip side, I've struggled to balance extra-curricular activities. I once again took on too much and it meant that I gave a poor performance. I have subsequently dropped everything except a course rep. I want to focus on my health and exercise next year. It's really important that I find out how to develop an important work-life balance, engaging in exercise that is either individual (gym) or group (sports or running). Even yoga or meditation. Just something to provide a break outside of university. I also have a great group of friends from my previous degree, so I usually count them as my support network/getting drunk.

My next year (3rd year of MBBS) sees me start hospital placements full-time. I have three rotations:

• Cardiorespiratory at Barts and Royal London Hospital
• Metabolism 3A (Surgery and Vascular) at Whipps Cross
• Metabolism 3B (Diabetes, Endocrine and Renal) at Homerton

I'm very excited to get out on the wards and start Clinical Medicine. But with it comes a lot of pitfalls. Being pimped by consultants or forever getting in the way. Plus learning where everything is. I will definitely start blogging more because there is only so much time I can moan about lectures.

Podcasts

I have two essays due next week and a presentation, yet I'm addicted to a podcast series called Serial. I'm way behind the game. It was released back in 2014, but it hasn't been spoiled for me, so I've been able to enjoy it on my commute to medical school all this week.

The premise of Serial is an episodic investigative journalism program that covers the case of a teenage American girl who was murdered. It's addictive because you have a journalist as the narrator that works through the case in each episode. I swing from side to side multiple times within an episode and even as I draw to the end, I am still undecided on who done it.

Podcasts never really grabbed me before. Serial is a high quality production so I've been spoiled with my first one. My main use of podcasts previously, was for educational purposes, which makes them so dull. The engaging nature has had me addicted and been so tempted to binge watch like Netflix.

Anyway, I think you should check it out. If you have already gotten the podcast bug, drop me some recommendations in the comments.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Medicine is scary. It's not hard. But it can be intense and make you reassess why you are doing it. You spend ages day dreaming about what kind of doctor you will be, where you'd live, would you go to West Africa? It's a career that is limitless and yet at the same time; you can go back home, become your local GP and have a very happy lot with life (not to slander the amazing work of GPs). I am so happy to be studying this degree. It is the best decision I ever made. I love the opportunities I have had so far and I cannot wait for millions more.

I have recently found out I will be sitting on the interview panels for Barts in January and February. I remember being there. I remember the nerves and excitement. I wish everyone the best of luck, I hope you use your time to demonstrate the best possible you.

My First Year At Medical School (Part 1)

Freshers

This will have been my fourth freshers I have attended and only my second as a legitimate fresher. Although after three years in East London, I feel that even that claim to the title is thin. This freshers was unlike any other I had experienced. My time at Queen Mary meant I was exposed to hundreds if not thousands of law and english students, before I even met some biomeds. This time, however, I spent two weeks of socialising and attending introductory lectures with the same people. You quickly find your group and identify who’s company you prefer. I also felt less pressure to make friends when compared with first year of biomed because I already have a core group of friends that I live with. It meant that if I didn’t feel like going out, I could just get a takeaway with my housemates. Yes, it meant I didn’t have ‘the fear’ to attend every event and become best friends with students in halls. It also make me appreciate how much effort my friends in first year of biomed who didn’t live on campus, made with me.

Ain't no party like a Toga party - Source

The Official Med School Reading List: A Year in Review

Last year in August, I was accepted to medical school and I blogged about the Official Barts Reading List. My opinions were based on a pre-med view point with some biomed knowledge chucked in. So I decided to review that reading list, having successfully passed first year.

P.S. DO NOT BUY any of these books. They are all available from your medical school's library. The only books I have purchased this year are not on the recommended reading list, because these books are so widely available. 

P.P.S Textbooks are not essential for the first year at Barts. You hear stories of fellow students not visiting the library till third year. Yet, if you want relatively good grades, I'd heavily imply that you need to support your learning. As a graduate, I am so use to turning to several sources, not just lecture notes, that it is hard to break the habit.

P.P.P.S. But if you are reading this list, it means you have already opened you mind to the use of textbooks so ignore above.

Review: OnExamination by BMJ - First Year

As a medic fresher, there is lots of noise when it comes to paid resources for medical school. I was recommended OnExamination (BMJ) by a third year so I thought I'd write a review of my experience.

30 Things I Learnt as a Fresher in Medical School

Results were announced yesterday and I have passed first year of medical school. It's been a challenging year but so happy to have passed! My first year at Barts and The London have been amazing, so I thought I would blog about 30 things I learnt as a fresher at medical school.

My first week at Medical School

Saturday 
My first day at Barts as a real medic. I pre-booked an enrolment session because I had experienced QMUL's enrolment process before. After enrolment I headed over to Whitechapel for an introductory lecture and then the opportunity to meet my new Barts 'mum' and 'dad'. This is a brilliant scheme where two older students will take a fresher under their wing. I was unfortunately abandoned by my originally assigned parents, but was quickly adopted by two amazing third years. They took me under their wing and we headed off to Spoons. After several free drinks, we made a pit stop at someone's house for shots then headed over to the student union (The Griffin). More alcohol ensued. Good night. Bed.

NEETs, GCSEs and dispair

Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the stats on Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs).

The Official Reading List for Medicine at Barts and the Royal London 2012/2013

UPDATE: I've finished my first year as a medical student at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. I have subsequently reviewed the official reading list HERE.

Things are starting to move quickly now. I've just completed my pre-enrolment requirements online and I've received an induction timetable. I've booked some fresher events (we get a boat ball and a toga party!) I've also been given a reading list. I'm excited and surprised at some of the choices. See below (all links are to Amazon, I tried to do some fancy pictures but the formatting threw it all over the place).

A-Level Results Day 2013

So today is A-Level Results Day. It's also the day that Barts told UCAS that I now hold an unconditional offer to study Medicine at Barts. This is the epitome of official. UCAS knows. Barts knows. Everyone I've ever spoken to knows.

Congratulations to everyone who got what they wanted today. It's a wonderful feeling to know that your hard work paid off!

My First Medical Student Timetable: FunMed

UPDATE: If you want a review of my first year as a medical student at medical school, have a look HERE

So after the vague details I got a few weeks ago, I've been updated by a friend at Barts with a more detailed timetable for the first part of my degree, FunMed. FunMed is short for Fundamental Medicine and appears to be aimed at getting everyone to a level playing field. It's a ten week period right at the beginning of the course where you are bombarded with overviews of every part of medicine and expected to pass a two-part test (written and spotter) at the end. This is where I'll have my second opportunity to use the dissection labs at Queen Mary and was a key reason in choosing Barts as my medical school.

Moving house and other stuff

So I have officially moved house. As I have mentioned before, this always fills me with fear. Yet I have struck gold. I found a private landlord who is organised, responsible and not going to screw me over. Me and two of my housemates have moved to Leyton to a house that is B-E-A-utiful.

Can I see some ID?

2:1. It’s official. The confirmation email came through on Wednesday and my university cannot take my grade away from me now. With my degree sorted and my place at Barts and the London Medical School (pretty much) confirmed, it’s triggered a number of things for me to do.

First, with my result confirmed I know that I am staying in London so I need to house hunt. I hate house hunting. With a passion. It figuratively/literally fills me with dread. Renting a property has so many issues and finding a good landlord is like a needle in a London haystack. Plus one of my housemates is off to Colombia next week until September. This adds stress that I’m trying to ignore right now. I’m looking at Whitechapel and Stratford if anyone knows any good three beds (Do I sound desperate?).

Secondly, meeting the academic requirement is just part of the offer. I have to divulge my criminal and medical status so that I can get GMC approval and the medical school can make adjustments for any disabilities etc. What this means is I need to undergo a CRB check and show my vaccination history. Sound straightforward right? Wrong. Pre-empting my acceptance to Barts (risky I know), I gave my GP the vaccination form nearly three weeks ago to complete. She said it would be a simple job and done by the next day. Several phone calls later and a visit to Glastonbury festival, it was still not done. Finally after three weeks I get the phone call saying its ready. Turns out I’d only had the MMR jab and chicken pops so I’m not even sure what took so long. The plot thickens. Barts would like me to start a Hep B vaccination course. But living in a small town, means everything takes time. Apparently my town has run out of vaccinations this week and I should phone back next week for an appointment. I forgave them though because they gave me a lollypop. Seriously.

Moving on to the CRB check. Not only is it going to cost £50 (can someone confirm this right, I feel like I’m being ripped off), it requires me to show three forms of ID. I thought at first that it was some error. That they meant I had to show one of three forms of ID. Nope. Phoned up and checked. They need to see my birth certificate, passport and driving licence. Bit over the top in my opinion. I’m not even applying for a job, but I guess I’ll be working in a hospital/GP clinic from the get go so they need to check this stuff.

So it’s a bit of a busy time at the moment. Graduation is next Friday. I finally get to throw my mortar cap into the air. I cannot wait! My parents are going to come and stay the night. They’ve booked a hotel and we’ve got tickets for the Shard’s viewing platform. It’ll be a day to remember and it marks the start of an exciting new journey in my life.

Glastonbury '13

Glastonbury is my favourite festival. This is the third time I’ve gone. It is the pinnacle festival and represents music (both undiscovered and cliche) to me.  With the unbelievable headliners The Rolling Stones, I felt the excitement build in the weeks before hand. I live in a very small seaside town in the West Country so Glastonbury is a hop, skip and jump away from me.

This time I went to Glastonbury with three of my friends from university. We camped in Bushy Ground. It’s my favourite field and the best in my opinion. You’ve got a slope; you’re close to John Peel and the Dance Village (now renamed but I refuse to call it anything but the Dance Village); and some of the nicest toilets around.

I won’t bore you with a blow by blow account of who I saw but I will mention some highlights. Haim were the first act I saw on the pyramid stage, a justified decision. They had a brilliant stage presence even after their bassist had a diabetic attack. MS MR, a favourite band of mine, played on John Peel and gave an intimate set. Their vocals held strong and I’m glad that they can sing live. Lastly, Rolling Stones. I would never declare myself a super fan, or even a fan. For a pub quiz I could only name a handful of songs. Yet as they churned out the set list, I realised that the Rolling Stones are so systemic in British society that I’ve heard all the songs and most, enough to sing along. I was definitely there to say I had seen them. Judging by the size of the crowd, I wasn’t the only one. The atmosphere was electric. I was dancing around with strangers and chatting to long lost friends. This is Glastonbury. This is why I go. When I compare it to more commercial festivals (cough Reading), I can’t imagine going anywhere else now.

South West's largest twister board

I say I go for the music, but in reality its really food. It’s like a mecca for food options. I always have the hog roast. I always go to the place that gives free garlic bread with its pasta. Recently I’ve added ostrich burger to must eat. This year I discovered a Spanish tapas bar. For £7 you get a tray bigger than a baby loaded with my favourite Spanish foods: chorizo, potato bravos, chicken skewer, couscous, garlic mayo dip, salsa, olives, pasta with parmesan and grilled red peppers. Mouth watering? We walked past this place so many times that I started to have dreams about it before we finally passed at a mealtime. To top it off, I found a place open at 4am selling churros and chocolate. My Spanish day of food could only be topped by my evening spent in a Mexican day of the dead nightclub.

Glastonbury is amazing. If you haven’t been, you should.

Timetable of a med student

UPDATE:  A more detail post about my first medical student timetable can be found HERE.

It's actually happened. Here I come med school!

Every post starts with an apology. I got a little busy and forgot about this blog….

…but it was worth it because I got in!!!!

I finished my exams in May, got my results back this week and I got a 2:1. I’m going to Barts and the Royal London Medical School in September.

At the moment I’m too excited. I’m not sure what to write. Let me know if you’ve got questions in the comments.

Question Spotting at University

Question spotting is significantly frowned upon by university lecturers.

1. It means you've only learnt a small proportion of the course and are at risk of being tripped up in the exam. 
2. Lectures are lazy and want to reuse questions but still be satisfied that you kind of learnt the course.

My department, SBCS, has a policy of releasing the past three years of exam papers. I know that at Barts, the policy is to release none, completely preventing exam spotting.

Three years is unfortunately or fortunately enough to spot patterns. 

Rule 1 - If you are provided with practice or exemplar MCQs in high quantities, these will be used in the exam.

Rule 2 - If you are given a FAQ booklet about exams and they explain how to do calculations or answer particular questions, they will 99% come up in the exam.

Rule 3 - If you have essay portions like me, then try and find the common themes in the essays. Setting mark schemes for essays in long winded so lecturers will tend to pick four or five topics for essays, saving the rest for shorter questions.

Based on my results, using question spotting for some modules appears to have gained me a C. That means that less than a week's worth of revision for one module has allowed me to pass with a comfortable grade. I don't recommend it as it's a risk that tripped me up in one or two exams but it helped me cut out a lot of crap. I promise I won't do it in medicine (mainly because its impossible as they don't release past papers to stop this)

Summer

Once again I start by apologises for leaving my blog alone for so long.

• Exams are over. Results are in. I turned up to every exam and passed. I am currently on a 2:2 but waiting on the results of my extenuating circumstances from my appendix to bring my results up to a 2:1 
• I am back in Somerset for the moment, working in Wetherspoons. It's shit. I hate it. But its money. Which I seem to have spent.
• I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but my Nan has oesophageal cancer. It is stage 4 and terminal. It has already led to several complications and she's getting weaker as the days go by. I expect her to go into the hospice within the fortnight :( To make things worse, my Grandad has been diagnosed with a kidney lesion. Apparently it has been caught early enough to be treated by microsurgery with no need for removal of the whole kidney. It appears cancer is in my genes because everyone of my Nan's ten brothers and sisters has died from a form of cancer. Now my Grandad has it, I'm sure I will get a form when I'm older.
• I have been researching funding for Medicine. Looks like I can claim independence (from my parents) if I have a kid, get married, am financially independent or my parents die. I don't want a kid, my parents are still alive and kicking and I am not financially independent therefore, I need to get married if I want Student Finance to take my as an independent. 
• Housing is sorting for next year. Load off my mind. It's a three story house with a living room and a garden. YAYYYYYYYY. No risk of being mugged or gas leak. Plus the landlady is amazing!!! 

I realise that this post is very 14 year old girl, with my emoticons and CAPS. Soz babes xxxxx :P