Today we welcome Dr. Anthony LaFond of Next Step Test Prep for a guest post about surviving the first year of medical school. (While we’re on the subject, we recommend taking a look at theBrainscape MCAT flashcard set — it might reduce your test stress if you’re still working to get into med school!) Dr. LaFond is Next Step’s Director of MCAT Content. He completed an MD/PhD program and has been working to help prepare students for the MCAT for over 10 years. Medical school is intense. No matter how well prepared you are, it will be tougher than you expected. The first few weeks of your medical school time are where you are likely to have the most difficulty with your new life. Everything will be new and shiny and there will be so many opinions on what to do. Here are a few suggestions I can offer that will help make your first year easier. Time management This is probably the skill most important to med school success. Keeping your life organized will make it possible to handle the increase in academic workload med school brings. Avoid working during this first year. Many undergraduate students, myself included, would work 15-20 hours a week while still earning high grades. It is tempting to keep up that lifestyle in medical school, but the average med student is putting in 50-60 hours of work each week. Spreading yourself too thin in first year can lead to failure. You will need to prioritize among your personal, familial, and outside obligations. It may take a few weeks for you to figure out what balance of extracurricular activities you can handle but coursework must be a priority. Know how you learn Many students get through undergrad using just one or two study techniques, or crammed at the last minute to succeed. Going to lecture was usually a given. The sheer volume of information you will learn in medical school means you must identify your most effective and efficient study methods in order to succeed. It is difficult (if not impossible) to catch up in med school once you fall behind. Going to lectures in the first month can help you decide if they are effective for you. No matter whether you attend lecture, learning a small amount of material each day will allow you to integrate all of the information more effectively and allow you to remember it long-term. Seek out and speak to upperclassmen These are students who have gone through exactly what you are about to experience. They can provide valuable information about how they learned/studied effectively and what their style was. Ask them what books or resources were helpful. They know which lecturers are the most useful, how exams are structured, and how each first year class is organized. Avoid listening to friends or relatives who attended medical school a long time ago. The current methods and goals of medical education are much different than they were just 10-15 years ago. Each school does things a little differently so these students are your best resource for knowing what will work your first year. Participate in social activities with your classmates There is a common saying that med school is a lot like high school, and it’s pretty accurate. These are people you will spend the next 4 years with, all in the same classes for 2 years. Early in first year, you will hear the same questions over and over again: “Where did you go to undergrad?” and “What was your major?” Eventually you will grow to admire these people through mutual respect and mutual suffering. Having a strong social network can keep you motivated and be another great study resource. All U.S. medical schools incorporate some level of problem-based learning into their curriculum. Having social outlets will help keep you sane and allow you to learn more from these group sessions. Being able to effectively communicate what you know is an important part of being a physician and will help you master the material during your first year. In addition, having some good friends is something you’re really going to need (remember, med school is intense!). Do not worry about your specialty Few students enter medical school knowing exactly where they want to specialize and few of those actually end up where they expected. You can seek out extracurricular activities, groups, and research opportunities as low-time cost ways to gain exposure to a specialty you may be interested in. But during first year, focus on your academics. A great first year will provide the foundation for a solid STEP 1/COMLEX 1 score which will open many doors, regardless of your eventual specialty decision. Conclusion There is no single best way to get through your first year, and you may find you need to adjust during your first few weeks, but if you take your summer before first year to RELAX and think about what has allowed you to succeed in the past, and what you want to improve on, you will both enjoy and benefit from your first year of medical school. source
