The second week of medical school is over, and I am surprisingly still feeling pretty good!

This post covers August 16th, 2021 to August 22. 2021. Instead of a daily reflection, I am going to do a quick review of this week as a whole.

FOM

To start off, this week felt much better than the previous week even though that was so much more information that was introduced to us. For this week, the FOM course focused on DNA replication, transcription and translation in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, chromatin, mitosis and meiosis, and histology.

The information this week is very detailed, but I felt pretty good until I started talking to some of my classmates. It became very clear that every student is truly on their own path. I felt like I figured out my in class note taking activity and study strategies for the most part. In contrast, I had some classmates who seem to still be figuring their own strategies out. I think I truly began to doubt myself sometime on Tuesday afternoon when I was alone with my thoughts. I made myself some mac and cheese and for some reason I started worrying that I was missing a big piece of information that everyone else had. 

However, I spoke to my Big (my school gives each M1 a M2 as a “Big Sibling”). My Big happens to be one of my best friends from undergrad so it is pretty easy for me to share what’s going on with me. We talked about my strategies and how I needed to remind myself that every medical student is on their own journey. 

This aspect of medical school is very true. Everyone is truly doing what’s best for them and it can feel a bit overwhelming at times because you might feel like you’re missing some key information(like I did). Or. you might feel overwhelmed because everyone else seems like they know what’s going on. However, they truly don’t and there is no reason to make yourself feel bad about that either. 

I think this moment reminds me that it is very easy for me to get caught up in a whirlwind of negative thoughts. I just have to remind myself that I’m doing what’s working for me right now and I will likely have to adapt for future lectures and especially for future blocks. This moment was also one of a few instances that revealed how much I truly doubt myself and how I need to stop. 

Outside of this moment, the rest of this week was mostly trying to focus on getting every detail done and making sure I understood the concepts. I managed to get all my asynchronous modules completed for FOM. I spent most of this weekend reviewing any concepts that were difficult for me and mainly using Anki to review and quiz myself. I have my first formative exam on Friday of the upcoming week so I spent most of this weekend preparing for this test even though it is not part of my official medical school grades. 

Speaking of Anki, I brought my Xbox controller (pictured below) to school and it got so many of my classmates curious! Many of them didn’t know that you could link a controller to your computer and use it for Anki. Some of them just thought I was a gamer and didn’t realize I was studying. Because of their response, I decided to write an Anki post so that they could use it as a resource. I am hoping to get that up sometime this upcoming week. Once it’s posted, I’ll link it right here. 

CAS

In terms of CAS this week,I am very much overwhelmed. We have our first standardized patient encounter on Tuesday of this upcoming week. We had four CAS sessions in the past two weeks which covered the following areas: introducing yourself, eliciting the patient concerns, asking/listening for details about the patient’s chief concern, review of systems, past medical history and family history.

I still feel very awkward about interacting with people but I think I am getting better. I need to work on asking these questions without too many pauses because I am very focused on the mental checklist that I have going into each encounter. I am also very nervous about reviewing systems otherwise known as ROS. 

If you were a scribe, you 100% know ROS well and that will help you. I was not a scribe and I know I am going to struggle through asking all these closed ended questions on Tuesday. However, I am going to do my best to get through it and remind myself that whatever I learn now will help me in the future.

For CAS, I am very excited and I love learning about it. I think I am hesitant and worried about embarrassing myself and I know I need to let that go. The best way to learn is to make mistakes and there is no reason for me to be embarrassed. It’s much easier said than done. 

Research Course

The research course meeting this week (and every week) is 1pm to 5pm. This week was still introductory material and it was pretty nice. We also had our group quiz. The group quiz was pretty great because I knew I had some gaps in statistics. It was wonderful being able to collaborate with my classmates. 

I also learned two important skills during this quiz. One skill was to make sure you read the question and look for what it is asking. One classmate and I read the question wrong and another one corrected us. It turned out to be a really easy question and we just read it wrong. This instance was a great reminder that reading the question will pay off. 

The second important skill isn’t really a skill, but it’s once again not doubting myself. I really questioned much of my knowledge on statistics and felt I was pretty weak there when in reality I was not. However, my perception of weakness ultimately led to some doubt and that doubt made it difficult to articulate my thinking about some of the questions. This moment was just another instance where I wish I did not doubt myself too much. 

Overall for Academics

I think I am in a good spot. There are many topics that I need to review and solidify. I know that my Anki cards will help reinforce some of the knowledge that I already have. I am very fortunate that my undergraduate coursework introduced me to some of these details because it’s much easier to add to an already existing knowledge base. 

I think my biggest weakness will be the actual exam questions. I did some of the review questions and felt like I did not know what my professors were asking. However, I knew most of the information and details they had used in their questions. I need to work on making sure that I really know some basic concepts (like in enzymology) and make sure that I am confident in my answers.

I am actually very excited to see if my study habits have been working because I like how it’s been working so far. 

I can’t remember if I outlined my methods in my previous post, but so far I make Anki cards in class and review the difficult parts after lecture. Some of that review has resulted in the weekends because I am usually exhausted after the 8am to 5pm days on Tuesday and Thursday. I also spent some of this weekend drawing out structures because having aphantasia means I can’t see it in my head but I just need to know it. I spent most of the weekend drawing out and understanding the prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription and translation processes. 

Overall for Life

This week I made it my goal to be in bed by 9:30pm and most nights I was in bed by that time. The weird part was that I was still yawning and very exhausted despite going to bed early. I think I am still adjusting to this schedule and my fatigue through PCOS is playing a big role there. 

Sleeping early has been integral to my studying. On Thursday, I was half-heartedly doing my Anki cards and really just going through them without thinking. The next day, I was able to do many of them and knew most of those answers which means that information was definitely consolidated in my memory while I was sleeping.

So, bottomline: GET YOUR SLEEP.

I have not improved my exercise regime. My dad also asked me if I had been exercising which means I really need to get back into the groove of getting enough physical activity. The undergrad students were supposed to move in this weekend which means that the gym will be open next weekend! I will be going back and making sure I get back into my workout routine.

However, my overall fitness goal will be to do yoga three times this week and go on two walks. Hopefully, I can get those into my routine!

In terms of my social life, I still need to work on making medical school friends. I have one classmate who has declared me her friend which was awesome. 

We also had a field day with our siblings and family groups. The siblings are all part of a family and those families make up an advising group. It’s a bit wild and confusing. I don’t fully understand the varying tiers, but they’re all friendly! I got to meet some more M2s and spend some time with my M1 classmates which was pretty fun! (also tiring)

We also had our activity fair after the Field Day. I definitely signed up for too many interest groups but I have the few that I am super interested in being an active member of. The other groups have some really cool activities throughout the year (one of them does an IUD insertion session and another does a suturing session!)

I also got to catch up with two undergrad friends with my Big. We went to a ramen place and then to a MilkCraft to get ice cream(the Creameebun is a glazed donut with a scoop of ice cream and it is heavenly!) It felt great catching up and telling them about medical school. It’s become very clear that one’s medical school experience truly depends on the institution and I was 100% meant to come to this school. 

Have any questions? Leave me a comment below!