Notes of a Medical Student

As if there weren't already enough medical school resources out there.

[texantostep1]

Round one of UWorld done - thoughts.

I just completed my first round of UWorld. Maybe 300 questions were things I was currently studying in class, but everything was random otherwise. I felt decent about scoring roughly average given that I haven’t seen a lot of this stuff in a long time, but I’ve certainly heard myths that you have to score at least a __% on your first-pass UWorld or else you will definitely fail STEP and have just wasted the past two years. That’s BS.  What I would do differently for first round UWorld:  1. Never let myself get lazy about reading rationales. I’ve been keeping this composition book of “test corrections” that I write as I review the exams, then later add anything needed to my relevant notes. Unfortunately, I opted to write something like “see question 4 on exam 22 for god chart on ___”. Going back to exam 22 and reading question 4 when I have 6 weeks to study SO MUCH is probably not going to happen, which means I’ve done myself a disservice. Write things down, re-read them the next day.

2. Don’t sweat a bad test or two. I had this one test that was the opposite of Slumdog Millionaire in that it asked all the things I’m bad at. I scored below a 40%, felt terrible and hopeless, and learned very little. Luckily the next day I realized that the topics on that test could easily show up on STEP and I’d be a fool to not take advantage of getting a test that focused so well on my weaknesses. What a blessing in disguise.

3. Keep track of questions I miss for test-taking reasons like self-doubt or misreading a question. UWorld keeps track of what questions you change the answer on and whether it was from right to wrong, wrong to wrong, etc, but I know that there are lots of questions where I eye the right answer for a good minute or two, review other choices, make a BS reason to choose something else like “this answer doesn’t make the most sense, but I bet its picking up on some nuiance that my stupid brain just doesn’t know; I was probably wrong about that one I just spent the last two minutes trying and failing to think of a reason not to choose.” All of this only to find out that my gut was right. 

4. Trust your gut.

I think those are the main things. Class finished last week, so I’m officially on my dedicated study period and there’s so much more time now... Although this is awesome, I feel so much more pressure to be making the best use of this gift. However, I don’t think it makes sense to get back to UWorld until I study at least my weak topics, which leaves me staring at the array of testbooks and handmade notes that bedazzle every room in my apartment with their shiny density.  Anyways, I started part 2 videos for Doctors in Training today and am not disappointed so far. It’s nice to have some form of structure right now. Since this is a new-ish resource, I’ll hopefully be able to provide a more thorough review in a week or so. 

[texantostep1]

Just realized that NOTES spelled backwards is SETON and it inspired this post!

Not really.  I just haven’t posted in a while.  Update: taking my USMLE STEP 1 in June. I think preparing for that will be a great (second) chance for me to post some notes, so keep an eye out! There are just under 21 weeks until I take the exam and I already feel behind and exhausted. It’s gonna be a long journey...

[texantostep1]

All about the eye! We took our brains out yesterday and then some students dissected out the eye. Here's a handy little sheet to help with eye basics (nerves, muscles, lacrimal system, arteries, and nerve damage). Enjoy! Test is next Wednesday and I'm definitely starting to panic. Time is absolutely flying by. Just a few weeks ago we were making our first cuts and learning how to take blood pressures. Now we're taking a test over arms, back, shoulder, neck, head, and brain. Ahhhhhh!

[texantostep1]

And so begins week 3...

Anatomy Update: This week, we finished dissecting out the forearm and hand and will be beginning the neck this week. Above is my palmar blood flow and nerve supply picture. Do be aware that interosseous nerves originate from the median n. (anterior interosseous n.) and the radial n. (posterior interosseous n.) while the interosseous ARTERIES originate from the ulnar a. Hope it helps!

[texantostep1]

First week of Medical School is OVER. As of this week, we’ve gone through back muscles, shoulder muscles, and the brachial plexus. Here’s my fairly stereotypical brachial plexus notes page PLUS blood supply PLUS blank versions for practice.

On Wednesday, I volunteered at the free clinic and got to improve my vitals-taking skills. Unfortunately, the only patient I encountered had blood pressure high enough that they had to be sent to the emergency room and free clinic was not able to provide any services to this person. I’ll be going there this Wednesday, too, so hopefully I’ll get to see a slightly more positive patient outcome.

Starting to feel like I’m falling behind because a lot of my friends seem like they’ve already got everything down, but I’ve honestly been really busy this week and only had time to synthesize all the information into notes pages (pretty much the only way I know to get the information into my head well) until last night. Luckily, I’m having a productive weekend (so far) and think I’ll be caught up or even slightly ahead come Monday’s lab.  Anyways, I’ve been so busy that I didn’t have a chance to water my plants for a few days in a row and now the cilantro looks quite wilted. Hoping to revive it this weekend. 

[texantostep1]

Here’s a quick shot of how my herb garden is going and all my anatomy stuff. One of the Netter’s books is for lab so it can get gross and not be a big deal. Anyways, I’ve officially completed my first week of Medical School. 

Week one highlights:

- Making our P3 video in only a few hours.

- coming together as a team to coordinate red shirts and blue bandannas for the kickball tournament

- first standardized patient and all the awkwardness that goes along with that. Looking forward to having all that feel natural!

- hanging out with friends before all the madness starts

Stay tuned for first week of medical school anatomy notes pages and possibly some food prep stuff!

[texantostep1]

Here I go

Although this was originally intended to display my undergraduate notes, this blog will now be to chronicle my journey through medical school (I’ll still be posting notes), which I start in about a week. My boyfriend and family just helped me move into an apartment that is dreamy. Tomorrow, I’m meeting my medical school big sibling, which I’m kind of nervous about. We’ve facebook messaged a bit, but I’ve been super impersonal. Hopefully it goes well. I’ll also be planting my herb garden tomorrow, which I’m also nervous about. Every plant I’ve owned has either died or returned to my mom for saving.  Here’s to a great year, making friends, and becoming a doctor!

[texantostep1]

Here's a chart to help with blood pressure in physiology. This was pretty much the last thing we learned before the semester finished, and it's important stuff. Again, this chart is based on information found in Lauralee Sherwood's textbook, Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems, 8th Edition. It is a great book and I recommend it if you are planning to study physiology. 

Please note, I originally wrote that histamine is an extrinsic control, but later realized that it fit better with "local metabolic controls".

Also, I use "=>" in place of "causes" or "leads to".

If you are planning to use this as a study aid, I recommend saving it to your computer so you can zoom in more easily. Happy studies!

[sarahsaysmd-blog]

[medicalstate]

Note Taking Tips by sarahsaysmd:

In med school, taking notes is hard because there’s SO much material. I remember going through one of my lectures and wondering how the hell I was going to simplify it to something I could actually remember. I usually make what are called “study sheets” after each lecture, and this is how I do them!

If there’s learning objectives, follow those. Use them to guide your notes. If there’s not, then use your intuition (based on what was heavily emphasized or covered the most) to figure out where to focus your notetaking. Just make sure you’ve organized everything in your head before putting it down to paper, because notes only work if they’re clear! 

Use categories to break up your learning. In one lecture there’s often multiple components, so I use headings to separate the main points. That way they don’t all blur together in my head.

Whenever possible, make charts, diagrams, or drawings. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve remembered something on a test because I took the time to draw it out! If you’re a kinesthetic or visual learner, this is super helpful. It really simplifies the material and organizes it thoroughly. It’s much easier to study from a clear chart than a block of text.

When you do use text, keep it concise. Use different colors to write out key phrases and terms, and try not to write out paragraphs and paragraphs. Sometimes, it unavoidable, and you need a lot of text to understand a key concept. Short and sweet wherever possible, though, makes life easier for you! 

Transform, transform, transform. Always try to put things in your own words wherever you can. Manipulate the material so that it coincides with what you’ve learned. When you think about a topic from multiple perspectives, you understand it a million times better.

When reviewing notes, read them aloud! Sometimes, I cover up one section and say everything I can remember about it. Then I check to see if I missed anything. It’s a great way to review (might be awkward if you have roommates, but mine is used to my impromptu lectures by now!). 

[texantostep1]

Planning to make a similar post about my process in note-taking, but this one is really good!

[texantostep1]

Here's my pretty simple kidney anatomy drawing. 

On an anatomy lab practical, the renal crest was pinned, but I couldn't remember the word crest because its such a non-anatomy word that I couldn't think of it. I knew it started with a 'C' and wasn't the cortex or the capsule. From then on, I associated the kidneys with toothpaste so that I wouldn't forget the word crest.

[texantostep1]

Here is the weirdest and possibly best notes pages I've ever made... I hope scanning this didn't sacrifice too much detail.

As you can see, the LEFT side of the page shows what normally happens/what nerves do what. There are letters written on the person's face/shoulder. M stands for motor and S stands for sensory. The cranial nerves are color coded. 

The RIGHT side of the page is a depiction of some of the symptoms of a deficit of a particular nerve. Obviously, a deficit in a sensory nerve will result in the loss of sensation in the area the nerve supplies. Specific effects of a motor deficit is drawn and written out to the side. 

A little background: Last November, I received my first and only medical school interview at the time. The only available date was on the same day as my Anatomy final. All within five days, I scheduled my interview (for Friday), rescheduled my final (for Thursday), and crammed four days of studying into three. The last thing we learned in Anatomy was cranial nerves, and I was somewhat desperate (not to mention sleep-deprived) when I made this as an attempt to learn all the things. Colors and pictures stick in my head much better than words alone, so I decided this would help. And it did. I aced my Anatomy final (something I'm proud of). I really hope this helps someone who is struggling to learn cranial nerves, or at least provides a laugh at how silly it looks.

[texantostep1]

Here are my notes on the arteries emerging from the abdominal aorta in a dog. I am not sure if humans are identical, but I'm sure this is similar.

the dashed line notates abdominal vs. pelvic arteries.

the charts on the bottom go in order from cranial to caudal, with the exception of branching.

[texantostep1]

Here is my first page of Physiology notes from this school year. This is the really basic stuff, but a good start. All of the Physiology notes I will be posting derive their information from Lauralee Sherwood's book Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems, 8th Edition. This is a good book that I really wish I had purchased instead of rented. Luck for me, I took really good notes that capture most of the core concepts. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any suggestions/comments/need clarification/need zooming. I am happy to help!

(you should be able to save the images and zoom in on your computer)

[texantostep1]

I've been busy with various applications and couldn't start posting yet, but here are some of the notes I made for biochemistry and posted on my old, non-sciency blog. As of today, this post on my old blog has over 175 notes, which is wayyyy more than anything else I ever posted (aside from the other notes). 

Anyways, I'll be converting my notes into digital format soon... Can't decide if it'll be better to scan in paper copies or just make them on Paint/OneNote like I did before. Hope these help in the meantime!