Our second exam of the year is this monday. I have now been in the library, at the same wooden cubicle, for over five hours. My back hurts, I haven't eaten anything in eight hours, my carpal tunnel is flaring up, and I am literally itchy all over (study-induced pruritus, probably).
That being said, the soon-to-be-tested-upon material is, by my estimates, twice as cool as anything we learned last year and an infinite amount of times more useful because last year we didn't learn anything clinical. Last year was just cram, cram, memorize these dumb facts about obscure biochemical pathways.
How helpful has this year already been for me? I'll tell you:
Showing posts with label biochemistry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biochemistry. Show all posts
Sep 19, 2012
Aug 13, 2012
I probably shouldn't be telling you this...
but whatever. Today was the first day of school for M2's and I found myself mysteriously absent from class lists and thus unable to get course material. Did I fail anything last year?
Yes. I failed a lot.
I failed biochemistry, first off. That wasn't surprising, considering I needed a 97% on my last exam to pass the course (I got an 87% because I missed 2 questions!) I past biochemistry during the remediation exam held a week after school ended.
I then proceeded to fail neuroscience. I was burned out--which sucks to say, because I was only 22. Anything that can make a 22 year old student burn out must be in alignment with the devil. I wasn't terribly worried about failing neuroscience. It was a hard class. I don't think anyone would say it was "easy." I also took the time to go to a national conference for the American Medical Women's Association and Spring Party Weekend at my alma mater during the 6 weeks of neuroscience. Both of these activities were good learning experiences for me... but they were terrible experiences for learning anything about medical neuroscience. So I failed the course with a 68% average. Soooooooooo close.
But then I failed the remediation exam and had to take a full time summer course to redeem myself. It cost $2,000. It ruined my summer. I had no time to write anything. I started breaking out from all the stress. I wanted to cry most days. But I learned a lot of neuroscience I had somehow been too out of it to understand during spring quarter (did you know that damage to the lateral corticospinal tract (LCST) anywhere along its pathway will present in a positive Babinski sign? I do! Now!)
I imagined my very last summer ever would be amazing and fun and great, but instead found myself locked in my apartment just as I had been during the school year. It sucked. But then I passed the remediation course! With a B! I wonder if that will help raise my abysmal GPA (which is currently at 2.144).
Regardless, a few e-mails sorted the entire mess out, and now I'm enrolled in M2 courses which means I get to look forward to Path, Pharm, and Microbio with all my peers. Passing feels great! Also terrifying. I know that M1 grades don't really mean anything, but I don't want to burden myself with the level of unnecessary stress that accompanies failing courses ever again. So I am wishing myself the best of luck.
Also, the blog is back. I neglected it because I needed to pass everything. But now that I have, I will try to write as often and as well as I can.
But no promises.
Yes. I failed a lot.
I failed biochemistry, first off. That wasn't surprising, considering I needed a 97% on my last exam to pass the course (I got an 87% because I missed 2 questions!) I past biochemistry during the remediation exam held a week after school ended.
I then proceeded to fail neuroscience. I was burned out--which sucks to say, because I was only 22. Anything that can make a 22 year old student burn out must be in alignment with the devil. I wasn't terribly worried about failing neuroscience. It was a hard class. I don't think anyone would say it was "easy." I also took the time to go to a national conference for the American Medical Women's Association and Spring Party Weekend at my alma mater during the 6 weeks of neuroscience. Both of these activities were good learning experiences for me... but they were terrible experiences for learning anything about medical neuroscience. So I failed the course with a 68% average. Soooooooooo close.
But then I failed the remediation exam and had to take a full time summer course to redeem myself. It cost $2,000. It ruined my summer. I had no time to write anything. I started breaking out from all the stress. I wanted to cry most days. But I learned a lot of neuroscience I had somehow been too out of it to understand during spring quarter (did you know that damage to the lateral corticospinal tract (LCST) anywhere along its pathway will present in a positive Babinski sign? I do! Now!)
I imagined my very last summer ever would be amazing and fun and great, but instead found myself locked in my apartment just as I had been during the school year. It sucked. But then I passed the remediation course! With a B! I wonder if that will help raise my abysmal GPA (which is currently at 2.144).
Regardless, a few e-mails sorted the entire mess out, and now I'm enrolled in M2 courses which means I get to look forward to Path, Pharm, and Microbio with all my peers. Passing feels great! Also terrifying. I know that M1 grades don't really mean anything, but I don't want to burden myself with the level of unnecessary stress that accompanies failing courses ever again. So I am wishing myself the best of luck.
Also, the blog is back. I neglected it because I needed to pass everything. But now that I have, I will try to write as often and as well as I can.
But no promises.
Apr 11, 2012
Good News, Bad News
So the bad news. I did not pass Biochemistry. Good news: taught me a lot about humility. I had originally thought I could pass out of Biochemistry. wrong. I did get a B+ on the final exam though, which is about 15% higher than my previous highest score.
So the good news. I passed Anatomy, Physiology, and quite possibly, Anatomy Lab. It was actually really inspiring to have an exam where, out of a total of some 80 questions, I only missed about 8. I think I know how to study now, and it makes me happy.
I do not know yet if I passed anatomy lab, but it is indeed, very close. Calculated, roughly, my percentage was a 69.6%.
So wish me luck.
So the good news. I passed Anatomy, Physiology, and quite possibly, Anatomy Lab. It was actually really inspiring to have an exam where, out of a total of some 80 questions, I only missed about 8. I think I know how to study now, and it makes me happy.
I do not know yet if I passed anatomy lab, but it is indeed, very close. Calculated, roughly, my percentage was a 69.6%.
So wish me luck.
Mar 11, 2012
Spring Forward
It is really nice outside today! Sixty-six degrees, sunny, not very windy at all. I had to drive to Walgreens to get some allergy relieving eye drops, and I put the top down, and it was heavenly. Unfortunately, I have to stay inside pretty much until I pass out from exhaustion because tomorrow is our final biochemistry exam. And I am failing biochemistry.
I kind of wish I could argue with someone about my specific case, so I will argue with you. Inarguably, I am doing poorly in only two classes: Anatomy and Biochemistry. For all my other classes, I got my act together, learned how to study, and am passing all of them. Except for Anatomy and Biochemistry. I've spent probably an hour looking over my test grades in both classes, figuring out the bare minimum I would need to get on the remaining exams to pass. And this is where life gets sad, because all my test grades in both classes fall into the C to B range... except for the first two in both classes. If I could retake the first two exams, after learning how to study properly, I probably wouldn't be freaking out so much right now. I'd probably eat dinner outside, enjoy the first truly wonderful day of Spring.
Actually, my above admission isn't entirely correct. For Anatomy, yes, all my grades after the first few were in the C or B range. In Biochemistry, I seemed to do really poorly only for one person's exam. He taught two, noncontinuous, portions of the class. When I averaged my grades based on who was teaching the material, I found that for one professor, my average was around 53%. Should I blame the professor? Probably not, but it's tempting when I present statistical evidence that I couldn't learn from that man.
So now I have to get a 97% tomorrow to pass the course. I've gotten 100% before, when I really needed to. I'm hoping that that will help ease my anxiety. I also know how to study finally, so that should help as well. But there's always a large chance that they're going to ask a question you didn't think would be important, or ask it in a way that is much too confusing. So no matter how well prepared I am going to feel--and I intend to feel really prepared, there's always that chance that I will get a 95% and that won't be good enough.
Meanwhile, in a hypothetical perfect grading system, I've come up with a more idyllic plan to promote learning: If a student should get below a 50% on an exam, something I've done about four to six times over the course of all the tests I've taken here, wouldn't it be better to have the student retake that exam? Or have them complete a take home exam? And then the score could be ameliorated to something, still failing, but more beneficial for the student's psyche, say a 60 or 65%. In this way, wouldn't you kind of be forcing the student to relearn the material? Yes, failing should be punished. We can't have our doctors being daft. But by just giving me a 38% on an exam, I have no motivation to ever relearn that material. Quite the opposite really, because I am now so traumatized by the anatomy of the lower extremity that I care nothing about it.
As much as I disagree that all of this information is important, some of it is, and I won't know which will be important until I'm actually out there, practicing medicine. So wouldn't it be better to have students look at material again, instead of consigning them to spend a nice day freaking out way too much about something that, in the end, might be impossible to actually achieve?
I kind of wish I could argue with someone about my specific case, so I will argue with you. Inarguably, I am doing poorly in only two classes: Anatomy and Biochemistry. For all my other classes, I got my act together, learned how to study, and am passing all of them. Except for Anatomy and Biochemistry. I've spent probably an hour looking over my test grades in both classes, figuring out the bare minimum I would need to get on the remaining exams to pass. And this is where life gets sad, because all my test grades in both classes fall into the C to B range... except for the first two in both classes. If I could retake the first two exams, after learning how to study properly, I probably wouldn't be freaking out so much right now. I'd probably eat dinner outside, enjoy the first truly wonderful day of Spring.
Actually, my above admission isn't entirely correct. For Anatomy, yes, all my grades after the first few were in the C or B range. In Biochemistry, I seemed to do really poorly only for one person's exam. He taught two, noncontinuous, portions of the class. When I averaged my grades based on who was teaching the material, I found that for one professor, my average was around 53%. Should I blame the professor? Probably not, but it's tempting when I present statistical evidence that I couldn't learn from that man.
So now I have to get a 97% tomorrow to pass the course. I've gotten 100% before, when I really needed to. I'm hoping that that will help ease my anxiety. I also know how to study finally, so that should help as well. But there's always a large chance that they're going to ask a question you didn't think would be important, or ask it in a way that is much too confusing. So no matter how well prepared I am going to feel--and I intend to feel really prepared, there's always that chance that I will get a 95% and that won't be good enough.
Meanwhile, in a hypothetical perfect grading system, I've come up with a more idyllic plan to promote learning: If a student should get below a 50% on an exam, something I've done about four to six times over the course of all the tests I've taken here, wouldn't it be better to have the student retake that exam? Or have them complete a take home exam? And then the score could be ameliorated to something, still failing, but more beneficial for the student's psyche, say a 60 or 65%. In this way, wouldn't you kind of be forcing the student to relearn the material? Yes, failing should be punished. We can't have our doctors being daft. But by just giving me a 38% on an exam, I have no motivation to ever relearn that material. Quite the opposite really, because I am now so traumatized by the anatomy of the lower extremity that I care nothing about it.
As much as I disagree that all of this information is important, some of it is, and I won't know which will be important until I'm actually out there, practicing medicine. So wouldn't it be better to have students look at material again, instead of consigning them to spend a nice day freaking out way too much about something that, in the end, might be impossible to actually achieve?
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