How to tackle your first semester of medical school
Definitions & Key takeaways
It can be daunting to start medical school, but with the proper preparation and mindset, you can tackle it head-on. Here are a few pieces of advice to help you get started:
- Make a schedule and stick to it. Having a set routine will make it easier to stay on top of your work.
- Get organized and keep your notes in order. This will make studying much easier.
- Seek out help when you need it. There's no shame in asking for help; in fact, most people in medical school will do the same at some point.
- Don't stress out! There's plenty of time to get everything done; just take it one step at a time.
- Have fun! Although medical school is a lot of work, it's also an amazing experience. Make sure to enjoy it!
All right. How are you feeling today?
Hey, guys, doctor decide here and I'm gonna talk to you a little bit today about how to tackle your first semester of medical school.
So, you know, when I started medical school, I was coming out of college and II had certain ways of kinda learning and I had my friend circle and going to medical school was a, a completely different um experience both intellectually and emotionally at a time of kind of personal growth.
And there are three big things that I think um helped me uh adjust to medical school and, and eventually succeed in medical school.
Uh And, and that's what I wanna share with you today. First tip as I was entering medical school, the most important thing for me uh to realize in that first semester was that I needed a really solid foundation, right?
So what I mean by that is there's a lot of stuff you learn right away, anatomy and physiology, self physiology, uh genetics, biochemistry, uh basic pathology, you learn all this stuff right away.
And the reason they teach you this right away is because you're gonna need this over and over and over again. So for example, um cells uh when they break through the base membrane, then it's considered a kind of a malignancy.
You know, when you talk about tumors, that principle comes up every single time you learn about tumors in pathology, right?
So, breast cancer, same thing, uh brain tumors, same thing. Uh every single situation, it's always about breaking through that basement membrane.
So if you really understand what the basement membrane is, which is something that's taught in self physiology and basic pathology, then you'll understand all these different diseases that come later uh in medical school.
So I really want to stress how important it is to understand these basic tenants. Um Again, if you're feeling like you have gaps there, you don't really understand it.
This is the time to capture it. You know, another example is ischemia ischemia in the heart, what do we call it?
What do we call it? We call it peripheral vascular disease.
It's ischemia, ischemia, ischemia, it's the same process, right? So if you don't understand ischemia, you're gonna struggle when you're in neurology, when you're cardiovascular, when you're when you're, you know, maybe even on clinical rotations.
So you really understand these basic principles. You'll do quite well.
So I have that solid foundation. We have your back at osmosis.
We have videos on all of these topics. So if you're not sure you're not really getting it from your class notes or your professor's office hours.
Uh youtube videos aren't cutting it for you. Go to osmosis.
We have videos on all these topics, so check it out. It's pretty sweet.
Uh Again, self is basic path, genetics, biochem, anatomy and physiology. That's your foundation.
Know it. Well, number two, learn how to learn specifically how you like to learn.
So learn how you like to learn, create good habits. Remember in medical school, in your first semester, learning is your job, right?
Like that's your daily routine. So it's not acceptable.
Like, like when I was in college, I was slacking off sometimes and cramming and all that kind of stuff that's not acceptable in medical school because you're, you're taking so much information and when you fail to realize sometimes uh as a student, what I failed to realize anyway was that where I was learning was kind of in the time in between?
So for example, I thought, oh, I can just cram, I'll be all right, especially in pharmacology. Like there's so much information you need time to kind of absorb it all in.
And I sometimes that takes an extra few days, sometimes a few weeks to really kind of let it marinate in your brain. So you can't just cram it all in.
So you have to have really, really good habits. Uh You know, for example, do you, I, is your habit for learning that you like to listen to recorded lectures.
Do you like flashcards or powerpoint? Do you like, you know, to use your ipad or textbook?
Um There's so many different resources out there. So many different ways to learn your job in your first semester is to understand what's your basic strategy gonna be?
Do you like study groups? Do you like to study alone, all those kinds of things?
And once you figure that out, then the learning part becomes a lot easier. So really just to understand how do you like to learn how you're gonna basically learn, not in a cramming way, but kind of stretch it out.
Um And, and that's gonna set you up well for those good habits. Uh down the road, your third tip uh today is start to explore, you're an early on kind of first year med student, you know, it's, it's early days, right?
So I really want you to start thinking, ok, my career is not set in stone. I have lots of different options out there.
This is your chance to kind of, you know, learn about advocacy, basic research, clinical research. Do you wanna do public health or epidemiology?
You know, for myself, I got involved in a lot of different kinds of things. I went to health fairs um to try to get blood pressures off pe people.
II went and did dental exams, you know, all sorts of kind of things that I thought I might be interested in doing. So I want you to start doing that in your first semester because that's gonna set you up well, for what you eventually wanna go into, what you enjoy.
What you don't like? Are you the kind of person that likes pathology or the kind of person that likes radiology?
Do you like pediatrics? You know, figuring that out is gonna take time and if you don't start exploring in your first year, if you kinda lock yourself into, oh, I'm just gonna do Derm or I'm just gonna do, you know, a general surgery, you're not really giving yourself a chance to explore.
So that's my third biggest tip is just take advantage of all the resources that are available in medical school and all the people.
You're meeting all your professors and, and stick to them like glue and say, hey, II wanna kind of follow you. I wanna kind of see what you do and learn from you.
So that's my third tip. That was the most important thing for me.
I kind of started meeting some potential mentors in medical school. Um And, and that's what I would suggest you do as well.
So again, have a solid foundation, learn how you like to learn and start to explore. I'll leave you with that.
Take care guys. Have a, have a wonderful day.
Bye-bye. Start your free trial today at osmosis.org
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