The little things...

I got my Netter's Atlas signed by Dr. Carmichael, one of the editors. He was such a great instructor in wetlab today! Loved it!!

Highlight. Of. My. Day.

One day at a time...

I'm meeting with one of the Biochem professors Thursday morning to go over my questions. Which essentially means, I need to be all caught up on the post-unified biochem material by that time. This past weekend, all I did was biochem. I don't think I got very "far", but I am absorbing information -- which I guess is good? Anyways, I've really neglected anatomy & histology. There so much I still need to go over in biochem and I'm having trouble understanding/learning anatomy.

I spoke with a few people in regards to how they were studying anatomy. They advised to first start at the aorta, know the branches, and then insert your organs. I'm going to try that method! I wish this material would sink in faster...I don't have many days left! =(

P.S. I know labs/small groups are supposed to help you understand the information, but at this point in time, I really wish I could get back those hours to do independent studying. Histology lab is the greatest thing in the world - I wish biochem & anatomy labs were organized so well!

It's almost 5am and I have anatomy lab bright and early at 7:45. I hope I can sleep tonight! 

Insomnia

Post unifieds, I've been suffering from Insomnia. Normally, I would welcome not being able to sleep, except...

• I'm mentally drained so I can't actually be productive while awake
• I'm awake all night trying to sleep, and then finally feel sleepy at 7am and sleep until about 2pm --> ruining my entire day!
• End up taking long duration of naps during the day when I should be studying!

It's getting REALLY annoying. I have less than a week (or EXACTLY) a week until my first midterm and I need all the hours studying I can get. I would like to sleep when I'm mentally drained, and be efficient during normal hours of the day instead of being tired. ARGH! Please send your well wishes for these next ~2 weeks. I will really them!

Officially less than two weeks...

It's officially less than two weeks until the slew of Midterms start. AKA Hell week #1 of many. Unifieds didn't go too well for me, or not at least as well as I wanted to (except for Anatomy - I did better than expected -- how did that happen?!). But the good/positive/optimistic news is that I've learned a lot about how to study.

For the first couple of weeks, I would attend lecture (4 hours long), and then watch all those lectures online again - which would take me a good 6 hours, with all the pausing and note taking. Obviously, I couldn't finish watching all the lectures that day, so it would pile up for the weekend. And by the time the weekend came around, all I would be doing is watching the lectures and playing catch-up. I then realized that I learn better on my own than going to class, so I started skipping a few classes here and there, and that caused me to get even more behind! By the time Unifieds came around, I was just trying to get caught up! I didn't have enough time to go over the material and actually study it.

Now I've been going to lecture, absorbing whatever I can in the 4 hours, and only watching the slides where I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I've learned that it's not important to write down every single thing the professor says, but rather understand the big picture; the other stuff will come with repetition.

I just want to get through midterms. I know how to study now, and I just want to start on a clean plate! These next two weeks are going to be CRAZYY - to say the least, but I'm optimistic that I'll survive. 

How to prepare for tomorrow...

The best preparation for tomorrow is using your time well today.

Post-unifieds, many start altering their studying habits. This included me. At the beginning of the term, many upper termers advised to preview for lecture. I tried that at the beginning, but it didn't help much. What I didn't know was HOW to preview for lecture..should I just skim the lecture? Should I actually try to learn this thing myself and fill in the gaps during lecture? Anyways, I found this website which outlines how to preview amazingly well!!

http://www.studygs.net/texred2.htm

I've started actively surveying the lectures and it's helped my time in lecture make much more sense and meaningful. Because trust me, there's no reason to sit in lecture for 4 hours if you're not going to get anything out of it. By doing this, I have more time to actually review the content material of that day, instead of spending most of time listening to lecture online again.

Hopefully this new method works better for me! 

Post Unifieds...

I just took my Unified quiz today...
Anatomy wasn't as bad/impossible as I thought it was going to be. Practicing through Gray's Review really helped prepare for the quiz - not because the questions are identical, but because it applies what you're learning to clinical scenarios.
Biochemistry and Histology were alright. Biochemistry was more detailed than I prepared for. I didn't do enough practice questions for both subjects, so that's what got me. For Histology - I need to do more clinical vignette type.

But now, I'm leaving for lunch and beach time! I can't believe I've been here more than a month, and it will be my FIRST time seeing the beach.

I know. Sad.