First off, pat yourself on the back for getting through your first rite of passage in medical school- the first big exam!!
Did you do well? Stellar! Clearly your method(s) of studying is/are working for you so keep at it! While a good grade on the Unified is awesome, don't let that lull you into a false sense of confidence which causes you to slack off on your studying. Midterms are roughly 3-5x as long (Anatomy- 150 questions, Histo- 150 questions, Biochem- 75 questions) and include practical components (Anatomy- virtual slides + wet lab, Histo- slides) and will require you to have a thorough mastery of the material. Keep up the good work!
Not too pleased with your grades? Don't fret too much. It's called the Unified quiz and only worth 5% of your grade for a reason. They're giving you a chance to fix things! Take a good hard look at your studying methods- where did you wrong? What can you do to improve yourself so that you blow your midterms out of the water? Make an appointment with Aris Scott in DES and pick up some valuable study tips. Go to DES sessions. Take advantage of your professors' Office Hours. Form study groups. It's never too late to ask for help until you're staring at your Scantron, pencil in hand. Ultimately, do NOT beat yourself up over your grades. It's counter-productive and you lose valuable study time. I know your confidence might be shaken, but there is no time to lick your wounds. Instead use this as motivation to kick butt on midterms. Keep in mind that it is entirely plausible to fail the Unified and still get an A in the class. A quarter of our class failed the Biochem Unified...but I have news for you- we definitely didn't lose a quarter of our class when we got to second term.
Keep your heads up, work hard, and you'll go far.
All the best!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Unified Survival Tips.
Sooo, today's February 9th, which means in exactly a week all the first-termers will be sitting down in Charter to take the Unified Quiz.
::dun dun dun::
Ah, the Unified. I remember vividly how terrified I was of it. How can you not be eh? It's med school, it's your first exam, and it covers not one, but four subjects. Clearly not the ingredients for an enjoyable Monday afternoon.
Rather than offer you overly-optimistic reassurances about the Unified, I'll give it to you straight. Yes, you should study for it. Yes, you should take it seriously. While the Unified only accounts for about 5% of your grade in Anatomy, Biochem, and Histo, those five percentage point may make the difference between A and a B or a B and a C or a C and a fail for some of you. That wasn't meant to strike fear into your hearts- but I'm just trying to be realistic here.
Anatomy- the questions are in clinical vignette form, which is great because they're designed to make you think like doctors. Know those small group clinical cases you go through in lab every week? Go over those. The BRS has great practice questions and assuming you guys still have the McMinn's atlas, do the practice questions on the CD that comes with it. They love lumbar punctures and herniated discs. Become best friends with the brachial plexus.
Biochem- comes straight out of the notes. Lippincott is great to use if you want to clarify concepts you don't understand but do not get bogged down in the tremendous detail it often goes into. Enzymes are important! So are cofactors. Be able to apply the concepts to a clinical situation. Use the lecture objectives to guide your studying. Pay attention to anything in yellow on Dr. D's slides.
Histo- also comes straight out of the companion. Some people found this section easy, others thought it was difficult. It depends on the individual I guess. There are no slides on the exam so you don't have to freak out about those yet. Though as a sidebar- definitely stay on top of your lab material because there is a 60 question practical portion on your midterm in which you have to identify specific features on labeled slides. Do the practice quizzes that Dr. P puts up in ANGEL. If you have HistoTime, work through the appropriate questions [also good practice for the midterm]. If you can't get HistoTime to work on your computer [Macs occasionally have problems], it is installed on the library computers for your use.
Bioethics- read the companion, plain and simple.
Stuff to bring to the exam- pencils, SGU ID, water in a clear bottle, hoodie/long-sleeved shirt if you tend to get cold in lecture halls. Nothing else! Know your Random ID #, it's on the bottom right hand corner of your My SGU page.
I would tell you not to worry and not to stress but I know those pleas will fall on deaf ears. It's impossible not to stress about this. I've never met a stress-free med student. But here's the thing- if you study hard, and you study effectively and efficiently, then there's no reason for you not to blow this test out of the water. Most importantly- ask for help if you need it! DES Sessions for all three classes are held weekly. Professors have office hours. And your peers are your best and most convenient resources. The best way to learn is to explain to someone else! If there's something you don't understand and you just ignore it because you're too embarassed to have someone clarify it for you, the only person that gets screwed in the end is yourself.
You have all the tools you need to get your As, use them wisely, and it'll be yours.
Good luck! I'll see y'all at Bananas on Monday night. ;)
-S
::dun dun dun::
Ah, the Unified. I remember vividly how terrified I was of it. How can you not be eh? It's med school, it's your first exam, and it covers not one, but four subjects. Clearly not the ingredients for an enjoyable Monday afternoon.
Rather than offer you overly-optimistic reassurances about the Unified, I'll give it to you straight. Yes, you should study for it. Yes, you should take it seriously. While the Unified only accounts for about 5% of your grade in Anatomy, Biochem, and Histo, those five percentage point may make the difference between A and a B or a B and a C or a C and a fail for some of you. That wasn't meant to strike fear into your hearts- but I'm just trying to be realistic here.
Anatomy- the questions are in clinical vignette form, which is great because they're designed to make you think like doctors. Know those small group clinical cases you go through in lab every week? Go over those. The BRS has great practice questions and assuming you guys still have the McMinn's atlas, do the practice questions on the CD that comes with it. They love lumbar punctures and herniated discs. Become best friends with the brachial plexus.
Biochem- comes straight out of the notes. Lippincott is great to use if you want to clarify concepts you don't understand but do not get bogged down in the tremendous detail it often goes into. Enzymes are important! So are cofactors. Be able to apply the concepts to a clinical situation. Use the lecture objectives to guide your studying. Pay attention to anything in yellow on Dr. D's slides.
Histo- also comes straight out of the companion. Some people found this section easy, others thought it was difficult. It depends on the individual I guess. There are no slides on the exam so you don't have to freak out about those yet. Though as a sidebar- definitely stay on top of your lab material because there is a 60 question practical portion on your midterm in which you have to identify specific features on labeled slides. Do the practice quizzes that Dr. P puts up in ANGEL. If you have HistoTime, work through the appropriate questions [also good practice for the midterm]. If you can't get HistoTime to work on your computer [Macs occasionally have problems], it is installed on the library computers for your use.
Bioethics- read the companion, plain and simple.
Stuff to bring to the exam- pencils, SGU ID, water in a clear bottle, hoodie/long-sleeved shirt if you tend to get cold in lecture halls. Nothing else! Know your Random ID #, it's on the bottom right hand corner of your My SGU page.
I would tell you not to worry and not to stress but I know those pleas will fall on deaf ears. It's impossible not to stress about this. I've never met a stress-free med student. But here's the thing- if you study hard, and you study effectively and efficiently, then there's no reason for you not to blow this test out of the water. Most importantly- ask for help if you need it! DES Sessions for all three classes are held weekly. Professors have office hours. And your peers are your best and most convenient resources. The best way to learn is to explain to someone else! If there's something you don't understand and you just ignore it because you're too embarassed to have someone clarify it for you, the only person that gets screwed in the end is yourself.
You have all the tools you need to get your As, use them wisely, and it'll be yours.
Good luck! I'll see y'all at Bananas on Monday night. ;)
-S
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