MBBS Year 3; Semester 2.... (Everything you need to know)
If you ask me this time around, if I can sum up the semester in a few short phrases, these would be my top phrases as a 3rd year Medical student
Phrase 1
"I feel like I am getting water from a fire hydrant, and not a bubbler "
PS: Bubblers are Water fountains/ Water taps for all you unfamiliar with OZ slangs. Humour me yeah
Phrase 2
" It is a continuous grind, just gotta find that teeny-tiny bit of motivation/ push to keep you going"
and as my Grandpa famously had said, and has been the core of my inspiration in choosing the healthcare path....
Phrase 3
"Half your battle is lost if you keep thinking you are failing/ not gonna make it'
- Grandpa John-
In hindsight, If there was anything I had learned from this semester, I would just choose 3 things:
1. Time management
Why was this so important?
Well, if you have poor time management, everything just about goes haywire and out of place. You lose the sense in failing to meet your tasks and goals. When you are in 3rd year, I am sure you are already very much aware that every single assessment, assignments, quizzes, reports, presentations can come bombarding you and hitting you like a train... almost.... INSTANTANEOUSLY.
I recall having the first half of the semester feeling strangely "quiet." But i learnt soon enough, once the second half came along with the rest of the half semester subjects... "the peace and quiet" no longer existed in the books.
Without proper time management, task-listing and setting your own daily goals, you will DEFINITELY feel extra overwhelmed. So best advice from me, get a to-do task list; be it old school pen/paper or an app... (definitely look into Notion for this)... get that good habit of daily tasks and goals super early into the semester!
2. Studying Efficiently and Productively
As much as I hate to admit this..
YES, there is a "wrong" way to study. It is important to learn this early on, especially as a medical student because if you do end up studying "wrong," you would feel like you are just wasting time and studying for just the exam and not retain anything long term; you would also feel burdened and again overwhelmed.
Efficient study is particularly important in 3rd year, because there is literally SO much to do, and you have SO little time. Productive studying comes into play when you are milking every second you have to get a little review in. Both of which are important practical habits to learn!
Here is what I did ( DISCLAIMER: how i do it, may not necessarily work for you, so please do a thorough research on effective methods of studying that suits you best)
- Cornell Method
- Second Brain (Check-out Notion's second brain tutorials)
- Active Recall
- Practice with Qbanks
PS: I will elaborate on the above methods when i talked about which method i used each subject in this semester.
3. F**K the small assessments, focus on the BIG ones (aka PRIORITIZE)
Often times, you would think "OH! the small assessments will help with my final score! It will all ADD up!"
While this might be true, it is also thoroughly important to distinguish if that particular assessment is worth 2-3 hours of the time or just a mere 30-45 minutes. I say this because, at one point in the semester, you will have
- NO time for yourself,
- NO time to review the content heavy material, but........ YET!
- ALL these professors seem to say YASSSSS GIVE THEM MORE! MORE!!! 5% assessments/ quizzes and group pressos!
So... really, think about hmmm is this "med chinese" assessment worth my time (no..? spend the shortest amount of time and MOVE on). Learn to Prioritize those assessments that weigh more for starters, will have significant impact to the finals (Pharma quizzes and Internal med PE and Forensics Presentations). Just really... REALLY learn how to PRIORITIZE.
Okay okay.... enough of all that sense of self-reflections and granny advice, I am sure this second part of the blog is what you truly came for.
THE JUICY PART of the BLOG!
First things first, the Seniors were NOT kidding when they said 3rd year was the WORST year. Here, I thought the first semester of year 3 could not get ABSOLUTELY worst, BOY... was I wrong.
Its almost as if, the biggest goal the MBBS program has to offer is:
"How can I make it much worse than the previous semester for these medical students?"
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Lets break it down by subjects now:
1. Pharmacology
The TOP most important subject to focus on this semester. Why so? Well.... this subject is
💀Content heavy
💀Assessment Heavy (All that lab reports and presentations)
💀Quiz Heavy (Every block, expect a quiz)
💀MOOC/SPOC (not heavy but annoying to deal with)
For the content heavy aspect, I thoroughly advise you to start this subject EARLY and to use these resources:
- Take advantage of Youtube → Subscribe to Ninja Nerd Youtube (You will thank me later)
- Use Lippincott's Review Pharmacology and Qbank booklet
- Also take advantage of another Youtube resource →Dr Matt and Dr Mike's Youtube (For simplified mechanisms)
If I have to state my gratitude and thanks for pharmacology, without a doubt, I will shout my praises and Gratefulness for Ninja Nerd. The hours are long per video, but TRUST me, he gets you understanding and knowing how to answer the questions for everything pharmacology. You attend the class lectures for attendance at this rate. With the Youtube resources, I specifically used the Cornell and second brain method to allow me to understand and keep it into memory for this semester. I use these particular skills to note-take for revision later on. All the note-taking is useless if you do not actively take advantage of recall and practice questions, so definitely start doing that (ANKI/ flashcards and Qbanks).
The assessment you would want to focus on and make sure you are top of the game is definitely ensuring that you, yourself are up to date and can answer the weekly quizzes. This is the only way you are sure to catch up well with the content for Pharmacology. The lab reports, presentation and MOOC... spare just enough time on them and move on. Your goal for Pharmacology is literally survival and content learning, the fluff of lab reports, presentation and MOOC exists to just make sure you meet credit hours.
Positive:
- Thank GOD the wonders of YOUTUBE exists
- Thank GOD that NINJA NERD and DR MATT and MIKE for content creating Pharmacology for medical students
- Thank GOD effective study resources exist
- One perk that they did to make sure you are ON TOP of your course game is those weekly quizzes
Negative:
- MOOC /SPOC (BIG NAURRR)
- Lab presentation (JUST why... therefore also BIG NAURR)
2. Internal Medicine
The second most important to pay attention to this semester. Not just cause it has the same amount of crazy 6 credits for this semester, but the finals is not as ✨common sense✨ as the majority of us would have thought it to be.
If you ask me my BIGGEST toxic trait this semester, my answer is
"Gaslighting myself to thinking Internal Medicine is ✨common sense✨"
The 5 hour sit-in lectures are quite honestly, unproductive for me. I wish thoroughly that they would have cut the lecture hours down and put more thorough emphasis in the practical components. If you ask anyone, they would have said the same thing too. Why?
I think internal med was more productive and we learnt more efficiently in those lab sessions and during the hospital rotations. If there is one thing I wish they change more was to shorten the lecture sessions, add in more lab hours and even organize Problem-based learning workshops. This will ensure we can be more thoroughly prepared for the hospital rotations in the future and we will have more practice with dealing with patients. This form of learning, will allow us to apply and put things into perspective. Those long gruelling 5 hour lectures, is not productive for I have the attention span of a goldfish. I absolutely cannot sit in and focus for more than 45 minutes, without getting the temptation to do anything... BUT listen to the lectures.
That aside, what resources did I use for this subject? Literally, ask the TA to give you the manual for Internal Medicine. The book they strictly abide to was:
Handbook of Clinical Diagnostics (Author: Xue-Hong Wan, Rui Zeng)
This manual was used to assess you on your Physical Examination skills and the content here was asked thoroughly in the finals. So If you are just like me, and they haven't yet change the structure of 5 hour long lectures, read this textbook, use the cornell method and highlight the most important aspects for each section..... and VOILA! it is sufficient for the finals.
Positive:
- Hands-on Hospital Rotation, every 3 weeks
- The Lab sessions used to prepare us for the Physical Examination Assessment and Hospital Visits
- No Homework!
- 5-hour long lectures
- Lack of Problem Based Learning
- And the lack of question banks for you to recall upon.
3. Forensic Medicine
One does not simply pass through forensic medicine without actively recalling the thorough emphasis they had put in your mind in Pathology (circa Yr 3, sem 1 trauma)
This is a half semester subject, and you would think easy breezy... lemon squeezyyyy..
NO! You are DEAD WRONG
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If you have not realized by now, the Half-semester subjects are the WORST. Not only do the course itself feels like they crammed the course to fit in the timeline, they also give you assessments, as if you are JUST doing that one particular course in your degree.
The course as you guessed it, was run by the same professor's that taught you Pathology, in the previous semester. (Yay! to double trauma!). So, word of advice, for the holiday... do some "light" revision for this course, you will NEED it. The course covers what you are expected to have known from pathology, as it takes advantage of your one semester skills and knowledge from pathology and suddenly you are a forensic pathologist in training.
How this course runs is essentially like a game of CLUEDO.
Instructions:
You and your team of 5 members are expected to analyse the case study provided. Find out what killed the patient. Here are some bunch of random clues (Filter out which contributes to the patient's death yourselves), make your own analysis and deduction and present it to the class the next week.
PS: Oh make sure to put enough EVIDENCE and analytical deductions. We will grill you as you are presenting.
This presentation requires lots of team thinking and solving. I am grateful we had a good team and a smart team lead in ours 😏. So despite getting grilled, I am glad we had enough satisfactory evidence and analysis.
Positive:
- Application in using what we have known to the unknown (aka death of patient)
- 5-hour long lectures
- The grilling session that comes with every case presentation
- Always second guessing because I Do not know what I DON'T KNOW at this point. 😂
4. Biostatistics
Bruhhh... If maths was never your strong suit.... AGAIN, start on this early! I remember during the first class, sitting for 3 hours there and being like this meme...
I was clueless. So I made it my mission to go to a cafe called "M Stand" with my med school wife every weekend 😘. (Here's a collage of my M stand dedication for Hyper-Fixation sessions)!
The caffeine kick and strength of the coffee was insane... it was enough to make me HYPER-FIXATE on learning whatever the hell Bayes Theory in biostatistics was for 4 hours. With the power of caffeine, I glue my butt down, and worked on those biostatistics content like my life depended on it. Well, why?
A sad but honest fact, that comes true in my household:
" No one is as bad as Dee in her Math skills😶"
And I truly believe, when I caffeinate myself, I can suddenly understand the impossible, that is MATHS. And if you asked me how in the WORLD did I study for this? I used the good ol' The Organic Chemistry Tutor- Statistics Playlist to understand the course's weekly lectures to enable myself to KNOW how the hell i am to solve those daunting quizzes. I had help from smart cookie friends, when i could not understand "jack-all" of course!
Positive:
- Using this as an excuse to go to M Stand to hyperfixate myself, and study an entire day of this week's lecture material.
- Thank GOD for Youtube, AGAIN!
- The course itself. (P E R I O D)
5. Medical Chinese 2
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If that Emoji does not tell you the sheer pain in my eyes and how I TRULY feel for this subject... I do not know of ANY other way to express my thoughts on this one course. I do however, know a phrase to describe this situation...
"Having the expectation to fly, when you know how to just walk"
aka.. Its Impossible... DUH!
Imagine, you JUST got over learning material sufficient for HSK4 comprehension. (essentially intermediate level) and then suddenly they expect you to be a native speaker, capable of reading some unfamiliar characters with the expectations of ✨YOU are a medical student, YOU got this!!!✨
I could barely cough up phrases and sentences despite learning HSK 4 material, when I am currently living in China. So like this course itself was sheer pain and impossible. My take, and I say this every semester for this particular subject (recall Medical Chinese 1)
Dee's Regrets:" START FLASHCARDING/ ANKI FROM DAY 1 DAMMIT"
I am a huge fan of procrastinating Medical Chinese. If anything, I am now seeking applications for those who want to be my HOWLER and yell at me to do ANKI for Medical Chinese 3 for next semester.
Positive:
- Friends who know Chinese and are Fluent 💓
- The course itself. (P E R I O D)
WOW!
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