Experiences of a West Indian Medical Student

The last post mentioned my preparation for my ‘mid term’ exam which really isn’t a mid term exam but rather the demarcation of one course or ‘block’ and the start of another. Well let’s just say it went way better than I expected....  Good bye 10A, Hello 10B! The second block started on the following Monday giving us Saturday and Sunday to realign and refocus. However in reality it was more than that as the schedules for the 10B was not readily posted and we ended up having less lectures than expected during our first week. This gave me the opportunity to get my ‘pre-reading’ done and opened a window of compliance as I was working at my own pace, similar to that of 10A. Oh boy was I shaken up once the work actually started rolling in.  Soon enough I felt like it was too much to keep up with and my retention was at an all time low. Topics I overlooked in Biochemistry whilst preparing for my Spotter came back to haunt me and the ball kept rolling... Now I am at the ...

Week 5 Check-in  It’s my fifth week in and I’m ready to spill the tea.  So lets do a quick summary: Week 1 : Burnt the midnight oil (stayed up studying and pre-reading at ridiculous hours)  Week 2 : Got sick and fell behind ( impaired my immune system due to lack of sleep) Week 3 : Desperately tried to get on-top of my work , I did  :) Week 4 : Tried to maximize productivity before training x prep for  ‘Spotter’ (Similar to midterm assessment; mainly anatomy and few physiology questions) It’s common knowledge the vast difference between the secondary and tertiary level of education. So why did I start with the same learning approaches? Let me give you a quote by Bert Lance that explained my approach “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Honestly, I used what was proven and tested to give me the false sense of productivity I needed to feel to equate it with ‘hitting the ground running’. So what has changed now you may ask... and it all g...