Medical school resits and revision

Have just finished my first year at med school....well actually no...not quite.....I've ended up having to do the resits for this year which I'm really upset about...I can't help thinking it's a sign that I'm unsuited to do medicine. Thing is, I didn't by any means work to my full capacity this year...I tried to cram it a few weeks before...and while this has worked before...this time...it didn't. I know I have no one to blame but me but it still sux majorly especially since my summer was gonna be so good. Just wondering if anyone here has been through resits and how did you feel about it? Plus how do you med students revise? I never have any idea how to go about it....many of my friends start from day one...but if I know that exams are way off nothing seems to stick and I can't motivate myself. Any advice would be great

Reply 1

Ataloss

13

I'm sorry to hear about the resits. The only consolation I can suggest is I know many people who failed their first year exams and have now graduated this year and some who are already working as physicians. It is not so much an indication of an unsuitablility to medicine - but that you have been unlucky and that perhaps you have partied a bit too much whilst adapting to your new Uni lifestyle.

The effect on your summer is a bummer. Just try and make the best of any holiday you do have.

As for how to revise - it is so individual. Perhaps you could try revising in groups - it may suit you better to study with friends. Hopefully you will find a method that suits you.

Good luck with your resits and try not to let one setback get you to down. In five years time you will have almost certainly have forgotten all about it.

Reply 2

medstudent

OP

Thank you, I think the reason why I failed was because I worked with my friends...we wasted too much time chatting and couldn't pace ourselves properly. Am just worried, I need some sort of revision routine to stick to otherwise I'll end up failing these resits too. I'm really panicking....

Reply 3

harry1153

I dont have too much experiance with exams, i've just finished my AS's but what i think is really usefull is to make timetables, just do a weekly timetable and then kinda plan it monthly if you have time. Decide what are your weaker topics and give them slightly more time then easier ones, but make sure you can cover everything. Also don't set yourself impossible targets in the timetables, becuase you will almost definatly slip behind and then try to catch up, and then just give up. So just give yourself a reasonable amount of time spread it out and pace yourself and you'll be fine.

Reply 4

Fluffy

15

Ditto to what Ataloss has said. I know a few qualified medics who failed more than one year, and not just in a have to resit exams kind of way either. They're now fantastic doctors.

Your first year is more about learning to balance life away from home etc, about making friends and about study. It's a balance that some people find quicker than others.

The fact that by your own admission you didn't work as hard as you could of [while making you kick yourself] is probably a good thing! There's room for improvement. It would have been more depressing if you had really worked your ass off and not passed.

You now know the pain of having to resit, and the effect it will probably have on your summer. From what others have said, when you get back to medical school next year, this will be the biggest motivating factor in the world, ever.

Don't lose confidence in yourself, just take this as a big kick up the ass.

Hope things go better next time

fxxx

Reply 5

Fluffy

15

medstudent

Thank you, I think the reason why I failed was because I worked with my friends...we wasted too much time chatting and couldn't pace ourselves properly. Am just worried, I need some sort of revision routine to stick to otherwise I'll end up failing these resits too. I'm really panicking....

What med school are you at? How is your course taught (PBL or traditional)?

The first thing to do is to plan your revision, and plan it so that it works (i.e. allow yourself sufficient breaks and days off - that way you have buffer space for days when you don't do anything/those days when you know nothing is going to go in). Also, stick to your plan, but not too rigidly. If you're down for 5 hours of pharmacology, but you fancy going in to town and have a day off scheduled later in the week, switch the days round.

Have you left uni for home yet? If not make sure your notes are as fully upto date as they can be - photocopy your friends notes, and any bits of text book that you might need but might not have access to if you're going home.

Revision can be as boring as hell, but is a means to an end...

Good luck!

fxx

Reply 6

medstudent

OP

Fluffy

What med school are you at? How is your course taught (PBL or traditional)?

The first thing to do is to plan your revision, and plan it so that it works (i.e. allow yourself sufficient breaks and days off - that way you have buffer space for days when you don't do anything/those days when you know nothing is going to go in). Also, stick to your plan, but not too rigidly. If you're down for 5 hours of pharmacology, but you fancy going in to town and have a day off scheduled later in the week, switch the days round.

Have you left uni for home yet? If not make sure your notes are as fully upto date as they can be - photocopy your friends notes, and any bits of text book that you might need but might not have access to if you're going home.

Revision can be as boring as hell, but is a means to an end...

Good luck!

fxx

I go to Leicester, which is a mix of lectures, group work, dissection and clinical. The course is structured brilliantly...they give you so much time for self-study which would've been ideal except I threw away so many of those long afternoons chatting with my friends and generally wasting time. I agree though that the only way I'm going to learn a lesson is by doing these resits however much of a pain it is. I think with revision I'm gonna start with a block of work then repeat it everyday while adding on new bits. That way I can ensure I remember it long-term cause up till now I've always crammed too much info in a short space of time specifically for the exam. With revision my biggest problem is learning the anatomy.It doesn't make too much sense unless I can see what's happening eg I was reading about femoral neck fractures and dislocations and learnt that in femoral neck fractures the iliopsoas will laterally as opposed to medially rotate the femur.....and in femoral dislocation the gluteus minimus and medius cause the femur to rotate medially....now I have no idea why this is the case! Anatomy revision is really difficult to approach and seeing as we have a practical exam as part of the resits it's important I learn it thoroughly...if anyone has any suggestions it'd.. be great...

Reply 7

anita_xx

I'm afraid I probably can't offer any helpful tips with revision as I'm probably the worst worker in the world - all I know is that I find it quite hard to revise with other people and prefer to work on my own as much as possible (with the obvious exception of OSCE's). However, just a small bit of reassurance - I have known many people who have failed exams while at medical school and the vast majority of them have clung on and passed the resits. And it is much better to fail 1st year and learn from your mistakes than to fail 5th...

Good luck :wink:

Medical school resits and revision

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