What would be useful pre-revision to do before starting GEM course?

I did a very anatomy-heavy first degree, so was hoping to re-revise that as pre-revision for when my GEM course starts later this year. Was hoping to become a walking Gray's Anatomy textbook.

The thing is... would it even help me if I knew that textbook inside out? I have heard that anatomy isn't really too important for medical students anyway, and isn't featured prominently on the exams. And what doctor's don't know, they just look up, so it isn't useful to have the whole thing memorized. So is revising it going to be a waste of time?

If you were trying to get a good head-start on the 1st year of GEM so as not to get overwhelmed (and I have heard by many that it's extremely heavy-going);

1). Would you consider anatomy revision to be a waste of time?

and

2). What would you revise?

Er, how about none? The summer holiday you get before starting GEM is the last proper summer holiday you'll ever get. Go and get drunk and enjoy the weather, wtf do you want to do pre-revision for? Everything has a time and a place: medical school is where you learn anatomy, the summer before you become a medical student is the time to see all your old friends before you head off and do something totally different for the next four years.

Yes, I'll be doing all of the above as well, but the thing is I just got laid off my job last week, and instead of doing some rubbish temporary job (which is all I'm qualified to get and all I'll have time to do), I thought I might use the time to do something productive...

Yes but it won't be productive, that's the point. And I'm a GEM student, so I think I'd know.

The rubbish temporary job might be a snoozefest, but it'll bring in money which is definitely something you'll need in GEM - doesn't sound all that unproductive to me tbh.

Though your intentions are good, learning new material without the direction of being at school can lose its context.

Especially with something like anatomy you can be burdened with unnecessary information.

Enjoy your summer off if you say you don't want to do a summer job. Volunteer, learn a new language, go to the commonwealth games, do something else. But I wouldn't spend my summer learning anatomy.


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Thanks. I know it sounds odd, but I like memorizing anatomy. I find it enjoyable, so it's not a chore for me.

And the level I'm coming in at is only Gray's Anatomy For Student's. My first degree was in Biomed specializing in anatomy (the course was popular with intercalating medics), so I have experience of being taught it, and that textbook, thick as it is, is roughly pitched at the right level. Pretty much everything in there was necessary information for my final exams.

I would really like to know, from any medics out there already on a course, if knowledge of anatomy is at all useful in passing exams?

And what resources did you revise from to take your first year (particularly if you did the GEM course) - what did you find useful?

I would really like to know, from any medics out there already on a course, if knowledge of anatomy is at all useful in passing exams?