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I'm failing med school. How can I be a great student again?

(English is not my first language, I'm sorry if I made some mistakes)

I've always been someone who loves to learn and school was easy for me, although deep down I never felt smart enough, like I was fooling everyone. Nowadays, I lack discipline and motivation in medical school, I barely pass my exams and I just don't feel smart enough and it's like my grades are the proof. If a topic becomes difficult for me, I just run away and avoid it, so obviously I don't pass the exam. My classmates are brilliant and very supportive, but I can't accept their help because I feel like they think I'm stupid or weak . So the cycle continues over and over again .
Reply 1
Original post by val167_
(English is not my first language, I'm sorry if I made some mistakes)

I've always been someone who loves to learn and school was easy for me, although deep down I never felt smart enough, like I was fooling everyone. Nowadays, I lack discipline and motivation in medical school, I barely pass my exams and I just don't feel smart enough and it's like my grades are the proof. If a topic becomes difficult for me, I just run away and avoid it, so obviously I don't pass the exam. My classmates are brilliant and very supportive, but I can't accept their help because I feel like they think I'm stupid or weak . So the cycle continues over and over again .

Are you failing because you are not good enough or are you failing because you don't really enjoy the course you are doing?
Reply 2
Original post by hotpud
Are you failing because you are not good enough or are you failing because you don't really enjoy the course you are doing?

After wating until my last exams I have come to the conclusion that I do enjoy medicine, my issue may lay in my lack of confidence and constant regrets over what I haven't done or study. Maybe I'm not as dumb as I think, but it terrifies me how bad I can think of myself.
Reply 3
Original post by val167_
After wating until my last exams I have come to the conclusion that I do enjoy medicine, my issue may lay in my lack of confidence and constant regrets over what I haven't done or study. Maybe I'm not as dumb as I think, but it terrifies me how bad I can think of myself.

Right. So, as my mum says, you need to put a steel rod down your back. Just remember that other people see you for what you show, not for who you are. You can choose what to put on display. If you don't feel confident, fake it. But ultimately it seems to me that you are recognising in yourself that you aren't a basket case and that you truly are something of worth. Go with that and keep telling yourself that you are awesome.

Give yourself a break. You owe it to yourself. There are enough people out there who will put you down in an instant. You need to be your own best friend and champion.

Good luck!
I think you might just need to adjust your expectations. You don't need to be a "great student" and be at the top of the class for a medical career in the UK generally. You just need to pass your exams (whether that's a minimal pass or a high pass) and focus on preparing for clinical practice. I think there aren't many specialties which use your medical school decile rank which are competitive enough that a lower decile rank will matter, and my impression is the way that specialty recruitment has been going is that a lot of things done in medical school are increasingly being removed from the scoring criteria anyway.

Also recognise that "done is better than perfect" and "passed is better than failed because didn't engage". If you only accept perfection and refuse to perform otherwise then you are just going to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whereas if you just aim to make sure you pass everything, and then if you do well great and if you just get a minimal pass, bear in mind that might be something you need to check up on later, that's perfectly reasonable I think?
Errr 'passing the exams' in medicine is an indication you are doing AOK.

You need to ditch perfectionism because it just isn't possible in medicine. The only consideration is 'have you learned enough to pass?'

You are still a doctor whether you end up with 51% or 85%. No one is going to pay you any more or treat you any differently. 100% isn't possible, nor is it supposed to be.

A medical degree is not A levels or an International Bacc, you need to completely revise your view of what constitutes acceptable in terms of attainment.
Reply 6
Hi i wondered if anyone had any insight into how med school exams are marked?
For instance, i started off the answer stating that there is an increase in blood pressure to cause ……. After that all the physiological mechanisms that i wrote were correct for the question however, i should have started the answer with stating that a decrease in blood pressure caused all of theses mechanisms. Can i gain any marks for the part that i have written right or do i lose all marks as i started off the answer incorrectly? Thanks
Original post by Medmad14567
Hi i wondered if anyone had any insight into how med school exams are marked?
For instance, i started off the answer stating that there is an increase in blood pressure to cause ……. After that all the physiological mechanisms that i wrote were correct for the question however, i should have started the answer with stating that a decrease in blood pressure caused all of theses mechanisms. Can i gain any marks for the part that i have written right or do i lose all marks as i started off the answer incorrectly? Thanks


Was this an examination in medical school?

In many cases, exam questions are all multiple choice, single best answer, normally with 5 possible answers or they certainly are in our school and in the MSCAA exams.

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