Should I prepare for Med School resits in advance?

I’m so sure that I’ve failed at least one of my three exams. I get my results on 17th July but I’m on holiday for a week before then. The resits are middle of August. Should I start revising now as a precaution? I’m also worried the lack of revision during the holiday might be bad. Also, side note, if we fail resits apparently we get kicked out - I’m soo nervous rn.

Reply 1

macpatgh-Sheldon

20

Hi I₃₇ OR Tc_93, [sorry!!]
Let me share my thoughts, tho your own detailed circumstances might be different:-
I think it depends on the following factors:

1.

Which year you are in: in later years of med school [depending on course structure at your uni], what you learn in day-to-day seeing patients, clerking them and presenting them to consultants in ward rounds + [hopefully] reading up on the relevant disease that evening [time permitting] is your principal learning mechanism, so one week of extra revision will make little difference. If you are in earlier years, there might be more factual learning [again depending on course structure at your uni] and you could add a little "meat to your skeleton" in that week [???].

2.

What those 3 subjects are: my own method of learning was to work out detailed facts from basic first principles i.e. in e.g. medicine & surgery you can derive most symptoms & signs, etc from a knowledge of altered anatomy and physiology [pathology], and differential diagnosis is an extension of this exercise; however, in e.g. anatomy and biochemistry, there are more facts to learn/memorize. So, for the former, a week will make little difference.

3.

Type of exam i.e. MCQs OR SBA OR OSCEs, etc. In some types you might improve with extra practice and perhaps less so in others.

In summary, my own strategy was to work constantly but reasonably through all six years, BUT NOT TO WORK MY GUTS OUT TILL MIDNIGHT the few nights before exams - what matters is your performance on the day of the exam, so you want to be fresh, alert and positive, not tired and dozy on exam day. In fact, the eve before an exam, I often went to see a film! This worked wonders for me, but your own tactics/viewpoints might be different!

I wish you the best of luck in August [i would say make the most of your holiday, too! - you will return refreshed & rejuvenated!] - keep positive, confident & enthusiastic and I am sure you will sail through!
M

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 2

CommonIsotope

OP

12

Original post by macpatgh-Sheldon

Hi I₃₇ OR Tc_93, [sorry!!]
Let me share my thoughts, tho your own detailed circumstances might be different:-
I think it depends on the following factors:

1.

Which year you are in: in later years of med school [depending on course structure at your uni], what you learn in day-to-day seeing patients, clerking them and presenting them to consultants in ward rounds + [hopefully] reading up on the relevant disease that evening [time permitting] is your principal learning mechanism, so one week of extra revision will make little difference. If you are in earlier years, there might be more factual learning [again depending on course structure at your uni] and you could add a little "meat to your skeleton" in that week [???].

2.

What those 3 subjects are: my own method of learning was to work out detailed facts from basic first principles i.e. in e.g. medicine & surgery you can derive most symptoms & signs, etc from a knowledge of altered anatomy and physiology [pathology], and differential diagnosis is an extension of this exercise; however, in e.g. anatomy and biochemistry, there are more facts to learn/memorize. So, for the former, a week will make little difference.

3.

Type of exam i.e. MCQs OR SBA OR OSCEs, etc. In some types you might improve with extra practice and perhaps less so in others.

In summary, my own strategy was to work constantly but reasonably through all six years, BUT NOT TO WORK MY GUTS OUT TILL MIDNIGHT the few nights before exams - what matters is your performance on the day of the exam, so you want to be fresh, alert and positive, not tired and dozy on exam day. In fact, the eve before an exam, I often went to see a film! This worked wonders for me, but your own tactics/viewpoints might be different!
I wish you the best of luck in August [i would say make the most of your holiday, too! - you will return refreshed & rejuvenated!] - keep positive, confident & enthusiastic and I am sure you will sail through!
M

Thanks for this, really useful advice!! I'm 1st year so a lot of the content is just factual memorisation (hence why the earlier I start, the better, as it will be in my long-term memory). But yeah thank you, hopefully all goes well!

Should I prepare for Med School resits in advance?

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