Managing Medical School (even when it’s really hard)

Read time: 4 minutes

In this post, Maddie Wigmore-Sykes, a final-year medical student, gives her take on how to get started at medical school and what to do if it all starts going a bit wrong. Expect some motivational content along the way.

Finding your groove

When I first arrived at medical school, excited and more than a little scared, I had no idea what to expect, nor what was expected of me. I remember sitting in a lecture theatre, completely unable to follow what was being said, surrounded by 300 other people who seemed to know exactly what they were doing. They probably weren’t any more enlightened than me and, even though there will always be that person who claims they’ve done the whole course by Christmas, most of us were just pretending we knew what to do.

It is clichéd, but true, that medicine is a marathon not a sprint. You do not need to turn up on your first day with an understanding of how to learn from lectures or knowing what an OCaPE (Objective Clinical and Practical Examination) is. Spend the first few weeks, or months, getting your bearings and experimenting with different learning styles to find one that works for you. Here are a few suggestions on how to take notes in lectures:

• • • Print and annotate on the slides
    • Review the lecture slides before the lecture, make a template for your notes  and add to them during the session – this requires some forward-planning
    • Type as you go (if you can keep up with the fast-talking lecturers!)
    • Rather than writing notes on the information given to you in the lecture, write questions to test yourself, along with short answers, or note down which page of the lecture slide shows the answer
    • Call me old-fashioned, but I found that handwriting notes helped me to stay focused during lectures

After lectures, try consolidating your learning with some fun (ish?) activities. Test yourself with flashcards or set up a revision group with your friends where you can quiz each other – make it a regular thing so you’re committed to going through your notes. 

There will be endless resources recommended to you by both fellow students and lecturers. It’s impossible to use them all, so it’s worth trying a few before you buy, and just because your friend has already completed *insert random question bank here*, doesn’t mean you have to as well. Stick to your learning outcomes for each lecture and find materials that complement those and you’ll be all set. For more information on some of our recommended resources, as well as how to improve your learning in our new online Covid-19 world, check out Vikram’s post: A Four Step Guide to Working from Home.

Losing your groove and getting it back again

Six years is a long time to be on your A-game and a lot of us will have a wobble or two at some point. I never quite found my footing in first year and ended up failing and having to resit the exams; as a previously high achiever at school, this felt confidence-shattering at the time – how could I possibly become a doctor if I couldn’t even get through year one? Clearly I was wrong, as I’m now set to graduate in 2021, but it took me a long time to get over it. 

With the competition inherent to medical schools and our own personal drives to succeed, it’s no wonder we feel this constant pressure to prove ourselves. We’re ranked from our very first formative and subsequently measure ourselves on how well we’re doing compared to a cohort of very academic people, losing sight of the fact that simply being a part of this cohort is an amazing achievement in itself. It’s natural to want to do as well as we can, but if you do ever feel disappointed in your performance, pick yourself up and remember that a ranking in a year group does not define who you are or how good a doctor you can be. 

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed sometimes, medical school is difficult! If you find yourself wobbling or just need a bit of support, look after yourself and remember that help is always available. Transition mentors and other older year students can be great sources of advice and we’re always happy to offer guidance where we can. Personal tutors and the medical school student support team can also not only help with practical solutions if you’re struggling with motivation and organisation, but also assist you with any health and welfare concerns. 

TLDR: Medical school is difficult, but if you stay calm, get help when you need it and remember you’re more than your latest exam result, you will be okay.