ER (Endocrine & Reproductive System) Reflection

As the first module for Term 2, ER (Endocrine and Reproductive System) was not what I had expected. Upper termers warned me about the fast pace of the module, which I thought would be manageable, but it was truly a challenge.

I began the term strong by drastically improving my schedule and following a more stable and reliable schedule which included time to work out daily, more effective pre-reads and having a study partner to do practice questions and go through content with. These simple changes drastically improved my mental health as I felt very balanced being able to stay fit and be more effective in studying.

In terms of my study methods, I study better when I make my own summary notes and so, I tried to write my notes based on the lecture prior to the actual lecture which I found was super-efficient! I still struggle with writing too much on my notes, but I’m slowly getting better at it. With my notes done and out the way in the mornings before the lecture, it gives me time to understand the lecture better before the lecture. This way, during the lecture, I’m truly able to absorb the information and have my “second pass” at the content.

Another method I’ve incorporated is a study partner! I failed at this in term 1 but I was lucky to have found a reliable study partner! We even made a set time and schedule to ensure that we review with each other daily and are caught up! I found that by having a study partner, I was able to bounce off concepts and stay on top of my work as we completed practice questions for the day and went over weaker topics. Although we began off strong, during the end of the module, we kind of slacked due to the rapid pace of the content which caused us to get super behind!

Getting behind in ER was a disaster which truly made me feel unprepared for the exam. Closer to the exam (Week 2), I felt super overwhelmed with the content as I was focused on the new content for the week, that I felt that I was forgetting the content from the first week. This would normally be “okay” as in term 1, our exams were often on a Monday, which gave me the entire weekend to study and often we didn’t have new content to cover until the Wednesday or Thursday before the exam. I usually felt that I had plenty of time to study and prepare for the exams, but in ER classes ended on the Tuesday and the exam was on Thursday! I was super stressed as I felt very overwhelmed by all the information to remember, and I felt behind. In the second week, I also decided to try Anki again as a quick review of the lecture after reviewing it and I was lucky to find the right premade deck for me which was very helpful! I had previously tried Anki multiple times, but could never make it work for me, but I was glad that I finally found a way to make it work! I switched to using Anki as I found it more effective to actively recall the information from the lectures. I also liked that it made me consistently review older content which is what I needed to improve on and help with my memory!

The one thing that I’m truly proud of is my ability to balance studying and my mental health through finding the best schedule for me allowing me to work out every day! Working out has been the best decision for me as I feel super refreshed, energized, confident and it makes my mind feel clear as I use it as a tool to get rid of my stress! If you aren’t already, go workout!!!

Overall, ER was intense, and I was able to learn a lot through the module, I’m actually shocked by the amount of content I learned in only two weeks! But ER has truly pushed me and made me improve my study habits even more!

Medical school is a journey and I’m constantly learning from it as I adjust and find new study habits and techniques to help tackle it all! The key is to find the right techniques for you and balance! I’m looking forward to the next module of DM (Digestive System and Metabolism) to further improve my study habits and learn so much more!