It’s been a long time! I apologize for the lack of posts, especially if you’ve been one to actually follow regularly. Let’s see what I can let you all know about the (almost) last month.
You know that phrase, “hit the ground running”? Well, imagine that, but this time, hit the ground sprinting. And believe you me, you’ll be sprinting for the rest of your time here.
I think that this will be the beginning of my 6th week here, but already it feels like I am seasoned. Our days are very packed. We have an average of 4-5 classes in the morning alone followed by lab demonstrations and/or lecture related labs. Afterwards, I’ve found that we usually choose to make the most of our time and attend all the available TA sessions and congregate into small groups to review that day’s (or week’s) material. So what happens? I often don’t get home until about 10pm or so at night.
My poor Liesl.
One of the first major obstacles was to deal with the slew of exams. On Friday, the 18th, we took the anatomy and statistics exam for the lecture portions. We also took the skills exam for anatomy lab. Then, we had six more exams on the folowing 21st of September: Histology, physiology, genetics, microbiology/ immunology, biochemistry, and embryology. It was excrutiatingly tough.
Those of you who know me know that I am not one to slack off or to avoid tasks that need to be done. I may be a little disorganized (I mean really, my room is an organized mess…) but I nonetheless know how to handle my business. I studied long and hard. I did the best I could. The results? I only “passed” half of the exams… and it was heartbreaking for me.
So what does this mean? Will I fail? Am I doomed? Worse yet, am I stupid?? No. No. And absolutely not. (I just haven’t demonstrated that I knew enough of the material just yet ).
My Deans here have been of great support. I’ve met with them and discussed everything that could have gone wrong to get to the root of the problem. Essentially, here were the issues:
– Test anxiety. Huge issue. Not to blame, but definately a contributing factor. I must learn how to overcome it and to do so by the next set of exams.
– We were tested on six exams in ONE day. This was meant to allow us to guage how well our current study methods served us and to see if there was anything we could fix RIGHT NOW. So I’ll discuss that in a minute, but I pretty much ran out of time to study for some of the courses, and for others I was over-confident. Okay. I can fix that.
– Learning style. Here’s an important topic. I’m not sure if any of you feel the same way, but I’ve always been taught to study by reviewing my class notes, writing notes in my own words, reading the books, and taking notes from the books. Underline. Highlight. Bullet point. The list goes on. I’m not saying that it doesn’t work, but for me it has not allowed me to perform to my potential best.
Something that I’ve found over the last month is that I am a very auditory-kinesthetic learner. I need to move while I am learning, or to associate my learning with movement. I also need to discuss the topics, to reason through them, to see the words I hear. It’s quite probably the worst type of learner I could be, but after this set of exams, I am convinced that that is who I am. Here’s why…
I was fortunate enough to find another classmate, Rosyland, who was also an auditory learner (although she is Auditory-Visual). This worked well with me for a number of reasons. Firstly, I’ve always had trouble interpreting diagrams and graphs. The fact that this was a strength for her allowed me to be able to discuss visuals with her and thus learn concepts better. Secondly, I was able to disucss topics with her. She taught me, I taught her. It was great reciprocation and since it was a two-person team, short hours spent on lessons were so much more productive than the time I would have spent trying to write my own notes down. The results? The courses I was able to review with her, I passed with flying colors. The courses we didn’t have enough time to get to (we found each other two days before the exams), I, well, didn’t pass. What more proof do I need?
I know that I seem disjointed and that I’m rambling. I do apologize – I have an awful lot on my plate and that will not change anytime soon. Some of the lessons of the first exams taught me that review needs to take place MUCH EARLIER than the weekend before the exam. Thankfully, Ros (that’s what I’ll call her from here on out) feels the same way. We’ve decided to meet every weekend and review course material for that week. This weekend was the first and it went great! Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get to EVERYTHING, but we did get through the toughest, most dense material. The rest we will try to meet up and discuss throughout the weekdays. Having reviewed our material this week also allows us to quiz each other on the material regularly throughout the next few weeks (until the next exams) and so stay “well oiled.” I’m very happy and I definitely expect good results. So here’s hoping!
Now, time for a fun little riddle!!
What happens when you make students take six exams in one day (after having taken 3 two days before) and expect them to show up for class the next morning?
Only a teeny tiny fraction attend! (Photo taken 5 minutes after class was supposed to begin. Professor was waiting for more students to show up).
Okay. Back to studying! I will update more regularly now 🙂
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