Best Place to Study: Romeo P Ariniego MD Library

Romeo P. Ariniego MD Library

I have spent so many days (and nights) studying here, and its the best place to be, well, up until 10pm from Monday to Friday. After 10pm, the next best place to study would be the Student's center, but, if you are girl, its much safer to study in the comforts of your dorm.

I used to study at the Student's Center, met a lot of great people there too, but some of the problems I kept encountering were:

1) Too many distractions (aka classmates)- instead of being able to study, you sometimes get caught up in the new gossip going around the classroom, or a study session with really "interesting" mnemonics, and whathaveyou.

2) Too many people in one small room. - Sometimes, the SC gets really crowded, especially a day before evals, and thats the last thing I need, 20 or so people inside the room, banging elbows with someone next to you just so you can flip through Netter and Moore, and other ginormous books.

So one day, my classmate invited me to study in the library. I used to hate the library because it was too quiet, too cold, too etc etc. But with Biochem and Anatomy evals looming ahead, I decided to go. My dorm was crazy hot, and I hated being stuck in that room. 

From 5pm to 10 pm, we stayed at the library, and I have to say, it wasnt all that bad.

PROS

1. Lots of sources to choose from when the textbook you bought is just not enough.

2. Air Condition- Mmmmmmm, all icy cold against the hot oven of the outside world.

3. Tables- and lots of them- not like the SC. At this lib, you can study at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th floor, and the lobby. 

4. Computers- just in case you dont have one, they have a set of computers at the corner of the lib where you can look up other sources. They also provide you with other sites that can help you study like anatomy.net, online access to journals,and the like. Sometimes, you can check the download folder and find several reviewers from upper years that you can use in your own time. HOHOHO.

5. You can borrow book stands.- These are especially helpful since these darn book stands cost about Php450. At the lib, you can borrow them, and relieves the strain from having to crane your neck to look over your big ass books. 

**Friendly reminder: DON'T buy the cheap plastic book stands in National Bookstore, the ones that cost about Php80. It cant hold anything over 300 pages or so. Mine collapsed under the weight of an 800 page book (this may be common sense to most people, but at the time, I thought it would be sturdy enough to hold my Physio book...)

6. Look closely at your assessment slip, it would indicate that you paid Php6,000.00 bucks for library resources. Since you paid for it, why not use it wisely?

CONS

1. Its only open from 8am to 10pm Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays, its open from 8am to 5pm. The SC is open 24/7.

2. Cant bring in food or drinks.

3. Sometimes, when the lib is filled, you run out of books since everyone else is trying to get a copy, with a limited number of available books on the shelves.

The Academic Avalanche

Hey guys, I apologize if I havent posted in awhile. The pace in med school kinda picked up when July settled in.

As i said before, things went into hyperdrive when July settled in. June was the typical settling in phase where doctors/professors slipped in a quiz or two, letting you gain a solid foothold on studying again.

BOOM!
Then July came in.

Every other week we had quizzes and major exams, and it came to a point where you just couldnt study as much as you wanted to because you were dead tired.

Major exams that happened this month: Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, and this week would be Community Medicine and Bioethics.

Seriously, of all the major exams that came and went, Anatomy was probably the most mind boggling thing I encountered since our freshmen orientation with the mock exams.

I prepared for that exam like everyone has prepared for the oncoming zombie apocalpyse.

I kid you not. I spent a majority of my weekdays + 80% of my weekend reviewing everything and I was kind of pumped for the exam already.

Day of the exam, 7am in the morning, my dorm mates and I came out of our rooms at exactly the same time with blank faces, silently staring at each other, when, very quietly, one whispered... oh my g*d, I dont know anything.

All of us kinda went into a crazed panic since the exam was a bout 3 hours away. 

GROUP STUDY NOW!

Nobody brushed their teeth, fixed their hair, or took out the morning glories scattered all over, we got our stuff out and went to one room and started reviewing each other like there was no tomorrow. 

We spent two hours studying, took a bath, then went for the exam.

Here we go.

About an hour later, I was feeling pretty good about the results. But within a few minutes, panic set in again as we prepared for the practical exams for that afternoon.

For the practical exams, they set up 80 stations in the laboratory where there would be around 65-70 microscopes set up with specimens, around 5 pictures, and 5 resting stations. Every 20 seconds we a buzzer would sound out and everyone had to move to the next station.

This type of exam gives you an adrenalin rush. It was awesome and at the same time, depressing.

Within 20 minutes or so, we finished all 80 questions and headed out the laboratory. And everyone was kind of high with the rush. We headed out, ate, and made merry while doomsday/judgement day waited silently.

About 2-3 days, results came out. And I failed both the theoretical and practical. And so did 80% of the batch.

It was kind of comforting to know that, but deep inside, I was depressed because I studied my ass off and I still failed. 

Good thing that they lowered the passing rate a little, and I passed both, but, it still frustrated me. 

I will not be an average/ mediocre doctor. I will study my ass off, and one day I will top the exams.

Shit just got real.

To Study or Not to Study Before Med School?

To study or not to study. That is the question.

This came to mind when the last few weeks of freedom before med school started weighing in on my mind. And I was kind of worried. why?

Well, during enrollment, I was standing in line at the registrar's office and a bunch of teens were lined up as well as talking really loud.

One remarked, "OMG! You're 20 already??? You're sooooo old!"

And my reaction was...

And thats when I kind of panicked.

These  "kids" were in tip top shape. They just graduated from college, so their brains were in excellent condition to get beat up by a lot of medical topics and whatnot. PLUS, they graduated from courses that could actually help them with Medicine.

(Old versus young brain:)

Me? I graduated from a course that focused more of Psychology, Socio, and Anthropology. Its an excellent course, and I loved every minute of it, and it was a great help when I worked for 2 years. But for Med? Its an entirely different story.

Last November, I went to different med schools and had my transcript assessed for additional units I may need to accomplish. Med schools like Ateneo, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, and San Beda required a certain number of units in Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Inorganic Chemistry, and natural sciences. So that was around 16-20 units that I needed to take up if I wanted to get into the different schools.

And, as I wrote in my previous post, I didnt take up the extra units because of the Php 70,000.00 price tag on them.

So what chance do I have to compete in the killer world of Med where my classmates are young, fresh, and ready to kick some academic ass? I had a slim chance. But I could take some steps to prepare myself a bit...like study.

So, should I study the hard subjects in advance? Or just leave it to chance, and hope that in my first year of med, we would all start off  at a leveled playing field?

I asked several doctors about this, and they said that, even though the new graduates have an evident advantage, oldies, or late bloomers like me, have the advantage of being rested, and motivated.

Fresh grads are sometimes at risk of burn outs since they had just 1 or 2 months to rest, plus, like all normal human beings, within the span of 1 or 2 months, they can forget about 80% of what they studied that year.

Good point doc. I mean, every year I went in college, I usually forgot what I studied last sem and had to review them again.

Right now, I guess I'll just enjoy the time I have left, and just study my ass off when the time comes.