The distinction student is the one that gets above 70 in med
school despite the voluminous course materials, absolutely unfair negative marking
and a closed marking system, but you already know this.
He is the one that reads day and night, incessantly and
without rest, has no social media presence, does not party and always knows and
understands all. He is the one who would rather assist a research paper rather
than kiss one of the opposite gender like a hormone-crazed normal youth.
He is the pride of the class and the one that every one
looks up to. The consultant's boiled egg. A Religious and pristine leader. He is the one who wants to save the world
with intellect, win some big name scholarship or grant and do brainy things, right with
other baseless and stereotypic assumptions.
She is the one that complains in class that she
cannot come and kill herself and yet still ace the course.
I know somewhere, somehow you’ve thought like this, perhaps
you still think this way.
But you see, I believe there is no such thing as ‘the
distinction student’. Only those who
make the smart effort
Medical school is perhaps the only college that bridges the supposedly
bright students and the not so bright ones, Emphasis on "supposedly". So when I say the person who gets the
most distinctions and the one who resits have the same brain capacity, believe
me, they do.
EVERYBODY IS EQUAL IN MEDICAL SCHOOL. The only difference is
understanding. Worthy of note though, is that, BLIND EFFORT IS NOT EQUAL TO UNDERSTANDING.
what do i mean by that?
You can read
textbooks for hours, browse Medscape for hours and I’d stumble across a youtube
video and i would just understand the topic better than you. Less work, faster and more effective result, simply put.
The same way how I’d learn
to change my phone screen at no cost via youtube as opposed to another who
would drive miles to computer village and give someone who would dupe for more
money and do something trivial.
No hard feelings, just being smart. And being smart is the
key. Not blind effort.
Those that do get the distinctions are simply those that
make the smart effort to understand. It’s that simple. Understanding a topic doesn’t
care about how many times you’ve attended the class, or if your father is a
professor of that course,
Infact you can stab a class, and understand better than
others who don’t.
"A simple test of whether you understand a topic or not is
that you should be able to convince your colleague of your own reasoning of the
topic, you must be able to convince yourself, and you must be able to explain
that topic to a non-medical person, and that person must be satisfied with your
explanation"
Because I understood this basic principle, I was able to
have some life outside of med school whilst still maintaining good grades.
Now ask yourself? Are you willing to make the necessary smart
effort?
More to come.
Questions or comments below
Nice writeup
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteWell, not entirely so. I think you skipped one of the key aspects of being a distinction student: Retention. You can study all the smart in the world, but if you barely retains, that's the problem. Distinction candidates don't usually find it hard to retain information, not because they necessarily studied smart, but they've genetically put on that path of success already.
ReplyDeleteHi, prudence, i hope this meets you in good faith.
DeleteAbout retention.
First i would like to dispel that fact that distinction students retain information better, for a student to get into medical school, i see no reason why you shouldnt be able to retain. it all still balls back down to understanding.
you cant retain what you do not fully understand, and once you fully understand you would not forget in a long while.
What distinction students do, is simply understand, you never see how they read or how they learn, or the things they do to understand fully, so it seems as if they just retain better.
in my next articles i would be sharing ways to understand properly.
stay tuned.
I do not exactly share sentiments with you on that aspect of retention. Your reply could easily undermine the impact of retention on the performance of 'distinction' students.
DeleteI can go back and forth with crystal clear examples of MB exams with large work volume where 'distinction' students who of course had a great understanding of concepts plus a superb skill of retention could hit the 80mark which is the cut-off in my institution.
I could present it in a case controlled manner where retention levels varied among the brightest students (those that understood a said concept exceptionally well) in class in order to drive the point home.
Hi, Ekene. Thank you for your comment. As one who regularly got good grades, I’m only sharing from my own experience and that of my colleagues in medical school.
DeleteI am not undermining the impact of retention, merely that everybody has near equal ability to retain, but they may not know how to properly understand a topic.
Understanding is central.
Say a topic is presented in class. At the end of the class, not everyone would understand that topic. Naturally. But by whatever means you use, once you grasp a detailed understanding, much like understanding why 2 + 2 would be equal to four, retention comes naturally. Afterall, if i forget what 2 + 2 is, i could always get 2 stones, add them to 2 other stones, and get count the result. Much like if i forget the features of chronic kidney disease, i can work my way from the basic understanding of the kidney functions. (this does not apply to every topic)
If you have an understanding of every topic taught in class to this extent, good scores would come naturally. The emphasis on medical education should never be about distinctions, but understanding, because only then can you treat patients well. and with confidence.
The next question should be how best can you understand. Some people understand best when listening to a lecture. Which is why we think the magically retain better. Some need audio visuals or videos. Smart effort requires you to realize which way gives you the best method of understanding.
If you talk to the students who understand a said concept exceptionally well, such that even in their sleep they can always build on a topic from a specific point, ask them to explain in about 3 months. the should be able to build on that particular topic from any point in their own words. The more they understand, the more they retain. The more they understand, the more superb their retention skill.
I hope to see more of your comments and contributions in the articles to come.
This is valid ,but sometimes the bulk of the courses and learning to strike a balance between all of them and making sure you're not lagging in any of them is also very important
ReplyDeleteThank you, in my next article i would also tackle the issue of bulk and how to strike a balance in medical school. Its actually not that hard, although when people do it it seems like some complex enigma
DeleteNice write up chief. Sometimes , me getting to 500l without any resit feels like fluke. I'm not a distinction student, but I'm not struggling either. I feel like my retention is poor for someone that'll soon be required to apply acquired knowledge to save lives. I'll like you to write something around Impostor syndrome for med students. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I experienced a bit of impostor syndrome myself in 400L. will do so in future write ups.
DeleteWhen is the next post coming?
ReplyDelete