For most of us it’s past the point of a clean get away. So, you have to make a decision to ride this rollercoaster marathon for four months, give or take, or have them write W on your permanent records. No pressure in the decision right? When it gets to this point, there’s no real joy in making a decision that could affect the rest of your life because there’s no definitive answer. The first thing that runs through our mind is, “Shit, I’m gonna get a W on my record, medical school admissions will basically think I’m a failure and couldn’t do it!” And if you have any investment of emotions in this, I’m sure your head comes up with even more elegant words and phrases. Or, “I failed my first exam in this class and it’s affecting all my other classes, I have this, this and that extracurricular, I don’t want a W, I have to stick it out, I have to study harder. I’m just gonna get no sleep for the next three months and lock myself in my room.”

While making your decision, remember everyone has different stories applying to medical school and with that admission’s committees have the tough job of deciphering through those and making a decision based on the whole package and not just the numbers.

So, before the break is over or before the semester becomes so hectic it’s not worth thinking about I wanted to bring your attention back to logging the hours you do for specific activities or regular day activities if you want to watch what you’re doing that closely. I was revising my CV for a possible research opportunity and as I was putting down the classics, you know, Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Learning to Fly, and Patching a Hole in the Ozone Layer in My Spare Time, I came across an idea I had thought of at least a year back; writing down the hours completed for each activity.

Mohammad and I were shooting some ideas back and forth for some posts to do and we came across productivity as something to talk about. It’s never too late and never too early to have a post about keeping your efficiency. So, I thought to myself, what’s the most important thing I can tell other premeds about being productive?

We all have our own ways of studying and our own efficiency, some can super concentrate and others need to spread it out. We also all have different priorities in our lives and they change by the year, by the month, and even by the day. Many would agree that family, partners, and children come first, and others come in sequentially.

Figuring out your learning style is probably one of the most important things to do if you're a student (be it high school, undergrad, or med school). Especially in fast-paced, high-stakes situations (cough MEDSCHOOL cough), you don't have much time to experiment with different styles, or take a lot of time to internalize and regurgitate information.