April
POSTED ON Sunday, April 6, 2014 AT 6:13 PM \\
It's April, which means the NBME is right around the corner! And with that comes finishing basic sciences!
A lot of people have been asking me if I am stressed about it and honestly I'm more stressed thinking about taking the STEP in (hopefully) four months from now.
Here's a hilarious take on NBME questions: http://whatshouldwecallmedschool.tumblr.com/post/79993459706/how-nbme-questions-are-written
We had our final class last Friday, which gives us about a week and a half to study on our own before we write the exam. I'm currently reading First Aid and doing Kaplan questions (trying to aim to hit at least 1500, currently at 1329).
Oh ya, our school has merchandise now! (woo!) Starting next semester, school uniforms will be made mandatory. (boo!) I snagged myself a long-sleeved sweatshirt just to wear around the house when I'm back in Toronto.
Labels: basic sciences, exams, fifth semester, med, med school, nbme, statia, steustatius, usesom
Fifth semester!
POSTED ON Thursday, January 9, 2014 AT 6:34 PM \\
This is it! The final semester of basic science, and the last four months on the island (or any island) for me!!I arrived two nights ago after a few delays but nothing worse, thankfully. The rough weather apparently caused many flight cancellations at major airports in the states and Canada.
On my first day back at school I noticed that it was very very empty. Well it was kind of expected given the unideal situation from last semester. I was kind of sad to hear that some people had transferred to other schools, just because I had grown familiar with their presence in the classroom since first semester.
My two classes this semester are ICM (Introduction to Clinical Medicine) and FCM (Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine), but technically only one real course (ICM), as the other one consists of the Kaplan Review in preparation for the NBME that I have to write (and pass) at the end of the semester.
Yesterday at noon, the school's new CEO held a town hall meeting to go over the school's status and changes being implemented. The only change I did not like was that we were ordered to wear scrubs during class.
Did I mention that I made a few New Year's resolutions this year? (I don't usually). I plan on working out at the gym at least 5 times a week, and meal-prepping!
The gym I go to is right on the main road and about a five minute walk from where I live. It is on the ground floor of a large hotel beside the marina. The gym itself is actually quite small. There are three areas: the weight room, the cardio room and the room with the glass mirrors (cool-down room?). Anyways I was there yesterday for about an hour. After I got home I started meal-prepping. I wanted to do meal-prepping just to force myself to cook instead of buying food everyday. So I bought a huge bag of frozen chicken tenderloins, a bag of broccoli florets, and a box of mashed potato flakes and some fresh sweet potato as well as some quinoa. Also I bought a 24-piece set of plastic containers to place all the food in. It wasn't until I started cooking that I realized how long meal-prepping takes. But it did feel satisfying afterwards to see all the food packed neatly in the containers on top of one another. It will also help me control my portions (which I have a big problem with!)
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| At the gym~ |
Today I went to the gym again and bumped into my two friends from Toronto who were also working out there. Later we went out for food (since their stove exploded!!), and ended up at a restaurant on the main road called Harbor Queen. My two friends both got the all-you-can-eat ribs option, and I ordered… lobster!! (as usual)
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| My 1.5 lb lobster and endless ribs :Q |
Labels: ceo, fcm, fifth, gym, icm, lobster, meal prepping, med, med school, med student, new, new year resolution, school, semester, sxm
Biochem shelf
POSTED ON Monday, April 15, 2013 AT 1:38 PM \\
Just wrote my biochem shelf. Someone described the feeling of coming out of that exam like "getting hit by a bus". I whole-heartedly agree. There were 125 questions and we were given 2 hours to complete the exam. The questions weren't straight recalls, they were secondary and tertiary long questions. Even just reading the questions made my head hurt. By the end of the exam I was just like,
I'm just glad that it's over. Now to study for the physio shelf exam tomorrow!
Labels: biochem, biochemistry, exam, med, school, shelf