How To Be A Successful Medical Student?

How To Be A Successful Medical Student?

While medical school is challenging there are many things that you can do to become a successful medical student. To be a successful medical student there are important aspects that must be taken into account.

So we decided to sum up the most important tips for succeeding in medical school based on our experience and including stories from medical students.

10 tips for success in medical school:

Have A Mindset To Work Hard

To succeed in medical school the first thing that you must have is a proper mindset. The more focused mindset you have before studies the better results will be at the beginning and upcoming years in medical school.

While everyone tells that medical school is hard if you come with the proper “work hard” mindset you will find it easier to study and advance in medical school.

Prepare to work hard and you will have success in medical school!

Before going to medical school I was afraid that it will be too hard for me. So in my mind, I had the idea that I won’t have friends, won’t have free time and I will be cast out from social life for at least 6 years.

Fortunately, it was not the case. While I still had to study during workdays, on Fridays I always met with my friends!Jackson, 3rd year medical student:

Have A Mental Capacity To Study Medicine

Sometimes its not about your motivation but your mental capability. While everyone can spend countless nights studying theoretical knowledge, not everyone will be able to cope with things that you will see in medical school.

Prepare yourself for moral dilemmas, tough emotional situations, and hard choices.

I never had problems with studies during high-school. So I was prepared for medical school lectures and succeeded in it.

But I never thought that the most challenging thing in medical school will be tough emotional situations and moral dilemmas.

For example, questions like – Should euthanasia be legal? How to tell the patient that he has terminal cancer and it can’t be treated? What should be done with patients on life-support systems with low brain activity?

There are and there will be even more complex questions in medical school and the medical field. So be prepared!Emily, 6th year medical student

Exercise And Try To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle

Nowadays it’s proven that physical activities improve almost every aspect of your life. Whether it be thinking, memory, feeling better about yourself, or just general happiness.

Also, there are several pieces of research that tackle cognitive productivity connection and smartness with physical activity and there is a positive correlation.

During my first two years in medical school, I undermined physical activities. As a result, I gained a few extra pounds, often felt sluggish and slow, and had some depression signs.

As a miracle, it all went away when I started exercising 3 times per week in my third year of medical school.

Since then I always try to do exercises at least 2 times per week.James, 5th year medical student

Be Friendly And Make Friends During Medical Studies

In medical school, there are many competitive people with high ambitions. These qualities often can come with some unfriendliness and ignorance.

Remember – in medical school, everything starts at zero, including friendships.

Make friends during medical school and it will help you to succeed!

So be open-minded, don’t judge people, and be friendly to your colleagues even if they sometimes are not. After some time you will see who will go side-by-side your whole medical career and who will be just haters or bystanders.

Workdays Are For Studies, Weekends Are For Rest

Your brain shouldn’t work 24/7.

There should be study time and rest time.

Of course, some weekends in medical school will inevitably be sacrificed for studies, but most of the weekends should be devoted to leisure time and rest.

Get Familiar With Time Management Basics

Time management in medical school is crucial. First things to evaluate and to be more efficient with time management – keep the records on how much time you need to do specific tasks.

For example, in order to learn 1 A4 page in 12pt you need 1 hour, to make a laundry you need 30 minutes, to do some exercise you need 1 hour, etc.

By noting all these activities you can become better in time planning during med school. Especially useful it is before final exams – you will be able to schedule your study time according to material which you must learn for the exam.

I never had problems with my free time and scheduling things, but during medical school, everything changed. I had to plan my activities at least a month ahead.

I think time management skills come naturally during the first years of medical school. No doubt, that time management skill is essential to succeed in medical school!Aaron, 1st year resident

Sometimes You Will Need Luck On Your Side

Another inevitable thing during med school will be that you won’t be able to know everything for every exam. There will be times when certain circumstances will shift you from your goal.

In those times luck also should come to help. If not, it’s nothing catastrophic. It means that you will have to spend another weekend or two to study material one more time to pass the exams.

Sometimes it’s up to luck to decide how you will succeed!

While I planned my study time and tried to prepare 100% for every test – in medical school it’s not possible.

I would say that usually, I knew around 70-95% of study material and in most cases, it was enough. But not in my ophthalmology exam.

I got 3 questions in total – 2 questions which I knew poorly and one that I knew partially. Failed it!

Applied for exam second time and passed it with flying colors.

It was a stressful time period in medical school, but I’m glad that I succeed!Gordon, 2nd year resident

Studying medicine is more than remembering all the bones, muscles, diseases, treatments, etc. During medical school participate in social activities that are organized by the student council, university or hospital.

During these activities, you will meet your peers, meet some residents or young doctors. Sometimes meetings like that can completely reshape your medical thinking and future plans. So, go for it, don’t spend time just on studies.

I loved participating in team sports during medical school. Every year we had competitions between faculties – future pharmacists against future doctors, future physiotherapists against doctors, etc.

Basically, all of my friends in medical school came from soccer and basketball teams. Team sports really can make a difference and helped me to find many new friends!James, just finished medical school

Learn How To Work In A Team

While in the medical school at the beginning it may not seem like that, but medicine is teamwork. When you will go to clinical practice you will see that rarely there are days when you have to make a decision all by yourself.

So during medical school try to find the golden middle during team working tasks – don’t be dictator, don’t be lazy, don’t try to outsmart everyone. People around you will be your colleagues where you will be working in a team.

Find A Mentor From The Medical Field

While this is not always possible and sometimes it’s hard to find a mentor, try to do it. The sooner you will find one, the easier it will be next year.

Why finding a mentor is important to succeed?

Because medical school can be a confusing place sometimes. You can hear different opinions from different people on how you should approach medical studies, how to study in medical school, and many other things.

It’s normal that everyone had a different approach during medical school, but for you, as a starter in the medical field, these things can be confusing. In cases like these, if you have a mentor, feel free to ask him what is his or her opinion on different situations.

Senior doctor mentoring younger students – a recipe for success in medical school!

I was lucky enough and had a friend who was in residency while I was just starting medical school.

He really helped me when I didn’t know how to react after I failed one of my exams. We met and discussed why failing this exam was actually beneficial for me.

In fact, he told me that many professors from my university also have failed one or even more exams and it’s just part of the medical career path – rarely you will succeed 100%.

Take one step back and then take three steps forward.Olivia, 5th year medical school.

We hope with these tips you will be able to succeed in medical school, pass all the exams, find a mentor, and become a great team-working doctor!

Did we miss some of the success tips? Feel free to comment and suggest more, or tell us your experience in medical school!