One more test down...

I knew I didn't do as well on the Anatomy and Histo/Embryo test last week before I received the grades. They were pretty close to what I expected, 85% in Histo and 88% in Anatomy. But I was surprised that the class averages weren't lower. I just met the average in Histo and beat it by 8 pts in Anatomy. In other words the tests weren't as hard as I thought they were, I just didn't study well for them.

Found out this morning that most of my mistakes were stuff I knew and just answered bad. I think I was imtimidated on the Histo written where the first 5-10 embro questions were from the last couple of lectures I wasn't familiar with. I got most of those problems right but I think it threw me off kilter.

Anyway, I changed study strategies this weekend. I studied in the library with a couple guys that aced the anatomy test (#1 and #2 top scores). We spent all of Saturday in a room drawing out metaboism flowcharts and going over lectures notes. It was a new level of studying for me. These guys are sharp and I was just barely able to keep up. But it really cemented the big picture for me. Then I spent most of Sunday at home reviewing lecture notes and filling in the details (like memorizing the emzymes).

I think it worked. I'm dog tired today, but the test felt great this morning. Problem #1 scared me a bit, but I skipped it and flew through most of the remaing 50 or so questions and 3 short answer. I went back to the three that stumped me including #1 and made decent guesses. I know I got one wrong, but what a difference this test felt like!

So, I need to study with smart folks, but leave plenty of time for me to focus on memorizing the new information - even if that means sacrificing time with the family and irritating the wife.

One classmate said that in the remaining 4 weeks of the quarter (plus finals) we have 8 tests. Yikes. But I'm starting to see the light at the end of this quarter's tunnel. Now though, it's time for sleep. I'm wiped out after a couple of 5 hour nights of sleep. For a down night tonight I read a couple chapters of Mosby's on lungs and heart that should help for ICM and anatomy. So it's enough for tonight given the state I'm in.