Mature med student exam went wrong

[Annoyedwithmyself]

Hi all. Just hoping to vent and for any advice. I'm retraining in medicine. One of the oldest by quite a long way on the course.

It was my first year multiple choice exam last week and it went horribly.

I've had some medical issues so get another uncapped attempt in 2 months so the admin is fine. I just feel overwhelmed.

My memory is affected by my condition (brain fog) and all I know is that the questions all looked familiar and I had covered the material. There was nothing on there that made me think 'what the hell are they on about?!' I just panicked and couldn't recall the answers and became more anxious which didn't help.

I haven't had the result yet but am pretty convinced it will be a fail. The pass mark will be around 50-55 rather than 40 so quite high.

Any advice please on how to turn this around? I have approx 2 months before the retake. I have made long hand notes on slides rather than flashcards as they don't work with my learning style and memory issue (meds) and will need to go over all the material. Im feeling like this may have been a mistake and I'll need to think of another way to study and make notes next year.

I'll be working full time over the summer so will need to study around that.

I suppose it's helpful to see this test as practice but its hanging over me now that I could fail the year if things don't go differently next time.

I don't mean to police the thread but please no comments on my suitability for medicine. I don't need it. I've done well so far on the entry exam, mocks, practicals and coursework also had quite a senior job previously. Nerves got the better of me and my stupid brain just let me down on this exam.

He's gone a bit "influencer arse" now - but look up some of the earlier Ali Abdaal youtube videos on how he was studying through med-school. I followed his spaced repetition system for the med-sci bits of my course (I used quizlet for online flashcards and would just do tiny bits each day) and absolutely smashed the exam.

Thank you, I've had a look at him and he comes across quite calming and nice! He's laid out a few useful approaches really well with the spaced repetition. I'm going to have another day off and then start going through the recorded lectures again, prob on double speed and make flashcards as I go.

Op I recorded my notes on a dicta phone and played them endlessly
This really helped me because sometimes I would go word blind reading constantly
Please give it a try
If its not for you I hope you get something on this thread that will help you
Good luck op you CAN DO THIS xx

Wait and see how you did. If you only need 50/55% it can feel like you've got an awful lot wrong and you'll still scrape a pass

Go for it - you've got this! Little and often - I used to get to uni early, go find a coffee and sit and do a couple of flashcard sets on a rotation and it really did make all the difference compared to spending hours and hours slogging away not taking anything in whatsoever.

I know when I created my sets on Quizlet I saved them under my course module code for others in the cohort to use (and future year groups) so it's worth searching your module codes in case anyone's done similar for yours.

Also we were reliably informed that most med students spend their lives making up really rude mnemonics for things like cranial nerves so have a look for 0anything like that out there (cranial nerves were my absolute bloody nemesis).

Thank you all! I like the idea of recorded notes, I've found listening to youtube lectures really helpful, reading stops going in after a while. I'll also check on Anki for any existing sets of flashcards. I would ask coursemates to share theirs but feel way too embarrassed for that now. Also like a good rude mnemonic- The Zebra Buggered My Cat is my personal favourite.

Thanks @SunnyShiner I suppose I could be pleasantly surprised but I'm very doubtful, my recall just disappeared

I've been going through lectures on double speed (or just the notes where its thorough, depends on the lecture and my own notes. I find listening easier to take in than reading), making flashcards and have started a database of mnemonics (the ruder the better) plus a database of specified learning objectives. Feel so much less defeated than last week but my goodness there is so much to go through

Wishing you strength!

How long do you have to wait for the exam result?

Are there any alternatves to the medication that you take? Is it one that is thought to deplete certain vitamins or minerals and can you supplement those to compensate for the effect of the medication?

Good luck. Keep believing in yourself. You'll do it and one day look back when it's done with huge pride I'm sure.

@CoffeeWithCheese OOO? as a specialist dental nurse I'm across this 🙊 heard that mnemonic from a lady tho

Sorry you had a bad day. This may be a little off the mark but would mock test situations help.

It's clear you have the work done, the experience of other high stress situations (senior role).

So maybe the gap is the actual exam environment?

I know you said not to comment on your suitability for the course, but I was in a similar position, although I was a school leaver and did my first year in medicine and although I got really high marks in all the practical stuff, I realised within about 6 months that there was no way I was going to retain all the information I needed to and left and did something else - Optometry.

I now have several higher qualifications in that particular subject, but it's all interlinked.

😳😳 well there's one ill have to work up to adding to the spreadsheet!!

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the support on this board.

So I have a couple of weeks still to wait for results hence getting on with prepping now rather than waiting for my marks.

Good point re exam environment. my undergrad and masters are some time ago now and the mocks were a lot less formal even though they were closed book. I will work up do doing some more past papers in exam conditions

Meds is a bit of an ongoing story but I am working towards finding the best combo. I take.a lot of supplements but still feel quite extensively affected in terms of my capacity. The problem is that I know underneath it that I am capable and enjoy the subject, it's just a bit of a Russian roulette as to when I might have a bad day or week.

Thanks underneaththeash it's good to know there are alternatives and glad you found a path that's been such a great fit. I'll try and forge ahead with the medicine for now and reevaluate if I really can't get past this exam. If I'm honest, im not sure my study technique has been the best looking back but hopefully I have time to pick up.the slack.

Goodness me. Well, I somehow scraped through. Got one mark above the pass mark. I've no idea how, because I came out thinking I did so badly and in most degrees that mark have been a solid 2:2 so not a stellar grade but a clear pass. The stress of these fee weeks! So happy though that I don't have to resit and get a summer break.

Congratulations !

Congratulations! 🎉

Congratulations - you passed and you've learnt how your mind and body functions in these kind of exams to use to help you in the future.

If you have medical conditions affecting your study though - have you got DSA in place? They can fund things like study skills tutors which might help you - I'll admit I found the one allocated to me a bit meh and didn't continue with it, but my mental health mentor funded via it was awesome. They might also be able to help with software - I had recording software for lectures where I could make notes alongside the recording and replay them for revision, and text to speech to read out documents on-screen (I'm dyslexic).

Congratulations, @Annoyedwithmyself!

Some things to consider for next year:

Are you eligible for extra time in exams because of your condition? You may need an assessment.

Is there anything in the exam room that might be triggering your brain fog? It took decades to find out that fluorescent lights and stress triggered silent migraines for me. You should be able to ask to sit the exam in a separate room without the triggers, if needs be.

The action of writing helps commit things to memory, so remaking sets of notes/spider diagrams etc over the year will help. If you've already got a good set of notes, just sketching them down is fine, they don't need to look lovely.

DS finds discussing subjects lecturing me that he is revising helps.

PassMedicine is a popular resource for practice questions. Are you using it? I think it also tells you how you rank against all other med students and students at your university who are using it, which can be a confidence boost.

passmedicine.com

Congratulations - well done. Now remember this for the next hill - you got over this mountain anything else will be got over too.

Enjoy your success.

💐

I'm so pleased for you OP

Thank you all! 🍾

I agree with the tip of explaining something to someone else to learn.:it, it's how I know it's firmly in there, I've quite often done this out loud on my own! Thanks, I'm on Passmed, its really useful. Stretches you sometimes as it lumps together years 1-3 so I sometimes end up.looking things up which is good for wider understanding.

I've got DSA and reasonable instructions in place, the uni have been pretty good tbf. I'm hoping to be able to keep doing exams online even if they change it back. It's much less stressful and the lights etc are much easier to deal with

.