Studying for these types of exams feels like one of the most mundane tasks in the world. Here's a sample run through of any of my previous 20 days:
6:30 AM- GF's alarm goes off and she's off to the gym. Grumble, grumble, grumble, pillow over face and back to sleep. Why do people mow their lawns at 6:30AM on a week day? SOMEONE MAKE THOSE DAMNED BIRDS SHUT UP!
8:00- Alarm goes off. I think about getting out of bed. GF puts the news on. I bury my face into the pillow even deeper, hoping to grasp a last few precious moments of sweet-sweet REM.
8:05- Snooze 1
8:10- Snooze 2
8:14:58- "If you hit that snooze button one more time..."
8:15- Snooze 3
8:15:03- "Get up lazy ass!"
8:17- Into shower
8:25- Breakfast/TV/Dishes
8:55- Walk over to the coffee shop and procure sweet, sweet liquid productivity, chat with proprietor lady who is super nice.
9:00- Get set up in the Carrel. Law students are EVERYWHERE...they can smell fear, hide your First aid, try to look hard at work. Open laptop, procrastinate.
10:00- Crap, it's 10 already! Open QBank- 50 random questions...go!
10:49:41- Hold breath, end test, yes i'm sure! Yes I'm still sure! Still holding breath. Stare at results with utter amazement (either good or bad). I'm still that dumb?
10:50- Review questions, log Qbank performance in OCD performance tracking spread sheet. .
11:30- Curse at myself for procrastinating so much, open books
11:31- Procrastinate...who am I kidding, there's only 30 minutes til lunch anyway, how much am I really going to get done?
12:00- Lunch!
12:30- Check email, facebook, blogs, blog comments (occasionally...thanks guys).
1:00- Shut off computer. Hide it. Actually start studying for the day.
1:04- Bored already, stare at the wall, more reading.
5:00- Decide it's time for a run and dinner.
7:00- Back to the libs to finish stuff up.
9:00- CANT TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS CRAP...pack up and leave.
11:00- Bed
Total studying: maybe 8.5 hours
Total procrastination- well over 5 hours
The past 3 weeks have almost made me look forward to starting my surgery clerkship next month. I imagine that actually seeing patients/being in the hospital/not sitting in front of First Aid for 8 hours a day will be nice for the first 10 minutes. Then the novelty will wear off, 3 people will berate me for being in the way/being stupid, and I'll remember that it's 5:30 AM and rounds haven't even started!
4 comments:
Only 17 more sleeps to go!
I am still LOL at your Walken pic on previous post. That is BANG on. The similarity of procrastination techniques, self loathing, evaporated self-confidence, and universe questioning among people preparing for various hoop jumping is almost comforting. I'm on a 5 day countdown right now, but really...countdowns are just empty promises, they only lead to the next f-ing countdown. Good Luck on the looming exam.
I adore this post. It's a universal truth between all medical students. The things we do for medicine... Ahh.
Until you get to the point where you open your window and scream out to neighbours "For Pete's sake, shut that mower off!" I think you're in the okay-sanity zone. As for alarm clocks, I think the average med student goes through about three before falling into a routine. I've thrown my phone across the room and had to have it repaired one particularly crabby morning.
Good luck with the oncoming surgery clerkships. Chances are, blog posts will dwindle as you go through it but I'll be eagerly awaiting post-clerkiship recounts. :)
Heads up and keep penning.
all the best and keep going! :)
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