3 months in as a second-year medical student

Unscripted post, just writing about my life in the since school started in August

Time flies, sometimes I still can’t believe that I’m already in my second year of medical studies let alone being halfway done with the first semester and completing the first 2 blocks of M2 – gastrointestinal system (GI) and blood and lymphatic systems (BL) . Honestly the past 3 months have been really tiring, not sure if it’s because I got too relaxed during the holidays and lost my momentum or that the M2 syllabus is actually tougher than that of M1, I suspect a little of both.

The GI and BL blocks in M2 are super content heavy and I’m honestly struggling to remember stuff even with the help of Anki. The silver lining is that the syllabus is not difficult to understand, it’s just the memorization that is killing me. Additionally, I am still clueless when it comes to histology, nothing’s changed since M1 oops . I truly admire doctors who end up specializing in histopathology because I have no idea how they can differentiate one cell from another when 99% of the time the cells look exactly the same – coloured circles with a smaller, darker circle inside

For assessments in M2, 65% of our final grade comes from the written exam whilst 35% comes from our OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations). The OSCEs are a new thing for us in M2 as we haven’t done it before in M1. The purpose of having 2 separate assessments is that the basic sciences of Medicine will be mostly tested in the written exam whilst the OSCEs tests you on the more clinical aspects of Medicine. If you have read one of my earlier posts where I reviewed my first year of medical studies, you will know that there is a module in LKC called Foundations of Clinical Practice (FCP). In that module, we are trained to take detailed histories from patients, conduct physical examinations and carry out various basic medical procedures such as wound dressing and suturing. Simply put, OSCEs are the exams we have for the FCP module.

Now as I write this, I just ended my recess week and I’m in my second week of the second half of semester 1. Recess week was honestly pretty meh . It was more like a study leave if you ask me. I spent most of the time trying to revise the GI stuff that I can never seem to remember. Additionally, the ‘Stabilisation Phase’ implemented by the government essentially ruined all my plans for recess week (not that I had a lot to begin with, but it was still better than nothing). Even as I am writing this on Sun (17/10/2021), the second weekend after recess week, I already can’t help but feel quite overwhelmed at the number of things I have to cope with in my life. My life feels so robotic, optimized for efficiency but compared to most other people of my age, it is downright boring . I do the same things every, including eating almost the same food. Life is pretty dull at the moment and although I don’t mind it because it is efficient, sometimes I kind of feel that I am wasting away the best days of my life studying.

Don’t get me wrong, if given another chance to choose any university course, I will still choose Medicine in a heartbeat because I truly enjoy what I am doing despite it becoming pretty repetitive from time to time. This reminds me of a Reddit post I came across in the past where the OP was asking for advice on which university course he/she should go to. I read a reply which urged the OP to choose a course with the best career prospects and pay because ‘at the end of the day work is still work and any interesting job will lose its lustre over time. The faster you gain financial independence, the earlier you can start enjoying life and providing your family with a better standard of living’.  Whilst this piece of advice is practical, let me just say that it is also important to strike a balance between practicality and passion. You must at least be somewhat interested in the course you are getting into and be reasonably good at what you are doing to even consider entering a course regardless of how good the career prospects may be. Let’s use Medicine as an example, it is considered a well-respected and high-paying field but if you were to absolutely have no interest in it, I have no doubt that the 5 years in medical school is going to be a huge struggle . Medicine is no walk in a park for anyone, even those who are really passionate about it, what more those who are just here to hopefully get by and enjoy the “wonderful career prospects and pay” that comes after becoming a doctor (if they even make it in the first place). I guess what I am trying to stress is that the decisions you make regarding which course to undertake in university catches up to you really quickly and so be sure to make the right decision or at least one you won’t hate yourself for.

Alright I kinda sidetracked and this post is getting a bit long although I meant it to be just a life update HAHA. Writing this post has been a good time of self-reflection for me and I am looking for ways to spice up my life outside of studying. Feel free to reach out to me if you guys have any suggestions or just to share with me what you personally do to engage yourself outside of studying/working. I will update you guys again soon with more content and in the meantime, stay safe!