How Med School Impacted My Learning

🎯My Story At Medical College aka Med School

Studying in a medical school in India is a huge deal. It’s the dream of many students in the country and more importantly, the dream of every parent. The competition to get into a good med school is rigorous enough to consume a good part of your high school life into studies. Less than 1% of students make it into a decent college from among 18 lakh students who appear every year.

One can imagine the ecstasy and sense of euphoria students feel when they are admitted into the medical college of their dreams. I, too, had this blessing in my life. It was in 2019 when I finally got admitted to my dream medical college. I am not gonna lie. It felt euphoric when I visited my college for the first time to complete my admission. Every time someone asked me what I was doing in life, I would say: “MBBS from Calicut Medical College” and people would stare at me with a sense of awe and amazement. The above-mentioned tag is a huge sign of respect and pride in this country and moreover, a sign of honor to the family.

Couple this with the fact that there are no doctors in my first-degree relatives and you can imagine how amazing it felt. Without any doubt, those initial days at Calicut Medical College are something that will never be forgotten in my life.

📉How My Learning Was Affected In Med School

The sense of euphoria which I have described so far came up with a lot of drawbacks as well. As much as it was an amazing experience, it was during those days that I realized some of the deepest and most important lessons which I have learned so far in my life. One area which was badly affected was my studies.

It may seem paradoxical to know that my learning was affected negatively at med school. It contradicts the common perception that medical school is all about learning and cramming books. I would testify that it’s true to a large extent. Then, what could go wrong with me at Medical College?

#1: 🧠 Chill-Relax-Enjoy >>> Learn-Focus-Grow

It boils down to a few important aspects which are related to college life here in India and to medicine in particular. Firstly, students (including myself) enter a government medical college with the mindset to chill-relax-enjoy rather than to learn-focus-grow. This is especially true for government medical colleges. The atmosphere in these colleges supports the exploration of arts, sports, and literature. My campus is famous for hosting several non—academic fests and programs.

I could still recollect attending some sort of cultural event every second day during my first year. More importantly, the pre-med training is intense and mentally draining. Most students spent 10-12 hours every day including weekends preparing for the NEET exams. The preparation period ranges from 1 year up to 4 or more years depending on the individual. One can imagine how such a learning culture pushes the students to chill and relax for a while after entering med school.

#2: 📚 The Vastness Of Medicine

In the process, all of the intensity that was gained during the NEET (pre-med exam) days will be lost and learning will slowly become secondary. Secondly, the amount of knowledge to be consumed is as vast as the galaxies of the universe. No clinician or doctor can know most (if-not-all) of the content to be learned within 5.5 years of undergraduate training. Information overload naturally becomes a depressing factor in the pursuit of learning.

If one could complete pre-med learning by working for 10 hours a day, learning medicine would require the whole 24 hours of the day. During the NEET days, we are taught to learn the whole information word-by-word (This is not an exaggeration and is indeed the reality that more than 1.8 million students go through every year). In medicine, however, we do not know where to start and where to end. The textbooks are heavier and the text fonts smaller. The medical terms are at times tongue twisters and difficult to pronounce, let alone retain them.

#3: 🫥 Surrounded By A Sea Of Distractions

Finally, there is always a space for distractions in disrupting learning. I have never been so distracted in my life as I was during my first year in medical school. It was a roller coaster ride for me mentally, emotionally, and physically.

The cumulative effect of chill-relax-enjoy mindset, non-academic fests, and the vastness of medicine severely depressed my productivity. My sleep cycle was completely out of control and morning lectures made me tired physically. I was also excessively into social media spending 3 to 4 hours every day scrolling through Instagram or WhatsApp. All of these drained me spiritually as well.

The situation continued to a point where it became difficult for me to even read a couple of pages with complete focus.

It may seem paradoxical to know that my learning was affected negatively at med school. It contradicts the common perception that medical school is all about learning and cramming books.

Omer Mohammed

⚕️The Road To Recovery

It was not until the middle of the first year of the pandemic, ie, after 14 months into med school that I finally decided to learn medicine seriously. Up to that moment, I really knew nothing about medicine or basic sciences. All of my Learning took place the night before the exams and I could not retain most of what I had learned after the exams.

Thanks to COVID, I was granted a second chance. We had our first year extended for an additional eight months. What was to be completed in 12 months was completed in 20 months. The learning which took place in the following six months was a game-changer for me. The shift in mindset played a key role in bringing the change.

I ended up that year as the second best in my class and amongst the top students in the entire state. But more importantly, Learning well over the last six months benefited me a lot during my subsequent years. It was only when I entered the Clinical subjects that I truly witnessed the compound effect of learning. Learning does not happen linearly. Rather, it compounds over time.

Learning does not happen linearly. Rather, it compounds over time.

Omer Mohammed