estrogenics

[estrogenics]

PAblr, I need your help!!

Hi guys, long time no post - I’m at That Point in the semester where I’m getting a bazillion things assigned at once and trying to keep up with that, on top of working, has left me straight up neglecting Tumblr. I promise I’m doing well, and keeping up the high grades, though.

Anyway, that is not why I’m here this time! I don’t remember if I mentioned it, but in May, yours truly will be starting CNA classes! However, I have no idea where to start looking for scrubs, a stethoscope, gait belt and solid white tennis shoes (yes, that is a requirement... no, I have no idea why. I guess I’ll find out?) that won’t break the bank but are decent quality. Until it dawned on me that, duh, I can ask here.

So, PAblr, whatcha got for me? Any things I should look out for, and things to stay away from? I’d greatly appreciate it!

#i did see some cute scrubs at walmart #and ordinarily i loathe giving money to walmart but they had some cute ones #they even had wonder woman scrubs! #of course i thought of supergirlpa s #anyway i have to go work on a chem lab report #pablr #help out a poor pre pa kid here

[estrogenics]

This is a silly post, but

Paging supergirlpa-s... I'm looking through the AAPA merch shop, and look what is there!! I saw that and I was like, "Oh my god, has she seen this? She needs to see this."

#i'm sure you already have but still! #supergirlpa s

[estrogenics]

12

Hi, all! Belated holiday wishes to you all--I don't know about you, but I already feel like 2015 is flying by.

I'm well into the new semester at school and so far, things are going along swimmingly!

DevPsych: for whatever reason, psychology comes easily to me, so I'm having no issue at all with it. We spent a section covering reproductive biology and it was nice, because it totally reaffirmed my desire to go into OB/GYN (I kid you not, my notes from that section are more thorough from all the previous sections combined, and I left that lecture feeling like I could go on my library's rooftop and scream about how much I love reprobio and not feel like a total fool). We're covering neonatal stuff, which is plenty interesting too, but not on the same caliber of attention-grabbing as prenatal stuff. Got an A on my first exam, too--so far, so good!

Micro: If you would have told me I would be loving Micro as much as I am now at the beginning of the semester, I probably would have taken a grain of salt with that--but who knew microbes were hella fun to study? I actually got to host a study session for our first exam and it went really well--like, to the point several classmates thought I was a TA for Micro. And am I glad I did, because about 85 percent of the questions on the exam were things I covered in the study session. Talk about amazing luck, right?

Chem: I'm anticipating smoother sailing this time around; my professor this time is way more accessible to students and doesn't go completely over their heads when teaching stuff, which is a HUGE plus. Previously I thought I didn't have to retake the lab, but I fell literally 4 points short of the minimum to forgo it. OTL I'm comparing scores from last semester to this one, and I'm scoring 4-5 points higher on labs this time around, so... either way, I'm no longer upset about retaking it. Lecture exam is on Monday, so I've been studying every chance I get. I'm aiming to get at least a 90 on this one, so keep your fingers crossed!

Personal BS: I had a pretty nice 23rd birthday last month--although it helped that it was during break--and last weekend I made a surprise trip home. Kind of funny, because my decision was totally a spur of the moment thing, which I am not good at, except whoops, I decided to go home the weekend of the huge snowstorm that pummeled the Midwest. Yes, I did drive back in it, yes, that was not a good idea, yes, I do feel incredibly more badass knowing I can drive in a blizzard.

I also got my tax refund back, which is huge because now I have money squirreled away for CNA certification! I'm thinking May-June will be best to get that done, because right now, I simply can't balance work, college and CNA training at the same time. I want to, though, because I am totally itching to get out of retail and into something that's relevant to my future career.

Anyway, I'm sloughing through a week from hell--38-hour work weeks and classes 5 days a week are no bueno. I actually have to work at 3, so I'm gonna get off here and go back to studying Chem, before I do that.

I hope everyone is doing well! Keep at it, and keep going!

#undergrad studies #general chemistry #microbiology #developmental psychology #personal musings

[estrogenics]

WAAAAH. YOU GUYSSSSS.

You:

Me:

(gesticulates wildly) YOU GUYSSSSS.

Thank you so much for leaving me nice words to come back to! And now to address them individually:

populationpensive: Sadly we're not allowed to keep exams, but I've been making a list of things I'm super good at in chem, and the ones I need to really hit hard. Unfortunately, the ratio's skewed more to the "needs improvement" side...

I'm already formulating a list of things I can improve on next semester, and I'm definitely going to try and create a study schedule I can stick to. I'll definitely be needing it, because I have a larger workload next semester (financial aid permitting).

nicedaypa: Thank you! I'm sorry you had to withdraw in the first place, but it sounds like you did the right thing, so I'm wishing you luck as well!

#populationpensive #nicedaypa #replies #in other news i'm totally excited to use these gifs #i'm such a sand sib junkie #and i love taiga too

[estrogenics]

11

(quietly blows dust off this thing)

Sorry I haven't updating this as much as I probably should have been. Some things to report, but most of it isn't great news.

To get the negative stuff out of the way--while I'm in no danger of failing, I'm not going to pass General Chem I with the grade I want (my top choice for PA school [yes, I've already decided] requires a B or better for all prereqs, and I'm most likely going to be finishing out with a C+/B- if I'm lucky). I talked to the pre-health advisor here about whether I should eat the grade and move on to General Chem II, or retake General Chem I. After a little bit of soul searching, I decided it'd be in my best interests to retake the course.

I'm certainly not happy I have to do this, but I'm trying to remain positive; I don't have to retake the lab and whatever grade I get in this attempt will replace my old grade, not average it--of course, that could go either way, but if I actually get a B or better this time, that'd be fantastic. It definitely takes a lot of the pressure off to do well for the final--not that I haven't been studying for it, but if I don't ace it, then it's not going to be the end of the world. Most importantly though, the better understanding I have of the fundamentals, the more competent I'll be tackling the harder content, which is ultimately going to be the goal as a PA.

The logical part of my brain has this down pat, it's just a matter of not letting depression and anxiety get the better of me. Mental health probs.

As for Concepts of Biology, I understand the material well and have an A-/B+ in that class. I'm not worried at all about it. It'd be nice if my future classes were as easy as this one is for me.

Next semester classes:

General Chem I (retake)

Developmental Psychology

Microbiology

Next semester goals:

DON'T EFF UP CHEM, JUST DON'T PLEASE.

Try to find a better study system that works for me.

Have a planner and actually use it, dammit.

Try to be nicer to myself about grades.

Keep doing well on getting homework done.

The moment I think I might need it, get help.

I'll try to be better about updating this blog, because PAblr is awesome and I should be a more active part of it.

#undergrad studies #personal musings #general chemistry #concepts of biology #pablr

[estrogenics]

10

Crappy past two weeks for me. Cliff notes, because if I took the time to vent all of it in detail, we'd have dissertation-levels of reading to get through:

Been out a car since the 28th--hopefully I'm getting it back this week because I'm sick of bumming rides off my (extremely gracious) coworkers and roommates.

Work has been extremely busy and therefore, stressful; this weekend in particular must have been "Lodge a Stick Up Your Butt" and I missed the memo, because nearly EVERYONE WAS RUDE OH MY GODDDDD.

I have my next Chem exam in three days and I've barely had time to study for it, which is bad because I'm having a tough time understanding a good majority of what we we've covered since the last exam.

Can I hit the Powerball yet? Yeah yeah, money doesn't buy you happiness, but it can pay my rent, undergrad and probably grad school, and peace of mind is close enough to happiness, right?

Worst of all, I'm having a moment of self doubt and don't know whether I should keep on the pre-PA track or fuck it all and just pursue med school instead. Really doesn't help both have extremely attractive personal reasons the other doesn't have.

To sum up in a gif:

Fortunately I only have one class tomorrow and no work, so I was going to spend it powering through homework, studying and trying not to have another nervous breakdown. Good fucking night, and here's hoping my next entry won't be so sour.

#personal musings #pre pa #undergrad studies #intro to chem

[estrogenics]

09

First exams are just around the corner--(un)fortunately I'm taking only two classes this semester, so I don't have to deal with too many of them.

I went to a SI session for Chem this past Sunday, and we took a mock exam there. Good thing it wasn't the real deal, because I only got 19 out of 30 right... ouch! Most of these problems were conversion problems and it just wasn't clicking with me at all, until literally yesterday when I had an "AHA!" moment so I've been practicing my ass off and have been tremendously pleased with the turnaround! I'm doing tons better with converting between moles, atoms, grams, all that jazz. Pucker up, Avogadro, my ass is waiting. Metric system... give me a second to get ready.

Also very surprising--but not unwelcome--is how quickly I've been able to pick up stoichiometry. I just find it relaxing, for whatever reason. I told one of my best friends this and she was like, "... you're absolutely precious with your nerdiness, did you know that?" The sad part is, I'm dead serious when I say I like stoichiometry.

So, the Chem front is looking promising! 25 mc, 10 equations and the rest conceptional. I think I can handle it. As for Bio, I haven't really began to study for that, but we have daily quizzes at the beginning of the hour and these questions are essentially exam questions so I'm certain I'll fare well with that? I'll probably start studying for that after my Chem exam on Thursday, since the Bio one isn't until Monday and I have a better grasp with that than I do Chem.

I voluntarily locked myself out of my FB and personal Tumblr, since I was beginning to circumvent StayFocusd by disabling the extension on Chrome and I'm glad I did. I probably would not have studying nearly as much, had I not. I think I'm going to make that a habit once exams roll around.

Other than that, not much else to report. It suddenly became cold on my end, which means I now have an excuse to wear cute sweaters and wear these super plush gloves my aunt gave me last year for Christmas. Fuck yeah, autumn!! B)

Anyway! Gonna chip away at more of my Chem homework, then it's work from 3-11:45. Hope the rest your week goes well!

#undergrad studies #general chemistry #concepts of biology #exam time!

[estrogenics]

08

So... I survived my first week at university, and so far I'm really loving it! I've been impressed with how quickly I just get down to it to do homework and study, given that I had zero ability doing either one in high school, so I'm really optimistic. Hoping it lasts!

Also have myself signed up for a couple clubs: our school's Red Cross Club (even got in some volunteer hours already--can I get an "OH YEAH!!!" over here?); Colleges Against Cancer (first meeting is on the 4th, looking forward to that); but the one that excites me the most is, of course, the pre-PA club (first meeting on the 3rd). What's nice about all these is, they meet every two weeks and the clubs themselves coincidentally happen to alternate weeks, so every week I get to look forward to something, which will help me socialize and do things, something that I'm not so great at. Haha.

I also have a more financial situation, which is always a plus; I was able to transfer to another location (dunno if I've mentioned it before but I work at a gas station/convenience store chain; not the greatest, but hey, gotta start somewhere, right?) and they run their store the complete opposite of what I'm used to. So that's been something to acclimate myself to. The people I've worked with so far are great, and I'm hoping they'll stay like that. The only thing I'm not fond of is the drive--it's a straight shot down the highway, so while it's not bad, it's not great, because I'm used to living less than 5 minutes away from my job and my car doesn't get that great of mileage.

Anyway! Don't know how many of you have started classes already but if you have, hope you had as good a week as me! And to those of you starting classes, best of luck!! And a special shout out to supergirlpa-s, who's got me as a personal cheerleader for when she starts PA SCHOOL THIS WEEK!! Please give this lady a round of applause.

Apparently I'm fresh out of applause gifs, so uh... have Darth Vader skipping through a meadow with Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, and a vampire...? Whatever, sentiment still applies. Sort of.

ANYWAY! Gonna study chem some more, so stay frosty, peeps.

#undergrad studies #general chemistry #concepts of biology #personal musings

[estrogenics]

I'm actually cool enough to be tagged in these things?!

supergirlpa-s, you're making me blush... or is that the feeling I get when my ego goes up...?

The rules are- 1) You answer these 11 questions 2) You write 11 new questions for the people you tag 3) You tag 11 people 4) You tell these 11 people that you’ve tagged them

If you wanna do this, be my guest! I don't think I have enough followers to tag anyway, and I'm too lazy to think of questions.

2.) if you were a disney prince or princess, who would you be? Belle. I already have the "bookworm" and "talks to inanimate objects" parts down pat. ;D

3.) if you can pick 1 country to visit for a week, where would it be? Probably one of the Scandinavian countries.

4.) what TV character is most like you? I don't actually watch a whole lot of TV, but my gut went with Amy Farrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory.

5.) favorite type of chocolate? Dark chocolate, all the way. Milk is all right, and I won't even touch white.

6.) cheesecake factory has x amount of flavors of cheesecakes, what is your favorite? I've never been to The Cheesecake Factory, actually! I don't think there are any in my state...

7.) your favorite animal? Cats.

8.) your favorite TV show character who’s a male and your favorite movie character who’s a female, what’s the name of the child? Uh...

9.) would you rather go to outer space for a week, or travel the length of the great wall of china by foot? Outer space for a week.

10.) your favorite UNESCO world heritage site or the site you really really want to visit? I've always wanted to go to Yellowstone and Mesa Verde.

11.) Your latest TV show obsession right now? Does binge watching the Simpsons marathon that's on FX count? Because I've been watching that for close to ten hours straight. (Hey, gotta decompress before classes start in 4 days!)

--

1) What color is your car? Silver! 2) Do you drive a really expensive sports car or live in a really expensive mansion? Neither, and I wish I had the funds to do both. 3) Favorite candy/sweet of all time? Kit Kats, with Junior Mints coming in at a close second. 4) When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up? Stereotypical things like a doctor, ballerina, artist, bluh bluh bluh. At least I'm fairly close now? 5) Panera or Starbucks? Panera. 6) Flipper or Jaws? Neither. 7) If you had to live in a movie for the rest of your life what movie would it be? ... For some reason my mind automatically jumped to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? so... yeah, we'll stick with that. 8) What are you currently reading? Nothing. 9) What is the most played song on your iPod/music player/car stereo? According to iTunes, it's "Misery" by Maroon 5, which surprises me because I don't remember the last time I listened to that song. The one I thought it was going to be is second, which is "Applause" by Lady Gaga. 10) What electronic device can you not live without? It's a toss up between my laptop and my iPod. 11) What’s your favorite type of weather? Honestly? Cloudy weather on the cool side. I like the sun, don't get me wrong, but I've always found clouds to be calming.

#estrogenics

[estrogenics]

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR STUDYING SCHEDULE: 

Hey guys!! Since some of you asked me how I organized my studying schedule for this summer, I thought it would be best to make a post about it. It’s the first time I make a post such as this, and I’m sorry for the poor quality of my photos, but my mobile phone has the only camera I have at hand, so let’s get down to business! 

KNOW YOUR DEADLINES: It’s important to know when do you have your exams, when is that essay due and so on. This way you’ll keep track of time and you’ll know how much time you need to commit to each task. I would advise color coding each one, as I did with the subjects which exams I have to retake in september. This way, you’ll have your goals and needs always in mind. 

KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO STUDY: It’s important to be sure of all the things you need to study. As you can see in this image, I wrote down every unit I need to know for my anatomy exam, and I did the same for the other subjects as well. I also added a little checkbox beside each unit in order to keep track of all the times I revise each one so I can know at a glance how I’m doing and where I need to improve. 

USE ADDITIONAL TOOLS: Getrevising is a webpage that can help you create a schedule if you don’t know where to start. It gives you the opportunity to, completely free, add your classes, appointments, subjects and deadlines to create a schedule. You can also give a priority to each subject so they can assign more study hours to those subjects you find more difficult or where you need to invest more time. I used it as a reference, because it is not perfect, and I don’t know if it’s possible to change the study blocks from 1 hour sessions to longer or shorter ones, but it helps you to make an idea of how many hours you should invest in each subject. Anyway, this tool is completely unnecessary, but I used it because my study schedule is for the whole summer (that’ll be two months of holidays) and so I felt a bit overwhelmed by how many things I needed to tackle. 

EDIT AND WRITE YOUR OWN SCHEDULE ATTENDING TO YOUR NEEDS: The most important thing when you write your study schedule is to know your strengths and limits. I printed a weekly schedule from my laptop iCal to see at a simple glance how many things I had going on in a week and how many hours I could dedicate to study. You can find simple weekly calendars anyway or you can even make your own. The first thing I wrote down were all those unavoidable things such as birthday parties and weddings and medical appointments as well as those things I want to do daily such as running, bathing, walking the dog or reading a bit at night. Once this is done, I can see how many free hours for studying I have, and if I feel like they are not enough, I cut down some things that aren’t completely necessary, because sometimes what is necessary is to make some sacrifices. But remember to always leave some free time for yourself, because it’s good for you to relax and get some strength back. Then, looking at your get revising schedule or simply knowing your needs, write down every day which units you are going to study. Try to be realistic, and don’t cram things in every study session. If you can only study tree units in one morning, then do that. Otherwise you’ll feel stressed and you won’t keep up with your schedule, which can make you feel bad and think that it’s not being useful at all. I’d also recommend highlighting your subjects with the same colors you used for your deadlines calendar, because it’ll help you make an idea in your head of your week. 

TRANSFORM YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE INTO A DAILY ONE: I find it better to, once a weekly schedule is prepared, write it down as a daily one, to the hour. Some people may think this is a bit obsessive, but it makes me less stressed knowing what I should be doing in every study session. Moreover, it makes me feel satisfied crossing out things I have already done, and crossing them out of my list! If you’ll feel stressed watching the things you have to do every hour using just the weekly schedule may be fine for you. I used a simple lined notebook and wrote the hours myself. 

PLUS:KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PROGRESS: If you don’t want to make a daily schedule, or if you’re not accustomed to follow a schedule this thick, you may find useful keeping track of your progress. You can write down what you do every hour your dedicating to studying, or maybe you can write down things as “I planned to study for 3 hours with two 10 minutes breaks and I managed to study just 2 units when I planned to study 3”. This may help you know your weaknesses and analyze what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. When you realise things as this, you’ll find it easier to make a reliable and realistic schedule that is up to your needs and strong points. This way you’ll know if you work better in the mornings or the afternoons, if you get distracted easily… But remember that the most important thing is to take things easily and bit by bit. Everyone works differently, and what may work for others may not work for you. Analyze and know yourself, and then no one or anything will stop you. 

————————————

I hope you found this helpful. I know this is just my method, but some of you were curious about it and I find inspiring knowing about other people’s methods. This way you can find your inspiration to work out your own methods and habits, and you’l feel much less frustrated when you manage to achieve your goals, but take your time and be patient. Succeed will take your hand if you work hard a bit everyday!!!! 

#!resource #long post

[estrogenics]

#!resource

[estrogenics]

Aw! Thanks so much for the comment! Seriously you made my night tons better. Lol I kept reminding myself of that too -- only a few more weeks and better things to stress about. You rock! :)

My pleasure; thanks for the message! PAblrs gotta stick together!! (That, and I may or may not begin to vicariously live through you once you start up PA school…)

#supergirlpa s #asks

[estrogenics]

how do you use your ipad to help you study?

I’m sorry this took so long to answer, but I wanted to do it properly and it’s a hard question. But here we go!!

HOW TO USE YOUR IPAD TO HELP YOU STUDY: 

I have my 8tracks app so I can listen to good studying playlist while I’m writing papers for uni, etc. It makes those thing more bearable!! And I also use Podcasts a lot, because english is not my first language and it helps me improve my pronunciation while I learn something interesting!! 

Secondly, I have my documents apps, I use dropbox to share and save all the documents I need for uni. But my favorite one is pdf notes, it allows you to save in your iPad all your pdf documents, you can organize them in different folders and this is how it looks: 

In the circle you can see all the categories, and in the background, you can see my histology class slides. I carry them here because that way I don’t need to print them so I save lots of money in that aspect, and when I’m studying I can complete my notes looking at them, without getting lost in piles of notes and papers. I also use this app to carry medical textbooks in pdf format, which is SO helpful, because I don’t have to go with a heavy bag full of books to uni, and it’s way cheaper. 

Then I have this HUGE bunch of medical apps, but the one I use most are the ones in the circle. 3D 4 Medical apps are simply gorgeous, they’re functional, accurate, helpful and a great resource. Essential Anatomy has been the key for me in this term’s anatomy! Also, you have the most HELPFUL app to study the skull, really I can’t praise it enough. I couldn’t put my hands on a skull at the beginning of this term, so I studied with this one and believe me, the results were magnificent! Here you have it: Skull Viewer. 

As you can see, there are other apps helpful for medicine students, such as Sobotta’s anatomy atlas, but it’s pretty expensive and the free one doesn’t have many features so, um, yeah, just go to the library and get the book; There’s also spinning brain, pretty good to study the brain! Well, you get the idea, just typing medicine in your iPad you’ll get lots of suggestions, but these are the ones I use most. Just try them and see which ones you find useful!! 

I use a lot this writing tools: Pages for iPad. It wasn’t free when I got my iPad, but I think the new iPad models have it incorporated? I find this app pretty useful because I write a lot, and since I have pages in my laptop too, I have all my documents synchronized and I can finish things in uni without having to carry my laptop everywhere! I don’t use it to take note, because I’m a very “pencil and paper” person, but I have classmates who use it for that, and they say it saves them lots of times! So you have another idea there! Also, Textilus allows you to write and edit documents in a lot of formats, so it’s really helpful. Keynote is another apple app, which is pretty similar to power point, but, you know, made by apple. I have it synchronized with my laptop too, so I use it to create and edit the presentations I have to give in uni (which are a lot, son). I have FREE apps, such as MindMeister or Inspiration to create mind maps, and MindTools to learn about team work, management and those things (this one is quite interesting, check it!!) 

If you didn’t know about these apps, you’re going to hear about them now because they are my absolute favorites!!!!! TED is famous program which brings creative and inspirational people to give talks, and believe me, you can learn so much from listening to these talks, I can’t even begin to describe it! It’s not something you’d find “useful” for uni, but knowledge doesn’t end there!! And Coursera is such a great organization! I learnt about it thanks to a friend, and it’s amazing: you get to enroll in professional courses about a wide variety of interesting topics for FREE. Yes, my friend, for free. If you pay a minimum sum you can get an official certificate, but if you are just interested in learning, this is your place! I took a course in Medical Neuroscience and I learnt so much!! (And it’s going to be really useful when I start neuroanatomy next year) 

Finally, I have the famous Microsoft apps to work in this format from my iPad, which is really helpful when you work with people that work with this format: OneNote, Word, PowerPoint, Excel. 

I also use my iPad when I need to do research at uni, but of all the apps I mentioned, I would say that pdf notes is the most useful one for me. 

Hope this helped!!! 

My art background is made by the lovely inchells. I’m a huge hobbit and Sherlock fan, what can I do. 

#!resource

[estrogenics]

I might be the only one, but posts like these are not funny, but unnerving. Yeah, the eventual payoff is excellent, but salary absolutely should not be the reason why you go into the medical field. You might as well be wearing a blinking neon sign that says "I'm in it for the paycheck, not because I actually care about helping you become healthy" whenever you enter the room...

(Yes, I know people have gone into the medical field solely for making bank, and that probably isn't going to stop anytime soon. Doesn't mean I have to be okay with it, though.)

Phew… There is comedy gold over in the physician assistant tag.

#i may or may not have sent this user an anonymous message getting their facts straight

[estrogenics]

HOW DO I STUDY FOR _____________

So I think this might be the question I get asked the MOST often. People are always asking me how do I study for this or that class. So I thought I would just make a master post I could link you all to. :)

All classes

Watch my video on how to study. This applies to almost everything you have to study. 

See below for additions to doing everything listed in that video. 

Math

Do problems. Do all the problems. Do them again. 

Do all the problems in your book.

Get another book and repeat step 2 

Trust me 99.9% of all math classes is pattern recognition. If you can learn how to solve the problem you can ace any set of variables they throw at you. 

Physics

See math—because physics is JUST applied math. You have to learn how to read the questions and pull out the information you need—the only way to do that is to do dozens of questions!

Micro Bio/ID

Flow charts—break things up by group to understand them. You have to group things to remember what’s gram positive or gram negative 

Don’t blow off the actual micro part of micro. If you understand the virulence factors you’re more likely to understand the sx/tx

I had to use a lot of silly sayings to remember all the little pieces of micro. So I would remind myself about the diseases of haemophilus influenzae by saying haEMOPhilus (epiglotitus, meningitis, otitis media, pnuemonia). It was silly but it worked for me. 

O Chem

Do all the problems. Do them again. 

Get another book and repeat step 1 

Flashcard the reactions you don’t understand—put the reactants on one side and the products on the back. Practice these backward and forward. 

Draw out every step of reactions you don’t understand

Circle your electrons or mark whatever it is you lose track of

Count—count where everything went at the end to make sure you didn’t screw up. 

Categorize. Do all members of this group react this way?? It’s easier to learn the rules and the exceptions than force memorize every individual compound’s reaction.

Gen Chem

See math

Understand real world examples. I related all of the stuff about heat to a cup of coffee. It worked for me 

Talk through it! I had to read chemistry out loud or try to repeat it out loud in my own words to have any idea what was going on. 

YouTube videos are absolutely perfect for gen chem!! (There’s even a whole CrashCourse series on Gen Chem that’s appropriate especially for high school level chem). 

General Biology—Genetics/Immunology/Cell Biologyetc

You really need to watch my video 

Cross relate—you have to integrate all your biology together to keep all that information in your head. 

Flashcard only the stuff that can’t be understood. (Like cell markers, etc) 

Charts! Biology is all about categorization and understanding the similarities between different groups of things. If you can simply remember the characteristics of a group it’s easy to know everything you need to about all the members of that group. 

Pathology

Pathoma

Look at the pictures until you feel sick. 

Make flashcards of the pictures so you can at least do immediate identification of what you’re looking at even if you don’t know exactly what the pathology is. 

Integrate! How does the physiology relate to exactly what is going on with the pathology? How does the pathology predict treatment? 

Learn some latin and greek root words. Even if you have no idea what the word means you might be able to figure it out from there. :) I’ve gotten more than one question right by just figuring out what the word meant. 

Pharmacology

Understand the mechanism of the drug—it will really predict how it is used or what its toxicities are for

Flashcard the bare minimum or anything bizarre you can’t remember any other way. 

Figure out the similarities in the names. If it sounds the same, it probably belongs in the same class. 

Don’t learn in isolation. It’s hard to study pharmacology on its own—instead study it integrated with physiology and pathology whenever possible for the best understanding. 

Study as case studies!! What diuretics would you give to a patient with CHF? With ESLD? 

Biochemistry

Charts—get poster boards or tape together a ton of sheets of paper and try to write out every pathway you can to see how it all is integrated. 

Always track the flow of energy!! Where is your NAD/ATP/etc?

Group pathways by the “point”. Are you destroying carbohydrates or building fats? How does this compare to other pathways that do the same thing?

Try to rewrite the pathways from memory then see what you missed. 

Anatomy

Spend a bunch of time with the specimens if you have access to them. 

DRAW even if you suck at drawing

Learn the clinical correlations—why do you care

Thing about everything in relationship to one another! 

Do questions!! Grey’s has a student question book I recommend.

I’ll probably add more to this list as I go and as more of you ask for specific subject advice, but here you go!! 

When in doubt, always ask yourself “how would this be asked on a test?”. If you could write a test question about it, you should definitely know it! 

And always remember that you should study for understanding and not just for a grade—always be learning and not memorizing. It’s more important you understand the material than you get the A!!

Happy studying!  

#!resource

[estrogenics]

07

Alternatively titled, "Beginning of Ends".

Today I got my schedule for my last week at work, and tomorrow officially marks five weeks until classes start, and I can really say that I'm pre-PA. I'm honestly not sure if what I feel is excitement, but relief, I guess. I mean, yeah, I'm happy to resume school because I miss being in an academic environment, but this summer has been so spectacularly bad that I just want something new to focus on. I'm definitely not going to be sad to see this summer end, that's for sure.

I still need to tie up some loose ends, but I can take solace in the fact that I've got a good portion of it done and over with and all that's left is the slightly less stressful stuff. Emphasis on "slightly" here. I don't move into my new apartment until August 15th, so for now I'm in address limbo and in a spare room at my dad's place. Holy fricken boxes everywhere, Batman... I'll be glad when 90 percent of my belongings aren't packed away!

I can't shake the feeling I'm going to be looking back on these entries before PA school and thinking, "Oh, you think you were stressed out then? Hah! Hahahaha! You poor, naive sucker."

This entry serves a double purpose, though: mainly to reflect/vent, and also say hi to new followers! I'll be more interesting in the future, I promise! Obligatory Mato/Yomi gif, GO!!!

Anyway! I need to sleep because I have to work bright and early at 6 tomorrow morning... oh joy...

#personal musings #pre pa

[estrogenics]

#the tree pose is my favorite yoga pose #next to the bow #yoga #!misc