Surprisingly, the notes given in my college for microb is even enough for USMLE. But of course, to get distinction, one must always read other textbooks.

However, in Clinical Years, the power point presentations by the lecturers are grossly insufficient, even to pass. Therefore, we are always munching on Davidson and Bailey & Love.

This post has been edited by hypermax: Aug 20 2008, 12:11 PM

Talking about research, does all med students need to complete a certain amount of SSMs (Special Study Modules) before graduation? It's somehow like a personal research project which has to be done individually and in groups under the supervision of the Research Ethical Committee of the institute. I was kinda confused how should i hand in mine by 3rd year. Tough job.

thanks for all d replies guys. btw, may i know which uni r u from , hypermax?

ill be sitting for my professional exam in 30 weeks time.
any tips on how to excel in my mcq's paper?

Professional Exam 1, 2a, 2b, 3 or 4? Just curious.

And oh btw MCQ plays a very small role in the exams right? If i've not mistaken. SAQ and LAQ is the killer quest.

This post has been edited by csrulez: Aug 21 2008, 09:24 PM

its my final year professional exam
im not sure about marks allotments...but throughout my postings, mcq contributed 25% (plus BAQ) of the overall 50% of theory papers

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Added on August 21, 2008, 11:01 pmand yeah, ill be having my ObGyn SAQ this coming wednesday...ARGH!!

This post has been edited by zergg: Aug 21 2008, 11:01 PM

Omg, final year student. Looks like i'm in no position to comment on the exams. Hahaha. Anyways, wishing you the best of luck. How i wish i could finish my course fast. =(

I'm wondering why my senior(she just graduated from QueenMary University) told me you don't have to be smart to be a doctor.From what I c,my friends who r studying to be a doc study like hell.Why do you guys wanna be doctor anyway?With so much hard work and no fun?

Being smart does not prove anything, it's just an add on point for your studies. Hardwork sounds like the more reliable virtue to hold on. Therefore, one can live in medicine without the "smart" (of course abit of basic common sense is needed) part, but not with the "hardwork" part. Most of the work that has to be done during a medical studies is only memorizing and understanding. It depends how much effort and time u put into your studies. Still, who says med students are boring? We studied hard. but at the same time some of us play hard as well. Hahaa. It truly depends on how u cope with it.

My Professor for community medicine has once said that Medicine is all the while about common sense, but the "common" is not common. Nice quote.

And me wanting to be a doctor? It's an interest. Just thought of knowing out own body is fun and challenging at the same time.

This post has been edited by csrulez: Aug 22 2008, 12:41 AM

Translated to the common meaning, you want to walk around with your Dr title and get your head all bloated up. Some will say it's because of the money and job security too, which I disagree. =)

thanx for that, dont worry.time will pass by very slowly once u are ni medical school..
haha, dont worry la, everything will be a blast. it seems like yesterday i enter medical school, and yet now-ill be working in no time

-btw, any suggestions from the others regarding the final professional exams would be very much appreciated

thanx

What course are u doing?
For me, memang busy..mmg penat and banyak kali mmg balik rumah burned out gila. But rasa mcm worth it.. And what we learn is so fun. Tak kisah belajar banyak2. And not forgetting all the Coach bags and BMWs we get to buy in 10 years time. Hahaha..joking. But thats an incentive.
Another thing is..
U dnt have to be smart to do MBBS..but if u wanna get any higher..dont expect to be able to do so without an IQ of more than 120..

Coach bags LOL genuine lady's indulgence.

the statement is rather ambiguous coz it literally means just about anyone can take up mbbs.
strong academic results are evident that you're good in memorizing, deducing, and critical thinking.
So it's a matter whether mbbs is really what you want or your intellect fits better in other fields
That's y aptitude test exists..
diligence and determination are a must attributes in almost anything you do. the question is how much u'r willing to put in?

Mmg sah sah perempuan!! Haha.
Coach bags aside...
I guess u do have to be somewhat intelligent in the first place..
I say "somewhat" cause I don't feel smart enuf to declare that u have to be smart to get into med school. Heheh..

This post has been edited by crusnik02: Aug 31 2008, 12:09 AM

only in countries like msia, do often 'not smart' people get into med school......

in advanced societies/countries, they select their future doctors VERY carefully, and a basic 1st prerequisite is enough smartness, ie generally from the top 10 percentile, and mostly from the top 5 percentile.....

based on standard iq testing, assuming a normal distribution and 100 being median, top 5% means people with iq of above 125.......and top 10% means iq above 120.......

some med schools only take student from the top 1%, or iq above 137.....

yea they see doctor as a very delicate profession,

in malaysia, i do admit that the notion of one shud take up medical programme just because one has excellent result is prevalent.

i remember in my post-SPM year, JPA launched a program where prospective med students(under JPA) need to undergo 3 days stint in which they do hospital rounds to different departments. From there students only decide if they really want to continue to pursue medicine.
I don't know if this program is still being carried out..

Yes it is. But honestly I thought of it as more of a discouraging session. Only and handful of doctors at the hospitals encouraged you on, but the rest are just telling you.... 'ai kenapa nak buat medik..'

discouraging? perhaps... but they're probably telling the truth about the state of medical careers in our country. It's not an easy road to walk on (which course is anyway?) but to be honest, it's good to have some exposure about the real life of a medical professional before one enrolls in a course that's very hard to get out off without suffering great losses ($$ I mean).

This is why I will always blame soap dramas. Everything will seem too perfect in soaps.

there were many instances where people with little of no exposure to healthcare profession get into med school, only to find they have haemophobia, or just not suited to the job........

to minimise this, potential jpa scholars have to undergo a very brief 3 day attachment......in the early days, there were people who rapidly dropped their applications with that......but lately, applicants appears to have self selected themselves to be those more interested......non dropped out in one group i know.......

the requirement to have 1st hand knowledge in healthcare has been standard requirement in application to uk med schools for some time......

one of the purpose is certainly to discourage the faint hearted........

the worst thing will be to think it is gonna be like er or house or grey's anatomy........