Should I Study Before Starting Med School?

Before starting their first med school classes, many incoming students are faced with a question:

“Should I start studying now before I start med school?”

The two most common answers you will hear people give are:

1. “No, go travel, relax, do something fun because once you get here, you won’ t have time to do all that.”

2. “Yes, given the number people that fail the first semester, it is better for you to be mentally and academically prepared than not.”

While I think both answers have their valid points, I think the best answer is to go the middle way and learn to do a little bit of both. While there are people who do fail, they usually do so NOT because the material is hard but because they feel it is difficult to keep up with the pace. If you do decide to study before starting medical school, I say instead of studying for the sake of learning, study for the sake of getting used to balancing study with leisure. In that way, you’ll be prepared to do both by the time you come to the island so you won’t have to resort to Answer #1, where you study all day and not relax because you’re not able to handle the “time to do all that.”

While most people who fail may fail because of time management, some people do fail because they feel the material is difficult. I once had to explain to a fellow classmate what exactly the purpose and basic mechanisms of glycolysis, TCA cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation is. I was quite shocked that he was not familiar with these really basic concepts, especially since it has been drilled in our heads over and over with every basic biology course we’ve ever taken in high school, college, and MCAT prep. As an undergrad, he simply crammed these concepts to get by passing his tests then forgot them afterwards. Unfortunately, although not too surprisingly, he did not pass the course and subsequently decided to reconsider another career.

While you do not need to start memorizing the pathways to all the metabolic diseases just yet, it is good to review to see if you understand the major concepts in cell biology, biochemistry and genetics, and see the big picture. That way once you do start learning the details in med school, you won’t get so bogged down by the details that you lose sight of the big picture. An extra semester will cost you another $14,500 not including living expenses. You don’t want to fail a course that would set you back a semester. If you find yourself in a similar situation as my friend, please make sure you know your basic materials well and save yourself from the risk of losing money, precious time, and making your med school education harder than it should be.

So in conclusion, I think it is most important to start getting into the habit of time management, of balancing leisure with academics. All leisure without studying before starting med school will make you lose focus, and all studying without leisure will burn you out. The greatest value of studying beforehand is not the material itself but the practice of getting into the pace of balancing leisure with academics.

Here I’d like to share with you the topics that we covered in the lectures during first semester, in case any incoming first semester wants to get a head start and do some prepping. All the topics that I’ve listed were covered in order during my first semester. Each topic was covered between 1 or several lectures.

ANATOMY:

Block 1:

• Back
• Brain/Spinal Cord/Meninges
• Somatic/Autonomic Innervation
• Deltoscapular Region
• Axillary Region
• Breast
• Brachial Plexus
• Arms/Forearms
• Wrist/Hand/Fingers

Block 2:

• Face/Skull
• Cranial Cavity/Cranial Ganglia
• Triangles of Neck
• Cervical Viscera
• Temporal Infratemporal Fossa
• Nasal/Oral Cavities
• Orbit
• Pharynx/Retropharyngeal Region
• Ear
• Larynx

Block 3:

• Thorax
• Pleura/Lungs/Pericardium
• Tracheobronchial Tree
• Heart Anatomy
• Heart Vessels
• Heart Innervation
• Mediastinum/Great Vessels
• Esophagus/Diaphragm
• Anterior Abdominal Wall
• Gastrointestinal Tract
• Liver/Pancreas/Bilary System
• Kidneys/Adrenal glands

Block 4:

• Inguinal Canal
• Male Female Pelvis
• Pelvic Vasculature
• Perineum/Ischioanal Fossa
• Female/Male Urogenital System
• Male/Female External Genitalia
• And then we did a week-and-a-half’s worth of Embryology, which is basically all of Langman’s Embryology textbook, which I highly recommend.
• Gluteal Region/Hip/Lumbar Plexus
• Thigh
• Leg
• Foot
• Joints

Molecular Cell Biology (MCB):

Block 1:

• Amino Acids
• Nucleic Acids
• Genes and Chromosomes
• DNA metabolism
• some Genetics.

Block 2:

• Transcription
• Translation
• Gene Regulation
• Recombinant DNA Techniques.

Block 3:

• Cell Membrane
• Mitochondrial
• Mitochondrial Genetics
• Nucleus
• rER, Golgi
• Exocytosis
• Endocytosis
• Lysosomes
• Peroxisomes
• Signal Transduction
• Microtubules
• Intermediate Filaments
• Actin
• Muscle
• Extracellular Matrix
• Cell-Matrix interactions
• Cell-Cell interactions
• Collagen

Block 4:

• Molecular Diagnostic Techniques for Genetics
• Dynamic Mutation Disorders
• Metabolic Diseases
• X/Y Chromosomes
• Epigenetics
• Linkage
• Population Genetics
• Multifactorial Disorders
• non-parametric linkage analysis
• Genetic Counseling

Histology

Block 1:

• Histology of the Cell
• Epithelial Tissue
• Glands
• Connective Tissue
• Cartilage
• Bone
• Muscle
• Nerve
• Blood
• Bone Marrow

Block 2:

• Integument
• Mammary
• Eye and Retina
• Ear
• Respiratory
• Cardiovascular
• Lymphatics

Block 3:

• Pituitary
• Endocrine
• Liver
• Accessory Glands
• Gastrointestinal
• Urinary
• Female Reproductive
• Male Reproductive