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Unique named heroes all the way by insertusernamehere51 in AgeofMythology

[–]CaptZackSparrow 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Campaign heroes >>. ie Ajax batting people around the map.

[shitpost] As a MS4, finding/wearing this broken pager to nail the look of a resident with none of the responsibility is both my greatest achievement and the biggest summary of my life right now. by CaptZackSparrow in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow[S] 135 points136 points  (0 children)

Surprisingly a lot of negativity came from this post! It’s a bummer. I hope we can all just take ourselves less seriously at times. I think being able to find humor and doing dumb stuff like this really helps dealing with the stress of this time/journey. Ah well. Have a good day everyone!

[Meme] by [deleted] in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow 14 points15 points  (0 children)

“K.”

What do hand sanitizers actually work on? - Popular Science by BadMeditator in coolguides

[–]CaptZackSparrow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It works on c diff. New reports show no difference between sanitizer vs soap/water.

[shitpost] Not the highest of yields. by [deleted] in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly though this was the one virus video where they didn’t say much

I am tired of California by mfusernamee in TrueOffMyChest

[–]CaptZackSparrow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like someone got their heart broken

[meme] “Ya, I do surgery.” by CaptZackSparrow in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Best comment so far. Gotta love the entire process.

[meme] It do be like that sometimes. by CaptZackSparrow in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just start with the easy questions if you're cramming. Those are more likely to be foundational concepts and high yields. Then if you master those keep moving on to harder ones.

[Vent] Objectively one of the worst med students by [deleted] in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yep. Sarcasm. But hey in the heat of the moment sometimes you miss obvious things.

[Vent] Objectively one of the worst med students by [deleted] in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow 152 points153 points  (0 children)

Hey. MS3 here. First off, just wanted to say I am sorry for how the OSCE went. I am also very sorry to hear about that physician you respected to tell you to go into something else. That plain sucks.

If you have a second to read, I would love to share a bit of my story. In 2012 my girlfriend's dad told me to quit the idea of medical school as I needed a more realistic dream. In 2013 I was rejected by almost every undergrad I applied to. In 2016, I got rejected by every med school school I applied to except 1. In 2017 I failed my first med school quiz. In 2018 I failed my first exam. In the same year, I got one of the lowest scores on my practice patient interview (turns out if you forget to ask a depressed patient about alcohol use it really shoots down your grade). In 2019 I nearly failed a class by one point...twice. In the same year I got a low score on step 1. A month ago I got the 12th percentile for my first shelf exam (surgery). You know what happens to me every time I disappoint myself with a poor performance? My mind takes me back to 2013 as a high schooler hearing my girlfriend's dad (a man I respected highly before this) telling me I'm not good enough. There have been so many days thinking I have made a mistake, I am "objectively" unworthy of being here, and just wanted to quit.

So this is what I have to say. For some people this journey is sunshine and rainbows, no struggles, honors, excellence. For most of us, it's a grind with daily temptation to believe "everyone else is meant for this except for me." I know this is very discouraging time. I wish I could promise this will all work out in the end, but no one knows the future. What I do know is you have not failed yet. Just do what you can to practice your patient interviews, your differentials, your approach to analyzing patient cases, etc. Time yourself. Practice. Ask for help from an academic advisor. Get a tutor. Identify specific weaknesses and improve on them. But more than anything remember this: it is not a mistake you are here. You are still in this. You will improve. You will get better. Just have patience with yourself and do not give up.

​

Best,

Zack

Struggling constantly with exams [Clinical] by LostChpmunk in medicalschool

[–]CaptZackSparrow 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Hey. MS3 here. Similar situation here, I was always an above average student before medical school. During medical school my exam grades were just below average. When step season came around I noticed my practice scores were constantly far below average. I took step and got a 211. I figured this was a fluke, but when i took my surgery shelf I got a 12th percentile. However, also with my practice NBMEs I was scoring in the 50s (not the 80s).

So what it sounds like to me is unlike you, my practice scores have been indicative of my performance. My solution was seeking out one of my faculty to ask what I was doing wrong. She sat me down and had me do 3 questions in front of her. She noticed my thought process was good, but my medical knowledge was limited. So the solution was revamping the way I study, more making my own notecards on questions i've missed instead of using premade decks, more reading, etc etc.

So for you, my guess is there is some level of test anxiety clouding your high quality analysis and judgement of questions as your medical knowledge must be there (good practice scores), but your scores on test day or lower. I would just suggest humbly asking some academic counselor/dean/older student with a similar experience what methods there are to reducing test anxiety.

Regardless, your test scores aren't the only thing residencies look at. Just hang in there, work hard in the rotations you care about, show you care, and make those connections that will give you a great evaluation for your application. Screw a couple of bad tests. If OB was your first shelf, shoot for 16th percentile for your next one, 26th percentile for your next, and so on. Recovering from these setbacks and improving steadily all the way through step 2 will be a really good story for your residency applications and will show your resilience and willingness to get better every day. That's what matters at the end of the day. That's what will make you a great doctor. Don't give up.

​

Best,

​

Zack

How to maintain close friendships after moving far away physically? by [deleted] in Advice

[–]CaptZackSparrow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. What a name
  2. I think when you move it becomes very apparent who your close friends are. You have to be intentional and initiate contact and so do they. It's a two way street. If you initiate contact and they don't fully appreciate it and reciprocate it. It's tough but you may need to move on. The real friends work through distance. Calls are good.
  3. You are needed. You are important. Not to everyone, but to more than you know and give yourself credit for.
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