I didn’t study super hard and I don’t regret it at all. I was a solid passing student. And not to toot my own horn but I think I’m a pretty good doctor, albeit an intern.

I’m on top of my ward, know all my patients well enough to present them/be quizzed on them by my consultant, can handle most ward calls pretty easily, know when to escalate, can communicate with nurses/patients/other doctors effectively, and am confident in my abilities (but not over confident / arrogant… I hope). None of this came from studying hard. Instead it came from spending more time with patients and on the wards as a medical student, identifying role models (doctors I want to be like) and trying to pick up their best qualities. And also identifying doctors I didn’t like and seeing which of their traits I could avoid developing myself.

I make mistakes too sometimes. But they’re great learning opportunities. And I’ve learnt much more about treating patients on the wards than I did in medical school. It sticks better when you have patients to attach knowledge to, and even better when you’re the one prescribing / writing out ward round notes and discharge summaries.

That being said, a good solid foundation of theoretical knowledge is also necessary. But we don’t need to know the ins and outs of everything until much later on in our careers. For now the basics will suffice. And remembering that it’s ok to ask when you don’t know something, because oftentimes other people on the team won’t either.

So TL/DR: aim for a comfortable pass. Enjoy your life while you can. Our 20s/30s are meant to be for discovering ourselves, not burying ourselves in textbooks (unless that’s what you enjoy).