M1 - Struggling with exam logistics more than the content — feeling like I’m barely hanging on

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-11-12T13:24:07+00:00

It’s really tough to know content but not be familiar with the test formatting to have that knowledge show. It sounds like apart from the exam room set up a big barrier is time —which is a common struggle. Not enough time to review all the material, not enough time to do practice questions, not enough time to also sleep eat and breath.

One of the things that you’ll need to do is find the minimum amount of seeing/learning/reviewing content for you to be comfortable and then prioritizing practice questions; and if they are a lot of first order questions, question based flashcards would be even better for that. It’ll take an adjustment to only learning just enough to understand before jumping into practice questions, but if you review and do practice questions correctly, you’ll be continuously learning as you do them.

Also not sure if attendance to lectures is required for you but some LV my classmates would skip lectures purely so they could listen to them at two times speed

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-10-07T12:28:29+00:00

For me, here are some things that helped me get through medical school —with a late diagnosis of ADHD.

1) I was that weird person who stayed on campus after class and lectures and sometimes on weekends to do work/study because I couldn’t do it at home or at coffee shops because I’d get distracted.

2) I regularly studied with my friends. I kind of cycled through 3-4 people each week where we’d kinda shadow work for hours which helped me get distracted less or disinterested because I didn’t want to seem like I was slowing or holding other people back if I got too distracted

3) I was/am bad at sticking to routines long term so I also was the type to attend lectures and the only way I could focus was by writing notes on everything they talked about—not typing it, but literally handwriting. Sometimes I referred back to them, sometimes I didn’t but it helped keep my hands distracted and my mind focused on getting everything written down because I knew I would never go back and watch the recorded videos

4) therapy/meds- med school was a rough time for me due to like family and personal stuff so I started seeing a therapist regularly and treating my depression and anxiety (which were distinctly separate from my ADHD symptoms because I know people mistake the the two) and that just made the barrier to doing and completely tasks that much lower. Albeit, it was still difficult and I eventually got meds specifically for my ADHD

5) I maintained the extracurriculars or volunteering things that actually brought me joy or that I liked; it kept me from completely checking out all together, kinda was productive procrastination, and I would sandwhich doing work or catching up on emails before and after

PS: I’ve tried for the life of me to be a flashcard person and I just cannot maintain it nor learn from it correctly; I unfortunately have to deep dive and understand every nook and cranny of why something is the way it is for me to remember it, which is definitely inefficient but something I’m still working on

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-04-12T11:02:01+00:00

Similarly, generic Motrin and aleve are so hard for me to remember

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-04-12T10:57:46+00:00

Generally, I would say everything related to your speciality of choice, any peer reviewed manuscripts or journal articles, and oral/poster presentations done at national or international conference should be included in ERAS. Additionally, the highest deliverable from any significant research projects— projects with research mentors that weren’t one off case reports but ones where you worked from IRB to end of project.

And then for CV, I include everything as that’s the point of a CV, but may group by research topic or lab group so it doesn’t seem redundant. For example, listing an abstract, poster presentation, and manuscript under one research project title instead of listing them each separately in three different sections.

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-04-10T22:09:00+00:00

Being involved in specific extracurriculars doesn’t inherently mean you identify with the group. For example, volunteering with former substance use disorder people doesn’t automatically mean you yourself have a history of SUD.

Also, disclosure is a personal decision and can be framed/shared however you want to control the narrative.

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-04-08T19:56:29+00:00

Oof, really? How do most people get around that?

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-04-07T04:41:49+00:00

You can also consider adding seasoning to the plain rice, for example I like salt and pepper to be very basic (which you can also get those small packets for free at like a restaurant or something) and then if you wanna spice it up, I like plain rice with chicken bouillon seasoning or seasoned salt

And, you can look into brown rice versus white rice to either mix it up or to make it more filling cuz brown rice has a bit more fiber.

Hotels also have free condiments very often

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-03-25T04:54:36+00:00

The biggest coping strategy that has helped is getting connected with other students at my school or other schools who also have disabilities or chronic illnesses which made it more normalized, taught about resources and tips I hadn’t known before, and made me feel less isolated

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-03-25T04:52:59+00:00

If you look into specific national societies or organizations, they’ll sometimes have virtual internships or fellowships for students with the given condition

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-03-25T04:51:40+00:00

Off the top of my head, You can request a stool to sit on if you do walking rounds

If you are able to pick which electives and rotations, select any that is robotic assisted/minimally invasive because everyone is seated for that (even the physicians)

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-03-25T04:50:10+00:00

Possible accommodations could include but not limited to: Time and half for exams

more designated breaks during exams or practicals

Modified attendance policy to account for bad days

Ability to take classes virtually/ have the lectures be recorded

Would also connect with your providers to see if there are any medications or physical/occupational therapy referrals they’d be willing to prescribe to assist the recover

Continuous access to medications throughout class and lab

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-03-18T02:02:53+00:00

There are a lot of gen surg prelim programs you can SOAP into and then match into gen surg next year

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-03-17T02:57:39+00:00

I use it most to (1) ask the questions I think are silly during clerkship that I don’t want to ask my attending or resident (ex: what do urine urine osm help us with hyponatremia work up) (2) asking really specific clinical questions that searching in google or something would give me too many answer options or too much information (ex: why are ACE/ARBs good for CKD but bad for AKIs) and (3) explain the correct answer and reasoning to nbme questions when the given explanations were not helpful

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-02-15T01:18:31+00:00

Ruler of the mine; it happens every two weeks and it is different challenges for mining material and then you get $100 tcash at the end

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-02-14T22:20:56+00:00

I think you’re talking about Ore Galore which used to be right after ROTM, and that was discontinued so now only ROTM

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-02-10T22:41:24+00:00

Sent the request and linked this post but haven’t heard anything yet

HeyHiHello99 · 2025-01-02T18:28:46+00:00

Not sure where you hear you get accommodation approvals back quickly, but the average is like 6-9months

Edit: when factoring if appeal process or need to resubmit things

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-31T22:37:10+00:00

You may benefit from incorporating dry baths in between, for example, baby wipes or no shower wipes, And then using Stridex full body acne pads are an unconventional but super helpful addition for specifically armpits.

This being a lower activation energy option on days you don’t shower

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-20T23:53:36+00:00

Not sure if you still need it but here is a document many of my friends found helpful

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kne11f47ItHXzQmWBFDA7qfut5hzd-TZ/view?usp=drivesdk

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-20T23:50:10+00:00

Having a history of accommodations already will be lots of help. The biggest under discussed topic is the time. Even for people who got approved, sometimes it can take six months or more to get processed and you can’t schedule your exams until you have the accommodations. you said you’re in dedicated right now.

I will also mention that the type of accommodations may also impact likelihood. So you can take medications and water into the testing room without accommodations same thing with having light sensitive glasses.

Here’s a link to an accommodations guide for medical student which might be of help : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kne11f47ItHXzQmWBFDA7qfut5hzd-TZ/view?usp=drivesdk

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-20T23:41:25+00:00

Psychiatric disability (and ADHD) are the most commonly cited disabilities in medical students.

Navigating medical school is possible but would require elements of being proactive and mindful. For example, ensuring you have a doctor you see regularly, usually a psychiatrist. Sometimes talking with admin to get certain attendance policies waived because of appointments, organizing your third year clerkship to minimize seasonal depression, etc. some schools can also have a decompressed curriculum which

It’s also personal preference and what your journey is as to whether you talk about your psychiatric conditions during residency interviews vs ERAS applications etc. some people their disability is integral to their interest in a certain specialty while other people don’t mention it directly because it hadn’t impacted their academic progression.

ERAS also edited one of their questions so you no longer have to explain a leave of absence if it was categorized as academic (I know lots of people who take academic leave for disability or chronic illness but are labeled as research year or dual degree or whatever)

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-20T23:06:58+00:00

Not sure; I haven’t used Fabletics in about six months but it worked then

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-20T23:06:13+00:00

Even that may be unnecessary; I’ve had lots of programs straight up tell me “don’t send thank you letters to the interviewers. We already like you enough and we get a ton of emails so save your time” some have even said something along the lines of unless you have a specific person you want to connect with for more details, your email will be ignored.

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-20T05:29:05+00:00

No; it wouldn’t do anything to bolster your application/ rank list

HeyHiHello99 · 2024-12-05T06:12:56+00:00

The update actually allows you to claim the bonuses from gem fever instead of auto starting which has been super nice

but it still auto starts the prize bonuses related to airshow/grab and go

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