Anybody with a 488 MCAT score succeeded at podiatry school?

[xoxo111]

I’m in my first semester and I’m really struggling. I’m averaging Cs in most of my courses except for maybe one or two. I’m worried that I just may not be cutout for this. My mcat was low too so that makes me wonder if I was cutout for this to begin with. I’m worried that I’m gonna fail my boards if I survive till then. It’s just very discouraging because if I’m struggling in my first semester, then god knows what will happen next semester. I don’t wanna fail out. I study a lot too but I just pass in most of my exams. I’m also in the bottom 25% I think. It’s not like I don’t want to be a podiatrist, I do, but I’m also worried about failing out.

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[DexterMorganSK]

You're still a student so you still have a chance to turn things around and move on. I wish I could say it'll be ok but no matter which program you are at it will only get more difficult as you progress (if you don't adapt).

In addition to getting help from others and changing your study habits, I also suggest to read your school's Student Handbook and look under promotions. It'll prepare you what to expect as you move on. GL!

 

[de Ribas]

I’m in my first semester and I’m really struggling. I’m averaging Cs in most of my courses except for maybe one or two. I’m worried that I just may not be cutout for this. My mcat was low too so that makes me wonder if I was cutout for this to begin with. I’m worried that I’m gonna fail my boards if I survive till then. It’s just very discouraging because if I’m struggling in my first semester, then god knows what will happen next semester. I don’t wanna fail out. I study a lot too but I just pass in most of my exams. I’m also in the bottom 25% I think. It’s not like I don’t want to be a podiatrist, I do, but I’m also worried about failing out.

1. How much do you study?

2. Are you required to attend lectures?

3. Have you tried something different?

4. What are exam averages for your class?

5. I have realized that it is not so much about how long or how much you study, but how effectively you study. Whether you go to lectures, watch them on 2x, or just study slides you need to do it effectively. For my school, all questions come from slides and follow the objectives. So you can pretty much look at the objectives and see if you can answer the objectives so you don't waste your time on the fluff. Another strategy I heard is helpful is before you go to a lecture or watch the recording look over the objectives. Familiriaze yourself with objectives and when you listen to the lecture, you will have to make connections.

Do not waste time on the fluff information. Really discern what has higher probability of being tested and what for sure will not be tested. During our second year, often times professors emphasize or point to slides that are important. Even listening to a recording, you can feel what will be tested by how much they talk about, if they try to explain it more, or if they pretty much skip the slide, or say read on your own, or by relevance to the lecture topic and objectives.

I have seen people studying 12-14 hours every single day and still fail or gets Cs. Some study 4-6 hours a day and do above average. So it says how much effective studying is important.

Whenever you have Micro/Immun, Pathology or Pharm, these classes tend to have lots of different groups and categories and details. First thing is to recognize what types of drugs or pathogens are testable material. Some are hard to even write a question for, so it probably won't be tested. You need to make sure you understand groupings and what makes them grouped. Then on individual level, see what makes each drug unique, or what drugs or pathogens have something in common. These are often ways they write questions. You don't need to know all the details on 5 slides about the pathogen or drug or disease. It will waste your time and take away your memory space.

6. Test taking skills are as important. I get many hard questions right just by applying some test-taking skills and miss easiest ones because do stupid mistakes. When I started school, I attended several workshops and met with Student Ed. Center to brush up on my skills. As I never was good test taker. It helped me a lot. Sometimes some test questions help you answer other questions on the same test.

7. I do not think that low MCAT means you will not succeed at school. There are weak correlations with lower board scores, but not with doing well in classes. Certainly not the case for me. I have been doing well enough with my low MCAT.

8. Doing poorly in first semester does not mean you will do poor or worse in the next semester or next year. In general, people tend to do better 2nd semester and 2nd year since you figure out your professors, what to study and how to take tests.

9. Being as relaxed as you can is also good strategy. If you going in for a test with huge anxiety, it will hinder you ability to think and such. I have been anxious about exams in undergrad. Almost always pulled all-nighters and often did not do well.

When I came to med school, I was anxious to fail and had one or two all-nighters, until I heard an advice that they are not helpful and sleeping well is a better strategy. You just never feel ready for exam in med school, especially first year when you have 1 exam after another. But it is good strategy to just relax, go to bed and feel rested the next day. I have started doing that and it helped a lot on many levels. Even if I feel not ready, I go to bed at about 10pm and wake up at about 4-5am and review most important points and details that need to be memorized.

Also, what I started doing is having an attitude going in for a test similarly to: "I don't care how I do" or "I did my best studying for it. I won't beat myself up despite the result". It seems like counterintuitive, but it helped me during my first year. I started doing much better and my 2nd year I am pretty relaxed and get great scores.

Sleeping well and staying relaxed is important. Eat well, sleep well, rest, exercise, find some ways to get entertained and feel good about yourself.

10. I tried several strategies. Some work for me and some do not. I tried pre-made Anki decks. They do not work me. I can't study some cards that I have no knowledge about. I learn by having some general and background knowledge first. I need to have a big picture first. Plus pre-made decks have so much fluff. Most of it irrelevant for my school and pod in general.

I tried making my own cards. Takes so much time. Crazy. I tried copying and pasting important slides with occlusions. Takes less time. But still, so much time and even being very conservative, too many slides are made. Plus, I realized that whenever I test myself by image occlusions and such, I answer them correctly mostly because of all the cues on the slide or the card in general. I can click space bar just by seeing the card again. Not productive, because on the test there won't be any similar cues.

My study way is to actively listen to the lecture once at 2x. I have realized that I retain more than 60-70% for most classes. Then I make several focused passes by making connections, associations, mnemonics, grouping, and such. Morning of the test, I review details. If I have time, I quickly read up elsewhere on some things which makes it stick even more.

 

[xoxo111]

1. How much do you study?

2. Are you required to attend lectures?

3. Have you tried something different?

4. What are exam averages for your class?

5. I have realized that it is not so much about how long or how much you study, but how effectively you study. Whether you go to lectures, watch them on 2x, or just study slides you need to do it effectively. For my school, all questions come from slides and follow the objectives. So you can pretty much look at the objectives and see if you can answer the objectives so you don't waste your time on the fluff. Another strategy I heard is helpful is before you go to a lecture or watch the recording look over the objectives. Familiriaze yourself with objectives and when you listen to the lecture, you will have to make connections.

Do not waste time on the fluff information. Really discern what has higher probability of being tested and what for sure will not be tested. During our second year, often times professors emphasize or point to slides that are important. Even listening to a recording, you can feel what will be tested by how much they talk about, if they try to explain it more, or if they pretty much skip the slide, or say read on your own, or by relevance to the lecture topic and objectives.

I have seen people studying 12-14 hours every single day and still fail or gets Cs. Some study 4-6 hours a day and do above average. So it says how much effective studying is important.

Whenever you have Micro/Immun, Pathology or Pharm, these classes tend to have lots of different groups and categories and details. First thing is to recognize what types of drugs or pathogens are testable material. Some are hard to even write a question for, so it probably won't be tested. You need to make sure you understand groupings and what makes them grouped. Then on individual level, see what makes each drug unique, or what drugs or pathogens have something in common. These are often ways they write questions. You don't need to know all the details on 5 slides about the pathogen or drug or disease. It will waste your time and take away your memory space.

6. Test taking skills are as important. I get many hard questions right just by applying some test-taking skills and miss easiest ones because do stupid mistakes. When I started school, I attended several workshops and met with Student Ed. Center to brush up on my skills. As I never was good test taker. It helped me a lot. Sometimes some test questions help you answer other questions on the same test.

7. I do not think that low MCAT means you will not succeed at school. There are weak correlations with lower board scores, but not with doing well in classes. Certainly not the case for me. I have been doing well enough with my low MCAT.

8. Doing poorly in first semester does not mean you will do poor or worse in the next semester or next year. In general, people tend to do better 2nd semester and 2nd year since you figure out your professors, what to study and how to take tests.

9. Being as relaxed as you can is also good strategy. If you going in for a test with huge anxiety, it will hinder you ability to think and such. I have been anxious about exams in undergrad. Almost always pulled all-nighters and often did not do well.

When I came to med school, I was anxious to fail and had one or two all-nighters, until I heard an advice that they are not helpful and sleeping well is a better strategy. You just never feel ready for exam in med school, especially first year when you have 1 exam after another. But it is good strategy to just relax, go to bed and feel rested the next day. I have started doing that and it helped a lot on many levels. Even if I feel not ready, I go to bed at about 10pm and wake up at about 4-5am and review most important points and details that need to be memorized.

Also, what I started doing is having an attitude going in for a test similarly to: "I don't care how I do" or "I did my best studying for it. I won't beat myself up despite the result". It seems like counterintuitive, but it helped me during my first year. I started doing much better and my 2nd year I am pretty relaxed and get great scores.

Sleeping well and staying relaxed is important. Eat well, sleep well, rest, exercise, find some ways to get entertained and feel good about yourself.

thank you for your detailed response. I do attend mandatory lectures and I do feel like that takes a lot of my day as I’ve a three hour total commute time. I also feel like I’m not a good test taker at all, especially on tests where there are similar answer choices (that’s when I really screwup). I do study like four to five hours every day but not do well or decent enough. The class averages are in the 80s except for biochem, where the class average is a fail. I just don’t know how to study effectively I suppose. I did change my study habits which helped a little bit, but not drastically. I get tutoring now which is helping too. my last histo exam, I walked out thinking I’d get at least a 90, but ended up getting a score in the 70s. It really sucks when you’re putting in so much time and work with no results. I also don’t like the school per se so maybe that plays a small role.

 

[de Ribas]

thank you for your detailed response. I do attend mandatory lectures and I do feel like that takes a lot of my day as I’ve a three hour total commute time. I also feel like I’m not a good test taker at all, especially on tests where there are similar answer choices (that’s when I really screwup). I do study like four to five hours every day but not do well or decent enough. The class averages are in the 80s except for biochem, where the class average is a fail. I just don’t know how to study effectively I suppose. I did change my study habits which helped a little bit, but not drastically. I get tutoring now which is helping too. my last histo exam, I walked out thinking I’d get at least a 90, but ended up getting a score in the 70s. It really sucks when you’re putting in so much time and work with no results. I also don’t like the school per se so maybe that plays a small role.

How you feel about school and in general, plays some role too. You really need to make sure you have more positive outlook even if it feels counterintuitive. Because it's a loop of feeling bad and doing poorly. Feeling better is one way to start getting put of that loop. Once you are more positive, you will have better outcome. Once you have better results, you will feel even better, creating new loop.

Just remember that you don't have to stick to some habit if it doesn't work. I have never been tutored, so I do not know how yours works. I have been tutoring other a lot and still do. I make sure it is interesting and interactive and not like another lecture that you hate going to. Make sure tutoring time spent effectively. I study better when I explain things and get corrected and when I am able to ask questions and get corrected. If you are just lectured to, it might be waste of time. I have seen all kinds of ways people do. Who are the tutors? Are they students, someone from faculty or someone from student help center in general?

 

[de Ribas]

I do study like four to five hours every day

Is that after a day of lectures? How long you stay in school on average?

If you have mandatory attendance and come home in the afternoon or wherever you study, I would suggest to plan couple hours of break after school and then study. Honestly, I won't be able to study effectively if I statyed at school from 8-9am until like 2-3pm. I would just drain myself studying for 4-5 hours afterwards.

If I would have to stay at school from 8am-2pm, I would go do something fun for couple of hours for sure. Recharge. And then go study until the evening. If you go straight to the library or home to study after mandatory lectures, I think it is waste of time. Because you are tired. You can't retain any more info. You need to relax. Exercise. Run. Laugh with someone. Maybe watch something funny to laugh out loud. Just to get positive emotions going. Eat well.

You need to have positive emotions when you go back to studying. If you are tired and drained and hate going back to studying after day of mandatory lecture, it won't be productive no matter what strategy you have or how long you study. Ok, sometimes we are drained but still have to study, because hard exam is next day or in two days. That's ok. But should not be normal practice.

If you are at the lecture because it is mandatory, make sure you are actively listening. Actively. Making connections. Otherwise its waste of time. I can't sit through the lectures. I get tired pretty quickly because I can't ask questions, can't pause to make a quick research or do anything. If you browse, or look on FB or do anything else during lecture, you quickly get behind and your time is wasted. If you find yourself lost and if you are allowed, you could just study your own material. I see lots of people just study their own slides or do anki during lectures.

You have to do either. Either study other lectures slides or actively listen to your mandatory lectures. Otherwise you get tired and drained for no good result.

 

[xoxo111]

Is that after a day of lectures? How long you stay in school on average?

If you have mandatory attendance and come home in the afternoon or wherever you study, I would suggest to plan couple hours of break after school and then study. Honestly, I won't be able to study effectively if I statyed at school from 8-9am until like 2-3pm. I would just drain myself studying for 4-5 hours afterwards.

If I would have to stay at school from 8am-2pm, I would go do something fun for couple of hours for sure. Recharge. And then go study until the evening. If you go straight to the library or home to study after mandatory lectures, I think it is waste of time. Because you are tired. You can't retain any more info. You need to relax. Exercise. Run. Laugh with someone. Maybe watch something funny to laugh out loud. Just to get positive emotions going. Eat well.

You need to have positive emotions when you go back to studying. If you are tired and drained and hate going back to studying after day of mandatory lecture, it won't be productive no matter what strategy you have or how long you study. Ok, sometimes we are drained but still have to study, because hard exam is next day or in two days. That's ok. But should not be normal practice.

If you are at the lecture because it is mandatory, make sure you are actively listening. Actively. Making connections. Otherwise its waste of time. I can't sit through the lectures. I get tired pretty quickly because I can't ask questions, can't pause to make a quick research or do anything. If you browse, or look on FB or do anything else during lecture, you quickly get behind and your time is wasted. If find yourself lost and if you are aloud, you could just study your own material. I see lots of people just study their own slides or do anki during lectures.

You have to do either. Either study other lectures slides or actively listen to your mandatory lectures. Otherwise you get tired and drained for no good result.

hah I wish I was in class till 3pm. It’s more like 5pm so essentially 8-9 hours a day at school. Right now we’ve short days because finals start this week. The tutors are mostly second year students. They’re okay but not that great, they do tell me important things to remember for the exams which are helpful. I know I’ll only be in school essential a year and a half more because after that it’s all clinical but it’s just going through that year and a half, and my anxiety doesn’t help either. Every morning I wake up, and I think to myself, how the hell am I going to go through this for the next four years. I am very scared especially when I devoted my whole undergrad trying to go to med school, and now here I am, failing.

 

[de Ribas]

hah I wish I was in class till 3pm. It’s more like 5pm so essentially 8-9 hours a day at school. Right now we’ve short days because finals start this week. The tutors are mostly second year students. They’re okay but not that great, they do tell me important things to remember for the exams which are helpful. I know I’ll only be in school essential a year and a half more because after that it’s all clinical but it’s just going through that year and a half, and my anxiety doesn’t help either. Every morning I wake up, and I think to myself, how the hell am I going to go through this for the next four years. I am very scared especially when I devoted my whole undergrad trying to go to med school, and now here I am, failing.

You are not failing. You are passing. Just need to make some corrections to do better and then some corrections next semester to get better and so on.

Some 3rd years I talked to told me that 3rd year (clinicals and local rotations) is so much better and they would not never go back to 1-2 years. They told me it gets so much better. I find 2nd year to be so much better for me. Maybe it's just my subjective feeling. But I am doing better academically, physically, emotionally, spiritually and such. I anticipate next semester to be even better.

So, depends on your school, it probably will get better for you, not worse. You will get used to it and get better.

Are all of your lectures mandatory or some classes?

If you are at school from 8am-5pm, you need to make sure this time is not wasted. Otherwise, you have been at a 8-5 job and then need to start studying from scratch once you come home. Anyone who comes home after 8-5 job wants to come and relax. What I am saying is that this time has to be productive.

I have not had an experience to give you advice on this type of schedule, but maybe what I would do is give yourselve a break during that day. Meaning, maybe just not to listen to 1 or 2 lectures during that 8-5 period and just relax. Do something else. I don't know. I can't sit still for 4 lectures in a row. Hard to give you advice here. Maybe pick some lectures that are relatively easier and you know what you will need to study and just ignore it all together and have 50 minutes off relaxing during the lecture and then go back to active listening. Idk. I would not be able to just sit there from 8-5 and be concentrated.

With full day of mandatory lectures see what other students at your school do or how successful 2nd years did it to avoid being exhausted and still be able to study afterwards.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

three hour total commute time.

@de Ribas did an excellent job with his replies...I just want to add that maybe move closer to school next term. Without having to worry about the commute, you will spend those time relaxing and recharging to get back to studying. Other than that, remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint...try to do something outside of school at least once a week. Mental breaks are essential for doing well in the long run.

 

[xoxo111]

You are not failing. You are passing. Just need to make some corrections to do better and then some corrections next semester to get better and so on.

Some 3rd years I talked to told me that 3rd year (clinicals and local rotations) is so much better and they would not never go back to 1-2 years. They told me it gets so much better. I find 2nd year to be so much better for me. Maybe it's just my subjective feeling. But I am doing better academically, physically, emotionally, spiritually and such. I anticipate next semester to be even better.

So, depends on your school, it probably will get better for you, not worse. You will get used to it and get better.

Are all of your lectures mandatory or some classes?

If you are at school from 8am-5pm, you need to make sure this time is not wasted. Otherwise, you have been at a 8-5 job and then need to start studying from scratch once you come home. Anyone who comes home after 8-5 job wants to come and relax. What I am saying is that this time has to be productive.

I have not had an experience to give you advice on this type of schedule, but maybe what I would do is give yourselve a break during that day. Meaning, maybe just not to listen to 1 or 2 lectures during that 8-5 period and just relax. Do something else. I don't know. I can't sit still for 4 lectures in a row. Hard to give you advice here. Maybe pick some lectures that are relatively easier and you know what you will need to study and just ignore it all together and have 50 minutes off relaxing during the lecture and then go back to active listening. Idk. I would not be able to just sit there from 8-5 and be concentrated.

With full day of mandatory lectures see what other students at your school do or how successful 2nd years did it to avoid being exhausted and still be able to study afterwards.

All my lectures are mandatory unfortunately. But I always attend half days if I’ve an exam next day, except when I’ve lab: can’t skip that. It is very exhausting and I feel guilty if I don’t study after coming home. Sometimes I don’t study if I’m too exhausted but end up blaming myself for not doing so well because I didn’t study. I’ll try to take breaks in between my lectures like you said. It is unbearable to sit through lectures for 8 hours a day, you should see the faces of some of my classmates after lunch lol

 

[xoxo111]

@de Ribas did an excellent job with his replies...I just want to add that maybe move closer to school next term. Without having to worry about the commute, you will spend those time relaxing and recharging to get back to studying. Other than that, remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint...try to do something outside of school at least once a week. Mental breaks are essential for doing well in the long run.

I am looking for something closer but the area is just so damn expensive. I think what really scared me was that our dean, yesterday, became pissed at the lower 20-25% of our class and had to make two of our finals non cumulative. I think that’s why I’m so scared now that maybe I won’t even pass boards.

 

[OblivionDPM]

I’m in my first semester and I’m really struggling. I’m averaging Cs in most of my courses except for maybe one or two. I’m worried that I just may not be cutout for this. My mcat was low too so that makes me wonder if I was cutout for this to begin with. I’m worried that I’m gonna fail my boards if I survive till then. It’s just very discouraging because if I’m struggling in my first semester, then god knows what will happen next semester. I don’t wanna fail out. I study a lot too but I just pass in most of my exams. I’m also in the bottom 25% I think. It’s not like I don’t want to be a podiatrist, I do, but I’m also worried about failing out.

So I am not sure which program you are from, but MCAT is NOT 100% on predicting your worth in medical school. There are outlier's. I am not far off from your MCAT and I have a 3.8+ GPA going into my second year. On the other hand, I know a handful of students whose MCATs are 500+ and some have failed classes and are struggling right now. It will be different for everyone depending on one's background. I will put a disclaimer that I did do a Masters in Health Science.

What will really determine how well you succeed is how much effort you put into it. Your mindset needs to be there, habits need to changed, styles of learning perhaps adjusted. Find your weaknesses and fix them. I know I'm being very general in my terminology, but a lot of people have already asked the important questions that I would have asked.

If you want any further advice, feel free to message me privately!

Hope this helps!

 

[DPMStudent159]

Highly agree with everyone here. I had a 489 MCAT and got all Bs and A's first semester. MCAT might be a predictor for medical school's to see if you are willing to put the time in to do good at their school, but not for the material that they are going to be preparing you for the boards! Totally a different ball game. Maybe the biochemistry and basic cell bio/genetics, but besides that, there is basically no repeat material from undergrad! I know a student who dropped out 3/4 way through first semester and claimed to have a 504 MCAT. So yeah, definitely no!