What kinds of academic skills do you wish you knew better going into medical school?

[965978]

I know that some med students say that they wish they were more of an expert in statistics when going into med school (reading research papers is also a common one). I even heard someone say they wish they knew programming!

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[965978]

Is it too early to bump this thread?

 

[longhaul3]

I don't think there's a lot to offer. You spent your entire primary and secondary education plus college developing your academic skills, which have obviously paid off in being admitted to med school. Almost anyone who is admitted to med school is capable of doing well. The keys are discipline, critical thinking, integration, and social skills. Plenty of people will say that memorization is the most important but I completely disagree.

Things like reading research papers etc. are often cited but not really that important. Your job as a med student (especially pre-clinical) is mostly to learn the canon, i.e. what is already known, and less about what is on the cutting edge. Uptodate gives you all the most important stuff with links to the primary literature.

 

[JustaDO]

Is it too early to bump this thread?

Well, it's certainly not too late to use the search function.

 

[puahate]

Not in med school but it probably would be Anki

 

[DoctorSnow]

You might have better luck asking this question in the medical student forum and not pre-med forum.

 

[ciestar]

Time management. If only I had learned how to do it better earlier.

 

[DameJulie]

Haven't started, but I would want to learn how to use an iPad for note taking. Having been a paper/pen person throughout college, my hands were so clumsy trying out Notability on friend's iPad.