The determination and the will to succeed are what you need in order to become a medical professional in the future. There will be a lot of hurdles and challenges that will force you out of your comfort zone, and the battle will begin even before you sit down in one of your medical classes. If you’re planning on pursuing a medical course, be ready to take the Medical School Entrance Exam.
This is an examination you’re required to take before you can enroll in a medical school. It will test your verbal and reasoning skills, knowledge in Biology, Physics, Social Sciences and Chemistry.
Within a time limit, you will need to answer hundreds of questions that will challenge your background knowledge of the field, so how do you prepare for such an examination?
Make a Study Plan
First of all, you must prepare yourself before the actual exam.
To do this, you’ll have to know what subjects the exam will cover and this will require a little research. Depending on which country or region you’re taking the exam, you can expect to know which subjects the exam covers on the internet.
Once you know which subjects to expect on the exam, you can make your study plan. How many days are you planning to review? Layout your short-term goals: what subjects are you eyeing to master within this period?
One tip that could help you is: know your weaknesses.
Knowing your weaknesses will allow you to allot more time on subjects that you lack knowledge in. If you’re good at Physics, you can invest more time studying Biology which you are bad in.
Read Your Notes
The best way to refresh your mind with the lessons that you studied in the past concerning the subjects in the exam is to read your notes.
In addition, your notes provide you a way to understand the subjects personally, since it’s you who wrote them.
Take Advantage of Prep Books
Summing up a lot of information from different subjects in one book is the best way to approach this preparation. However, making your own reviewer takes a lot of time and is actually very hard and counterproductive.
Luckily, there are prep books out there that you can acquire to assist you with your preparation for the exam. Some even contain useful tricks and advice to help you pass the exam. Leonard Haggin’s study tips may help you conquer this preliminary stage in the medical studies.
Answer Your Old Papers
Once you’re done with reviewing your notes or a prep book, you can try answering your old papers. These papers can help instill the knowledge in your mind. You can even try answering your papers two or three times to hammer the info hard into your brain. This is an effective step into mastering your subjects.
Be Consistent
The most important step you’re going to take is to be consistent. If you’ve planned to invest three weeks into your review, make sure you use these productively without being distracted by unnecessary things. Being inconsistent with your study schedule can reduce your opportunity to understand other subjects.
In the end..
It’s about time-management and determination. If you like what you’re doing or what you’re pursuing, there is no doubt that you will succeed.
Passing the entrance exam is only the first step to becoming a medical professional. If you cannot pass the exam easily, you’ll have a hard time in the future with harder subjects and more challenging exams.