All entries for Monday 27 October 2008

Learning through learning…...

Medicine is a tough course - no denying it.

It is the kind of course which stretches you to the point that if you do have any problems or difficulties they will more often than not come out and bite you on the arse/mess stuff up for you... As I am currently taking my first year again I can lay testament to this, although there are many positives that I can take from this situation. Initially I was upset, angry and devastated at not getting into semester 3... but as the weeks have passed I see it as more of a blessing and have learnt innumerable things about myself, where I went wrong, and where I need to effect change in order to be successful.

One big thing for me was adapting to the learning style of Medicine... having come from a Biochemistry background my previous learning style was more 'learn a lot about a little' whereas Medicine is more 'learn a little about a lot'. A good illustration of this is to compare Biochem to scuba-diving; in that you are diving right down to the bottom (sea bed!) and getting a really detailed look at just a bit of the big picture (maybe a couple of starfish and a moray eel) VERSUS Medicine which for this purpose shall be akin to snorkelling; you are swimming on the surface and (providing the water visibility is clear - which I like to think of as having a clear mind) you can see all the sea-life and coral (essentially the whole of the 'big picture'). This is how to tackle Medicine in my mind, as you must have a huge knowledge of all the body systems and how changes in just one can have a knock on effect on everything else.

So re-organising my 'filing cabinet' for Medicine was a bit of a challenge, and its still not great but for me recognising the need to change my method of learning was the big step, and now I have made this learning will be a lot more enjoyable, effective, and meaningful for me.

Aside from all the benefits I have gleaned from this extra year money is a pain in the arse... the big drawback of repeating, but one day I will be earning plenty and this will seem like a drop in the ocean.

: 27 Oct 2008 14:51 |  Tags: PDP |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem