Five Things that Make Medical School Hard and How to Deal with Them

If you want to become a successful medical student, then you should know the hardest parts of medical school so that you can better deal with all the challenges you might face during your medical school journey. There is no denying the fact that medical school is hard, you need to prepare yourself to handle the academic pressure to become an efficient medical student.

With dedication, hard work and the right study strategies, you can perform well in medical school and achieve your goal of becoming a doctor. Many medical students want to know the hardest parts of medical school. Prospective medical students want to know why medical school is hard and what are the most common challenges they face in medical school.

Here I have listed the five hardest parts of medical school as well as the effective strategies to deal with medical school challenges and become an academically competitive student.

Let’s get started.

1.       Managing Your Time Effectively
2.       Memorizing a lot of Course Material
3.       Prepare for Clinical Rotations
4.       Preparing for USMLE Step 1
5.       Balancing Your Academic and Social Life

Five Hardest Aspects of Medical School

1. Managing Your Time Effectively

For medical students, balancing their time is the key to medical school success. Whether you are in preclinical years or clinical years, managing your time efficiently is no easy feat. Being a medical student, you have to deal with a lot of work, you need to complete your assignments, attend back-to-back lectures, participate in extracurricular activities, perform clinical clerkships, and the list goes on and on.

Creating a schedule is one of the best study strategies for medical students that help them become successful medical students. Make a to-do list and prioritize tasks based on their priority. Attending lectures, completing assignments, preparing for a quiz, reviewing lectures and using different study apps are the most common tasks every medical student should include in the to-do list. Divide your time in a way that you can easily set aside time for your academic and extracurricular activities. This way you can refresh your mind and avoid medical school stress.

2. Memorizing a lot of Course Material

The amount of information you are required to absorb in medical school is 10x more than compared to college courses. Many medical students find it harder to learn complex anatomical terms, while others find it difficult to learn pharmacological and physiological concepts. In short, the amount of course material you need to learn in medical school is huge.

For many medical students memorizing and retaining information is the hardest part of medical school. There are different memory boosting techniques that can help you memorize the course material and retain information for a long time. Using medical flashcards is a great memory boosting strategy for medical students that help them test their knowledge.

Whether you want to learn anatomical terms or understand pathophysiological concepts, digital flashcards are the best thing to make your medical school life easier.

3. Preparing for Clinical Rotations

During the third and fourth years of medical school, you are required to work in different hospital settings in order to get some hands-on clinical experience. You will interact with patients, learn how to observe patients, take a medical history and create effective treatment plans. This brings a new set of challenges as they have to perform well in different departments and prepare for the shelf exams.

Medical students can successfully perform well in clinical years by preparing themselves for clinical rotations in advance. For instance, they can watch medical YouTube videos before starting a clinical rotation in a particular medical specialty. It will help them learn about the most common diagnostic procedures, medical equipment, clinical exams and other important information related to the clinical rotation. By preparing for clinical rotations in advance will definitely make your clinical years memorable.

4. Preparing for the USMLE Step 1

Preparing for the USMLE Step 1 is one of the hardest aspects of medical school. You need to pass USMLE Step 1, 2 and 3 in order to become a certified and licensed practitioner. For many medical students, the first exam, the USMLE Step 1 is the most challenging part of the medical school journey. You need to build a solid knowledge of basic medical concepts so that you can perform well in the important test.

Thanks to question banks and different study apps that have made it easier for students to prepare for the USMLE Step 1. You can easily absorb complex concepts and memorize definitions by using flashcards, taking practice tests and following other learning strategies. Furthermore, you can divide the course material into bite-sized concepts which will make it easier to learn the information efficiently.

5. Balancing Your Academic and Social Life

Many medical students find it extremely hard to set aside time for their family and personal hobbies. Building effective time management skills allow you to maintain a perfect balance between your social and academic life. You can still attend parties, hang out with friends, and do your favorite hobbies. The key is to manage your time efficiently and you can easily find time for your academic and social activities.

Concluding Thoughts

Medical school is hard, but you can transform your education journey into an exciting one by following these effective learning strategies. You will definitely achieve good grades in medical school if you know how to deal with the challenging and hardest aspects of medical school. Build good study habits, maintain a perfect school life balance and use the right learning resources to become a highly successful medical student.