Robert the... Gastroenterologist?

According to Geico Auto Insurance, I am a doctor. Apparently 15 minutes can do more than just save you 15% or more on your car insurance; it can buy you a degree. To my delight, I am now addressed on all Geico correspondences as "Robert Swendiman, MD" and I don't intend to correct them. They must have seen that I'm a medical student or something on the latest form. It really is a genius business move if you think about it. How can I switch to another auto insurer now? I'm not dropping coverage from a company that thinks I'm a physician! I certainly can't move over to State Farm where I haven't earned my degree yet; I would have to start over from scratch. Not likely now that I'm a Geico-er for life (or until I get a real MD in a few years). Geico should start assigning degrees to everyone: JD, MD, MPH, PhD. I bet fewer people would drop their coverage...

Almost exactly a year ago, I posted about my first (and only!) failing test in medical school (see: "All Day Gunner, No More Funner" Robby). Talking about grades is a bit taboo, but since I did talk about a low point in my academic testing career, it's only fair to note, just once, that some things have changed over the past year. Yesterday was actually a decent example of how much my study strategies have changed. I was sitting in Bean Traders coffee shop at around 10:30am, per usual, studying with my headphones on, drinking my liquid crack, when a gentleman approached me and asked,

"What are you studying there?"
"Ummm, just some physiology right now."
"Oh okay.  That looks like a kidney right there.  What class are you in?"
"It's renal pathophysiology."
"Are you in medical school?"
"Yes, sir."
"Oh yeah?  Second year, huh?  You're actually taking my course right now.  Hi, I'm Dr. Hladik, the course director for your Renal block."

I'm sure my face flushed, since I clearly should have been on campus sitting in class at the time, but he quickly interjected, "Don't worry. I don't care if people go to class, as long as they study in the best way they know how. I'm just glad you're studying; this is going to be a hard test on Monday." I stop coughing (time to drop the "I'm sick - cough - couldn't make it to class today - ugh, cough cough"). Yes, I was indeed studying, but it was in an entirely different way compared to a year ago.

I have always thought that learning solo was the way to go. It worked for me all undergrad, and group sessions tend to get silly, dissolve, and eventually prove group theory. This semester, however, Matt Forgues and I have found a synergy that has led to improve efficiency: better grades with fewer hours studying. I tend to blow through material, deeming everything unimportant, while Matt likes to go over every detail in the course notes and powerpoints. What ends up happening is we cover the most important material in appropriate depth, skimming (yet touching upon) the minutiae in a very efficient manner. Matt and I have found success with this balance. He watches lectures and pulls information from the lectures, course documents, and slides; I study directly from the Board review books and skim the lecture documents. Between the two of us, we capture almost all the information in the block, discuss it, and apply it pretty well on exams.

So now, I'm starting to think that the first two years of med school are really just about learning how to learn a massive amount of material very quickly. Much of what we learn in the pre-clinical years will change, some of it may even be wrong. However, the ability to acquire a ton of information in a short amount of time is an important skill, and I think our class has adapted quickly. Knowing what I know now, I bet I could cruise through Biochemistry, which was such a shock to my system over a year ago. Dare I say, I would be interested in taking it again just to fully experience the change (and then I slap myself, realizing I never want to touch that material again - wake up, Robert).

With fewer hours studying and improved results, my test average is up double digits from last year. It also especially paid off during this last block, Gastroenterology. I realize that second year grades mean next to nothing; learning the material well for Step 1 and life is much more important in the eyes of residency directors and patients, respectively. Rumor has it that residency programs actually have to call your school to find out what your grades even were during your second-year (something that happens rather infrequently, I hear). However, I wanted to do just a bit better in just one block this year, and maybe throw an "H" on the old transcript. Respiratory was the block I was hoping for (see Block III/IV: Breathing vs. Poop), but I just wasn't able to squeak out that top fifteenth percentile score. Needless to say, after ranting and raving about how much I detested poop and have no future in Gastroenterology, of course that was the block for which I was able to get a little bit of luck, and grab the elusive "H." Again, it is essentially meaningless, but it's nice to get the monkey off your back (or, prove to your Mother that it's okay to sell calendars for charity in the midst of school work!).

This, hopefully, will be the last time I talk about grades, but for my own retrospective purposes, it's nice to have a collection of high points and low points. The ups and downs in the roller coaster of life need to be documented so one can look back and see what worked and what didn't. And in a few years when I'm considering specialties, maybe I should consider GI, since that was one of my better blocks.

Or not.