Triaging

Med school has taught me how to triage...

No, I don't mean that in the sense of assessing a patient's condition and treating the most severe or critical first (Actually, I did learn that in emergency medicine, if there is a major distaster, a bomb or some sort of huge event, you usually leave those who are least likely to survive and treat those that have a better chance of pulling though...). I mean triage as in: You are getting tested on 4 subjects, the anatomy of the thorax, physiology of heart and lungs, pathology of circulatory issues and cancers, and physical diagnosis for the heart... and you have to decide which subject(s) will only get a short 5 or 6 hours of studying for. It's frustrating to realize that it's not because you aren't trying hard, or using your time effectively, its that you literally don't have time to study everything - there is so much content. With that, I put minimal effort into anatomy because it was only 10 percent of our overall anatomy grade, and lots of time into pathology because this test contained 50 percent of our path grade...

You might be thinking that it could be a problem that future physicians aren't learning everything they are expected to in their first year - but don't fret. Much of what we learn (or don't learn) comes back into play 2nd year, when we learn about all the clinical applications and pathologies of the topics we cover. Plus, the most important years are 3rd and 4th when you spend all your time in the hospital doing rotations and seeing patients.
On top of the core content continually coming back, we also have to take the Step 1 of the board examinations at the end of our second year. This is an exam that people start studying for a couple months in advance. It's pretty intense and covers all the subjects from 1st and 2nd year.

The terrifying part of the step 1 of the boards is that it can determine what specialty you go into. To pass you need a score of 180, but to be competitive for most specialties you need a 225 or above (average board score is about 220). For some specialties, a 235 is the minimum requirement to even be considered. Crazy. This means you need a backup plan.

Always have a plan B... Mine is family medicine, I think.