Mentor

I met with a fourth semester mentor today.  This was one of my assigned mentors through the Organization of African Students.  I've been putting off meeting with him for a while, probably because I simply don't like asking for help.  And because of my poor performance last semester, I was embarrassed to share my struggles with anyone.  Also, I didn't really know if he would be able to fit me into his schedule.  However, I decided that there's never any harm in attempting, and there's always more knowledge to be gained.

He just finished his last mini yesterday, so he was in a good mood.  As is the case with most upper semesters, he is glad to be leaving the island, but he is now in the stage where he is starting to really appreciate the relationships and unique experiences he's had on the island. His main piece of advice to me was develop good time management habits. Especially in his case, as they have 6-8 hr lecture days a couple times a week.

 I would say I use my time efficiently most of the time, but sometimes I get caught up in trying to be a perfectionist.  For example, if I start off my morning running, previewing the material, and everything lines up for my schedule for the day then the day usually goes really well.  However, if some distraction comes about or unexpected event, such as having to ask a professor a question during office hours, then this may throw off my schedule.  This causes me to sometimes look as if I have "failed" for the day, and start to think that I won't be able to finish all that I have scheduled.  I need to become better at adjusting my schedule throughout the day and the week.  I also find that if my schedule is too detailed, then I tend to not follow it.  My best results come when I'm scheduling by the hour.

He also gave me different resources such as supplementary videos and question banks to assist in my learning, and advised me to invest in resources such as Usmle Rx and Picmonic.  It is great to have these resources, but sometimes they're almost paralyzing.  There is so much material out there that it becomes hard to pick which ones to use.  Hopefully, I'll figure out what works best for me soon, I'll try to go through them over the break.

Ultimately, the advice came down to be efficient with your time, take time to do an activity outside of studying every day (gym, reading outside material, etc.), and go into each lecture being somewhat familiar with the subject matter that's going to be presented.  He showcased his time management in action, as he said he had to leave exactly as his watch showed 2:30.