8:11AM – Woke up. Overslept. Fortunately my roommate (a 2nd year medical student) knew I had a 9AM mandatory lecture and woke me up. Definitely stayed up too late studying for the exam at the end of this week. Feeling groggy, but some coffee helps. It’s only a 15 minute drive to school, I can shower, jump in the car, if there’s parking spots open I should be ok. Thus begins a typical day in the life of a medical student who is in their first year.

8:51AM – There are no parking spots open. I park what feels like a mile away, grab my bag, and rush in.

8:58AM – Made it into the lecture hall with two minutes to spare before our 9AM lecture. Nice. The hall is only about hall full. 

9:12AM – Lecture starts. The instructor had some problems with the microphone batteries and needed the tech support people to come. I use the time to keep reviewing notes for our upcoming exam. People continued to trickle in while the presentation was being setup and now the hall is full. Most lectures I’d study notes while they talked, but today’s lecture is mandatory because it’s on the Human Gross Anatomy exam later this week. I take careful notes on what will be tested and what we need to know.

9:55AM – We take a 5 minute break. I get more coffee. This also gives me a chance to pet the emotional support dog they bring in before exams and talk to some friends. I am a little relieved that they are also feeling the stress of this upcoming Human Gross Anatomy exam. We all plan to spend some time in the cadaver lab later today after lunch then even later after lectures. 

10:00AM – Lecture resumes promptly on time. I’m starting to really feel the stress now. This is the third Human Gross Anatomy exam of the year and we only have one more before the winter break. So far I’ve passed both, but it’s only been by a few points. I definitely don’t have any wiggle room for a bad grade. 

10:52AM – Non-Mandatory Histology Lecture is next. Our next exam in Histo won’t be for another 3 weeks. I leave with the majority of the other first years before the histo teacher shows up and it would be embarrassing. The lecture will be recorded and I make plans to watch it later – after this exam.

10:55AM – Gym time! I’ve actually been pretty bad with going for the last two months. I know I should go more, and I used to go at least 3 times a week. Now a weekly visit is about the best I do. 

11:25AM – My anxiety gets the better of me and I wrap up my time at the gym. I change into my scrubs in the locker room and get some lunch. 

11:45AM – I head to the Cadaver Lab and text my friends that I’ll be up there. I drop my bag off outside the room and head in. The lab is packed with other first year students.

11:55AM – It’s weird how used to this I’ve gotten. If I had to rate the top 10 things I was worried about in medical school, this lab would be really high on that list. Now I don’t even bat an eye as I search for a nerve and carefully dissect tissue. In fact I’m way more worried about my grades then the cadavers.

12:05PM – My friends join me in the lab. One asks if I’d be interested in helping setup the gratitude ceremony for the cadavers that we hold every year December. I genuinely want to help, but I first verify when they would need my help. It’s after the test. I agree to help setup the room and read a poem by Henry Scott-Holland. We spend the next three hours testing each other and finding structures that the teacher guaranteed would be on the exam. I’m a little wary, they guaranteed structures in the past that didn’t show up and didn’t mention a few that did. I better be sure to know everything.

2:05PM – My confidence is growing a little. I feel like I can at least point out structures to my friends. I am not confidence I can reproduce this during the exam.

2:50PM – We leave the cadaver room. I would have stayed longer, but Human Gross Anatomy (HGA) is not my only exam this week. We also have an exam on Genetics. Unlike HGA we’re not done covering new material that will be on the exam. I know that I may want to ask questions… so I really need to attend in person and not watch a lecture. So it’s time to go to Genetics class. I notice the crowd has grown around the emotional support dog as I pass her in the hall. 

3:55pm – Unbelievable. How can they cover this much stuff so close to the exam?! We have three days and the HGA exam and I have to learn all this too? It also feels like I won’t really need to know this stuff for at least 2 more years. I try to banish thoughts like that from my mind and create a plan to add genetics to my studying tonight. 

4:05pm – I head back to the cadaver lab. Most of my friends are also there and are grumbling about genetics. We plan to leave earlier then we expected to give ourselves time to study this mountain of new material.

5:30pm – I change out of my scrubs and into regular clothing. Mainly so I don’t stink up the library. Before heading in I grab some dinner before our café closes. Was thinking about attending a pediatrics club meeting today, but way too busy.

9:30pm – I leave the library. My mind has been wandering for the last 30 minutes and I’m not making as much progress anymore. I get back to my apartment about 40 minutes before my roommate. He thinks he remembers the genetics teacher doing something similar last year. He recommends we definitely focus on studying from the material from today’s class as it’s really High Yield for this exam – or maybe it was HY for the next exam? It’s definitely HY for some exam. He looks tired and I steel myself for a late night now that I feel I have more focus. 

1:25am – I head to bed. As I drift off to sleep I realized I only really studied Genetics and Gross Anatomy today. I make sure my cell phone alarm is set for 7:40AM. There’s an “optional” 8:30AM review with the teacher in the cadaver lab. Everyone’s going to be there. My last thoughts before I fall asleep are “Gotta make sure I watch that histo lecture sometime after these exams…”