What To Expect In 2nd Year Medic UCC

Assalamualaikum..!

First of all, congrats to my first year juniors that have passed with flying colours in the summer exam. For those yang kena resit for the autumn exam, don't worry, just stay in focus, plan your revision schedule properly, ask help from your supportive batchmates or seniors, insyaAllah semua orang sedia membantu kawan masing-masing, kan?


Basically today, I just wanna share an insight about 2nd year of medic. I'm pretty sure most of you sangat excited kan nak masuk a stressful life as a 2nd year medical student, hehe. So, I hope this sharing can help a lil bit on your preparation for the next term.







Let me start with BH 2002: Person, Culture and Society

Amaran pertama, ada case okey pelajar fail in BH paper, so please take serious about this module. Attend all the lectures eventho at the end of the class, you think you just learnt nothing. BH sangat seronok sebenarnya, jadi sila ambik feel everytime you come to BH lectures and tutorials. And then, please pay attention to the lecturers eventho topik tu macam boring, so that nanti bila dah dekat-dekat dengan exam summer( hari tu kitorang kena jawab 6 essays in 3hours), korang takkan struggle too much untuk fahamkan semua topik (rasanya macam ada 15-20 topik kot in total).

Under this module juga ada Family Attachment Scheme (FAS), selalunya akan visit patient kat rumah diorang in pairs. As for me, I'm quite lucky, because my partner before pergi visit, he already prepare what questions to ask, so ini akan menjimatkan masa masa kat rumah patient. They suggest us to do 5 visits, but if we manage to get a lot of information by 2-3 visits, pun dah okey. And then after that, you are required to write an essay about your family visit and what you learnt from it in 3000words kalau tak salah. Kalau patients tak kisah untuk korang catat masa visit, then it's ok. Tapi kalau you guys don't prefer that way, so as soon as you guys step out from the patient's house, recall balik information yang dah dapat so nanti takde la lupa.







Next, the module that make you feel like you are handling medical case in House Series : CP2001 Clinical Science and Practise

Lepas habis module ni, I've just realised that module ni menyeronokkan. Jadi, my advice is, whenever you attend CP class, act like you are a real doctor, examine patients, and then discuss pasal how to identify this patient had bla bla bla, how to manage this patients and a lot more stuffs to learn! Basically CP in 2nd year lebih kurang macam 1st year juga, tapi ada tambahan untuk neurological examination, parkinson, diabetes, hypertension, stroke and hehe banyak lagi! Tapi seronok! So, please lah, try to make effort to make your own short notes for each topic before/after attend the CP class so that bila nak dekat exam, tak perlu susah susah nak cari information based on learning outcomes. Bila study, make sure you guys boleh jawab learning outcomes and questions given juga.

Under this module juga ada GP attachment. Kena buat 5 kali. Masa first visit memang cuak jugaklah, tapi lama-lama you will enjoy every attachment you guys will make. But, hehe depends jugak dengan jenis GP. Ada GP yang really want you to be very very prepared, so kena put a lot more efforts lah sikit, tapi yang lain pun still kena prepare jugak ok! So, dari 5 attachments tu, we need to write 2 cases. So terpulanglah nak cerita case dari patients yang mana from 5 attachments tu. Kalau partner dengan irish and dia ada kereta ke, boleh le mintak tumpang dia, tapi kalau takde kereta, sila lah naik bas. And sometimes, as for me, kena skip class before lunch sebab to ensure myself sampai kat tempat GP tu at 2pm (selalunya GP start at 2pm).







Next, FM2101 Neuroscience

Neuroscience is fun walaupun macam complicated sikit. Complicated macamana? tunggu lar nanti, tapi insyaAllah okey jer, hehe. For anatomy, sila fokus masa lectures and jot down everything or record what the lecturers said (Encik Mc Dermott, lecturers yang sangat baguss). Sangat useful setiap bait bicaranya, sebab kalau boleh catat apa yang dia cakap dalam lecture, tak perlu sangat rujuk Crossman. Untuk pemahaman yang lebih mantap, rujuk buku Crossman neuroanat. For biochem, focus on lectures notes. For physiology, focus on lecture notes and kalau tak faham juga, rujuk buku Guyton physiology(rasanya macam ada pdf version).

Ps: I am kind of student yang tak rajin nak rujuk buku tebal-tebal, selalu rujuk google, hoho.


Next, FM2102 Bone, Renal, Homeostasis and Anatomy

Dalam module ni generally has 3 parts. Firstly about bone. Secondly about renal. And thirdly about reproductive system. So, banyak jugak lah yang kena belajar. It is normal when after you learn about bone, then you switch to renal, then you forgot about bone, it is normal (subjek lain pun kadang camtu, maybe due to low capacity of my memory). So, to cope with this, kena fahamkan each part betul-betul, bukannya just on the surface. For this module, focus lectures notes anatomy, physiology and biochem (as my usual advice!).


The next module, please think of yourself like a pharmacologist : FM2003 Medical Pharmacology

From my experiences, whenever I study pharmaco, suddenly I want to change my career as a pharmacologist (lol). Tapi tu lah, untuk minat sesuatu subjek yang ada banyak-BANYAK-banyak benda nak kena faham, dan juga nak kena hafal, you must have a strong passion for it. So again, kena ambik feel. To gain a better understanding, you may refer to Pharmacology Condensed. Kalau nak guna buku tebal pun boleh, but I just try want to save your time in studying, hehe. But, I should say, lectures notes pun dah memadai and for summer exam, sila buat past papersss!

Ada 3 main topics: pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetics and autonomic nervous system/central nervous system. Each main topic ni akan ada satu tutorial kelas for each, so please attend. For each main topic jugak kena buat kind of online test yang consist of 10% of overall marks. Before buat online test tu, kena pergi pharmacology lab kat WGB untuk tengok baca extra reading for that topics. Dont worry, insyaAllah pharmacology sangat best untuk dipelajari!


Last but not least, this module make me feel like I wanna be a pathologist : FM2004 Mechanism of Disease atau nama glamour Pathology

Oh my Allah, ini lagi BANYAK nak kena belajar. Ada 4 main branches, cellular, genetic, immunology and microbes. Ini lagi 'best' dari pharmaco, seriuss. Kena banyak kali review, so that all the information melekat dalam kepala and boleh recall dengan mudah. Kena faham dan kena hafal. I dont really use buku tebal, sebab rasanya combination of lectures notes and buku manual merah dah mencukupi. Untuk cari makna term term yang kurang difahami, sambil study tu guna http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ sebab senang nak faham. InsyaAllah, okey jerr, ramai je senior dapat 1H for patho, so korang pun boleh!


Ohhh waitt, I also have some more advices to be given..

1. Focus in class, jangan ponteng kelas, jangan datang lambat ke kelas, cari berkat dengan datang kelas, insyaAllah, Allah permudahkan masa exam
2. Use your time wisely, study and socialise with others in a beneficial way
3. Doa untuk diri sendiri and kawan-kawan, jangan kedekut ilmu
4. Pelbagaikan cara study, kalau penat membaca, search for related video in youtube
5. Study dengan konsisten, jangan last minute
6. Plan your study schedule, make it realistic and achievable
7. Solat awal waktu whenever you can, read Quran
8. When you feel stress, sebab kena belajar banyak, say Alhamdulillah, because Allah currently give you a big opportunity for you to learn a lot of thing
9. When seniors momok-ing (menakutkan) you bahwa subjek ni "susah", subjek itu "susah", don't let yourself being influence by their negative thought. You know your own ability better than them, and be POSITIVE! You can do this!!


May Allah ease everything for us in our journey to become a doctor. Always perbaharui niat, why you want to be a doctor, is it just for the title, for the white coat, for the money? or to seek the pleasure from Allah? :)


That's all and Good Luck!