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9 essential tips for medical students:

1. Cramming is bad. Everyone does it, but it doesn’t help you learn. Learning is understanding the concepts, not memorizing the words.

2. Avoid study groups. There are always people in a class who study together. They always interrupt each other’s studying with unrelated questions.

3. Focus, dammit. Turn off your internet connection. Shut down your computer. Don’t even take it with you. Stop checking your e-mail messages on your phone.

4. Get copies of old tests. This is very important! Most professors are not industrious enough to create new questions for each exam. And there are only so many questions you can ask about the same topic. Therefore, many questions are repeated.

5. Don’t get down on yourself. You’re going to do poorly on tests. You don’t need great grades in every subject to be a decent doctor. Trust me.

6. Learn what medicine is all about. Don’t just stick to the textbooks. Read journal articles or medical blogs about topics that interest you.

7. You’re not a doctor. Don’t act like one. Try to be immune to the allure of being called “doctor. People will ask you for medical advice. Tell them you aren’t a doctor and you don’t know.

8. Don’t forget your family. Your family is proud as heck of you for making it into medical school. Call them once in a while. Better yet, write them an e-mail and send pictures. Chances are that they sacrificed a lot so that you could go to medical school.

9. Set aside a day to relax. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Make friends and have fun. It’s a school, not a prison.