Mohammad Arfeen

School

Needless to say I am trying to get an A in organic chemistry this semester, which means studying a LOT. I’ve decided to set up a PBwiki for all of my notes, in every class. This way I can have all of my notes in an uniform standardized format. The benefit to this is that I am now able to log into my wiki and read my notes whenever I am free, and I don’t have to waste time looking for something specific. The way they are organized depends on the class; for instance in my organic chemistry class we have about 2 quizzes between each exam, so my notes are organized Q1, Q2, E1, Q3, Q4, E2, Q5, Q6, E3, Q7, Q8, F. This way I can continually reinforce concepts in my mind throughout the day.

Another tip that I have found to be helpful is to review my notes after every class, and then review them again before the next class. All in all, I try to review my notes about 3 times between each class. This way by the time the exam rolls around I will have memorized a good chunk of my notes.

Life

Life has been good, I have been keeping on track for my goals for this year. I just celebrated my birthday a few days ago. I have been working on growing my personal brand, as well as my other two brands, StudentEats and Pre-Med Hell. Also I have been working pretty hard to get our AMSA 5k set to go. We are probably as the AMSA board going to the AMSA national convention in Anahiem in March.

Blogging

I’m not going to lie its been hard to keep up with all my blogging since school started, I have been writing fairly long posts for my other blog “Pre-Med Hell” and trying to grow that. If your interested in writing for PMH let me know. I am also trying to keep up with Project 52, and so far so good I think I have managed a new post every week since the year started.

Any ways I thought I would throw out a quick update for you guys, and get back to studying for orgo. I promise a more meaningful and longer post next week, if you have any suggestions leave me a comment, I would love to read them.

-Signing off M.A.

I would like to take this space to welcome any readers from HackCollege. Also I would like to thank Kelly for appointing me as one of the first moderators on Discuss Campus. To my regular readers, please take the time to visit both sites, I assure you that it will be worth your while.

Finals, that time of the semester is upon us once again. Most college students will spend most of their student lives stressing over them. Why, they feel unprepared, they neglect studying, or they try cramming everything into the last few days. Needless to say this isn’t a great idea; it’s a perfect recipe for burning out. I tend to prefer a more structured approach to finals; break down your subjects, decide which ones will take the most effort to prepare for and start early. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m not really a pen snob, never was, yes I do enjoy quality pens, but I would have no problem what so ever using a standard Bic pen. Recently one of my friends, who is, well not really a pen snob, but an over achiever, and quite possibly has the neatest hand writing on earth, suggested that I use a pen that I feel comfortable writing with, and one of good quality. I’m just like the next guy, I’ve been writing something and suddenly my pen goes out. So since early this year, I started doing science, well not really. I started trying out various pens. Read the rest of this entry »

Let me preface this post by saying that I am probably one of the least qualified persons to write this post. I have only just finished my first year as a student on a Pre-Med course. Hence many people who have been on that course for longer may be offended by this post, I assure you that my intention in writing this post is not to offend anyone, it is just to speak on a phenomena that I have been witnessing all to often, in my peers and also amongst incoming students. This phenomenon is the lack of genuine interest in their major.

Most students don’t seem to realize that Pre-Med is not a major, or that it is not necessary to major in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, or if your crazy like me in a combination of biochemistry and molecular biology. Many of my peers and many newer students choose to major in these difficult and in their eyes mundane subjects, assuming that it will make their applications more appealing to medical schools, it may, or it may not.

The fact of the matter is that regardless of your major, the only requirements for medical school are your 1 year of general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, general biology, English, and calculus. Those subjects combined with a strong resume, MCAT score, and GPA, should from what I’ve heard increase the chances of you getting into medical school, more than your choice of major. Read the rest of this entry »