Why dental final year feels like a nightmare?
Being a dental student is hectic and stressful. Tackling various quotas while simultaneously handling academic studies can be a nightmare for some students. Let me share a few insights from my experience as an intern in this field on how to tackle the final year with a few tricks and tips to follow.
Why is it hard to manage as a final-year dental student?
Juggling between clinical work and academic exams can be quite stressful. The daily process of handling clinical cases definitely makes your mind and body tired and acts as a roadblock in transferring your focus to academic work immediately after returning to your college dorm/home. Thus leading to lethargy and procrastination.
But delaying studies too much can lead to the accumulation of excessive portions to be covered. So when you look at your books after a long day of work, every letter seems to crawl in front of your eyes. This makes you hate the subject as a whole and causes further backlogs in your studies.
How to tackle the year?
Try finishing your clinical quotas as quickly as possible. This gives you enough peace of mind to carry on with your studies. Be slow and steady. Complete as much work as you can and make sure to procure the signature from your staff at an earlier period. It does depend on patient flow, but make sure that you don’t postpone the work that can be finished immediately.
- Review previous year’s question papers - Make a list of the questions that have appeared on the previous year’s question papers. This provides a blueprint for what the expected and important questions are to study and makes notes on.
- Make notes daily - Yes, it is quite hard to write every day. But make it fun. Play your favorite song in the background, open the book you hate, and start writing answers to the questions you’ve collected from the previous year’s question papers.
- Make personalized notes - You can note down everything that’s in the book, but if you can’t understand the concept, it would end up useless, having spent your time writing the notes. Understand the concept and write it in your style. Simplify complex terms, and shorten the paragraph if it’s unnecessary.
- Be consistent - Consistency is the key. Make regular notes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a short or long answer. Covering the vast portion is our main goal. Being consistent helps to cover the entire syllabus within a year.
- Revise as much as possible - Revise when possible; reading what you have written can help retain information for a longer period.
- Team up with your friends - Ask your friend to study a topic and explain it to you while you do the same for another topic. This helps to revise multiple topics at the same time.
- Correlate clinically - Correlate whatever you study with what you see clinically, as it helps retain difficult topics with ease.
Will it be possible to cover the entire syllabus?
Definitely yes. If you are consistent enough, it is definitely possible to cover the entire syllabus. It takes time and effort to understand every concept clearly. Patience is required throughout the learning process. Learn not to be discouraged when you are unable to recall the concepts. Notes + Revision + Consistency + Hard work is the golden key to success.
What is your way of studying for your final exams?
MBH/AB
I totally feel you! The final year of dental truly feels like a “nightmare” sometimes - but honestly, it’s more like a stressful adventure!