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Advice for new pharmacy students 💭 Things I wish I'd known as a first year student ~ Reema
I'm back! Just finished the first term of fourth year and I had to take some time off to refresh but now I have a new video for all the new pharmacy students out there. Many of the first year students have similar concerns and it shows in the questions you send me, so I decided to address them in this video. When I first went into pharmacy school, I looked for advice and a video like this could've helped a lot but I couldn't find any and I had to do it all on my own. So I hope this video saves you some time and actually helps you in any way.
~ Here are the things I wish somebody had told me as a 1st year pharmacy student + tips and advice on how to study organic chemistry:
VIDEO :
POST :
1. Pay attention to Organic (and Analytical) chemistry :
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There are many courses that we take on as first and even second year students that we may not find very pleasant. Quite frankly, so many of us struggled to grasp the basics of organic chemistry but I'm here to tell you that it's very important to at least get a clear idea on organic chemistry 1 and 2 because they're the base on which many future courses are built. For instance, pharmaceutical chemistry, which is heavily based on past organic chemistry courses, will be painful to study if you have no idea what organic chemistry 1 or 2 were about. Yes, many courses studied in later years are based on previous ones especially organic and analytical chemistry.
Organic chemistry is not easy to learn, that's a fact and many professors may not have a compatible teaching style with our way of learning but don't lose hope just yet; because there are many online resources through which you can learn in parallel to your professor at uni. You can always search for whatever topic you're struggling to learn, which is absolutely normal, and find the best youtube video(s) that suit(s) you. There's so many of them and plenty of them are extremely helpful.
2. You don't have to be perfect. That's not even possible :
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We're here to learn and we're supposed to learn SO much material in too little time and therefore, we're only supposed to try to the best of our abilities to learn and memorise material for our future courses and this leads me to the next point...
3. Don't expect to remember everything :
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We do our best to consolidate what we learn and the best way to do it is to learn it over a long period of time and to go over it multiple times. You also need to understand the concept/ rule first then memorise what needs to be memorised but it's human nature to tend to forget what you've learned over the years. It's also human nature to remember it again when it's brought up -only when you've actually taken the time to thoroughly learn it in the first place- so don't worry if you think you forgot everything you've learnt because you'll most likely remember it again when it is needed later in a future course. Courses in later years are built in a way to emphasise what needs to be emphasised and you'll end up graduating with the right amount of knowledge you actually need. Just follow the process one day at a time.
4. Don't stress over your future career :
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Please don't. It's only going to eat up your peace of mind and put you under unnecessary stress. If you're sure that pharmacy is what you want to do and learn then the next thing to do is to actually start learning. All the unnecessary worry will clutter your headspace preventing you from getting on with the work you're here to do in this stage of your life which is learning and studying. You're basically accumulating the knowledge you'll need in the future.
Who knows what opportunities you'll face later in life?
5. Try different things :
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Throughout the years of your studies, try out different things and see which one suits you best. Train at a hospital one time and at a community pharmacy next. Try joining a student activity and see how that works out. This should give you a brief idea on which environment you tend to work best at. It should, therefore, serve as a helpful tool later on when you're choosing the career that most suits you but then again, don't stress too much on trying to fit into a certain work environment right this moment; it takes time and you may even change your mind later.
- The bottom line is, don't stress too much and be open to new opportunities and experiences.
- r e e m a ☁️
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