I can't believe I never posted since March, but this semester was one of the toughest I have experienced. Last week was finals week, and there were 5 finals, 5 days in a row. Four of them were cumulative. It was the most intense week of my life, but I survived.
Final Report Card:
Pharmaceutics 2 - A
Pharmacodynamics - A
Pharmaceutical Care Lab - A
Introduction to Therapy 1 - B
Biochemistry - B
Overall, I am very pleased! I finally figured out my study groove, and any B's I had were a painful 88%. I worked harder than I ever have before and it paid off! I am excited for next year when we are exposed to more medicinal chemistry and therapy.
My school positions for next year:
APhA-ASP President/Liaison-Elect
Recruitment Ambassadors Program Secretary-Elect
Pre-Pharmacy Club Secretary
Another project I'll be working on this summer is writing a proposal to start a dual degree program with Masters in Public Health!
Today was also a big day! My Hospital Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (H-IPPE) orientation was today. We took a tour of the vast UNC Hospitals and became familiar with the expectations of the month. I feel so lucky to be rotating at UNC Hospitals. I hope that my classmates have the same great experience wherever they are in North Carolina. The class is spread out into various regions of the state, from Wilmington to Asheville. I will definitely update every day to account for my experience! Here is a list of things I will be exposed to:
-Investigational Drugs
-Transitions of Care (inpatient --> outpatient)
-Oncology Pharmacy
-Pediatric Pharmacy
-OR Satellite pharmacy
-Round with Resident (very excited about this!)
-Emergency Department (twice!)
-Drug Information and Medication Safety
-Special Formulations
-Decentral Pharmacist (twice!)
-Inpatient Pharmacist (twice!)
-Controlled Substances
-Sterile Products
-Administration
-Outpatient Pharmacy
-Pharmacy Support Services
We also have 2 projects. One New Drug presentation, and a special formulations assignment where we analyze a drug that is specially made in the pharmacies and if it's more feasible to buy it commercially.
Tomorrow is Investigational Drugs! Cheers to the month :)
Showing posts with label exams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exams. Show all posts
12.25.2011
Semester One Complete
It's Christmas Day and I have been home since the 22nd. And unfortunately, I'm driving back tomorrow morning :(
All of the 12-14 hour days of studying paid off in the end, with A's on all of my finals!
First semester report card:
Health Systems - A
Physiology - A
Pharmaceutical Care Lab - A
Pharmaceutics 1 - B
Biochemistry 1 - B
Final GPA: 3.6
I'm proud of my grades; there's always room for improvement, but I feel that half of the battle this semester was figuring out my study method. Plus, it's still early so my GPA is still in the high-fluctuation stage.
Next semester is promising to be much more difficult, so I'm glad I ended fall semester strong and with the momentum and drive to do well!
Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope Santa gave you all what you wanted :)
All of the 12-14 hour days of studying paid off in the end, with A's on all of my finals!
First semester report card:
Health Systems - A
Physiology - A
Pharmaceutical Care Lab - A
Pharmaceutics 1 - B
Biochemistry 1 - B
Final GPA: 3.6
I'm proud of my grades; there's always room for improvement, but I feel that half of the battle this semester was figuring out my study method. Plus, it's still early so my GPA is still in the high-fluctuation stage.
Next semester is promising to be much more difficult, so I'm glad I ended fall semester strong and with the momentum and drive to do well!
Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope Santa gave you all what you wanted :)
10.19.2011
Hard Work Pays Off
Normally I hate discussing grades and I hate looking at my tests afterwards because normally... my grades aren't great. Most people think that I'm smart just because I'm Asian, plus I'm really good at taking notes. But the trick is actually studying the notes, which normally I'm either too busy or too tired to study.
My first mini-wave (test on a Monday and another on a Wednesday) of tests didn't go so great, and I had a LOT of catching up to do. I like to blame work and extra curriculars, but there's really no one to blame but myself. But hey, I was getting used to a new way of learning!
Anywho, this second REAL wave [that took off 10 years of my life from all the stress] was the true test of my intellectual capabilities. And self-coping capabilities, might I add.
This time, I had to seriously prioritize my time, create a study schedule, and not be lazy. In undergrad, I never had this kind of load even during finals. But maaaaaybe I just didn't try as hard as I should have :)
Overall, the end result was something I could be proud and satisfied with. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it definitely ended with a BANG!
1) First came physiology. I really like this class because I feel like it's right up my biologically-trained alley. Even though physiology is a required pre-req for pharmacy school, there seems to be a LOT more information in this class than at UF. Also, it's the class that we get our first introductions to basic drug therapy.
This was the first test of the semester; it only has one midterm and a final - YIPES! This test consisted of endocrine and cardiovascular systems, and hematology. In addition to all of the hard-core facts, we learned how to read lab values applicable to hematology (white blood cell count, red blood cell counts, hematocrit, and how mean corpuscular volume relates to the types of anemia), different drugs that affect the nephron (different types of diuretics act on different parts of the nephron to yield different results. COMPLICATED!), and the various ways to regulate blood pressure (high blood pressure medications work directly on the heart, or indirectly via the nervous system or blood volume with kidney regulation!)
Ended up with a high B on the test, but with the quizzes and assignments I'm still pushed up to an A. Phew.
2) Three days later was pharmaceutics... What is pharmaceutics, you ask? Hmm... how to explain this in a better way than hell... I'm kidding; I actually find it very interesting. This was the second test of the semester, and it was about solids, gases, and solubility. Amongst other things, we learned about how drugs are formulated to increase their solubility. You would think that all you would need was a drug that dissolved easily in water, right? But it's actually a delicate balance of water solubility and lipophilicity (dissolvable in lipids, aka cell membranes). It's also difficult to create drugs because your it has to travel through vastly differing environments from your mouth to the extremely acidic conditions of your stomach!
But anyway... this was a test I wasn't very happy with, but I wasn't the only one! I knew this ish like the back of my hand, but silly trick questions got me. I got a few points above the average, and I heard that the class is curved overall so I'm just going to move on and try even harder on the next one...
3) Two days later was health systems. We learn about Medicaid, Medicare, uninsured, different health care models of the world, the health care team, etc. I think it's interesting, but class is so damn BORING and it's a 2-hour block right after lunch. Not a good combination for paying attention.
Good thing all you needed to know what was exactly on the slides, and BAM, just made the A mark.
4) And finally... Monday was the big kahuna: biochemistry. I had all weekend to prepare, and that I did. About 16 hours each day! This was the test I reeeeally needed to do well in because if I didn't, let's just say I may need to re-take it.
Coming out of the test, I felt pretty good. I was able to answer each question and felt confident in the questions that required lots of calculations. I felt nervous because I heard other people talking about getting different answers to some questions I was iffy about. But I braced myself for B (don't get me wrong, I would have been very happy with that!).
During the LAST class today, the last day of school before fall break, grades went up.
I never brag about my grades, but I felt like proclaiming this to the world because I was about to cry from happiness. 96%!!!!!!
The main reason I'm so happy is that I am now confident that good grades are possible. Our professors aren't trying to fail us, but are genuinely making sure that we know the material and to be better pharmacists for it.
And now, it is Fall Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though I'm working 4 out of the 5 days, the mental break is much needed.
My first mini-wave (test on a Monday and another on a Wednesday) of tests didn't go so great, and I had a LOT of catching up to do. I like to blame work and extra curriculars, but there's really no one to blame but myself. But hey, I was getting used to a new way of learning!
Anywho, this second REAL wave [that took off 10 years of my life from all the stress] was the true test of my intellectual capabilities. And self-coping capabilities, might I add.
This time, I had to seriously prioritize my time, create a study schedule, and not be lazy. In undergrad, I never had this kind of load even during finals. But maaaaaybe I just didn't try as hard as I should have :)
Overall, the end result was something I could be proud and satisfied with. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it definitely ended with a BANG!
1) First came physiology. I really like this class because I feel like it's right up my biologically-trained alley. Even though physiology is a required pre-req for pharmacy school, there seems to be a LOT more information in this class than at UF. Also, it's the class that we get our first introductions to basic drug therapy.
This was the first test of the semester; it only has one midterm and a final - YIPES! This test consisted of endocrine and cardiovascular systems, and hematology. In addition to all of the hard-core facts, we learned how to read lab values applicable to hematology (white blood cell count, red blood cell counts, hematocrit, and how mean corpuscular volume relates to the types of anemia), different drugs that affect the nephron (different types of diuretics act on different parts of the nephron to yield different results. COMPLICATED!), and the various ways to regulate blood pressure (high blood pressure medications work directly on the heart, or indirectly via the nervous system or blood volume with kidney regulation!)
Ended up with a high B on the test, but with the quizzes and assignments I'm still pushed up to an A. Phew.
2) Three days later was pharmaceutics... What is pharmaceutics, you ask? Hmm... how to explain this in a better way than hell... I'm kidding; I actually find it very interesting. This was the second test of the semester, and it was about solids, gases, and solubility. Amongst other things, we learned about how drugs are formulated to increase their solubility. You would think that all you would need was a drug that dissolved easily in water, right? But it's actually a delicate balance of water solubility and lipophilicity (dissolvable in lipids, aka cell membranes). It's also difficult to create drugs because your it has to travel through vastly differing environments from your mouth to the extremely acidic conditions of your stomach!
But anyway... this was a test I wasn't very happy with, but I wasn't the only one! I knew this ish like the back of my hand, but silly trick questions got me. I got a few points above the average, and I heard that the class is curved overall so I'm just going to move on and try even harder on the next one...
3) Two days later was health systems. We learn about Medicaid, Medicare, uninsured, different health care models of the world, the health care team, etc. I think it's interesting, but class is so damn BORING and it's a 2-hour block right after lunch. Not a good combination for paying attention.
Good thing all you needed to know what was exactly on the slides, and BAM, just made the A mark.
4) And finally... Monday was the big kahuna: biochemistry. I had all weekend to prepare, and that I did. About 16 hours each day! This was the test I reeeeally needed to do well in because if I didn't, let's just say I may need to re-take it.
Coming out of the test, I felt pretty good. I was able to answer each question and felt confident in the questions that required lots of calculations. I felt nervous because I heard other people talking about getting different answers to some questions I was iffy about. But I braced myself for B (don't get me wrong, I would have been very happy with that!).
During the LAST class today, the last day of school before fall break, grades went up.
I never brag about my grades, but I felt like proclaiming this to the world because I was about to cry from happiness. 96%!!!!!!
The main reason I'm so happy is that I am now confident that good grades are possible. Our professors aren't trying to fail us, but are genuinely making sure that we know the material and to be better pharmacists for it.
And now, it is Fall Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though I'm working 4 out of the 5 days, the mental break is much needed.
PHEW.
10.17.2011
Past another hump.
The last 10 days have been been pretty rough for all PY1's.
4 exams, 3 quizzes, and 2 papers.
But it's finally over and I got through it with just a few scrapes and bruises. It seems that once the extracurricular craziness got out of the way, academics came with full force.
Now I know what our professors and the older students were saying when they advised us to work ahead as much as you can, because you'll to the point where you'll be fighting to stay above water.
It's an interesting dynamic having everything so concentrated in one building. You can always tell who is having an exam because you see them in the library and it's plastered all over Facebook. But it's great because I feel like we are all supporting each other. I'm not used to that because I was never a group studier and never knew anyone in my classes at UF.
The weather is quickly changing in Chapel Hill, and you can definitely tell it's fall. Today was the first day since September that the temperature went above 80 degrees, but Thursday the highs will be in the 60's with lows in the low 40's/high 30's!
Here's a little taste of fall in North Carolina...
4 exams, 3 quizzes, and 2 papers.
But it's finally over and I got through it with just a few scrapes and bruises. It seems that once the extracurricular craziness got out of the way, academics came with full force.
Now I know what our professors and the older students were saying when they advised us to work ahead as much as you can, because you'll to the point where you'll be fighting to stay above water.
It's an interesting dynamic having everything so concentrated in one building. You can always tell who is having an exam because you see them in the library and it's plastered all over Facebook. But it's great because I feel like we are all supporting each other. I'm not used to that because I was never a group studier and never knew anyone in my classes at UF.
The weather is quickly changing in Chapel Hill, and you can definitely tell it's fall. Today was the first day since September that the temperature went above 80 degrees, but Thursday the highs will be in the 60's with lows in the low 40's/high 30's!
Here's a little taste of fall in North Carolina...
Doesn't it just make you happy?
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