A Pharmacology "Pep Talk"

Just thought I'd share a summary of the 8am pharmacology pep talk we received yesterday morning. It's all about next semester by the way. It started with the professor talking about the speech he gave the 3rd term class on day one of this semester. He said he essentially tried to scare the crap out of them on day one in hopes that they would study more and be more serious about the course. The guinea pig class from the fall fell flat on their faces the whole semester, and he was really trying to avoid that. And for awhile, it seemed to work. However, 50% of the class still failed the midterm exam. Which was still a great surprise to the pharmacology team (look at our notes, listen to our lectures, you will feel surprise at their surprise). They are looking at re-structuring the class in terms of exams, to see if they can avoid running into this mess again. Instead of two tests, a midterm, and a final, they're looking at four tests and one comprehensive final. The current system makes the midterm and final only half cumulative (up to the midterm and then after the midterm). I have a stack of 350-400 index cards on my desk right now, one for each drug we've covered this term. Now, we have in no way covered that many drugs, but we have covered a substantial number, and mentioned a whole lot more in passing. Split that stack between a midterm and final, it sounds a little more bearable. But that whole stack for one exam?? YIKES!! We were also promised said final would just cover the most important and basic information. Okay, that doesn't sound too bad right? Sure, if either they were going to notify us what was really relevant or it was easy to figure that out, but our pharmacology class is one big game of trivia. And almost 100% of the time what seems important is not on the exam, it's some other obscure detail that you may or may not have remembered to look at (if it was even in the notes).

In short, pharmacology 2 does not sound fun. It sounds terrifying. And I am amused that the professor has decided to try and instill fear into us 4 months ahead of time. Maybe that will work this time. HAHA yeah right!