Becoming A Pharmacist Tips

One of the knee-jerk reactions that I get from people when they find out that I’m a pharmacist is they think I’m some kind of genius.  I don’t mean that as a self-serving comment it’s just that getting into pharmacy school is viewed as an intellectual accomplishment.  So, there is some pride in the fact that people think that about me.  But the simple fact of the matter is that I’m not all that gifted intellectually.  I received no academic scholarships of any kind.  In fact, I was never in the running despite applying for numerous ones.

I just picked a goal.  Focused intently on achieving it and frankly, bluntly, worked my butt off.

But there is one other part of the equation I’m leaving out.

Working Hard on Smart Things

Like I said, I worked hard to get into pharmacy school.  I worked even harder to get through.  But if you had known me in high school you might be surprised that I’m a pharmacist today.

I wasn’t a bad student.  But I wasn’t exceptional.  I did enough to keep a 3.0 grade point average and let the chips fall where they may.

But when I made the decision to try to go to pharmacy school I knew that “doing just enough” wasn’t going to be enough.  In just a year and a half though, with more demanding courses and less time, I was able to get my grades up to just under a 3.7 GPA by doing what I’m about to show you.

Which leads me back to looking at some of the successes I had as a student in the past.  While I admit to getting by in a lot of subjects there were some things and some subjects where I excelled.

My secret – besides having a true interest in the subject – was my study skills

And frankly, it didn’t dawn on me to apply this particular strategy to every subject…rather than the ones I wanted to.

In short, it’s an example of not just working hard.  But working hard on smart things.  And in college – and particularly pharmacy school – the smartest thing you can do is to bust your butt studying.

Step 1: Building the Foundation

You’ll quickly find that each subject builds upon itself.  Let’s take chemistry for example.  You start out with general chemistry.  Then you move to organic chemistry.  Then it’s onto biochemistry, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology/toxicology.

If you don’t get the basics down in general chemistry you are going to struggle mightily at the next level.

So, first and foremost, I knew that I had to study a little bit each and every day.  In short, I took the concepts that we covered that particular day, went home after school and studied them again.

This ‘refresher’ had a way of allowing me to see the subject shortly after being exposed to it and then reinforcing the concepts.

Then, two days later (or however many days later) we would be introduced to another section or concept.  I would go home that night and not only cover that particular section but also work on the previous section.

Now, lets say I wanted to study an hour that night for the certain subject.  I would spend the bulk of the time (say 30 minutes) studying the section from that day and then leave the remaining 30 minutes (actually, it wasn’t a full 30 minutes but I’ll get to that in a second) for the other sections.

So, by the end of the semester while I wasn’t spending a great deal of time at one sitting or cramming like many other students, but the cumulative effect at the end of the semester was impressive.

The repetition was yielding retention.

This is an off-shoot of what some psychologists call “chunking”.  It’s popular in kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and allows students to take a subject a chunk at a time rather than overwhelming them with the ever-popular cramming session.

Frankly cramming is one of the most counter-productive things you can do for you grades in my opinion.  Yes, you CAN get through pharmacy school by doing it and I’ve known quite a few students who did.  But, in all honesty, they were smarter than I was and could get away with it.  Which goes back to my original point: if you are a fairly average student you are going to have to make up for it somewhere because if you are going to get into pharmacy school you’ll likely be competing with some of the brightest and best students in your state or area for admission.

Now, you may think that this study tactic isn’t anything revolutionary.  And you’d be right.  I’ve read about it before and it worked well for me.  But, it was only the first step in my two step process to putting myself at the head of the pack when it came to grades.

The second step, at least for me was much more crucial and possibly even more effective at raising my grades.  It also has the added benefit of being somewhat novel.  If it isn’t – don’t tell me.  It will likely burst my ego.  The point is I have never seen it mentioned anywhere and like to think of it as original.

Before we get into that let me say one other thing about the chunking concept and time.  Remember above where I said I didn’t actually study for a full hour?  Actually I studied for 50 minutes at a time and gave myself a 10 minute break to go to the bathroom, walk around, get something to drink, etc.

Your brain has a way of shutting down on certain things if you don’t give it something else to do or a break once in a while.  It’s also a powerful way to get your subconscious mind into action and use it to your advantage.

Case in point: Thomas Edison was one of the (if not THE) greatest inventor of all time.  When he was stuck on a problem he would go and take a 20 minute nap.  This would confound his helpers as they thought he was ‘loafing’.  He wasn’t.  Often times when he awoke the solution would ‘present’ itself.  Some food for thought.

The Second And Most Important Step

Who is the smartest person in your classroom nearly everyday?

If you answered with the name of a student – you’re wrong.  It is (or at least is should be) the teacher.

And this is where my Becoming the Teacher theory came into play.

Most students that I know may sit down to study and do it with a lot of determination.  But they also tend to do it in absolute quiet.  They read and maybe even in their head are stating concepts and so forth.

My theory was, when I was studying, was to become the teacher as the teacher should know the subject the best.  So essentially here is what I did:

Each night when I was studying and reviewing I would pretend to be lecturing or tutoring a make-believe student who was in the room with me.

I know, it sounds odd and it feels even more odd admitting that I had this make believe lecture in my room every night.  But it worked wonders.

You have no idea how easily your lack of knowledge on a subject will become glaringly evident when you start talking about something and spit, stutter and get lost before you even get started.

If that happened that was my cue that I didn’t have a firm enough grasp of the subject.

How exactly you go about doing this is up to you and should involved some experimentation on your part.  But I can vouch for it’s effectiveness.  This also explains why I routinely committed the cardinal sin of college students which was avoiding the library altogether as it did not allow me to study the way I liked without having people wonder if I had some sort of psychological problem.

An Added Benefit

The two step attack that I used to improve my grades also had the added benefit of allowing me to retain material long after I had studied it.  So much so that even today, when discussing a subject with another pharmacist, I’m often able to recall details and material that they are not able to.

Granted, there’s nothing scientific to my observations – just my experience.  But, I think if you give this a fair shot you’ll find that your grades improve.  The toughest hurdle to overcome is the embarrassment (for no good reason) of quietly talking to an imaginary person in the privacy of your bedroom or dorm room.

Related posts:

1. Surviving Pharmacy School
2. What If The Pharmacy School Rejects Me?
3. Should You Work During Pharmacy School?
4. How To Pass the NAPLEX
5. Pharmacist Qualities

Tags: how to improve grades, improve grade, improve my grades, improve your grades, improving grades

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