Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) About MBBS in WUC and life as a Medical Student

Assalamualaikum readers, these are frequently asked questions throughout the years of answering all the questions from juniors. I post this time because next month I will be starting my Housemanship in HKL, so I think I  won't reply to any questions regarding MBBS / will reply very late. Please pray for me ok dear juniors, so that I could survive and ended my HOship without too many problems and with ease. Ameen

Finishing our Final Professional Exam on October 2020

1.  Any book recommendations for pre-clinical years?

ANATOMY (preferably hardcopy)
-Netter Atlas
-Clinical Anatom by regions (Richard snell)

PHYSIOLOGY (softcopy/hardcopy)
-Lauralee Sherwood(mine)
-Guyton
-Ganong
-Lippincott

PHARMACOLOGY (ebook)
-Lippincott

HISTOLOGY(hardcopy)
-Junqueira

PATHOLOGY(hardcopy/sofkopi)
-Robbins & Cotran

EMBRYOLOGY (softcopy)
-Langman

MICROBIOLOGY (any e-book)

PUBLIC HEALTH/NUTRITION/GENETIC no need for any book, lecture notes are enough.

2. Where can I buy medical books (physical)?

All the stores are in front of HKL (paediatric and obsgynae dept/HTA)
-Kamal Bookstore
-AZ bookstore

Photocopy medical bookstore
- kedai Uncle Cheng (in Kompleks Teruntum, Kuantan)

3. Where can I get the free medical e-book to download? 

https://www.pdfdrive.com/

4. Can I know what the MPU compulsory subjects are? 

TITAS , Dasar awam, English (if I'm not mistaken)

5. Advice on ways to excel in the first 2 years of theory and ultimately during clinical years? 

I give you the first 2 years' tips because that's what you're gonna face really soon.  During the first 2 years, although it may be quite boring because of, all the lectures in the class, this is the part where you should focus more because all theories you've learnt during preclinical years are the actual things that you're gonna face in clinical years.

During preclinical years also where you can target to achieve pointer >3.5. Because it will get tougher year by year, so preclinical years were quite easier compared to clinical years. So that you can convert PTPTN to scholarship if you got CGPA >3.55 for the whole 5 years. 

During this time, this is the privilege where you should ask questions to the lecturers during/after the class, or you can ask the questions after class in their partition. Be proactive. Most of them would be very pleased if students come and ask them questions related to their subjects, so that they remembered you, thus it will be easier for you to score haha you know what I mean, when the lecturers marking the exam papers, they would be lenient because they knew your effort in every class. That's how I survived.

For notes, it is quite impossible for you to make notes for every topic, but once you enter year 2, you can start making notes according to systems- CNS, GIT, CVS, musculoskeletal, etc. So during year 1, I advise you to just study and conteng2 your lecture notes, if anything that isn't clear, just refer to the reference book or the lecturer. because most of the questions were taken from the lecture notes and certain books recommended by the lecturers for each subject. 

Every time during tests or exams, usually I did the past year's questions because sometimes it will repeat. But don't just depend on it. It will not cover everything that you need to know.

6. Any advice in general, Dr Asma?

I just want to emphasize again about the current situation and I need you to prepare your mind before entering this field because once you enter, there is no turning back.

You will be expecting fewer sem breaks, probably just 1-3weeks, fewer study weeks, and maybe just study days for certain postings and subjects. very frequent exams and tests.

For HOship, you  will be expecting to work more than 12 hours per day,1 off day in a week,  and sometimes you got no holiday for public holidays. I don't want to bring you down but I just want to emphasize one thing that can keep you going along this journey are:  your intention and passion. So, I hope you keep rejuvenating those 2 things whenever you feel down or you want to stop.

7. How did you manage your time throughout the 5 years?

In general, just enjoy your student time because this is the only time that you can do everything that you want.  If you want to be active in curricular activities or volunteering or sports or hiking, just go for it. Gain new outside experiences as much as you can other than study time because we are not a robot, we have a life to live on. During my time, I usually join as volunteers in medical checkups and Sunothon(circumcision)organized by NGOs like IKRAM health or i-Medik or ABIM. You can find others too. I also joined silat in Widad and wakil for Medics Intervarsity Games in ping pong and chess. I also started to become Exco Akademik from Year 2 until Year 4, so that I could organise grand study groups for all batches.

I've joined Sunathon in Sunateam since year 2

[Year 5] One of those fully-booked weekends just to have Sunathon on every week !

In year 5, I thought I could slow down a bit, but it turned out that I joined all of the Sunathon because there was a shortage of seniors and there were a lot of juniors that depend on us. And only the seniors can be the surgeon. So, here we go! 

[year 5] I'm glad that I didn't slow down during my final years because the next year was Covid era, so there's no much left for us to do another Sunathon at the end of every year.

[Year 5] I was organizing mukhayyam(outdoor camping) for girls in WUC and UIA

[Year 4] I was handling one of WiMed program in secondary school in Kuantan about Malaysian Against Pornography during year 4. The others were handling another program about smoking and a few were handling medical check-up for students.

[Year 4] we joined a Run!

Our usrah in hospital compound :)

[Year 4] We're doing murals in Pusat Konservasi Gajah in Kuala Gandah, Lanchang. We also did a medical check-up for orang asli around the area.

[Year 4] I was one of the athletes for ping pong in Medics Intervarsity Games 2018 held in UKM. MIVG is a place where medical students from all medical schools in Malaysia gather in sports.

[Year 4] This was the best WiMed committee for me. Thanks guys for the meaningful experiences !

You guys can join too !

One of the mega study groups that I organized for every batch in WUC. I was inspired by medical students in Egypt, so I started my own initiative with the help of other students in WUC too.

So, how did I manage my time even tho I joined a lot of programs throughout my student time? Actually, with all the programs that I've joined, it helps me to stay focused in lectures and do my assignment on time because I got no other time to study and do my work because I have programs on weekends. 

Also, during year 2, I've joint several Medics Olympiad(IIUM and UiTM), so I have my own study group to study since we've been preparing for the tournaments, so I stick with that study group until the Professional Exam(at the end of Year 2), well sometimes, I just called few other classmates so that we can teach each other in a small group.

[Year 2] Alahamdulillah, we've got second place in Kuantan Medical Olympiad held in IIUM Kuantan. 

In order for a student to get blessings from Allah during our study, we have to avoid cheating in exams or tests and keep our integrity because no one knows what we do except for ourselves and God. 

Plus, as a student, you need to keep good manners with the coordinators(kak zura and kak  wawa) and HEP(Prof Nana) cuz you need to survive 5 years here in Widad, so you need to have a good relationship with those people, so that, your work will get easier. 

Share your knowledge, it won't make your knowledge any lesser, whenever you got tips from seniors or lecturers, you can share them with others, and teach your friends. The best people are the ones who benefit others, not the ones who received all the benefits. When one person teaches the others, the good deeds will continue like a river when the other persons applied the knowledge.

BM VERSION(short forms alert !)

1) Ada pernah rasa menyesal tak sambng belajar di WUC?

Kalau menyesal tu takde la fully menyesal sbb sambung kat widad haha, tp just mcm kalau awk ada pilihan ipta, better pursue yg tu dulu lah. Dia lebih kepada decision nk jdi Dr itself, yelah , decision utk berhutang, decision utk terjun dlm bidang ni. Bukan menyesal lah, tp lepas dah masuk, baru tahu reality check macam mana jd doktor ni sbb tanggungjawab berat and besar, masa x de, gaji x seberapa. So kalau awk nekad nak sambung, betulkan niat dulu sbb bidang ni bukan utk glamor and gaji besar. Akan ada moment kena herdik dgn bos, dgn patient, kerja x dihargai, x de masa dgn family, raya x dpt cuti, kena PJJ kalau dah kawin. So, apa2 pun betulkan niat dulu before jadi Dr, kena ada pandangan yg "aku pkai whitecoat and ada title Dr ni bukan utk saje2 and show off" dia lebih kpd mampu ke kau nak tanggung tggjwb besar ni utk masyarakat, mampu ke nak carry on smpai habis. So akk nasihatkan, kena ada minat sendiri and passion utk stay dlm bidang ni,  sbb diri sendiri yg akan jadi driving force utk diri sendiri. Kalau ambil medic sbb org lain suruh, takut terberhenti di pertengahan. 

That's all, if anything important, I will add some more. 

Thanks for reading !