So.  The semester is nearing it's end, less than 3 weeks now.  I can only hope that the turn-around I managed before can continue.  I'd really like to go home with some good news.  "I passed everything" will definitely make me happy but, "I beat the crap out of everything" would be so much nicer. 

Fighting my way to the top is harder than I thought...

I really want to have better grades, but I've definitely learned while here that bad grades do not equal a bad student.  I work hard and I feel like I have aptitude, but that isn't all that goes into grades here.  Comprehensive understanding of test taking strategies, ability to control information flow, time management, less need for sleep, comprehension of what the professor wants, and the ability to deal with life down here are all things integral to succeeding in exams.  It is what I've been working on lately.  If I continued on my original path (i.e. annoyed that my aptitude and intelligence weren't enough) I would fall further down my path to failure.  It bothered me that being good at the subject isn't necessarily the most important characteristic of a student down here.  But you know what?  Learning that and being okay with it, sooner rather than later, helps much more than lamenting the fact itself.  There are many capable students here, and we will be wonderful doctors even if we leave here without a single A.