HELL QUARTER: Five Tips on How To Survive 5th Quarter

 

YA’LL! I Survived! I survived The Hell Quarter 😫😫. Fifth quarter is by far one of the most difficult quarters that you will encounter on your journey in chiropractic school. It is actually known as the weed out quarter because they are trying to weed out the weak from the strong. This is the quarter where you are going to see people drop out completely, retake one class up to 3 times, or survive the quarter by the grace of God himself. My goal for this quarter was to just get out of all the classes, by any means necessary. To get a better understanding of why this quarter is such a difficult quarter, let's take a look at the classes you are taking .

This quarter I took the following classes: Immunology, Endocrinology, Clinical Recording Part 1, Personal Development for Marketing, Skeletal Radd A, Neuroanatomy CNS, Full Spine Technique 1, National Boards Prep, Pathology 1, and the most grueling of them all, Orthopedic Diagnosis. This quarter is packed with classes that are difficult to learn and you have to learn and retain this information in 10 weeks. This was also a fall quarter so we had Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day off, cutting into our class time. I know many people who literally could not get through this quarter. So my goal is to give you my top 5 tips on how to get out of Hell Quarter the FIRST  time around. 

Tip #1: Get & Stay Organized

Organization in this program is extremely important. It’s definitely need for 5th quarter. You need to get yourself a planner whether its paper or digital (I prefer both). Your planner is going to become your bible because you need to be able to know when every homework assignment, quiz, and exam is. You are doing to have a lot of work so this is imperative. Having a planner is also going to help you with time management, which is also important. Having great time management and carving out time to study each class every day will prevent you from getting overwhelmed when midterms and finals come around. Your planner will also keep you up to date with stuffing going on outside of school, making it easier to plan around your important test dates. Practicing organization now is going to help you in the long run when you have to keep your private practice and home life organized as a Doctor. 

Tip #2: Go to Class, ESPECIALLY the Labs

You can only miss but so many days in the D.C. Program. Most of the time, you are only allowed to miss 3 classes for each subject and most of the professors take attendance serious. During 5th quarter, it is imperative that you go to class because you are going to be learning so much information. Missing class will definitely set you back. The goal is to learn the lateral during the week that it is taught. So if you miss a class, you are literally setting yourself back a whole week. Labs are especially important. In the program you have Practical Exams where you have to act as if you are the doctor and perform the test. If you miss the labs, you miss being taught how to perform the test the correct way, setting you back in the class. My advice: please just go to class. I know you can get tired but if you are well and able, please go to class. You dont want to set yourself back with the information and you don’t want to miss so many classes that now your professor drops you a whole letter grade in the course. That can be the difference between you making a C or a F. 

Tip #3: Take Midterms SERIOUSLY! 

I cannot stress this enough. Take your midterms seriously. Try your hardest to go into midterms well informed and make As and high Bs on each exam. This is going to give you a cushion for the rest of the quarter. No. I am not telling you to slack off after midterms. But I am telling you that if the second half of the quarter seems harder than the first, if you took midterms seriously, you will have a cushion which could prevent you from having to completely stress out at the end of the quarter to pass your classes. 

Tip #4: Take some ME TIME

Self care is so important in this program. It is easy to get so drowned with school that you forget that you have a life outside of the program. When you stop taking care of yourself, it could lead to you getting depressed and not putting your best foot forward. My advice is to find a hobby that you enjoy doing, take a day to your self to do whatever you like and decompress from all the stress. Some things that I enjoy doing is going to work out at Hot Worx, or go take myself on a Spa Date. Things like this will help you stay your best self and perform well in school. 

Tip #5: Have a great support system inside and outside of school

The company you keep around you determines your direction in life. In this program, it is important to have a great support system that is currently going through the program with you and some people who can support you outside of school. Your support system is whats going to keep you motivated to continue to get through this program even when you want to give up. Something I suffer with is Imposter Syndrome. I get in my head question whether I belong here or if I can actually be someone’s Doctor. In times like that, I lean on the people around me to snap me back to reality and let me know that I am here for a reason. I was placed in the program for a reason. So do not give up. Your in school support system are the people that are going to directly help you through this program. These are your friends that you are going to study with and you all will hold each other accountable to make it through each class. Making sure that your support system is dependable is gold. If you find that someone in your circle is not dependable, my advice is to drop this from this journey in life because you need dependable people to support you through such a tough journey. 

At the end of the day, getting through 5th quarter is not impossible. I did it. And I did it the FIRST time around. Many people are going to spread fear inside of you about 5th quarter. They are going to tell you that most people had to repeat it more than 3 times. But I am here to tell you that there is no fear when it comes to this. If you made it to 5th quarter you are here for a reason. You CAN and you WILL make it through the first time around. Just remember that everything in life is a process. This program is a process. 5th quarter is a process. The only way out of it is to go through it. And it is over, you will be filled with so much gratitude because you have accomplish something that others tried to deter you from or didn't even go through themselves. You would be one step closer to becoming a Doctor!