Tips to help you prepare for a health career education

• Finish high school with good to superior grades---this will help you get accepted into college. To receive good grades in high school, you will already be practicing the time management and learning-for-understanding skills you will need in college.
• Take all the math, science, and English writing and reading courses you can in high school. Take the highest level math and science courses available at your high school.
• Talk to your teachers and counselors about your desire to enter a health field.  Get online and search all the websites you can find related to college and health careers (a list of websites is available on this website).
• Read, read, read, read, read---books, magazines, websites, as much and as often as possible. Try reading more difficult topics, and a wide range of topics.  Make sure you understand what you are reading.
• Learn for understanding---inside and outside school.
• Try understanding why what you are learning is important---for now, and for later when you are studying for your health career.
• Have a clear goal in mind for learning.   Will you be training to become a physician? A nurse? A pharmacist?  An x-ray technician? A dentist?
• What is your goal?  Picture yourself practicing as a health care giver.  What does your job environment look like? What are you wearing---a uniform? "Scrubs"? A surgeon's mask?   Don't know what health providers do or wear?   Get online and find out!
• Ask lots of questions, and keep asking different people until you find someone who can answer your concerns. 
• Try working in a health care environment in high school. This will give you experience in the health field, and also give you the opportunity to ask health care workers about their training.
• Most of all:  Never give up your dream for college or for training in a health care field. There are many people who can help you get started and help you to keep at it until you succeed.

How do you know what career is best for you?

Looking carefully at what you want…….

Self-Assessment

Values--What is important to you?
Interests--What do you enjoy doing?
Personality--How do you approach the world? What energizes you?
Learning Style--How do you learn best?
Work environment preferences--Where do you want to work?
Educational Experiences--What were your best learning experiences?

Career Exploration

How many health careers are there?
What kind of training and licensing is necessary for the different careers?

Find out all you can about the different health careers--
Where?   Your instructors, school advisement and career services office, web sites, career books.

Decision-Making

To arrive at a career decision that is right for you, review your Self-Assessment and career exploration information, talk to family members, advisors, career counselors, and when possible, people working in the field you are interested in.

Good Websites for Exploring Health Careers

University of New Mexico:
University of New Mexico, http://www.unm.edu
UNM Health Sciences Center, http://www.hsc.edu
UNM School of Medicine, http://www.hsc.unm.edu/som
UNM School of Medicine Admissions, http://www.hsc.unm.edu/som/admissions

More helpful sites: 

Association of American Medical Colleges. Information about careers in medicine, applying to medical school, resources.
http://www.aamc.org
http://www.aamc.org/students/minorities/start.htm

Careers in Medicine (CiM), Association of American Medical Colleges website to help students develop medical careers.
http://www.careersinmedicine.org     or        http://www.aamc.org/careersinmedicine

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics     http://www.bls.gov/oco/

Princeton Review. Advice from other students, MCAT information, study habits.  http://www.review.com

Kaplan. Study habits, etc.   http://www.kaplan.com

National Association of Advisors in the Health Professions.  NAAHP.  Information on pre-health advisement, applying to medical or other health career program.    http://www.naahp.org

Tips to help you become a better "test taker"

Effective study & test taking strategy:  

(Adapted from "Proven Strategies for Successful Test Taking" (1982), Sherman, T.M. and Wildman, T.M. (1982), Charles E. Merrill Publishing). 

1. Be an active learner.   This means you need to "read actively, listen actively, concentrate, and pay attention."   There are two parts to active learning and studying: believing that study will help you do well on your test, and making sure you understand what you read. 

2. Believe that you can understand the material you are studying.  If you don't understand the first time, try another way to study---another way of looking at the material---keep trying different strategies knowing that you will eventually understand. 

3.  Relate what you are studying to what you already know. Find ways to connect the new information you are learning with something you have already learned.  What does the new information you are studying remind you of?   

4. Develop an interest in what you are studying. Even if a "real" interest will develop over time, try to relate what you are studying now to career goals, grades, or other goals that are more motivating for you right now.  

5. Quiz yourself on what you are studying.  Check your understanding of new material by asking yourself questions, ask questions in class, make up test questions to quiz your study partners, answer the review questions in your textbook. 

When studying for a test:

1. Set goals for the test, how well do you expect to do on the test, how well do you want to do on the test? 

2. Survey your textbook chapter(s)--looking at headings, sub-headings, chapter preview and review questions (beginning and end of each chapter), and the chapter summary. 

3. Write down general questions about the text material, this will guide your study.   Write what you don't yet understand in a question format--then read through your text and notes to answer your questions. 

4. Know all about the test before taking the test.  What kind of test is it--multiple choice, essay, short-answer?  What material or information will be covered on the test?  How much will this test count toward your final grade?  Grades are only one of many ways to assess your knowledge, but since grades tell a story about your academic path (that people will read), you should pay attention to them. 

5.   Make a study plan, based on what you know will be on the test, draw a study outline to cover all the main points.  This way you won't overlook important information. 

6.  No cramming!--don't try to learn it all the night before your exam--do study and prepare for tests! 

7.  Most important:  Do you fully understand the material to be tested?   

While taking a test:

1. Read the whole test question before marking an answer.  What is the question really asking? Think about it.

2. Don't be in the habit of changing answers---it's more likely you'll change to a wrong answer than a right one.

3. Keep track of the time, manage your time by answering the questions you know first then go through the test again answering the questions you are not so sure about.

4. Don't panic! Keep your goal for the test in mind.