Ways to Excel in Med School

Efficient study skills are the first thing you’ll need to excel in medical school. Your first two years will be packed with so much information it will make your head spin. Keep calm and prioritize your schedule. If you feel like you can miss certain lectures so that you can concentrate on another course, by all means go ahead. Don’t think you can miss all your lectures and study by yourself, though. You can’t do everything on your own.

Yes, there’s so much to learn and so little time. Don’t worry if you can’t remember every lecture you’ve attended. The point is to keep up and do as well as you can. The important topics will be reinforced throughout medical school. By the time you graduate, you’ll know what you need to get to the next level.

If you’re starting to fall behind, consider working with a tutor or joining a study group. Sometimes you need a little help. A tutor or a study group can give you the support you need to keep up with your classes. It’s also a good opportunity to talk to people who are in the same situation and see how they juggle their schedules.

You must be aware of your school/life balance. Too much studying can burn you out. Take time out to visit with friends or go home to see your family. There is a life besides medical school. Cultivating friendships will help you cope with the stress of medical school.

By the time you’re in your third year of med school, you’re beginning to work with patients and explore career paths. Embrace this time in your academic career. You will be learning from different doctors about different areas in medicine. This is your time to figure out the specialization that most interests you if you haven’t already decided.

If you’re doing a clerkship or a internship, make the most of it. The work won’t always be satisfying, but remember this is yet another step to becoming the doctor that you want to be.

Do everything to the best of your ability and people will start to take notice. Remember that your fourth year is the time to apply for residencies and some of the doctors you work with in your third and fourth year can provide you with a great recommendation letter.

The residency interview process can be a stressful time. Prepare yourself by knowing what programs interest you and the benefits they provide. Preparation will always make you less nervous during the interview.

Pretty soon Match Day will be just around the corner and finally graduation. Even though it’s not all over yet, the skills you cultivated in medical school will be useful in your residency and beyond.

Review more industry related articles by Catherine Zandueta at CareersandEducation.com. Catherine Zandueta is a CareersandEducation.com feature writer that often covers topics relating to Campus and online degree programs and Career planning.

Excel Password Types

Have you ever wondered that there can be types of passwords just like types of files? Is it possible? Yes it is. MS Excel is equipped with five types of password locking with which you can protect your worksheets. This means you can secure your MS Excel worksheet with 5 different password security measures and prevent unauthorized access to the worksheet.

This article targets to those users who need to secure excel worksheets for various reasons. Beneficial for people in finance field as MS Excel is widely used tool by accountants, charted accountants, brokers, stenos and every other individual who need to store and display data in a hierarchical order.

The Excel password types are:

1. Password to open the Worksheet
2. Password for Modifications
3. VBA Modules
4. Worksheet Password
5. Workbook Password
 

1.) Password to open the Worksheet:

You can assign passwords to the excel worksheets and prevent any individual from accessing it. To assign password to your .xls file:

• Open the .xls document, which you want to password protect.
• Select the Save As option from the File menu.
• Click the Tools tab on the top of the Save As window and select the General Options… option.
• The Save Options window will be displayed, where you can enter the desired password in the Password to open text box.
 

If any unauthorized individual tries to open the worksheet, Microsoft Excel will ask to enter the password. If the password is incorrect the sheet will not open.

2.) Password for Modifications:

This option works similarly as the first one. As the password was assigned to open the excel worksheet, password to modify the excel worksheet can also be assigned in the similar way.

• Open the .xls document, which you want to password protect.
• Select the Save As option from the File menu.
• Click the Tools tab on the top of the Save As window and select the General Options… option.
• The Save Options window will be displayed, where you can enter the desired password in the Password to modify text box.
 

Only authorized individuals who know the password can modify the document otherwise he can only view the read-only copy of the password protected worksheet. This kind of protection helps to protect the document getting modified by other people, thus saving the original data which you had saved before leaving your desk.

3.) VBA Modules:

The excel worksheet can contain VBA modules with added macros in the file. This Visual Basic for Application module can also be password protected. To password protect, perform the following:

• Select the VBA module and right-click the mouse button.
• Select the VBA Project Properties… option.
• Click the Protection tab.
• In this window, check the Lock project for viewing option and assign password in the Password to view project properties dialogue box.
• Click OK.
 

The VBA module is now protected with password and secure from any unauthorized use.

4.) Worksheet Password:

There can be several worksheets in a single .xls file like Sheet 1, Sheet 2 and so on. You can password protect them too. To assign password to any current worksheet perform the following:

• Click the Tools menu
• Select the Protection > Protect Sheet option. The Protect Sheet window will be displayed.
• Select amongst the number of options for your worksheet. (These options depend on the working version of MS Excel; I am working in MS Excel 2003)
• After selecting the options you can assign password to the worksheet.
 

5.) Workbook Password:

Like Worksheets, excel workbooks can also be protected in the similar way of protecting worksheets.

• Click the Tools menu
• Select the Protection > Protect Workbook option. The Protect Workbook window will be displayed.
• Select both or appropriate option from Structure and Windows and assign the password.
 

You can also try this:

• Click the Tools menu.
• Select the Protection > Protect and Share Workbook… option. The Protect Shared Workbook window will be displayed. This enables you to share the workbook with track changes.
• Check the Sharing with track changes option. This would activate the Password text box. • Assign password in the Password text box.
 

This kind of password protection helps at the time of sharing the excel worksheets. This would restrict other user from making changes in the document and retains the track changes in the sheet.

As there are 5 different options to protect the excel worksheet with passwords, there can be times when you tend to forget or lose the assigned password or the excel document can get corrupt due to virus attacks, accidental deletions, power outages etc. There are many excel password recovery tools to recover the lost / forgotten passwords. These software tools can easily restore the forgotten passwords of excel files. But if in case the MS Excel file gets corrupt, you can try the FREE demo version of Kernel Recovery for Excel, a corrupt excel file recovery software which easily recovers and repairs the damaged worksheets and extracts cell data, formulas, charts, images, hyperlinks etc. If the Excel repair software displays your lost data then you can purchase Full version of the excel file repair software.

Neha Gupta is a technical writer for Nucleus Data Recovery – the provider of best data recovery software and data recovery services.

Using Microsoft Excel as a Database

Excel is a spreadsheet program. It’s in fact the application of choice for the majority of business globally. Excel has therefore been primarily used for developing departmental budgets, expense reports and a host of other accounting or financial deliverables. What many long-time users of Excel do not know is that the software possesses excellent database tools built right into it. This article will reveal the database side of Microsoft Excel.

In order to take full advantage of Excel’s database features it is important to structure you data properly. In the example below you will see that the column labels are on the top row with the data directly beneath it in the following rows. For professional looking databases / spreadsheets always use consistent formatting, e.g., using the same formats for the column labels (in this instance the text is bold, Times New Roman and underlined while the numbers below them are right aligned and normal).

Student# Last Name First Name Total Points 2123 Arellano Maria 170

2679 Black Michael 292

2680 Chase Tonia 280

1455 Davila Camilla 259

2681 Gabriel Maria 147

1270 Gonzales Juan 285

3245 Lopez Maria 252

1243 Miller Hailey 132

1454 Monaco Nicole 177

1878 Montoya Peter 150

When working with large spreadsheets with many rows of data, it can be helpful to sort and filter the information to find what you are looking for. To sort and filter effectively, follow these rules when designing your lists:

• Column labels must be in first row or be beneath at least one blank row

• Data must be entered in contiguous rows and columns

• List data must be separated from other entries by at least one blank row or one blank column.

• Do not use duplicate field names

• Define your records as a list: Select all existing records and field names, click Data on the Menu bar, point to List, click Create List, make sure My list has headers is checked, and then click OK.

There are several ways to organize records for quick evaluation, using the Standard toolbar, the List toolbar, or the Data menu:

Simple Sort: Organize all records in a list based on one field. With the active cell anywhere in the sort field column, buttons on the Standard toolbar can be clicked to arrange records in Ascending or Descending order.

Custom Sort: Organize all records in a list based on up to three fields. With the active cell anywhere in the list, click the List button on the List toolbar and then choose Sort…, or, click the Data menu on the Menu bar and then click Sort… . Make your choices in the dialog box, and then click OK to perform the sort.

AutoFilter: When a range has been defined as a List, arrows automatically appear at the right of each field name. To temporarily filter out all records which do not meet one specific criterion in one field (i.e. Level=Beginning 3), click the AutoFilter arrow for the field on which you wish to base your criterion, and then click on the data you are seeking. Records where your criterion does not appear in the specified field will be hidden until you click the AutoFilter arrow again and select Show All

Custom AutoFilter: If you wish to base your filter on two criteria (i.e. Level=Beginning 2 OR Level=Beginning 3), click (Custom…) in the AutoFilter menu to set And/Or criteria. AND criteria can be used to set a range for record selection (i.e. Total Score is more than 50 AND Total Score is equal to or less than 150.)

Advanced Filter: If you wish to base your filter on more than one or two criteria in more than one field, and/or you wish to copy the filtered records to another location in the workbook, use an advanced filter. An advanced filter needs these steps: 1) Create a criteria range with the field name(s) involved and enter the appropriate criteria under the appropriate field name; 2) Decide in which cells the results should be placed (keep in mind that any data directly below these destination cells may be erased); 3) Position the active cell anywhere in the data list; 4) Click the Data menu, point to Filter, and then click Advanced filter; 5) In the dialog box, specify the list range, criteria range, and copy to range (be sure the Copy to another location option button is activated) and then click OK.

One of the fastest ways to organize your data is to click once on a cell containing data, i.e., any cell below the column labels and clicking on the “Sort Ascending” or “Sort Descending” button on the Standard Toolbar. This will effectively alphabetize your records from A to Z or Z to A with a simple click of a button. Look closely at the data once you sorted it. The records will maintain their integrity, e.g., if you sort in descending order, Peter Montoya in our example above will move to the top of the list along with his personal information, i.e., student number and total points.

Anthony M. Magno, president of MMC, Inc., has 10+ years experience developing and implementing successful corporate learning, leadership and development programs. Learn about getting a Free Needs Analysis at: http://www.MagnoConsulting.com Anthony can be reached at 949.350.2872 (e-mail: amm@magnoconsulting.com)