About difficulties

Of all the specialties in Japan, the medical department is the most difficult. The medical department of the same university has the highest admission score and studies the hardest after entering school. As for the doctor of medicine, I don't know, but it is said that it is much easier than the medical department of the university.

In addition, good universities (doctors and masters are admitted to the college, masters are graduated in the early stage, and doctors are graduated in the later stage) cannot be mixed into graduation. I only know that well-known private universities can graduate with a master's degree in literature. Everyone joked that being admitted to a university is "admission". I was going to give it a try, but I gave up. Many professors in our university "finished" in their later years, not "graduated". Japanese universities are not allowed to award a large number of doctoral degrees.

Generally speaking, doctoral graduation requires at least two papers published in international scientific journals.

Of course, there are still many capable people. There are also many people studying for master's degrees in medicine in Japan (the lowest is also a master's degree), and not many people are studying for doctors.

About whether to go to preparatory school first.

Going to the preparatory course is definitely more advantageous, and you can get a lot of information, such as research direction, examination subjects, professors and so on. It is also convenient to find a tutor. Of course, it is only an advantage, not an absolute grasp. There may be people who fail the exam. You can only choose according to your own judgment.