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Do you guys think it's worth it to bank the anatomy/embryo in GT or is it just not worth it?

Originally Posted by FIREitUP

Do you guys think it's worth it to bank the anatomy/embryo in GT or is it just not worth it?

This is a hotly debated issue that's been discussed a bit in previous pages (if you want to go back and read people's opinions). I think it's worth it.

Originally Posted by FIREitUP

Do you guys think it's worth it to bank the anatomy/embryo in GT or is it just not worth it?

Since I don't believe I voiced my opinion on this previously, I will do so now. It seems that a lot of people view those sections as overkill, and that may very well be true, but I didn't find them to be particularly difficult. Maybe I just remember them well from class, but most of embryo and anatomy I rated as a 4 both times through. Now there were some things, like neck anatomy, that were a bit much in my opinion, but that's what great about GT, you can rank things not only according to your knowledge but also according to their priority. There are higher yield topics on GT, so don't skip those for anatomy and embryo, but if you have the time I don't see why not to bank them.

Originally Posted by FIREitUP

Do you guys think it's worth it to bank the anatomy/embryo in GT or is it just not worth it?

If I had the time I would bank some of the details from it just for the hell of it, doesn't really take too much out of you if you already know the material, but if the cards have info that seems new to you and you don't have much time your better off skipping them.

For the anatomy section I selectively banked topics that I saw in First Aid and then I added some cards that I recall seeing in some HY sources. I basically added the stuff that I could rank real high and just go over a couple times every now and then just to keep what I ALREADY KNOW fresh without having to spend time going back to an anatomy source.

If the cards had info which I wasn't familiar or comfortable with I skipped them and will go back to them if time permits.

Anatomy isn't as high-yield as other subjects but it definitely shows up. I got a question wrong on an NBME test about which structures run in which female pelvic ligaments.

If people are just starting GT with 3-4 months until Step 1, then I think they need to prioritize their weak points/g for the HY stuff in GT. If you're starting out as an MS1 or maybe just a freshly new MS2, then I can the best thing is to just bank it all and then rate them according to what you feel is low yield or HY.

Gunner 2.0 is incoming soon. Got an alpha invite w00t

Originally Posted by jhamaican

Gunner 2.0 is incoming soon. Got an alpha invite w00t

Is that supposed to be for Step 2?

Originally Posted by jhamaican

Gunner 2.0 is incoming soon. Got an alpha invite w00t

I'm jealous! Does the alpha invite allow you to now see what's coming in 2.0? If so, dish.

Originally Posted by CatFactorial

Sorry, don't want to answer your question.

High Five

Originally Posted by jhamaican

Gunner 2.0 is incoming soon. Got an alpha invite w00t

Yay! I do wish they were more transparent with their roadmap/plans. Good to hear though. Any ETA?

In Feedback > Browse Ideas > Status > Planned

There are several very interesting comments from the CEO saying "it's on the next release."

Now I'm curious.

Originally Posted by jhamaican

Gunner 2.0 is incoming soon. Got an alpha invite w00t

what! I want one.

I have a question about a GT card:

"In pregnancy, serum thyroid binding globulin (TBG) concentrations rise almost twofold. TBG binds to T3 and T4; therefore, total T3 and total T4 concentrations are elevated. However, free T3 and T4 levels are normal. The increase in serum TBG concentration during pregnancy is due to increased estrogen activity."


I'm not understanding why free thyroid hormones levels don't change if TBG rises. TBG increase means more thyroid hormone is bound to it, thus less is 'free'....so why isn't free thyroid level decreased in pregnancy? I'm missing something here.

Originally Posted by amaprez

I have a question about a GT card:

"In pregnancy, serum thyroid binding globulin (TBG) concentrations rise almost twofold. TBG binds to T3 and T4; therefore, total T3 and total T4 concentrations are elevated. However, free T3 and T4 levels are normal. The increase in serum TBG concentration during pregnancy is due to increased estrogen activity."


I'm not understanding why free thyroid hormones levels don't change if TBG rises. TBG increase means more thyroid hormone is bound to it, thus less is 'free'....so why isn't free thyroid level decreased in pregnancy? I'm missing something here.

the homeostatic mechanisms do not allow too many or too little free T3s and T4s.
the hormonebinding globulins are never fully saturated, the homeostatic mechanism works in a way that it favours normal levels of T3s and T4s over saturated globulins. so short term you have less saturated TBGs and longterm you have produced more Thyroxines so that you have normal saturated TBGs and normal levels of T3/T4.
don't know if that makes sens to you.

I found this on wikipedia:

"If, for example, the TBG level is high, which can occur when estrogen levels are high, the TBG will bind more thyroid hormone, decreasing the free hormone available in the blood, which leads to stimulation of TSH, and the production of more thyroid hormone. In this case, the total thyroid hormone level will be high."

So it sounds like the free level does decrease, but TSH immediately compensates. After compensation, the free level will remain normal, but total level is increased. Is my understanding correct?

Originally Posted by amaprez

I found this on wikipedia:

"If, for example, the TBG level is high, which can occur when estrogen levels are high, the TBG will bind more thyroid hormone, decreasing the free hormone available in the blood, which leads to stimulation of TSH, and the production of more thyroid hormone. In this case, the total thyroid hormone level will be high."

So it sounds like the free level does decrease, but TSH immediately compensates. After compensation, the free level will remain normal, but total level is increased. Is my understanding correct?

yeah, that sounds right.
I just quickly looked into rapid review (RR) and it says, usually 1/3 of the TBGs are saturated.
I would also think that the increase of estrogen in pregnancy resulting in increased TBGs are gradual enough that you wouldn't detect the minimal increase in TSH levels, according to RR there is no increase in TSH.

also worth noting from RR: use of anabolic steroids or nephrotic syndrome reduce levels of TBGs --> decreased levels of Total T3/T4 but normal levels of free T3/T4.

Nm.

Originally Posted by amaprez

I found this on wikipedia:

"If, for example, the TBG level is high, which can occur when estrogen levels are high, the TBG will bind more thyroid hormone, decreasing the free hormone available in the blood, which leads to stimulation of TSH, and the production of more thyroid hormone. In this case, the total thyroid hormone level will be high."

So it sounds like the free level does decrease, but TSH immediately compensates. After compensation, the free level will remain normal, but total level is increased. Is my understanding correct?

status update irk? curious how the cram bank is going

Originally Posted by loveoforganic

status update irk? curious how the cram bank is going

He probably got early access to Step 2 GT and is trying to cram the next 1000 questions in over 3 days.

Irk is animal!

Originally Posted by loveoforganic

status update irk? curious how the cram bank is going

Originally Posted by Alvarez13

He probably got early access to Step 2 GT and is trying to cram the next 1000 questions in over 3 days.

Irk is animal!

Haha, not quite on to step 2 stuff yet. Maybe next week.

Things have been going well so far. No doubt it has been a crap ton of work to keep up my daily questions, but not having to bank new cards has made it much more manageable (although GT has added like 8 more cards since I finished my banking, just to keep this "gunner" gunning). For a while there I was sitting at like 600-680 questions a day, but now I am down to the low 400's or mid 300's for the most part as I have ranked the easier things at a "4" a few times and moved them out beyond my Step-I date. I'm hoping to keep things under 300 questions/day by the time my dedicated study time rolls around (1 week left!), which I could get done in about 1.5 to 2 hours a day pretty reasonably. This week will be hectic though, because I have my last block final on Friday, and I'd really prefer not failing the last exam (and block) of the didactic years so I may have to rush my daily GT. I've also used the customized review schedule feature to move things from the day or two before my exam to the day after my exam.

Honestly, thinking back to that banking frenzy, I don't really know how I did it. I pretty much ignored all things school related for like a week and a half and spent hours and hours reading and banking new cards and then subsequently doing the initial review quiz on those topics. I was up until like 1 or 2 in the morning some nights (which is late for me, I guess I'm getting old ) trying to make sure I hit the minimum number of cards banked that I needed to so I would finish banking GT in 10 days. I don't know if it was better finishing GT the way I did or if it would've been better to just slowly bank cards, but overall I am really glad I did it. It was nice not having finishing GT hanging over my head, and I like being able to look at my daily questions and know I have X number of questions left, and then I am finished with GT for the day, instead of wondering how long it would take me to bank new cards too.

I've also started using Pathoma, and I am loving it. We're doing some heme/onc stuff to finish second year at my school, and in watching the pathoma vidoes, the material has become way more clear than watching the podcasts from the professors at my school. I mean, nothing against them, but those pathoma videos are just very clear and to the point. I also love how he is always saying, "examiners like to test it like this" or something to that effect when explaining something; it gets my attention. I've actually combined my daily GT with Pathoma, so I'll do like 50 GT questions and then take a break watching a ~10 minute section of Pathoma before doing another 50 GT questions. It has helped split up the relatively large load of GT questions that I've had into smaller chunks, which allows me to avoid mental fatigue and move through the questions more quickly (~50 Q's/15 min).

In a week I will start my true board study time without stupid school around to get in the way of my learning, so that should be fun. That's where I think the banking frenzy will really pay off, because now I have seen everything that I banked at the end of March ~4-5 times and while not everything is sticking yet, I feel comfortable continuing with GT but also adding on a heavy dose of qbanks on random mode. Had I not had a chance to properly review something like endocrine let's say, then I wouldn't want to waste those qbank questions on something I would for sure get wrong anyways. With the foundation of knowledge I have in place, the qbanks should help augment my learning and expose my weak areas. My plan is to get through the whole Kaplan qbank in ~15-16 days, which would mean 3 blocks of questions per day (~138). Since I get through qbank questions in slightly under a minute on average, that will take about 2 hours and 20 minutes for questions, and then about a 2:1 ratio of review time:testing time means another 4 hours and 40 minutes of reviewing those blocks of questions for a total of 7 hours a day. If I am doing a 10-12 hour day like I anticipate, that will leave me 3-5 hours to do my daily GT (~1.5-2 hours), watch some Pathoma, and review FA/other books as necessary. Assuming I finish Kaplan in under 2.5 weeks, that will leave me about a month left before my exam to do all of UW. I'm not sure exactly how many questions are in UW, but I believe it is around 2500, so hopefully I will be able to do all of it plus redo my incorrects by the time my exam rolls around. I also have 2 NBME practice exam vouchers from my school that I will have to use at some point in this process, so I'll probably take one after I finish Kaplan and the second about a week out from the real deal. Hopefully the loads and loads of questions will pay off with a decent score.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to and what I'll be doing in the coming weeks. I'll definitely check back on this thread with more updates, and hopefully a happy ending to this epic journey.

I have a feeling it will go well for you. Thanks for the update! Will probably do a similar cram with whatever information we're presented with for the last block. I don't think I could learn it in advance, and the logic of having done it all at least once before random UWorld makes a lot of sense. Long way off though!

I'm interested to hear updates from others who are using GT as their test date approaches...

%banked/%mastery
how many daily questions
time spent on daily questions
qbanks or other sources your using alongside

I'm curious to see how GT has prepared you for the final stretch!

82%/37%
Well I started going on a banking spree to finish everything in the next two weeks so around 300-400 atm
I try to limit it to 1.5hrs max
Uworld,Pathoma, Goljan audio, FA, and Anki for now.

Going to take my first CSSBA/assessment soon and then I'll see what elseI need to supplement in.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

I'm interested to hear updates from others who are using GT as their test date approaches...

%banked/%mastery
how many daily questions
time spent on daily questions
qbanks or other sources your using alongside

I'm curious to see how GT has prepared you for the final stretch!

87%/67% and am starting to see the light at the end. Will be done before June 1st (test is June 26).
~210 questions/day + trying to bank min of 4-5 cards/day
1.5 hrs
Have been listening to Goljan from the start, been through Pathoma twice, annotated FA, too much school BS to do qbanks unfortunately.

~2 more wks of school and I can crank up qbanks.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

I'm interested to hear updates from others who are using GT as their test date approaches...

%banked/%mastery
how many daily questions
time spent on daily questions
qbanks or other sources your using alongside

I'm curious to see how GT has prepared you for the final stretch!

Just took my last final of second year today, so I am officially into dedicated step-I time now. No turning back, no school to get in the way, just nose to the grind stone, powering through this crap! I only did a couple Pathoma videos and my daily GT questions today though, I figured I needed a little break after that final. Tomorrow will be another "light day" with only GT and a couple Pathoma videos so I can spend some time with my wife, so she doesn't leave me for someone who is ALREADY a doctor. Then Sunday **** gets real...

Anyways, as it currently stands, I am at 99.4% banked (those bastards keep adding cards!) with a mastery of 55.2% and rising pretty quickly (at this point I've seen everything at least a couple times through, so lots of cards are moving into that "4" category every day).

The downside is that I am still having quite a few cards per day, especially as those irritating questions are now popping up every 2-3 days (that's right lysosomal storage disorders, I'm talking about you!). My outlook for the next week is 360, 359, 374, 377, 335, 372, 370, etc., but then it drops off quite a bit. Since those 360+ cards aren't all things I've mastered, it slows me down a little bit, so I figure it will take me about 2.5 hours to get through that many cards (though I've been breaking it up into more manageable chunks interspersed between Pathoma videos).

As I mentioned above in my last epic novel-like post, I will be using Kaplan at first and then UW as my Qbanks.

Edit: Test date is June 13

test on june 15
100% banked, 59.5% mastery
~230 q's/day, 1.5-2 hours (at this point, if i'm still missing something, it's because i need to review the concept)
100+ qbank q's / day, about 6 hours, annotating into FA
Kaplan Qbank 32% complete, 69% correct
UWorld qbank 36% complete, 74% correct
Anki for things that are in first aid but not GT (mostly drugs) - 15 minutes/day
Pathoma videos and old Kaplan videos (biochem, resp phys) - over lunch, ~45 minutes/day
BRS physio (reading + review q's), high-yield neuro (annotate into FA), finishing up renal course work - scattered throughout the day, ~1 hour total
Goljan audio - when I'm on the bus, walking to school, pooping, brushing my teeth, doing dishes ~ 1 or 1.5 lectures/day
also try to exercise every other day
remainder of the day is relaxing with my gf (some people just work straight through to bed time, I think that's a recipe for burnout)

NBME7 (2 weeks ago) - 238

GT is my primary knowledge source and by far #1 important resource besides just learning everything from books the first time around. If a question comes up based on facts contained in GT, I can usually answer instantly.

If i had to do it over again, I would have started 10 hour days and Q-banks earlier (I started the first week of April)

GT rec...

Originally Posted by DoctwoB

Just got my score and am incredibly pumped. 271/91.

First off let me throw my (probably biased) 2c into the ring on debate about the value of high scores. There is most definitely diminishing returns to increasing step1 score in that the gap from a 230 to a 250 is much much more important then the gap between 250 and 270. That being said I believe that people who think improving scores beyond the 250ish range doesn't help are probably deluding themselves. It definitely isn't the only part of an application, and a 240 w/ good grades, research, and interviewing skills can certainly be a better applicant then a 270 without any/all of those things. It of course will vary highly between specialties (higher scores probably more important in more competitive specialties) as well as between programs (some value step1 highly, others very little). Thats why I am very skeptical of any anecdotal "well my PD said this . .", and there is undoubtedly a range between programs. Anyways, enough of that. These threads were very helpful to me in my preparation, so I hope to give back a bit with what I did and what I would/wouldn't change.


Study resources: By far the most important was gunner training. I started this winter of first year, and it was absolutely essential for hammering in the facts. Reading first aid for the first time felt like a review, as GT had already hammered in most of the factoids into my brain. It also has lots of things that aren't in first aid, and so is a great supplemental resource. That being said, it is a system that takes A LOT of time to work, so start early and stick with it, or it may not be worth using at all. If only they had it for wards/step 2 . . .

I used Kaplan qbank along with 2nd year classes, with a second pass during my study period. Kaplan is a decent Qbank. Generally good questions and explanations, but some overly nitpicky questions. Definitely not as good as Uworld, but I'd rate it as #2 (and newly inexpensive, only $150 w/ AMA discount for many months)

I did 2 passes of Goljan audio along w/ 2nd year classes, w/ 2 more during the study period (while at the gym). This is great because he completely emphasizes the HOW and WHY of pathology, which is much more useful then trying to memorize his book, which was garbage IMO (except for the pictures, which I used along w/ the audio). As I explain later, understanding the how and the why is essential, as they love to ask questions about classic diseases but w/ a new twist that makes it very difficult to just memorize the answers.

I did a quick pass of first aid along w/ 2nd year classes, then 2 passes during my study period, w/ a last only on pages I'd marked as weak spots. Great review, terrible for trying to learn material. Not much more to say.

I did 2 passes of Uworld on untimed tutor mode during my study period. This Qbank is solid gold, with multi-step/conceptual questions and amazing explanations. I highly recommend using tutor mode (or thoroughly going over all answers afterwards, including correct answers). Even if you got the answer right, make sure you got it right for the right reasons by reading the explanations.

I also read through BRS physio along w/ classes and once more during my study period. This book is great for understanding of basics of physio, which is essential for reasoning your way through tough questions.

Finally, work hard on your classes in the first 2 years. There is no review book/memorization set in the world that can replace a solid foundation in physiology and pathophysiology.

About the test itself: First off, I won't talk about areas of focus. I've talked to enough people to know that your distribution of questions is basically random e.g. I had 4 ACE inhibitor questions and not a single lasix or thiazide one. Doesn't mean the latter concepts aren't important, just that it is totally, 100% random what will be emphasized on your test.

There are a broad mix of questions. There are many questions that are straight forward and fact based and much easier then uworld questions (assuming you know your facts straight). There are also many questions of Uworld type difficulty, but often testing aspects of a question that you've never seen before. This is a brilliant test in that it asks you questions that force you to make an educated guess based on your understanding of how physiology and path work. Instead of asking you the classic lab findings of disease X (which you memorized), it can ask you about what you would expect some other random lab finding Y (which you haven't memorized) to be, and you have to figure it out based on the pathophys of that disease. You can memorize yourself to a passing/good score, but not to a great score. I personally felt that there were plenty of questions I wasn't "sure" about, but had made my best guess based on my understanding of how the organ systems work, and I guess I was correct more often then not. That's why there is no replacing a good education in the first 2 years, no matter how many times you read first aid. Likewise, when you take the test, don't feel bad that there are tons of questions you think you know, but aren't 100% on.

Thus to all the "are UW + First aid enough" questions, I'd say it depends. Those 2 resources will certainly provide you with enough of the factoids to memorize that you can do very well with just those 2 IF you also have a good understanding of physio and pathophys. If you don't, then use whatever resources you need until you feel you have a good understanding of how the organ systems work and what is happening when things go wrong. Also know that no matter how many resources you use, there WILL be things you haven't seen before, and so your ability to make educated guesses is essential.

Numbers:
GT = 100% completed, 75% mastery
Kaplan Qbank = 84% first pass, 90% 2nd
Uworld Qbank = 89% first pass, 96% 2nd (though I remembered many questions)
NBME 11 = 255 (5 weeks out, after finishing classes before study period, GT, kaplan 1x, goljan/FA 2x)
NBME 12 = 265 (2 weeks out, after first thorough pass of FA in my study period, first Uworld pass, another goljan pass, and some of kaplan)
UWSA1 = 265+ (1 week out)
NBME13 = 275 (5 days out)
UWSA2 = 265+ (3 days out)
Actual test = 271/91

Hope this helps.

Damn it, maybe I should rejoin you guys. lol

congrats to DoctwoB!

After reading that... I just remembered I have 250 problems I have for today...

Holy crap! That's freaking crazy good. I highly doubt I'll be able to hit 75% mastery on GT by the time my exam rolls around...Maybe 65%? I'm also sitting quite a bit lower on my Kaplan Qbank average...I can definitely say I am impressed! Congrats to docwob!

2nd year honors vs 100% banked GT...

So I've been off and on this program, I've found it very difficult to honor anything while using GT while I can honor ~50% or so of my courses without GT. So my question is this, would you rather be 100% banked with GT 6 months before Step 1 or honor 2nd year courses? I know some people are smart enough to do both (or they have synergistic effects with class + GT). Unfortunately, our tests tend to emphasize minutia for the honors grades, and not clinical problem solving or application of main points. They'd rather have you regurgitate an unimportant fact than test a difficult concept.

I have found that if I'm not careful with GT, I will try to bank too fast with surface understanding, which obviously hurts you in recall level as the cards build up. This semester played out like that for me, I tried to do too much and obtained mediocre results on both fronts (resetting GT and ~average grades).

I asked this question before and people said, "do both." But it just didn't work out for me, for whatever reason. I have to chose one or the other.

Hmmm I wouldn't want to be 100% banked for GT 6 months out; you'll peak too early. I would aim for 100% banked 2-3 months out.

For me, I think I would take a very high step 1 score over preclinical honors. People have differing opinions on what matters for residency applications etc. but since many schools don't even have preclinical grades, I can't think that they're crucial to matching well. So, if you think GT will help you with doing well on step 1, I'd go with GT...but maybe spread it out a bit so you don't finish too early.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

2nd year honors vs 100% banked GT...

So I've been off and on this program, I've found it very difficult to honor anything while using GT while I can honor ~50% or so of my courses without GT. So my question is this, would you rather be 100% banked with GT 6 months before Step 1 or honor 2nd year courses? I know some people are smart enough to do both (or they have synergistic effects with class + GT). Unfortunately, our tests tend to emphasize minutia for the honors grades, and not clinical problem solving or application of main points. They'd rather have you regurgitate an unimportant fact than test a difficult concept.

I have found that if I'm not careful with GT, I will try to bank too fast with surface understanding, which obviously hurts you in recall level as the cards build up. This semester played out like that for me, I tried to do too much and obtained mediocre results on both fronts (resetting GT and ~average grades).

I asked this question before and people said, "do both." But it just didn't work out for me, for whatever reason. I have to chose one or the other.

I agree with ipizzy. You can find surveys of residency program directors and for a lot of fields it plays out like this: MSIII clinical evals > Step I >>> MS I-II grades. Of course they include other things like research, extracurricular activities, etc. in those surveys, but for the purpose of answering your question, MS I-II grades are consistently towards the bottom half of the list. As ipizzy said, many schools don't even have grades the first 2 years (which I can tell you is awesome!), and on top of that the first 2 years isn't exactly standardized and step I is. That makes step-I a better comparison between applicants at different schools (supposedly).

Anyways, I am biased towards focusing on the broader picture (i.e. step-I and clinical relevance) rather than the minutiae that inevitably works it's way onto every exam, but I think it will be worth it in the end, because now while a lot of my classmates are trying to remember simple stuff like which cranial nerve is the afferent limb of the corneal reflex, I know it backwards and forwards. It means that while a lot of them have made one pass through FA heading into step I study time, I've already seen most things 5+ times, so I don't have to focus on the remembering the basics, I can try to focus on the details that I hope will push my score past the 240-250 mark .

I know it's tough though to set your ego aside and not kill it on school exams, because I had to do that myself. My school gives us a breakdown of our exam scores along with the class average at the end of each year, and you can see where I started focusing on step-I more my scores dropped from above the average to slightly below the average, because I stopped reading lecture notes or going to class and I'd watch the podcasts at 2X one time to make sure what I was doing with GT et al. was inline with lecture. That means I missed out on some of that minutiae we all hate so much, but so be it. When they administered a practice step-I NBME I was well within the top 10% of my class, so hopefully all this crap pays off...

Originally Posted by ipizzy

Hmmm I wouldn't want to be 100% banked for GT 6 months out; you'll peak too early. I would aim for 100% banked 2-3 months out.

For me, I think I would take a very high step 1 score over preclinical honors. People have differing opinions on what matters for residency applications etc. but since many schools don't even have preclinical grades, I can't think that they're crucial to matching well. So, if you think GT will help you with doing well on step 1, I'd go with GT...but maybe spread it out a bit so you don't finish too early.

6 mo may be hard to do, especially if you haven't seen some of the mat'l yet. For instance, our school does pharm the last 4 wks before our 4 wk study break for step I. I think it would be difficult if you tried doing all of the GT phram with no base to build from. 2 mo out should be plenty. Also, in terms of difficulty, MS2>>MS1, so you may struggle a lit bit to bank GT as much as you think you can.

Unless you want to do a plastics/ent/derm residency and need AOA, and your particular school factors preclinical grades into AOA, screw the grades. They're way to low on the residency list. I have comfortably sat on the top of the grade hill all year while doing my GT, FA, and Goljan and much more relaxed than my class going into this board exam. I know how you feel, making all those A's in undergrad and this just seems so wrong. Sometimes wrong can feel soooo right. Scared you might like it? Lol.

Also, you can always wait until after step I to make a call. Irk, Ipizzy, and I might all fail miserably and be exiled from SDN (fail is <240 per SDN requirements to maintain membership).

How often do you guys find yourself rolling over the day's questions. (ie. spreading out over 7 days, etc) I find that I often get too busy and end up doing that. At least once a week or so. When I get home late at night and I'm staring at nearly 300 questions, I'm just like "aww hell naw" and I click "clear"

Any suggestions, or is this a common occurrence for some of you too?

Originally Posted by amaprez

How often do you guys find yourself rolling over the day's questions. (ie. spreading out over 7 days, etc) I find that I often get too busy and end up doing that. At least once a week or so. When I get home late at night and I'm staring at nearly 300 questions, I'm just like "aww hell naw" and I click "clear"

Any suggestions, or is this a common occurrence for some of you too?

done it once or twice.
usually when I had tons of questions piled up from 2 days.
but as long as I have less than 250 questions, I'll go for it.

Originally Posted by amaprez

How often do you guys find yourself rolling over the day's questions. (ie. spreading out over 7 days, etc) I find that I often get too busy and end up doing that. At least once a week or so. When I get home late at night and I'm staring at nearly 300 questions, I'm just like "aww hell naw" and I click "clear"

Any suggestions, or is this a common occurrence for some of you too?

I've never done it. What has worked for me in the past = getting up early before class to finish the questions for the day. You could also try getting ahead by a day or two on review quizzes so that you have a buffer zone if you end up getting really busy.

Originally Posted by ipizzy

I've never done it. What has worked for me in the past = getting up early before class to finish the questions for the day. You could also try getting ahead by a day or two on review quizzes so that you have a buffer zone if you end up getting really busy.

Wow I need to be like you!

You guys have convinced me to come back. Shooting for 100% between Jan-Feb, for a June exam.

Is the consensus supplements to GT: Pathoma, Kaplan Qbank, UWorld, + maybe BRS physio/goljan RR? Hope you all do well. Good luck.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

You guys have convinced me to come back. Shooting for 100% between Jan-Feb, for a June exam.

Is the consensus supplements to GT: Pathoma, Kaplan Qbank, UWorld, + maybe BRS physio/goljan RR? Hope you all do well. Good luck.

Welcome back. Will you be starting from 0% banked again?

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

You guys have convinced me to come back. Shooting for 100% between Jan-Feb, for a June exam.

Is the consensus supplements to GT: Pathoma, Kaplan Qbank, UWorld, + maybe BRS physio/goljan RR? Hope you all do well. Good luck.

Pretty much my plan. GT + Pathoma + Levinson Micro/Immun this summer + RR path (depending on how well time permits, over 2nd year), BRS physio (very quick skims, before each block), Kap Qbank by subject going along with classes, learn and bank psych/pharm over christmas, UWorld during dedicated study time on tutor (hopefully 2x), NBME's for timing practice.

All very tentative on how well I feel I can learn/not expend too much mental energy this summer

+/- FA: would love to hear some more input from people with a high bank % if they feel even one pass through is worthwhile. I could see how it might be nice to have one quick condensed comprehensive pass through everything, phrased slightly differently from GT, and it would be quick if 100% banked, but could also be a waste, so await experienced opinion

Originally Posted by loveoforganic

Pretty much my plan. GT + Pathoma + Levinson Micro/Immun this summer + RR path (depending on how well time permits, over 2nd year), BRS physio (very quick skims, before each block), Kap Qbank by subject going along with classes, learn and bank psych/pharm over christmas, UWorld during dedicated study time on tutor (hopefully 2x), NBME's for timing practice.

All very tentative on how well I feel I can learn/not expend too much mental energy this summer

+/- FA: would love to hear some more input from people with a high bank % if they feel even one pass through is worthwhile. I could see how it might be nice to have one quick condensed comprehensive pass through everything, phrased slightly differently from GT, and it would be quick if 100% banked, but could also be a waste, so await experienced opinion

I will definitely still do 1 or 2 passes of FA. It's the bible. In fact, I would abandon all other resources before FA (pathoma/goljan/BRS anything). I have a plan similar to yours. I don't like banking stuff during the semester though, so I'm sure it will be tricky during 2nd year.

GT + FA + Qbanks = winning... at least I hope it does!

Originally Posted by amaprez

Welcome back. Will you be starting from 0% banked again?

Lol, yeah. I was ~32% banked when I reset. I think I can do those cards in a solid 2-3 weeks if I really tried.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

Lol, yeah. I was ~32% banked when I reset. I think I can do those cards in a solid 2-3 weeks if I really tried.

Maybe, but doing that much that fast will net you like 500 q's a day in the short term won't it?

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

Lol, yeah. I was ~32% banked when I reset. I think I can do those cards in a solid 2-3 weeks if I really tried.

Originally Posted by amaprez

Maybe, but doing that much that fast will net you like 500 q's a day in the short term won't it?

If you're doing it over the summer, that shouldn't be too bad, but as amaprez points out you'll probably be facing upwards of 500 Q's/day. I'd recommend taking the approach that I used to bank the last third or so of GT a month ago, which is rating everything as a 4, so it gets pushed out a little ways. That way you're not getting slammed with daily Q's and banking on the same days. Since you still have a full summer and academic year before you really have to have that stuff on lock, it's probably not a big deal if you over-rank some things right now, because you'll see them at least 5 more times in the next year anyways and you can drop them down in the rankings as necessary.

Also, I can't remember who mentioned it above, but banking pharm without having seen it in class shouldn't be too bad. IMO, pharm is just a crap-ton of memorization that doesn't take a whole lot of conceptual understanding, especially if you already have the physiology and pathology background down.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

You guys have convinced me to come back. Shooting for 100% between Jan-Feb, for a June exam.

Is the consensus supplements to GT: Pathoma, Kaplan Qbank, UWorld, + maybe BRS physio/goljan RR? Hope you all do well. Good luck.

I missed this post before.

I hope that is the formula for success, since it pretty closely mirrors what I am doing for the next 6 weeks, along with FA. I'll let you know in a couple months when I get my score back...but so far I have consistently been above the average kaplan gives for the blocks of Qbank questions I've done.

Current MS1 here.. is there a real advantage to banking pharm in GT during summer and focus on path/micro during MS2 year? Or is this more like a waste of time?

Originally Posted by dragon529

Current MS1 here.. is there a real advantage to banking pharm in GT during summer and focus on path/micro during MS2 year? Or is this more like a waste of time?

Why would it be a waste of time?

Originally Posted by dragon529

Current MS1 here.. is there a real advantage to banking pharm in GT during summer and focus on path/micro during MS2 year? Or is this more like a waste of time?

MS1 here. My understanding is that drugs and bugs are pure memorization. Personally, I plan on banking all the pharm and micro stuff I can, as well as reviewing everything we've covered first year that I have yet to bank. I'm hoping I can get up to ~40% banked before starting MS2. Currently sitting at ~20% banked since I took a month and a half GT hiatus when I decided to prioritize school > GT and stopped banking cards.

Theoretically, if I were to get through all of micro and pharm over the summer along with a review of first year courses, when could/should I begin Kaplan Qbank? Would it be a bad idea to start Qbank questions once school starts up?