For 1st and 2nd years: What are your study habits?

[Linus van Pelt]

I've been trying to settle on a study routine now that Step 3 is out of the way. I am curious to hear from residents who have not finished taking all their ITEs what their current study habits are (regarding time spent studying and resources used), just to see where I am in comparison and perhaps to get an idea on some different resources that may be available. Thanks to you all in advance!

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[physicsnerd42]

Intern here. I read things related to my patients. I go to morning report and noon conference. I try to read some of the papers each rotation suggests we read. That's about all I have time for.

 

[mvenus929]

Also an intern. Currently in the process of taking step 3, so that's taken up the bulk of my time, but...

I attend conference. We have suggested readings based on conference every month that I try to read a couple of. I look up a couple papers per week on my patients themselves and skim over those. I try to do a handful of Prep questions each week. Mostly, I just try to stay caught up on inpatient and clinic responsibilities and somewhat rested.

 

[drkristy85]

second year here. don't really have time to "study". I go to all the AM/noon conferences, read all our assigned articles (there are plenty!), look up/"read about" things my attending tells me to (counts as learning though I usually look it up on Wiki that morning haha lol), and when taking care of a pt, look up stuff on Uptodate right before or when I am taking care of them....third yr I plan on starting to officially study 2nd half of the year, thats what most of our residents do, and we got a good pass rate.

 

[drkristy85]

We have enough pt care responsibilities and stupid H&P/dc summaries to write that it limits study time.... I hate doing notes, I need to get a scribe

 

[drkristy85]

I'm going to use Laughing your way for boards prep, along with prep q's and peds In review .... That's more than enough for me... I would rather do a good job of studying well a smaller amount of material than trying to cover too much material and not covering it well

I remember for Steps, I knew some folks that went thru ALL the Kaplan books. That would have driven me nuts. I did First AID and DIT, worked out well. That's why I think I'll like using laughing your way