Studying for ck while on rotations??

[Zuhal]

Hi guys,

I started this thread because I feel like I'm seriously in a lot of trouble. I'm literally not studying at all. I just have no time to study and its not because I'm busy having a social life, its because i'm in the hospital all the time. I'm doing my surgery rotation right now and I spend an average of 8-10 hours of my day at the hospital, 6x/wk. I know surgery is known to be intense but even when I did Peds, I was there from 9am-6pm. By the time I get home, I am EXHAUSTED! All I wanna know do is shower, eat and sleep!
Does anyone else have the same problem? How do you guys organize your time? I have to take CK/CS by June and I have clinicals back to back with no breaks in between.
Any advise? comments/suggestions?
Thnx

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[Top Gun]

Try studying while you're there. There's always some downtime during a surgery rotation. Use the time between OR cases to go through a review book, for instance.

 

[Kaustikos]

I'm confused... You've been studying for these shelf exams, right? How have you been doing on those? I was in the same boat - but I did what Top Gun said; I studied during downtime or after work. Sorry to say this - but I got done at 6pm and I would still study a couple hours/night for ****.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I spend an average of 8-10 hours of my day at the hospital, 6x/wk.

Lucky...

 

[MerickManual]

Hi guys,

I started this thread because I feel like I'm seriously in a lot of trouble. I'm literally not studying at all. I just have no time to study and its not because I'm busy having a social life, its because i'm in the hospital all the time. I'm doing my surgery rotation right now and I spend an average of 8-10 hours of my day at the hospital, 6x/wk. I know surgery is known to be intense but even when I did Peds, I was there from 9am-6pm. By the time I get home, I am EXHAUSTED! All I wanna know do is shower, eat and sleep!
Does anyone else have the same problem? How do you guys organize your time? I have to take CK/CS by June and I have clinicals back to back with no breaks in between.
Any advise? comments/suggestions?
Thnx

Wait, don't you have like... 4-5 months still? Usually people study one or two months for CK. Maybe your rotation during this time will be more lax.

 

[physicsnerd42]

If you're studying for shelf exams, you're studying for CK. think of CK as a (very) long shelf exam with questions that are easier than typical shelf questions. I took CK 11 days after the last shelf exam of 3rd year and felt like that was enough time to dedicate to CK studying. On all my clerkships I just studied for the shelf, not CK.

 

[PBMCs]

Lol, 8-10 hours is a work day for ppl with normal jobs

 

[evilbooyaa]

Hi guys,

I started this thread because I feel like I'm seriously in a lot of trouble. I'm literally not studying at all. I just have no time to study and its not because I'm busy having a social life, its because i'm in the hospital all the time. I'm doing my surgery rotation right now and I spend an average of 8-10 hours of my day at the hospital, 6x/wk. I know surgery is known to be intense but even when I did Peds, I was there from 9am-6pm. By the time I get home, I am EXHAUSTED! All I wanna know do is shower, eat and sleep!
Does anyone else have the same problem? How do you guys organize your time? I have to take CK/CS by June and I have clinicals back to back with no breaks in between.
Any advise? comments/suggestions?
Thnx

9am - 6pm is not bad hours.

My surgery rotation was 5am rounds (so get there by 430 to pre-round) - 6pm (4pm on a good day, 7-8pm on a bad one). Granted it was 5 days a week unless you were on call, but I have no idea what you're complaining about only being there 8-10 hours. Yes, you'll be tired, but welcome to the surgical rotation.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Waiting for some dingus surgeon to point out that there are 168 hours in a week and that (168-60)=108 hours left to study!

 

[TheRiddler]

Waiting for some dingus surgeon to point out that there are 168 hours in a week and that (168-60)=108 hours left to study!

You just did.

 

[MerickManual]

You just did.

 

[Winged Scapula]

You just did.

Ooh...feisty medical student!

 

[Kaustikos]

Waiting for some dingus surgeon to point out that there are 168 hours in a week and that (168-60)=108 hours left to study!

Kinda like the med student who complains to residents/attendings about having to study or not having time to study while on their gen surgery rotation?

<-- Guilty as of yesterday. I got invited to a journal club meeting...but it was at 5:30. I had to sheepishly email the guy and thank him for the invite but that I had my shelf exam next week and needed to study...


Also - dingus surgeon? Isn't that redundant?

 

[medicsb]

As others have pointed out: If you're studying for shelf exams, then you're studying for CK. I did use Uworld to help study for shelf exams, so I had done ~1400 questions prior to dedicated studying. (And for what it's worth, I only did 10 days of dedicated studying.) My only recommendation would be to get Uworld if you are not already using it.

 

[KnuxNole]

If your school doesn't have shelf exams, I would still try to read for each rotation, so that when CK/CS get closer, you'll be good to go. Even if you don't care about how you do on the shelf(plenty of classmates did not study and simply wanted to pass), at least read so that you won't have to cram for Step 2.

Squeeze study time during downtime. Having UWorld on your smartphone can be golden. I can't remember if CaseFiles can fit in your pocket, but you can pull that out and read. When you get home, relax for a little, get a coffee/energy drink, and grind out some studying if necessary.

 

[metallica81788]

If you're studying for shelf exams, you're studying for CK. think of CK as a (very) long shelf exam with questions that are easier than typical shelf questions. I took CK 11 days after the last shelf exam of 3rd year and felt like that was enough time to dedicate to CK studying. On all my clerkships I just studied for the shelf, not CK.

I second this. Studied a little for CK during OB/GYN which is our most intense rotation. Took CK 10 days after that shelf and did really well.

You shouldn't need any extra practice on questions from your last rotation before CK, but I did about 10-15 medicine/random UWorld questions for my last 2 weeks of OB rotation before the shelf. Then had 9-10 days of pure CK studying. You'll be ok.

 

[sakata8242]

Get USMLEWorld for you smartphone/tablet. Set up a 5 or 10 question quiz when you have down time at the hospital. Do another set when you get home. Repeat daily.