1 week to study and just want to pass

[dingleberry007]

I know this is a silly question but I'm just curious...

if someone had 1 week to study and their sole goal was to simply pass...
what would you recommend they go through?

thanks

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[UditNarayan]

well, this all depends on the individual med student. some can pass without even a week of studying while others may need a full 2 months, and for some, even that may not be enough time. it depends on the strength of your background, how much you picked up and retained during first two years, and test taking ability. if you're a strong student and simply need a refresher (ie what the individual sympathetic drugs do, etc) FA is a decent place to go for that. however, if you have weaknesses, you should spend more time focusing on other sources, like Goljan. with only 1 week, I dont see how you can do much more than FA and a few UW questions...is this a hypothetical, or is someone considering this?

 

[chef]

spend the week memorizing FA. i mean go over the damn thing 20 times. you'll pass for sure

 

[UditNarayan]

spend the week memorizing FA. i mean go over the damn thing 20 times. you'll pass for sure

hmm, i barely got thru the damn thing once in 4-5 days, don't really see how it can be done that much faster and that many times while still grasping some level of retaining and understanding...either way, go with what works!

 

[Law2Doc]

I know this is a silly question but I'm just curious...

if someone had 1 week to study and their sole goal was to simply pass...
what would you recommend they go through?

thanks

If you got all honors during the basic science years and did well on a practice NBME or two, then yeah, you probably could pass fine. The other 95% of med students would consider this career suicide. Thus there really isn't any recommendation to be gotten here. You don't study enough, you might fail, and at a minimum you probably will not do well enough to give yourself options. That's all there is to it. No secret -- "here is all you need to do in 7 days and you will be fine." The secret is to give yourself a whole lot more time, or don't take the test.

 

[Law2Doc]

spend the week memorizing FA. i mean go over the damn thing 20 times. you'll pass for sure

Actually the consensus on another thread seemed to be that FA is a good backbone, but plenty of us had exams where it would not have been sufficient on its own to do well.

 

[dingleberry007]

I just want to clarify that I'm not doing this.

My friend who is also MD/pHD is thinking about it just to get it out of the way because our program pressures us to take it at a certain time. He has MAJOR connections (like his family name is plastered all over hospitals) so he just wants to pass it. He is more into his research and plans to teach afterwards anyway.

He asked me for my opinion and I'm just asking for yours...

thanks

 

[chef]

Actually the consensus on another thread seemed to be that FA is a good backbone, but plenty of us had exams where it would not have been sufficient on its own to do well.

the OP wants to "pass", not score 260+ like everyone on this board. sure, if you want 260, FA won't be enough. it's only like friggin 300 pgs. but i cant think of a better resource with more high-yield knowledge than FA.

 

[Law2Doc]

the OP wants to "pass", not score 260+ like everyone on this board. sure, if you want 260, FA won't be enough. it's only like friggin 300 pgs. but i cant think of a better resource with more high-yield knowledge than FA.

I still think if you get the wrong form you are SOL. FA is a great starting point, but there will be enough things in there that you simply have to get from other resources, be it a qbank, or supplementary texts, or remember from the basic science years. Most people don't have an issue, because nobody in their right mind relies solely on FA (let alone only giving it a week). But if you did, I can imagine it not working out so well in too many circumstances.

 

[peter90036]

i know a not so bright student who only did FA and passed (but yeah heresay, etc, so...)

if he has connections what does he care then & if his score wont be looked at(residency/fellowship)

memorize/ read FA well, do some questions, take NBME, see if he passes.
or take exam and if fail take it again

...it would be nice not to have that sort of stress.

................................. lucky ....b ... guy.

 

[osli]

Plenty of my classmates studied using only FA and passed, because that was the "advice" passed down to them from upperclassmen. And these weren't the top 5% of the class (obviously) who could breeze through it anyway... these were average at best students who really just wanted to pass.

Sure, they weren't so smart for listening to that advice, and could probably have done better with a more rounded resource suite. And sure, the upperclassmen who passed on that "advice" were equally "not so sharp" for following the same advice and then passing it down... and were also of the average at best crowd just wanting to pass. And sure, they didn't spend a week with FA but like three months agonizing over memorizing it. And they probably didn't kill the boards by any measure... but I don't know of any personally who actually failed.

I suspect that when FA wasn't clear they probably reverted to class notes, which happened to be pretty good at our school. So this really isn't evidence of a "what to do in 7 days to 'just pass' strategy." But as far as "no one in their right mind" using just FA... it happens. A lot, apparently, at least at our school and one or two more where friends attend.

Perhaps there's something to be said for the students who struggle to retain this mountain of information for long periods of time and integrate it all into a big picture. Being overwhelmed with multiple resources may not be much better if any than sticking to one somewhat incomplete and short on explanations resource, and knowing it as well as possible. It does seem to at least offer one strategy to passing the exam. Who knows if those students would have scored lower or higher using more/different resources, but "just FA" accomplished their mission.

In my case, personally, nothing raised my UW percentage more or quicker than the first pass through FA. There was about a 10% average increase in test scores from the ones before to after that initial read through. I was a good student, though, and missed a lot of UW questions early on because of a forgotten detail or name that just needed refreshing. I suspect that other good students could probably pass easily with a couple of trips through FA (doable in a week) without problem. Of course, many of these students might well "just pass" without any study at all, but I think that would probably qualify as "not in their right mind", even for me.

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I think no matter who you are (and what your name is...), a good step 1 score can only help you. Your friend is making an incredibly stupid move to aim for "just passing." Sure, it might work, but what if you aim for just passing..and then don't?

I think it really will benefit everyone to put forth their best effort on this exam. There are certainly more minimalist strategies that work very well for some people - for example, I studied for 3 weeks, 8 hours/day using only FA, BRS Path, BRS Phys, and USMLE World. I ended up feeling very well prepared and did very well on the exam. And scores aside, it was really a great opportunity to solidify the concepts I had learned in the last 2 years before moving on to the next part of my training.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

RR path and FA - that sums up my last bit of cramming.

 

[Law2Doc]

In my case, personally, nothing raised my UW percentage more or quicker than the first pass through FA.

I would argue that UW is a supplemental resource you used in conjunction with FA, and that UW probably had as much to do with your Step score as FA. Had you not done problems and relied exclusively on FA (as I'm understanding others on this thread to be suggesting, given the time limitations), you would potentially have been SOL, IMHO.

 

[JeffLebowski]

I would argue that UW is a supplemental resource you used in conjunction with FA, and that UW probably had as much to do with your Step score as FA. Had you not done problems and relied exclusively on FA (as I'm understanding others on this thread to be suggesting, given the time limitations), you would potentially have been SOL, IMHO.

Too many abbreviations, Law2Doc. No one takes the time to write "**** out of luck" anymore. Stop and smell the roses. Where's the fire?

 

[peter90036]

Sastr. Wtf?

 

[JeffLebowski]

Sastr. Wtf?

"Where's the fire?" I don't know. That's what I was asking.

 

[peter90036]

i just had noticed that "wheres the fire" spells into wtf, nothing more

 

[ZonaRidicularis]

z

 

[osli]

I would argue that UW is a supplemental resource you used in conjunction with FA, and that UW probably had as much to do with your Step score as FA. Had you not done problems and relied exclusively on FA (as I'm understanding others on this thread to be suggesting, given the time limitations), you would potentially have been SOL, IMHO.

I never claimed that I only used FA for preparation. I'm sure that there were several sources, UW included, that were very important to my performance. What I did claim was that no other resource had as quick and as dramatic of an impact on my UW scores as FA did. I did about half of UW before cracking FA open, doing questions as I went through anatomy, pharm, and especially biochem. I took a hiatus from UW to go through FA thoroughly, and then resumed questions. There was a very clear and abrupt increase in scores before and after that I must attribute to FA. Take a look at the attached image.

So for me at least, no other single resource had as great of an impact. My UW scores didn't increase noticeably when doing just UW questions and going through "problem" subjects. It also didn't increase that much after going through FA the first time... not even RR Path had a great impact. It all started coming together right at the end, and that's where I think all resources combined to make me "prepared."

If you were a good student, FA is probably plenty to "pass." For most students, FA and RR Path is probably enough to "pass." And for practically all students, FA, RR Path, and UW would be sufficient preparation. If you're aiming higher, prepare accordingly. I personally don't see why someone wouldn't aim as high as possible... you only get one crack at this thing.

 

[g6pddfishnc]

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