240+ scorers, what were your study habits during classes?

[Frogger27]

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Props for you man [emoji1319] Few people can turn their life around like that!

I don't think his post has anything to do with "turning his life around"... He is essentially saying that you do not need to start prepping for the boards as an M1 and instead time can be used on things you enjoy (i.e beer and video games). Once M2 comes around, different story as it takes more focus and you should have Step 1 in the back of your mind.

 

[doctorstrangerthingz]

I don't think his post has anything to do with "turning his life around"... He is essentially saying that you do not need to start prepping for the boards as an M1 and instead time can be used on things you enjoy (i.e beer and video games). Once M2 comes around, different story as it takes more focus and you should have Step 1 in the back of your mind.

I think I understood what he’s saying but thank you for pitching in. I find it inspiring for someone to changed his lifestyle, habits, and mindset so drastically and yield impressive results. You’re right though, worrying about boards is too early for an M1.

 

[CharlieBillings]

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[ginsengreset]

I think I understood what he’s saying but thank you for pitching in. I find it inspiring for someone to changed his lifestyle, habits, and mindset so drastically and yield impressive results. You’re right though, worrying about boards is too early for an M1.

I think that approach really only works for traditional M1/physio and M2/path curricula, though. If they did this for a systems-based curriculum, they would probably just be weak on whatever systems were covered in M1, instead of the physiology making sense in light of their newfound diligence in the M2 pathology blocks. I could be mistaken, of course, if @mistafab actually went to a school with a systems-based curriculum.

 

[mistafab]

Yeah, my school was system based.

My life has been pretty good in med school, and life in general. M1 just wasn’t really useful to me as it just didn’t fit in with the big picture so it never really made sense. For me, when a system makes sense, I can see how the pieces fall in easily. M1 for me was like trying to have someone memorize algebra - just didn’t make sense. But once I had M2 and learned the system, of course I can do the “algebra” in my sleep - and now the calculus.

Med school just builds ontop of itself. Pathyphys really helps you put those random blocks of facts you kind of remembered into the whole picture. Once you have the picture, you can remember the facts. That’s how it was for me anyway. Clearly I am biased since my m1 performance did not really seem to make a difference for me.

I think that approach really only works for traditional M1/physio and M2/path curricula, though. If they did this for a systems-based curriculum, they would probably just be weak on whatever systems were covered in M1, instead of the physiology making sense in light of their newfound diligence in the M2 pathology blocks. I could be mistaken, of course, if @mistafab actually went to a school with a systems-based curriculum.

 

[anbuitachi]

did not go to class. stay home. understand the material realy well. and refresh yourself when the time comes near the test. the more repetition the better. med school is not 'hard' , it's just a lot of material.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Everyone else has some good points here - the key is just to be always paying attention to what works and what doesn’t. I used to sit down after every exam and write out what I felt worked and what didn’t.

If you’re constantly tweaking your system, you can rest assured you are at least always improving.

Also take time for yourself - I had a super strict schedule, no work after 8pm, no work on sundays. Helps keep you studying at peak performance and not insane in the mean time

Edit: got a 240, which is like not great by sdn standards but I’m pretty darn stoked about it.

 

[doctorstrangerthingz]

@doctorstrangerthingz

Scored >250. Used class notes up through late february of 2nd year. Mainly focused on doing well in classes and building a foundation of understanding.

Started out easy with pathoma in february and began working my way through first aid while doing uworld. Had a 6 weeks of dedicated in which I took a nbme practice test each week. At the end of it I had gone through FA 2.5 times, uworld once, pathoma once and sketchy micro/pharm once. Anki wasn't really conducive to my way of learning but I did use it to memorize some of micro and weird lower yield things like the sphingolipidoses closer to the exam. Referenced medbullets occasionally when I wanted brief overviews of a topic.

Also recommend trying to eat right and exercise 5 days a week, it'll help more than you think.

Hope that helps.

Edit: Took the exam approximately 3 months after I started studying. During dedicated I usially did 12-14 hour days.

Thank you for sharing your study strategy for step! Would you mind clarifying the timeline again? How far from the test did you start studying?