62 day MSII Summer, How much time is needed to ACE THE BEAST

[IzzyMD09]

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Basically from our last MSII exam until our first day of Third year rotations, we have 62 days off, and I know I know you are thinking lucky bastards, 😡

But, we started first year July 21st 2005 😀 and we aren't done first year until this Sunday July 9th 2006, (WHich means Ill have been in school 50 weeks)

Anyways so back to the point of this thread, how much time is the best amount of time to guarantee a good score, assuming 8 hours of study per day, 6 days a week

or if that is bad I am open to any suggestions about how much to study per day and per week as well, just keep in mind 62 days off is two months,

any and all advice is much appreciated and needed

Thanks

Izzy

 

[CaptainZero]

63 days

 

[thackl]

365 days times 2, followed by 35-42 days of hardcore review and practice questions. Take the last three weeks as a well deserved vacation.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

dang. i was thinking 62 days was 6 weeks. i'm getting senile
i was just about to say you're screwed.

 

[exmike]

if you havent sleepwalked thorugh the first two years of med school, there really is severly dimimnishing returns to studying more than a certain amount of time. I took out seven weeks to study. I probably could have forced it in five if I wanted to. At the end, I was so burnt out and tired it was a struggle to keep going, and really, I dont feel like I learned anything more after a quick ramp up the first four weeks of studying.

 

[IzzyMD09]

if you havent sleepwalked thorugh the first two years of med school, there really is severly dimimnishing returns to studying more than a certain amount of time. I took out seven weeks to study. I probably could have forced it in five if I wanted to. At the end, I was so burnt out and tired it was a struggle to keep going, and really, I dont feel like I learned anything more after a quick ramp up the first four weeks of studying.

I was thinking of taking the first 2 days off to get a good schedule down

maybe 3 weeks of straight review from first AID and BRS's and High Yields and then using 4 weeks of QBANK, NBME tests 1-4, QBOOK, and Robbins Path REview, like 4 hours a day questions going over right and wrong answers, and then a few hours a day in a specific subject

I dont know, I have read a lot of the posts on here especially senor long dongs with his 8 weeks before 5 weeks before sort of stuff, and I feel like he did really well, id like to capitalize on some advanced preparation, im not the best test taker in the world, but im not an idiot, i mean im in medical school for gods sake

so I appreciate the advice keep it comin

 

[gclax30]

I was thinking of taking the first 2 days off to get a good schedule down

maybe 3 weeks of straight review from first AID and BRS's and High Yields and then using 4 weeks of QBANK, NBME tests 1-4, QBOOK, and Robbins Path REview, like 4 hours a day questions going over right and wrong answers, and then a few hours a day in a specific subject

I dont know, I have read a lot of the posts on here especially senor long dongs with his 8 weeks before 5 weeks before sort of stuff, and I feel like he did really well, id like to capitalize on some advanced preparation, im not the best test taker in the world, but im not an idiot, i mean im in medical school for gods sake

so I appreciate the advice keep it comin

Looking back, I would recommend two things- be honest with yourself about your study habits, and don't be afraid to change your strategy if it isn't working for you.

Making up a schedule is a great idea, especially if you need some sort of guidance, but don't let it rule your studying life. For example, if you are not supposed to start CV until next week but you are bored out of your mind with neuro, switch to CV!! Don't force it or else you will avoid studying and it will not be a productive time for you. Make sure you fit it into your schedule somewhere else of course, but try to find a more interesting way to study it. And be honest with yourself- if you know for a fact that you despise biochemistry, don't try to force yourself to read the biochem book cover to cover, know what I mean? Find a high yield resource or something similar that will get the job done and move on!

One of the biggest things that I struggled with was deciding which resources to use. I recommend the same ones that everyone else has suggested, FA, Goljan, Robbins review, etc. but spend some time finding out which particular ones you like and stick to them, don't try to read every high yield out there. You can easily get overwhelmed with resources. Pick the main ones and focus on them.

Good luck in your preparation, I'm sure it will go well for you!

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

Shoot, 2 months? That's twice what we get. In 2 months, you should be able to:

- Read FA a few times
- Read BRS Phys/Path/Behavioral
- Read HY Gross/Neuro/Embryo/C&M
- Read CMMRS
- Read K&T Pharm
- Read Lippincott Biochem (or Kaplan Biochem)
- Do Qbank
- Do Robbins
- Do WebPath
- Do all the NBME questions
- Listen to all the Goljan lectures twice

And you'll be fine for the exam.

 

[IzzyMD09]

thats exactly what I was looking for, did that work for you, again i am ******ed when it comes to these standardized tests, it took me 2 times to get the MCAT right, and I studied sort of non-stop for that, I am just worried that my poor performance on that test is going to come back to bite me in the ass,

and the whole not being able to sleep thing the night before really sucked, i want to be as prepared as I possibly can be

thanks

izzy 😀

 

[Paws]

Shoot, 2 months? That's twice what we get. In 2 months, you should be able to:

- Read FA a few times
- Read BRS Phys/Path/Behavioral
- Read HY Gross/Neuro/Embryo/C&M
- Read CMMRS
- Read K&T Pharm
- Read Lippincott Biochem (or Kaplan Biochem)
- Do Qbank
- Do Robbins
- Do WebPath
- Do all the NBME questions
- Listen to all the Goljan lectures twice

And you'll be fine for the exam.

I second this list, altho I am not sure what CMMRS is. But the other stuff is what I am using. Well, I could only handle Goljan once through, and by the end I couldn't take him any more. I also have had a decent amount of time and so I am going through the dang material first, and will start the NBME's this weeks, and qbank too. I didn't see much point is getting 30% on qbank questions when I hadn't even studied the material. I am not the brightest stick in the woodpile, but at least I figured that one out. 🙂

Be firm, set a mental study schedule and go through your books and be rigorous and what ones you will never use. Toss 'em. Then, sit your self down and start shoveling!

 

[felipe5]

time off after the exam is crucial to your wellbeing....i had almost 2 weeks inb/w step 1 and third year and it was seriously the freakin' best two weeks of nothingness that have ever existed. so definitely don't forget to factor in burn-out in your schedule making, the idea posted above of having a schedule that you can change up is a good one IMO

 

[JulianCrane]

I totally agree with Fleeps. Gotta take a vacation.

time off after the exam is crucial to your wellbeing....i had almost 2 weeks inb/w step 1 and third year and it was seriously the freakin' best two weeks of nothingness that have ever existed. so definitely don't forget to factor in burn-out in your schedule making, the idea posted above of having a schedule that you can change up is a good one IMO

 

[mattorama]

2 months is way too much time. I took 4 weeks and it was at least 2 weeks too much. If you learned it well the first time around, you shouldn't need more then a week or two. Two of my friends took the exam within a week of the end of finals and both scored over 250. I burnt our really quickly and only studied about half of the days I gave myself. When I took the actual test I was wondering why I bothered studying. About 60% of the questions were easy, half a second of thought just by being awake and studying during the first two years. About 25% of the questions were pathophys/graphs/charts/ more problem solving types of questions that you couldn't study for if you wanted to. The remainder of my questions were WTF kinds of random crap.

If I could do it again I would take 1 week to review first year material, then 1 week to just do questions. Of course, I don't know my scores yet and I wouldn't have believed anyone who told me that 1-2 weeks is plenty of time. We had 5 weeks between 2nd and 3rd years and EVERY person I have talked to said that they wished they had spent less time prepping.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

I second this list, altho I am not sure what CMMRS is. But the other stuff is what I am using. Well, I could only handle Goljan once through, and by the end I couldn't take him any more. I also have had a decent amount of time and so I am going through the dang material first, and will start the NBME's this weeks, and qbank too. I didn't see much point is getting 30% on qbank questions when I hadn't even studied the material. I am not the brightest stick in the woodpile, but at least I figured that one out. 🙂

Be firm, set a mental study schedule and go through your books and be rigorous and what ones you will never use. Toss 'em. Then, sit your self down and start shoveling!

CMMRS = Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple

 

[Paws]

Oh, right, I forgot that! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[thackl]

2 months is way too much time. I took 4 weeks and it was at least 2 weeks too much. If you learned it well the first time around, you shouldn't need more then a week or two. Two of my friends took the exam within a week of the end of finals and both scored over 250. I burnt our really quickly and only studied about half of the days I gave myself. When I took the actual test I was wondering why I bothered studying. About 60% of the questions were easy, half a second of thought just by being awake and studying during the first two years. About 25% of the questions were pathophys/graphs/charts/ more problem solving types of questions that you couldn't study for if you wanted to. The remainder of my questions were WTF kinds of random crap.

If I could do it again I would take 1 week to review first year material, then 1 week to just do questions. Of course, I don't know my scores yet and I wouldn't have believed anyone who told me that 1-2 weeks is plenty of time. We had 5 weeks between 2nd and 3rd years and EVERY person I have talked to said that they wished they had spent less time prepping.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Your school might be doing an exceptional job preparing you for the test..... mine did not (esp 2nd yr). I'm glad to see my school making dramatic improvements for the classes that follow ours, but for now, it doesn't help me much. I studied hard for 5 wks and could have used one or two more.