A Venting Moment

[BloodySurgeon]

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I am getting burnt out blah blah blah, i hate the boards, blah blah blah my classmates are uber competitive. blah blah blah

5 people during our school administered NBME (6 weeks before our exam) scored around 250. I have a classmate who took the USMLE his first year and got above 250. 3 weeks before the exam 10% of my class have been scoring around 250 on their practice exam while 30% above 240. Some classmates want to postpone their exam because they are not happy with a score around 240. A large portion of my class have already done UWorld twice, all the NBMEs, and UWSA... 😱

I can't help but feel intimidated and I don't believe they are lying. I believe I can only do so much. The average med student does UWorld with First Aid and a class like DIT. That is what I am trying to do now, but the average med student gets around a 220.

 

[chiefMD]

I only got passes on all my classes first and second year and got a 240 on NBME 12 a week out from my test which is Tuesday. That's coming up from a 179 on NBME 7 two and a half months out. So average is irrelevant. It's all hard work.

Reach out and slap the rest of the people. They might be smart but no one wants to work with a jack ass.

 

[JRjcu08]

I only got passes on all my classes first and second year and got a 240 on NBME 12 a week out from my test which is Tuesday. That's coming up from a 179 on NBME 7 two and a half months out. So average is irrelevant. It's all hard work.

Reach out and slap the rest of the people. They might be smart but no one wants to work with a jack ass.

Word. 👍

 

[AndyRSC]

Take a minute to consider how much of a cushion you have given the specialty you want to go into, and to decide how much you're willing to settle. Glance at the number of residency spots available/filled last year and score averages for that specialty as well. You may have more breathing room that you realize. If what you want to do is competitive, however, or you want to do the absolute best you can, then I'll have to second what chiefMD said - you're looking at hard work. But you already knew that.

Though you may be burned out, you're on your final stretch. Five weeks is nothing relative to two years.Keep your eyes on the goal of that specialty and use it as a reminder that the end will justify your current means. Don't get discouraged by your classmates; I also had lots of gunners at my school who loved to talk about how they study 18 hours a day, have just completed their 5th pass through all the review books, and their 47th pass through FA. Most of them did ****ty. Why? Largely because they've read for quantity, just to be able to say they've "covered 200 pages a night." Sure, a few got 250s even before the dedicated period started, but they're at the far right of the curve, and if you play your cards right the next five weeks, you'll be right up there too.

If I recall, path and pharm were your weakness. Hammer out whatever source you've chosen for path, do a ****load of path questions, and look at pharm the rest of your waking hours. You could make pharm cards (stick to what's in FA) to look at or listen to Goljan audio when you're not at your desk, to give yourself a full immersion experience. Study for quality rather than quantity, stick with high-yield material, do as many questions as you can, and score higher on the exam than you thought possible.

 

[BloodySurgeon]

Take a minute to consider how much of a cushion you have given the specialty you want to go into, and to decide how much you're willing to settle. Glance at the number of residency spots available/filled last year and score averages for that specialty as well. You may have more breathing room that you realize. If what you want to do is competitive, however, or you want to do the absolute best you can, then I'll have to second what chiefMD said - you're looking at hard work. But you already knew that.

Though you may be burned out, you're on your final stretch. Five weeks is nothing relative to two years.Keep your eyes on the goal of that specialty and use it as a reminder that the end will justify your current means. Don't get discouraged by your classmates; I also had lots of gunners at my school who loved to talk about how they study 18 hours a day, have just completed their 5th pass through all the review books, and their 47th pass through FA. Most of them did ****ty. Why? Largely because they've read for quantity, just to be able to say they've "covered 200 pages a night." Sure, a few got 250s even before the dedicated period started, but they're at the far right of the curve, and if you play your cards right the next five weeks, you'll be right up there too.

If I recall, path and pharm were your weakness. Hammer out whatever source you've chosen for path, do a ****load of path questions, and look at pharm the rest of your waking hours. You could make pharm cards (stick to what's in FA) to look at or listen to Goljan audio when you're not at your desk, to give yourself a full immersion experience. Study for quality rather than quantity, stick with high-yield material, do as many questions as you can, and score higher on the exam than you thought possible.

Thank you!!! This actually makes me feel a lot better. I do feel like I improved SIGNIFICANTLY in path and pharm after 1 week, and if I just suck it up for another 5 weeks I should be able to get to my maximum potential. I will be taking a practice test next week, hopefully it goes well.

 

[lemonade90]

As the WWI Sgt Major Daly said, "Come on, you sons of bit****! Do you want to live forever?"

Take a deep breath, suck it up some more and bear the pain for a little while longer. You got this far and will go further with some more effort. We are rooting for you. 👍

 

[Kaputt]

At the end of the day, it's just one test.

Don't go down the road of thinking you need to be over-preparing like mad, doing every qbank you can find and reading every review book you can get your hands on. That stuff has limited returns. Your pals at school are just being neurotic, and they won't do any better than if they cooled their jets and studied how us "normals" study. Do your best with World, FA, your few extra books of choice/DIT, and the foundation you already have and you'll do fine.

Isolate yourself from the people who freak you out, though.

 

[Alvarez13]

Take a minute to consider how much of a cushion you have given the specialty you want to go into, and to decide how much you're willing to settle. Glance at the number of residency spots available/filled last year and score averages for that specialty as well. You may have more breathing room that you realize. If what you want to do is competitive, however, or you want to do the absolute best you can, then I'll have to second what chiefMD said - you're looking at hard work. But you already knew that.

Though you may be burned out, you're on your final stretch. Five weeks is nothing relative to two years.Keep your eyes on the goal of that specialty and use it as a reminder that the end will justify your current means. Don't get discouraged by your classmates; I also had lots of gunners at my school who loved to talk about how they study 18 hours a day, have just completed their 5th pass through all the review books, and their 47th pass through FA. Most of them did ****ty. Why? Largely because they've read for quantity, just to be able to say they've "covered 200 pages a night." Sure, a few got 250s even before the dedicated period started, but they're at the far right of the curve, and if you play your cards right the next five weeks, you'll be right up there too.

If I recall, path and pharm were your weakness. Hammer out whatever source you've chosen for path, do a ****load of path questions, and look at pharm the rest of your waking hours. You could make pharm cards (stick to what's in FA) to look at or listen to Goljan audio when you're not at your desk, to give yourself a full immersion experience. Study for quality rather than quantity, stick with high-yield material, do as many questions as you can, and score higher on the exam than you thought possible.

Ignore that 1st part. Your an MS2. You don't know

about working at a specialty, and even if you do, you'll still probably change it. That's why they made MS3. Your goal is to destroy this exam and have an open door for anything afterwards.

Complete UW and other question sources and find your weak areas. Turn those areas into strength. You can see the finish line. Make it happen 😀

 

[AndyRSC]

The purpose of the first paragraph is twofold. First, to remind him that he doesn't have to succumb to the pressure exerted by his classmates. Despite his username, if he wanted to go into family medicine, I'd say he's already set. Two, it's to create contrast and set the tone for the following paragraphs, inciting him to bust his ass if he's not willing to settle for anything short of his best and/or is going for something requiring an above-average score.

If your argument is that no one knows **** about working in a specialty until third year, then you probably should have told him to ignore the second paragraph as well.

 

[Aclamity]

I am getting burnt out blah blah blah, i hate the boards, blah blah blah my classmates are uber competitive. blah blah blah

5 people during our school administered NBME (6 weeks before our exam) scored around 250. I have a classmate who took the USMLE his first year and got above 250. 3 weeks before the exam 10% of my class have been scoring around 250 on their practice exam while 30% above 240. Some classmates want to postpone their exam because they are not happy with a score around 240. A large portion of my class have already done UWorld twice, all the NBMEs, and UWSA... 😱

I can't help but feel intimidated and I don't believe they are lying. I believe I can only do so much. The average med student does UWorld with First Aid and a class like DIT. That is what I am trying to do now, but the average med student gets around a 220.

I dunno bout the rest of your class, but this fellow is pretty darn impressive. why did he do such a thing? And HOW?

 

[BloodySurgeon]

The purpose of the first paragraph is twofold. First, to remind him that he doesn't have to succumb to the pressure exerted by his classmates. Despite his username, if he wanted to go into family medicine, I'd say he's already set. Two, it's to create contrast and set the tone for the following paragraphs, inciting him to bust his ass if he's not willing to settle for anything short of his best and/or is going for something requiring an above-average score.

If your argument is that no one knows **** about working in a specialty until third year, then you probably should have told him to ignore the second paragraph as well.

I actually made this username before med school and I have no interest in pursuing surgery anymore. Nevertheless, I still don't want to be limited in my specialty or location due to my score and I therefore have to do well.

I dunno bout the rest of your class, but this fellow is pretty darn impressive. why did he do such a thing? And HOW?

He did a special masters program before med school so he knew all of first year material, he then studied second year material during his first year and by the end of the year he was ready and did well. Unfortunately he was placed in this limbo between 2nd and 3rd year and did not gain any advantage to taking it earlier.

 

[Brotato]

He did a special masters program before med school so he knew all of first year material, he then studied second year material during his first year and by the end of the year he was ready and did well. Unfortunately he was placed in this limbo between 2nd and 3rd year and did not gain any advantage to taking it earlier.

On the contrary, he was probably able to sit on a beach somewhere sipping a mai-tai while the rest of his classmates were freaking out about the boards. I'd call that pretty advantageous.