Academic Plan For 2nd Year

[Blunt Dissection]

Hey everyone - so since the end of 1st year is rolling in, I wanted to make some plans in regards to the summer and essentially to create a schedule to begin utilizing my resources up until its about dedicated board prep time. I'd appreciate some feedback from those more experienced!

Resources I intend to use for classes/review:
SketchyMedical
Pathoma
Boards&Beyond
Firecracker
USMLE-RX
Goljan Lectures - I don't really consider listening to him work. He's entertaining and I usually just listen while I drive or I'm at the gym.

Resources I intend to use beginning in February of 2018:
UWorld
NBME and NBOME practice exams

Summer Plans:
June - Shadowing (M-F, 8-5), 3-5 sketchy vids/day, 140 firecracker questions/day, 5-10 USMLE-RX questions on weekends
July - Research (few hours/week), 3-5 sketchy vids/day, 3-5 B&B videos/day, 140 firecracker questions/day, 15-20 USMLE-RX questions/day

The above is what I'm setting as a goal, but it'll really just be at my leisure. Except the shadowing - that was something I requested out of pure interest.

Fall Semester:
Supplement classes with Pathoma. 2-3 B&B videos/day, 100 firecracker questions/day, 25-30 USMLE-RX questions/day until reset.

February-May 2018:
Classes w/ Pathoma. Stop USMLE-RX, begin UWorld, 100 firecracker questions/day, 3-5 B&B videos/day

Dedicated study time in May-Exam Day (ideally late June for COMLEX, early July for USMLE):
400 firecracker questions/day, UWorld, Pathoma/B&B/Sketchy for weak topics, OMT review, 1 practice exam/week.

Is this a reasonable outline? Should I do more or less? I wish we had a longer period of time for dedicated board prep, but unless something changes, our current 2nd years don't have time to begin dedicated board prep until early May. This is really just an outline of what I would ideally like to accomplish. Currently as a 1st year, I study between 6-8 hours a day with about 6 hours a week dedicated to research and tutoring. I'm pretty type B, so my stress level is pretty low overall for a med student and I get about 7 hours in the gym a week for exercise, so I'm not particularly concerned about burning out. I'll appreciate any feedback and suggestions!

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[Goro]

Suggest chatting with your 2nd year profs about how best to approach their material. Also, you are strongest in the material you have just had, and weakest in that from last year.

So start looking for practice questions from that earlier material. You should, at the minimum, feel somewhat familiar, and at least think "I've seen this before!".

If you're ambushed and completely in the dark by the material, you know what to go heavy-duty in review for.

 

[68PGunner]

I disagree about chatting with 2nd year professors. Why ask the professors who have never gone through the process? It's like learning medicine from PhDs who have never touched a pt in their entire careers. I personally would ask the studs at your school that rock Step 1.

 

[jrlob91]

I disagree about chatting with 2nd year professors. Why ask the professors who have never gone through the process? It's like learning medicine from PhDs who have never touched a pt in their entire careers. I personally would ask the studs at your school that rock Step 1.

I think there is merit to asking PhD professors. At my school, we had multiple non-clinical faculty who wrote for the pool of board exam questions. At the very least, they will know what is high-yield, since at good schools they are instructed to hit these topics.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

I disagree about chatting with 2nd year professors. Why ask the professors who have never gone through the process? It's like learning medicine from PhDs who have never touched a pt in their entire careers. I personally would ask the studs at your school that rock Step 1.

I'd say that at least so far, a lot of our professors are good about keeping the fluff to a minimum. They have fluff in their powerpoints, but it's typically for FYI purposes. There have been times where they'll spend a lot of lecture time talking about something they have a particular interest in, but I usually just speed through those parts without stopping to take notes. I've learned that sometimes there are things that you're better off just memorizing and then there are things where the physio/mechanism is essential to learn.

In regards to asking the people that rock step 1, it's unfortunate, but a small percentage of people at my school actually take USMLE. I'd peg it at something like 20% of the class. With everyone being gone for rotations too and people not disclosing how well they actually did (usually it's "I did well"), it's difficult to find the people that hit the 240+ marks. My friends from back home that scored exceptionally high on step 1 used Firecracker, so it was the only reason I decided to add it to my regimen.

 

[68PGunner]

I'd say that at least so far, a lot of our professors are good about keeping the fluff to a minimum. They have fluff in their powerpoints, but it's typically for FYI purposes. There have been times where they'll spend a lot of lecture time talking about something they have a particular interest in, but I usually just speed through those parts without stopping to take notes. I've learned that sometimes there are things that you're better off just memorizing and then there are things where the physio/mechanism is essential to learn.

In regards to asking the people that rock step 1, it's unfortunate, but a small percentage of people at my school actually take USMLE. I'd peg it at something like 20% of the class. With everyone being gone for rotations too and people not disclosing how well they actually did (usually it's "I did well"), it's difficult to find the people that hit the 240+ marks. My friends from back home that scored exceptionally high on step 1 used Firecracker, so it was the only reason I decided to add it to my regimen.

Does your school have a graph distribution of people preclinical grades and their Step 1 performances? That's usually a good measure of whether the school curriculum is aligned with Step 1 prep. For example, based on my school graph distribution, about 40-50% of people from my school in the past 3 years with an average preclinical grades bet 86-92% score 220 or under on Step 1. There was an outlier of a person with a 94% preclinical grade who scores 205 on Step 1. This recent realization has made me discouraged about my school curriculum and have compelled me to toss most of my school materials to the trash bin, and just focus purely on First Aid, Sketchy, Pathoma, and Physeo. For stuff that need clarification, I will usually cross-reference it with Uptodate and wiki.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Does your school have a graph distribution of people preclinical grades and their Step 1 performances? That's usually a good measure of whether the school curriculum is aligned with Step 1 prep. For example, based on my school graph distribution, about 40-50% of people from my school in the past 3 years with an average preclinical grades bet 86-92% score 220 or under on Step 1. There was an outlier of a person with a 94% preclinical grade who scores 205 on Step 1. This recent realization has made me discouraged about my school curriculum and have compelled me to toss most of my school materials to the trash bin, and just focus purely on First Aid, Sketchy, Pathoma, and Physeo. For stuff that need clarification, I will usually cross-reference it with Uptodate and wiki.

I'm sure that information exists, but it's not data that we're provided with. Asides from % passing, we're never actually provided with average COMLEX or USMLE scores and I really don't understand the rationale behind that. I just don't agree with the policy of "passing" because a 192 Step 1 is "passing" and a 400 COMLEX is "passing," but which PDs will even take you seriously as an applicant if that's what you're sitting at. Any information about average COMLEX/USMLE scores are just hearsay and rumors.

 

[acapnial]

I'd say that at least so far, a lot of our professors are good about keeping the fluff to a minimum. They have fluff in their powerpoints, but it's typically for FYI purposes. There have been times where they'll spend a lot of lecture time talking about something they have a particular interest in, but I usually just speed through those parts without stopping to take notes. I've learned that sometimes there are things that you're better off just memorizing and then there are things where the physio/mechanism is essential to learn.

In regards to asking the people that rock step 1, it's unfortunate, but a small percentage of people at my school actually take USMLE. I'd peg it at something like 20% of the class. With everyone being gone for rotations too and people not disclosing how well they actually did (usually it's "I did well"), it's difficult to find the people that hit the 240+ marks. My friends from back home that scored exceptionally high on step 1 used Firecracker, so it was the only reason I decided to add it to my regimen.

Man, the whole "I did well" thing always drove me nuts. You never know what "well" really means to the person who's doling out advice.

I scored in the 240+ range. I did first aid, Rx and Pathoma during second year, Uworld during dedicated, and firecracker here and there. I didn't really like firecracker so I didn't spend much time on it, but I have some friends who got better scores than me that swore by it. You really have to play around with the different study methods and see which one ends up being most productive for you.

Doing pathoma alongside coursework was extremely helpful. I didn't always have time to do this, but I tried to do 1 run of pathoma the weekend before the actual course, and then do a second run of pathoma and robbins during the course (we usually had to do robbins, I'm not advocating it as study material). Getting through pathoma first let me see the high yield material 2x during the course while still learning the less high yield, but still testable material.

Rx during courses is generally helpful but Rx has a habit of sometimes spending time on things that don't really seem to appear on the USMLE very often. I think I only had one question about which chromosome a given gene appears on. Still it's a pretty good qbank.

Uworld is the most important qbank. Make sure you get through all of it in a timely manner so that you actually study and learn the information they give. If you're cramming 500 questions two days before the test, you will get very little benefit.

My grades went down second year compared to first because I was spending a fair amount of time focusing on boards. This is generally ok because the USMLE is far more important than your preclinical GPA, but don't overdo it- don't let yourself slip to the bottom of the class or start failing things. I got too into boards at one point and failed a test. Put me into panic mode and I had to totally hold off on board prep until I did well enough on the second (and last) test of the course to make up for it. It wasn't fun.

The most important thing is practice questions. Do lots and lots of them, and make sure you're actually learning the material in the explanations. Studying first aid is good, but it doesn't train you to handle the material in the way the USMLE will test you, so it's not enough on its own. Uworld is the best qbank for that.

Don't study or do anything stressful the day before the test. Stress hits your energy the next day.


tl;dr- Do tons of practice questions, make sure you learn from the explanations. Pathoma and first aid are good too.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Man, the whole "I did well" thing always drove me nuts. You never know what "well" really means to the person who's doling out advice.

I scored in the 240+ range. I did first aid, Rx and Pathoma during second year, Uworld during dedicated, and firecracker here and there. I didn't really like firecracker so I didn't spend much time on it, but I have some friends who got better scores than me that swore by it. You really have to play around with the different study methods and see which one ends up being most productive for you.

Doing pathoma alongside coursework was extremely helpful. I didn't always have time to do this, but I tried to do 1 run of pathoma the weekend before the actual course, and then do a second run of pathoma and robbins during the course (we usually had to do robbins, I'm not advocating it as study material). Getting through pathoma first let me see the high yield material 2x during the course while still learning the less high yield, but still testable material.

Rx during courses is generally helpful but Rx has a habit of sometimes spending time on things that don't really seem to appear on the USMLE very often. I think I only had one question about which chromosome a given gene appears on. Still it's a pretty good qbank.

Uworld is the most important qbank. Make sure you get through all of it in a timely manner so that you actually study and learn the information they give. If you're cramming 500 questions two days before the test, you will get very little benefit.

My grades went down second year compared to first because I was spending a fair amount of time focusing on boards. This is generally ok because the USMLE is far more important than your preclinical GPA, but don't overdo it- don't let yourself slip to the bottom of the class or start failing things. I got too into boards at one point and failed a test. Put me into panic mode and I had to totally hold off on board prep until I did well enough on the second (and last) test of the course to make up for it. It wasn't fun.

The most important thing is practice questions. Do lots and lots of them, and make sure you're actually learning the material in the explanations. Studying first aid is good, but it doesn't train you to handle the material in the way the USMLE will test you, so it's not enough on its own. Uworld is the best qbank for that.

Don't study or do anything stressful the day before the test. Stress hits your energy the next day.


tl;dr- Do tons of practice questions, make sure you learn from the explanations. Pathoma and first aid are good too.

Yeah, you kinda hit the nail on the head with my plan. Like Goro mentioned, I'm currently at the point where I can say "That word sounds familiar" for a lot of old material so essentially my summer goal is to relearn that material. A few 2nd years have suggested to "look ahead" at material, but I don't feel there's any benefit to that without first getting a solid grasp of everything from 1st year. Theoretically, all the 1st year stuff should be the "normal," so if I know the normal, to learn how it breaks during 2nd year should just be adding on a piece of information to something I know.

 

[68PGunner]

Anyone who said that I did well w/o giving a range or a lower bottom limit is automatically assumed to not do well on Step 1. Someone who scores 250+ is going to care what you think of him/her. Personally, I find any score of 230 or higher to be doing well.

 

[68PGunner]

A few 2nd years have suggested to "look ahead" at material, but I don't feel there's any benefit to that without first getting a solid grasp of everything from 1st year. Theoretically, all the 1st year stuff should be the "normal," so if I know the normal, to learn how it breaks during 2nd year should just be adding on a piece of information to something I know.

That sounds like a terrible advice. There's no point to look ahead at materials. That's like telling matriculant students to pre-study for med school.

I personally would just review all that you have learned in your first year including all FAs, Pathoma, Sketchy, and Qbanks. In that manner, you will already be 30-40% solid with your Step 1 board prep by the start of second year.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

i hated firecracker

 

[grapefruit17]

I also hated firecracker but the people who use it seem to do well. I really wanted to like it but it was so painful for me...really really painful. And when i did it on lite mode that seemed too basic. The comprehensive mode had a lot of obscure stuff that probably was actually tested, just takes someone with determination to do it every day.

But man..dont study your summer after MS1. Thats such a horrible idea. And you're spending it shadowing and researching. I admire your drive, but you survived MS1. Congrats! You've got a long ways to go and there are more and more long days ahead of you. Take a break for two months. Do nothing. Go on tinder. Find a new hobby. Go somewhere you've never been before. Make a new friend. Do something stupid. Do anything but studying your summer after MS1. I know you said you're doing all this out of your leisure but you'll be working with so many docs third and fourth year shadowing after MS1 prob overkill. Especially the studying part, lol. And I'm no slacker, i worked hard all through medical school.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

I also hated firecracker but the people who use it seem to do well. I really wanted to like it but it was so painful for me...really really painful. And when i did it on lite mode that seemed too basic. The comprehensive mode had a lot of obscure stuff that probably was actually tested, just takes someone with determination to do it every day.

But man..dont study your summer after MS1. Thats such a horrible idea. And you're spending it shadowing and researching. I admire your drive, but you survived MS1. Congrats! You've got a long ways to go and there are more and more long days ahead of you. Take a break for two months. Do nothing. Go on tinder. Find a new hobby. Go somewhere you've never been before. Make a new friend. Do something stupid. Do anything but studying your summer after MS1. I know you said you're doing all this out of your leisure but you'll be working with so many docs third and fourth year shadowing after MS1 prob overkill. Especially the studying part, lol. And I'm no slacker, i worked hard all through medical school.

Hahahaha I'll run the tinder idea across with my fiancé. I don't know, I think the reason why a summer break doesn't appeal to me is because I haven't had a real summer break in 15 years. I never really feel a burning need to take a break for longer than a few days because I've never been stressed during the school year to the point of needing an extended one. I spend a few days surfing during the summer, a few days snowboarding during the winter, and throughout the year I hangout with my fiancé, exercise, and catch up with my friends back home by playing computer games. My life has overall gotten significantly easier since medical school started, at least from an "energy" demanding perspective. I managed to bump my sleep time from 3-4 hours a night to a solid 7-8 .

The shadowing is both for educational purposes and for enjoyment. I had never gotten a chance to work extensively in plastics and I was fortunate enough to find a plastic surgeon earlier this year that really clicked with me. He invited me back for the summer and I took him up on the offer.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

I also hated firecracker but the people who use it seem to do well. I really wanted to like it but it was so painful for me...really really painful. And when i did it on lite mode that seemed too basic. The comprehensive mode had a lot of obscure stuff that probably was actually tested, just takes someone with determination to do it every day.

I would like it if:
(1) it let you make your own cards and add it to the deck and
(2) it had a better algorythm where you repeated saw a card in 1 sitting until you got it right (instead of this gibberish 1,2,3,4,5,snooze feature)
If they fixed these 2 things, it would be an incredibly powerful tool. But, right now, it's a massive time sink that I wouldn't recommend, even if it is free

 

[68PGunner]

I would like it if:
(1) it let you make your own cards and add it to the deck and
(2) it had a better algorythm where you repeated saw a card in 1 sitting until you got it right (instead of this gibberish 1,2,3,4,5,snooze feature)
If they fixed these 2 things, it would be an incredibly powerful tool. But, right now, it's a massive time sink that I wouldn't recommend, even if it is free

I don't mind the not making your own cards portion. The cards are very legit toward stuff in First Aid. Some of your classes minute details are straight up bs that will never be clinically relevant. You don't need to dilute the quality of cards already in Firecrackers with trash from your class materials.

However, their space repetition algorithm is straight up bs. That is the same thing for First Aid Flashcards too.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Throw away boards & beyond and firecracker. Never study for OMM. Just memorize chapman + viscerosomatics and then guess on the rest.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

Throw away boards & beyond and firecracker. Never study for OMM. Just memorize chapman + viscerosomatics and then guess on the rest.

That's the current state of OMM for me lmao. We were having a discussion about how when MDs are considered "quacks", they usually go and do or teach something that is not taught in their education, but DOs have to ignore part of what is their training in order to be taken seriously (mostly cranial and chapman's point).

Back to the discussion though - what's wrong with B&B? I was in between that and getting DIT, but B&B was so much cheaper and the videos are short and to the point. The only section I've had the chance to watch so far though is Endocrine so I don't know if the rest of his stuff is good or not. If I get rid of B&B, I wouldn't have any videos to learn the stuff that's not covered in Sketchy/Pathoma - mainly the genetics/biochem material.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

That's the current state of OMM for me lmao. We were having a discussion about how when MDs are considered "quacks", they usually go and do or teach something that is not taught in their education, but DOs have to ignore part of what is their training in order to be taken seriously (mostly cranial and chapman's point).

Back to the discussion though - what's wrong with B&B? I was in between that and getting DIT, but B&B was so much cheaper and the videos are short and to the point. The only section I've had the chance to watch so far though is Endocrine so I don't know if the rest of his stuff is good or not. If I get rid of B&B, I wouldn't have any videos to learn the stuff that's not covered in Sketchy/Pathoma - mainly the genetics/biochem material.

People actually pay for DIT? I know how you feel about the genetics/biochem. I did DIT for those subjects, but it was really someone just reading FA to me. Have you tried to see the series on YouTube called Stomp on USMLE? I think they cover biochem.

I know there's stuff not covered in Sketchy or Pathoma. If it's Physiology you worry about, there's a new product called Physeo. In my experience, you can learn all the "extra stuff" from doing USMLE-Rx and UWorld. Remember that they are learning tools as much as they are practice questions.

 

[CoomassieBlue57]

However, their space repetition algorithm is straight up bs. That is the same thing for First Aid Flashcards too.

Apparently they just updated their algorithm last week from the one they have been using for two years.
Welcome to Your New Daily Review

I don't know if it is any better as I got frustrated with Firecracker at the beginning of the school year, but I just started to use it again. The appeal to me is that I don't have to make my own cards. Firecracker cards are high quality, but it drives me insane when you get 10 cards straight on a concept you never covered in class. I tried making my own cards with Anki, but it was too time consuming making quality cards. I also tried doing Anki with a few classmates, but their cards weren't as high quality as mine.

 

[surfguy84]

Hey everyone - so since the end of 1st year is rolling in, I wanted to make some plans in regards to the summer and essentially to create a schedule to begin utilizing my resources up until its about dedicated board prep time. I'd appreciate some feedback from those more experienced!

Resources I intend to use for classes/review:
SketchyMedical
Pathoma
Boards&Beyond
Firecracker
USMLE-RX
Goljan Lectures - I don't really consider listening to him work. He's entertaining and I usually just listen while I drive or I'm at the gym.

Resources I intend to use beginning in February of 2018:
UWorld
NBME and NBOME practice exams

Summer Plans:
June - Shadowing (M-F, 8-5), 3-5 sketchy vids/day, 140 firecracker questions/day, 5-10 USMLE-RX questions on weekends
July - Research (few hours/week), 3-5 sketchy vids/day, 3-5 B&B videos/day, 140 firecracker questions/day, 15-20 USMLE-RX questions/day

The above is what I'm setting as a goal, but it'll really just be at my leisure. Except the shadowing - that was something I requested out of pure interest.

Fall Semester:
Supplement classes with Pathoma. 2-3 B&B videos/day, 100 firecracker questions/day, 25-30 USMLE-RX questions/day until reset.

February-May 2018:
Classes w/ Pathoma. Stop USMLE-RX, begin UWorld, 100 firecracker questions/day, 3-5 B&B videos/day

Dedicated study time in May-Exam Day (ideally late June for COMLEX, early July for USMLE):
400 firecracker questions/day, UWorld, Pathoma/B&B/Sketchy for weak topics, OMT review, 1 practice exam/week.

Is this a reasonable outline? Should I do more or less? I wish we had a longer period of time for dedicated board prep, but unless something changes, our current 2nd years don't have time to begin dedicated board prep until early May. This is really just an outline of what I would ideally like to accomplish. Currently as a 1st year, I study between 6-8 hours a day with about 6 hours a week dedicated to research and tutoring. I'm pretty type B, so my stress level is pretty low overall for a med student and I get about 7 hours in the gym a week for exercise, so I'm not particularly concerned about burning out. I'll appreciate any feedback and suggestions!

This is what you need, and all you need.

Starting mid-late September, begin Bro's deck or Zanki deck. Do not miss a day, do not fall behind. Use anki as it was intended.

Starting January, do UW questions. Doesn't matter how much, just enough to make sure you're done by the time dedicated begins. Create anki cards for questions you miss. You will start this deck during dedicated.

Use sketchy/pathoma during your classes. Read books if it makes you happy, as you go along with classes.

Dedicated do more UW, Pathoma, BnB vidoes, etc. Whatever floats your boat, just do loads of practice Qs.

You do this and you do not score less than 250. This is essentially what I did and I'm on pace to score in that range next month.

 

[surfguy84]

Apparently they just updated their algorithm last week from the one they have been using for two years.
Welcome to Your New Daily Review

I don't know if it is any better as I got frustrated with Firecracker at the beginning of the school year, but I just started to use it again. The appeal to me is that I don't have to make my own cards. Firecracker cards are high quality, but it drives me insane when you get 10 cards straight on a concept you never covered in class. I tried making my own cards with Anki, but it was too time consuming making quality cards. I also tried doing Anki with a few classmates, but their cards weren't as high quality as mine.

FA flash facts is the most garbage program ever created for Step 1.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

This is what you need, and all you need.

Starting mid-late September, begin Bro's deck or Zanki deck. Do not miss a day, do not fall behind. Use anki as it was intended.

Starting January, do UW questions. Doesn't matter how much, just enough to make sure you're done by the time dedicated begins. Create anki cards for questions you miss. You will start this deck during dedicated.

Use sketchy/pathoma during your classes. Read books if it makes you happy, as you go along with classes.

Dedicated do more UW, Pathoma, BnB vidoes, etc. Whatever floats your boat, just do loads of practice Qs.

You do this and you do not score less than 250. This is essentially what I did and I'm on pace to score in that range next month.

So I really have only started to hear about Bro's anki deck on SDN - I don't think any of our 2nd years have mentioned it and I don't think I've ever heard anything about it from our 3rd/4th years either. I attempted to use anki at some point, but all the different buttons and how to navigate cards and such confused me. Would I essentially be able to just load Bro's deck and never need to touch or edit it? Because if I can do that, I think that'd be a huge plus for me towards using anki - that and if I could do it on my phone when I'm on the go.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

So I really have only started to hear about Bro's anki deck on SDN - I don't think any of our 2nd years have mentioned it and I don't think I've ever heard anything about it from our 3rd/4th years either. I attempted to use anki at some point, but all the different buttons and how to navigate cards and such confused me. Would I essentially be able to just load Bro's deck and never need to touch or edit it? Because if I can do that, I think that'd be a huge plus for me towards using anki - that and if I could do it on my phone when I'm on the go.

the answer is yes to both. Just learn how to use the keyboard shortcuts to make reviewing faster.

 

[68PGunner]

So I really have only started to hear about Bro's anki deck on SDN - I don't think any of our 2nd years have mentioned it and I don't think I've ever heard anything about it from our 3rd/4th years either. I attempted to use anki at some point, but all the different buttons and how to navigate cards and such confused me. Would I essentially be able to just load Bro's deck and never need to touch or edit it? Because if I can do that, I think that'd be a huge plus for me towards using anki - that and if I could do it on my phone when I'm on the go.

It also took me a while to like Anki. But the big plus about Anki is its space repetition algorithm based on your recall inputs. There's no available flash card programs out there with this feature.

ANKI with Bros deck is 100% based on Pathoma and First Aid. If your goal is to know 70-80% of the minutiae by Jan of next year, this is the program for you. I personally think that you will do very well on board if you know 70-80% of Pathoma and FA 5-6 months before the USMLE Step 1. In this manner, you will have time to go through Uworld 2-3 times. I personally have never heard of anyone getting lower than a 235 Step 1 if they have gone through Uworld twice.

The problem is that your grade might suffer by 5-9% from your original baseline. However, that is fine since 30-40% of stuff on in house exams are straight up garbage that have no clinical relevance.

I just recently got my exam results back a recent block after studying the minutiae of First Aid of that block. It was my worst grade ever, probably 9-11% lower than my baseline. However, a lot of the stuff tested on that test are conflicting with stuff on First Aid and UpToDate. That's perfectly fine. I rather have an average preclinical average and a killer board score than a 90+% grade w/ a garbage Step 1 of under 220.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

It also took me a while to like Anki. But the big plus about Anki is its space repetition algorithm based on your recall inputs. There's no available flash card programs out there with this feature.

ANKI with Bros deck is 100% based on Pathoma and First Aid. If your goal is to know 70-80% of the minutiae by Jan of next year, this is the program for you. I personally think that you will do very well on board if you know 70-80% of Pathoma and FA 5-6 months before the USMLE Step 1. In this manner, you will have time to go through Uworld 2-3 times. I personally have never heard of anyone getting lower than a 235 Step 1 if they have gone through Uworld twice.

The problem is that your grade might suffer by 5-9% from your original baseline. However, that is fine since 30-40% of stuff on in house exams are straight up garbage that have no clinical relevance.

I just recently got my exam results back a recent block after studying the minutiae of First Aid of that block. It was my worst grade ever, probably 9-11% lower than my baseline. However, a lot of the stuff tested on that test are conflicting with stuff on First Aid and UpToDate. That's perfectly fine. I rather have an average preclinical average and a killer board score than a 90+% grade w/ a garbage Step 1 of under 220.

Well, you dudes convinced me. I shelled out for the anki app on my phone and figured out how to sync up Bro's deck. Came across a guide to how to set it up on reddit. I definitely find from my experience through MS1 that none of the information is particularly difficult to understand, it's just whether or not I can commit the knowledge to memory. I usually find on exams that I'll be able to answer higher order questions fine, but I'll miss simple recall questions.

 

[68PGunner]

Well, you dudes convinced me. I shelled out for the anki app on my phone and figured out how to sync up Bro's deck. Came across a guide to how to set it up on reddit. I definitely find from my experience through MS1 that none of the information is particularly difficult to understand, it's just whether or not I can commit the knowledge to memory. I usually find on exams that I'll be able to answer higher order questions fine, but I'll miss simple recall questions.

Don't dilute Bros deck with bs from the class especially the FA w/ Pathoma decks. However, I find the Pharm section to be a little bit lacking. I add a few cards here and there for the Pharm section.

 

[Giovanotto]

This is what you need, and all you need.

Starting mid-late September, begin Bro's deck or Zanki deck. Do not miss a day, do not fall behind. Use anki as it was intended.

Starting January, do UW questions. Doesn't matter how much, just enough to make sure you're done by the time dedicated begins. Create anki cards for questions you miss. You will start this deck during dedicated.

Use sketchy/pathoma during your classes. Read books if it makes you happy, as you go along with classes.

Dedicated do more UW, Pathoma, BnB vidoes, etc. Whatever floats your boat, just do loads of practice Qs.

You do this and you do not score less than 250. This is essentially what I did and I'm on pace to score in that range next month.

Can you expand on this? if you're doing cardio for example, which decks would you be doing on Anki? I have the same deck, please be specific.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

I just recently got my exam results back a recent block after studying the minutiae of First Aid of that block. It was my worst grade ever, probably 9-11% lower than my baseline. However, a lot of the stuff tested on that test are conflicting with stuff on First Aid and UpToDate. That's perfectly fine. I rather have an average preclinical average and a killer board score than a 90+% grade w/ a garbage Step 1 of under 220.

It's been shown that pre-clinical grades have the strongest correlation with step scores.
I'm not implying anything or saying you did the right/wrong thing but I just wanted to add that pre-clinical grades have been shown to be a stronger predictor of step scores

 

[68PGunner]

It's been shown that pre-clinical grades have the strongest correlation with step scores.
I'm not implying anything or saying you did the right/wrong thing but I just wanted to add that pre-clinical grades have been shown to be a stronger predictor of step scores

Unfortunately, that is untrue for my school curriculum. A friend of mine has given me a distribution of Step 1 scores vs preclinical grades. It's an ugly picture. 50-75% of people w/ preclinical grades bet 86-93% score below a 230 on the USMLE. That means a lot to me.

 

[68PGunner]

It's been shown that pre-clinical grades have the strongest correlation with step scores.
I'm not implying anything or saying you did the right/wrong thing but I just wanted to add that pre-clinical grades have been shown to be a stronger predictor of step scores

It probably just means that people with higher preclinical grades are hard workers with a strong discipline to succeed in med school and do well on Step 1. However, when studs of your class are doing below average on boards, it does mean something.

 

[shadowlightfox]

I noticed you are starting your research in July? Is just a month really enough? I created a similar topic because I might be in a similar situation as you.

 

[hallowmann]

It probably just means that people with higher preclinical grades are hard workers with a strong discipline to succeed in med school and do well on Step 1. However, when studs of your class are doing below average on boards, it does mean something.

I think your missing the way things correlate. To say they don't correlate or correlate negatively, you'd have to also describe a population that did poorly on preclinicals and did well on boards or at least a random mix. How are the poor preclinical performers doing? Do they even take Step 1?

Just because 50-75% of your higher preclinical preformers scored below 230, it could just mean that your school's average is low (below 230, which is the case for practically all DO and many MD schools - 230 is the average afterall).

Given what you know though, I would assume that you need to supplement your curriculum a lot to get where you need to be (assuming that is 240ish).

 

[surfguy84]

Can you expand on this? if you're doing cardio for example, which decks would you be doing on Anki? I have the same deck, please be specific.

For me, I would make my own decks based on class powerpoints. This was totally separate from Bros (or Zanki which is probably what Id use if I did it all again, but I digress). I used these for school tests then deleted them after I was done.

Starting Jan of m2, I started with the Bros decks of the things I learned first year. I then worked my way forward from there. Probably did 100 new cards a day the entire semester, literally never missing a single day. OP could definitely do something like 50-60 new cards a day if he starts in Sept though which would make this a lot easier on him.

Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work. There were some days I'd spend 3+ hours doing my daily Bros cards...and this is before I even touched school stuff. That said, it was such a massive help and I am so not stressed about my impending Step 1 next month.

 

[jrlob91]

I think something else that isn't talked about on these kind of threads, but should, is that some/most DO schools teach for the COMLEX. I am a classic case of studying for preclinical classes and winding up in a bad spot. I am top 5% of my class, and saved most board studying for dedicated because I trusted my knowledge base. I wound up >650 on level 1, but <220 on Step 1, putting me squarely in the "oh ****" category. I have thus concluded that while studying for preclinical classes as a DO may get you a good score on the osteopathic boards, it could be detrimental for more nuanced boards. My biochem score on the level 1 was like 750 or something, but it was way below the median on step 1.

 

[Blunt Dissection]

I think something else that isn't talked about on these kind of threads, but should, is that some/most DO schools teach for the COMLEX. I am a classic case of studying for preclinical classes and winding up in a bad spot. I am top 5% of my class, and saved most board studying for dedicated because I trusted my knowledge base. I wound up >650 on level 1, but <220 on Step 1, putting me squarely in the "oh ****" category. I have thus concluded that while studying for preclinical classes as a DO may get you a good score on the osteopathic boards, it could be detrimental for more nuanced boards. My biochem score on the level 1 was like 750 or something, but it was way below the median on step 1.

This is definitely a big concern and something that I've really noticed through the length of our classes. Using pharmacology as an example, I'm likely sitting in the top 5% of the class for pharm, but going through Bro's anki deck for pharm last night, there was stuff that we just never even touched on or was mentioned in our coursework. I understand it likely has to do with time and scheduling and it makes sense that because as DOs we have to incorporate time for OMT into the curriculum. I assume the difference in what we can cover in class vs what we can't compared to our allopathic colleagues has to do with the extra time that goes into OMT. Though it'll never happen, it would be interesting to see how allopathic students would score on the COMLEX if you removed the OMT portion - my bet is they would likely do very well on it.

I noticed you are starting your research in July? Is just a month really enough? I created a similar topic because I might be in a similar situation as you.

I actually started my project at the beginning of MS1 and I'm completing the abstract for submission in July. A second project that I'm working on is in the process of clearing IRB and will hopefully begin in July. The goal is to collect the data for it between July - November, run the data analysis over winter break in December, and then abstract/conference/publish in early 2018. I don't plan on working on anything extracurricular/research based past February of 2018, so whatever doesn't get done by then will be on hold until I finish Step 1.