advice for a "weaker" student?

[Rugger81]

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OK so my run in med school hasn't been the greatest. i haven't failed anything, but i'm not a stellar student.

i would like to start doing a VERY comprehensive review for the boards, now. but i don't know where to begin. i don't want to use just high yield review books, but i don't want to re-read my textbooks either. the Kaplan Home Study Books (black books) seem like the best place to start a comprehensive review that covers almost everything, but i've heard mixed reviews.

does anyone have any suggestions? i'd be VERY grateful.

 

[Rugger81]

oh and yes, i have sifted through many of these SDN threads but they wound up making me more confused and indecisive.

 

[Arctic Char]

i haven't been the most diligent student at all times either, so for what its worth, here's what i've begun for review:

kaplan videos with lecture notes. i mean, they make money knowing whats on the exam. BUT, if they are to be worthwhle at all, they are very time consuming so you have to budget them into your daily time if you plan to get through them all. i try to get two hours of videos and a full once through the corresponding notes section every night. once i finish a topic, i do the correponding subject questions in a question book (right now i am using BSS).

by the time summer comes (june), i should have finished a comprehenive review of all subjects and systems, then i can really grind to put RR path, BRS phys, and FA into my head verbatim and i can focus on Qbank and the NBME exams.

anyway, if you need any clarification about the study materials, i'm happy to explain.

i also felt like i had a huge barrier to overcome by virtue of my leisurely pace the last year and a half (which, actually, had a lot to do with my background in science and physiology and pharmacology). . . but after getting into the board review studying, i realize that this is totally doable, especially given my time frame (i take the exam on july 30). its all about discipline, which is easy to muster when i think about my goal ahead and what i want to do and where i want to go . . .

best of luck. if you've taken the initiative to figure out your strategy by now, you're making the right move it seems