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Today I bought First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. What, the test is less than three years away! Surely you all don't think I'm a gunner!
Am I a gunner?
- Thread starter owen_osh
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no offense...but well...er, um. I'm glad there's more to my life than med school...
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This has to be a joke.
You do realize this is the equivalent of buying an MCAT book right out of high school.
(pointing finger at owen_osh) - GUNNER! GUNNER! SWARM SWARM SWARM!!!😱 😱 😱
You do realize this is the equivalent of buying an MCAT book right out of high school.
(pointing finger at owen_osh) - GUNNER! GUNNER! SWARM SWARM SWARM!!!😱 😱 😱
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You're not a gunner, you're just being prepared. I'm sure there are others out there who already started studying but won't admit it. I bought off of ebay last week a package w/first aid, NMS, BSS, UCV, Qbank(pirated), and Kaplan organ systems review. Hell, step 1 is going to determine how much you're gonna bling bling, might as well start now. The other steps you'll just need to pass, if you've rocked the first one.
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it's ok, we are all gunners deep inside.
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dude, i think u need to go outside and get a breath of fresh air
🙁
🙁
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I think it is fine if you bought First Aid for step 1. Just don't touch it until Day 1 of med school. DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT START STUDYING FOR MED SCHOOL... ENJOY YOUR SUMMER, I REPEAT, ENJOY YOUR SUMMER OF FREEDOM
Once school starts, recommend that you use first aid while you study. Most of the info you need to know for your school exams will not be in it, but the info in that book is great for boards and the repitition will help you remember what is really important.
... Forest from the trees...
Once school starts, recommend that you use first aid while you study. Most of the info you need to know for your school exams will not be in it, but the info in that book is great for boards and the repitition will help you remember what is really important.
... Forest from the trees...
You should start studying now. You'll need all the help you can get to keep up with those of us who are just naturally gifted. I know people who studied for years just to get within 200 points of my SAT score or just to crack a 30 on the MCAT. It's sad but you gotta do what you gotta do. Good luck Owen!
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You're just now getting STEP 1?......damn man you're behind, the day of the MCAT, i went and got step 1........i just bought step 2 last week.............you better hurry up............
on a seroius note, i think its a good thing, no reason why it makes you a gunner, as logn as you compete with yoruself and not with every other person in your class..............
nero
on a seroius note, i think its a good thing, no reason why it makes you a gunner, as logn as you compete with yoruself and not with every other person in your class..............
nero
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I think it's morally wrong to start studying this early! For everything there is a season, and the season for studying for USMLEs starts only at least a week after med school orientation. I didn't start studying for MCATs (which I took in April) until January of last year. Hell, before January, I didn't even know how it was scored and organized.
There is about 5 months left before the start of the school year... I'd rather catch up on my reading in that time.
There is about 5 months left before the start of the school year... I'd rather catch up on my reading in that time.
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😛
I must confess that i picked up Lippincott's Biochem Review but that's only b/c I have never taken biochem and wanted to get some decent background on it before I start.
Most med students have it anyways so I figure I might as well buy it now. Once summer hits though I'm putting it down. Since I've been out of school for 2 years and have been working, I figure doing a little reading up on it wouldn't hurt for the time being.
I'm definitely not a gunner. This was done simply out of my inborn fear of flunking biochem which i developed upon hearing everyone tell me that I would be in deep trouble by not taking biochem in undergrad.
Most med students have it anyways so I figure I might as well buy it now. Once summer hits though I'm putting it down. Since I've been out of school for 2 years and have been working, I figure doing a little reading up on it wouldn't hurt for the time being.
I'm definitely not a gunner. This was done simply out of my inborn fear of flunking biochem which i developed upon hearing everyone tell me that I would be in deep trouble by not taking biochem in undergrad.
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La griega Explosivo ... haaha, a gunner
you and your boy kreno suprised that eimai ellinas, really just an ameriki... haha
xeris espaniki? That's my language of choice, and for good reason. It's useful. Holla back. I still envy all you who have gotten in.
one question, one of my friends has a 28 and a 3.8 from U of I in a science major ... and UIC hasn't contacted ... weird, especially since I was rejected in NOVEMBER from them, and I'm not a bad applicant at all, and an ILer in the first place
talk about scatakephalos (-:
Gumshoe
you and your boy kreno suprised that eimai ellinas, really just an ameriki... haha
xeris espaniki? That's my language of choice, and for good reason. It's useful. Holla back. I still envy all you who have gotten in.
one question, one of my friends has a 28 and a 3.8 from U of I in a science major ... and UIC hasn't contacted ... weird, especially since I was rejected in NOVEMBER from them, and I'm not a bad applicant at all, and an ILer in the first place
talk about scatakephalos (-:
Gumshoe
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hahaha...i did this too.
I also bought the "getting the residency of your choice" or something...it hasn't come yet.
Funny reasons for this. I'm four years out of college and have done this shiz so back asswards, that I at least want to be aware of what I need to do in case I want to be in a competitive specialty. I'm damn tired of realizing over and over how much easier this would have been had I just gone for it early in college when I'd doubted myself and figured I didn't have what it takes to be an MD. Blah....so gun on, I say. Or at least be prepared. Lest you be like manic and spend too much time abusing substances and not paying attention to what needs to get done. 😀
I also bought the "getting the residency of your choice" or something...it hasn't come yet.
Funny reasons for this. I'm four years out of college and have done this shiz so back asswards, that I at least want to be aware of what I need to do in case I want to be in a competitive specialty. I'm damn tired of realizing over and over how much easier this would have been had I just gone for it early in college when I'd doubted myself and figured I didn't have what it takes to be an MD. Blah....so gun on, I say. Or at least be prepared. Lest you be like manic and spend too much time abusing substances and not paying attention to what needs to get done. 😀
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Actually, I do have a friend who bought the USLME books the day after he got his first acceptance. Knowing how important board scores were to residency, he was taking no chances.
So, yeah, that is something a "gunner" would do.
So, yeah, that is something a "gunner" would do.
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Pho - I don't frequent the premed forums very often, but I the few posts I've read of yours really standout. You are obviously a complete dumba**. Take this from a 4th MD student who scored 99s on both steps I and II of the USMLE: you are wasting your time trying to study now, and only an idiot gunner would actually go out and buy boards review books to read before medschool has even started. Even if this did make a difference, it would be miniscule.
The last thing medicine needs is someone who can't speak english but knows how to work physics formulas and can recite the krebs cycle from memory. I just matched into a competative surgical subspecialty, and I did not meet one person on the interview trail with a thick accent or who didn't have excellent communication skills. People who don't know english crashed and burned during their clinicals, which you will likely do as well. Oh, and by the way. By the time you take step II it will include a clinical skills exam that is NOT multiple choice and you will be graded based on how well you communicate with patients.
Ever consider getting a PhD? It seems like it would be a better fit for you.
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is not a real MS4. If he is he is unhappy where he is...
There, there, I feel your pain. You DO NOT need to have the most outstanding verbal skills to practice medicine. I have somewhat of an accent, and so what? As long as my patient understands me it is irrelevant. Your post seems very ignorant for a med student; either that or you don't have much experience dealing with minorities.
What will you do, diagnose accents or diseases?😉
Good luck correcting minority patients on their English and getting your behind kicked daily.
There, there, I feel your pain. You DO NOT need to have the most outstanding verbal skills to practice medicine. I have somewhat of an accent, and so what? As long as my patient understands me it is irrelevant. Your post seems very ignorant for a med student; either that or you don't have much experience dealing with minorities.
What will you do, diagnose accents or diseases?😉
Good luck correcting minority patients on their English and getting your behind kicked daily.
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I didn't do so well in my sciences as an undergraduate. I figured I'd just shrug it off and study my ass off for the MCAT. Needless to say, I had a hard time initially until my boss told me I'd be better off re-taking some of the more critical pre-med courses, because really learning your sciences (and the ability to critically think that "should" come along with doing well on them) is what matters when you prepare for these types of exams. I went ahead and took that detour through a bunch of pre-med courses, earning better grades and a great MCAT score in the end. Of course, you've got to put the hours into exam prep, but the hours are so much more effective when you've primed the pump or built up a base of knowledge.
SO, with regards to buying USLME materials, I don't know how beneficial at this point it will be without that base of knowledge. I figure I'll hang on and let my hard work in my classes take care of the real preparation. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not a gunner, but I figure when I learn something, I learn it solid. The prep course stuff should be a supplement to the coursework you haven't even completed yet.
AAK
SO, with regards to buying USLME materials, I don't know how beneficial at this point it will be without that base of knowledge. I figure I'll hang on and let my hard work in my classes take care of the real preparation. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not a gunner, but I figure when I learn something, I learn it solid. The prep course stuff should be a supplement to the coursework you haven't even completed yet.
AAK
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I am going to tell you a little story dunehog about a Vietnamese surgeon who could hardly speak English. He was a trauma surgeon during the Vietnam War for 10 years, and when South Vietnam fell to the communist, he fled with his family to the United States. In the U.S. he had to retrain and do his residency again to practice. He couldn?t do this right away because his English was almost nonexistent, so he worked as a janitor for 2 years to support his family, and improve his English. Eventually he did get a general surgery residency at Harlem Hospital (Columbia) and then did plastics at New York Hospital (Cornell). He has worked now as a prominent and respected reconstructive plastic surgeon for over 20 years, and has become the chief of surgery at his hospital. This man is my father and his English is so bad that even I have a hard time understanding him, and guess what he didn?t crash and burn during his res, and his thick accent doesn?t have any effect on his ability to be a skilled surgeon. He is often even a guess lecturer at UCI, accent included. Just because you haven?t meet ?anyone on the interview trails with a thick accent? doesn?t make you an expert to say that people with accents can?t be great physicians.
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I hope that story and all was in your personal statement...if not it should of been!
That is the kind of person I'm talking about...accent or no accent it is the individual characteristics underneath the superficial exterior that make him/her a great physician. If all you can notice is an accent then you're wasting your time in this profession that values the intangibles, Dumbhog...oops I guess I ca'not reads eithers. I musta have some prumblems...NOT
That is the kind of person I'm talking about...accent or no accent it is the individual characteristics underneath the superficial exterior that make him/her a great physician. If all you can notice is an accent then you're wasting your time in this profession that values the intangibles, Dumbhog...oops I guess I ca'not reads eithers. I musta have some prumblems...NOT
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Deuce, tell your dad I think he's awesome!
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Okay, so DuneHog went overboard on the whole "doctors can't have accents" thing, but let us not lose sight of the essential nugget of truth in his post: "what the pho" is, in fact, a complete ***** and a troll.
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Yes I agree that buying usmle review books right now is worthless. Buying them when school starts and using them as study guides througout 1st and 2nd year is however a smart idea. Buying any kind of qBank or similar material is completely idiotic because question format is likely to change in three years. The load of material for memorization is so large that trying to memorize them 3 years in advance is completely ineffective. How many people remember all the facts they learned in high school history class?? Cramming it a few months before the test is the most efficient way to do well. Cram and Retain is the key.
And in the end what good is it to be get into surgory or dermatology when all that you'll ever be is a big fat TOOL😀
Nobody wants that, I know I don't.
And in the end what good is it to be get into surgory or dermatology when all that you'll ever be is a big fat TOOL😀
Nobody wants that, I know I don't.
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LabRat and 007 - I'm sorry if I've offended you. It seems like my post was taken somewhat out of context. My post was directed specifically at "What the Pho" who seems to take pride in the fact that he has poor communication skills and feels that it won't matter because he is going to be a hot-shot surgeon who operates all the time and doesn't have to talk to patients (if any of you have read his other posts you would know what I mean). Anyway, I apologize for suggesting that people with accents will make poor physicians. I certainly didn't mean to make a blanket statement like that, but re-reading my post I can see how it would be interpreted that way.
However, I still think it's important to remember that communication is critical in both medical and surgical fields. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. I'm not saying it isn't possible to overcome communication barriers, and I agree that there are many fantastic physicians ans surgeons with thick accents. But the fact remains that these people have accomplished what they have despite their language difficulties, not because of them.
However, I still think it's important to remember that communication is critical in both medical and surgical fields. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. I'm not saying it isn't possible to overcome communication barriers, and I agree that there are many fantastic physicians ans surgeons with thick accents. But the fact remains that these people have accomplished what they have despite their language difficulties, not because of them.
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It's cool dunehog. Yeah "what the pho" does come off as a tool.
But back to the OP, I've been out of school for 3 years and it has been ages since I took biochem, histo, and physio. So I went out and bought the BRS books for these classes since I've already taken them before. I'm going threw them now before school starts, because I'm just not as naturally smart as most and it takes me longer to learn things. I'm also afraid that there well be some really smart people in my class, I don't want to seem like a ***** when taking classes w/ these quick learners. A gunner I'm not, just more scared of getting left behind.
But back to the OP, I've been out of school for 3 years and it has been ages since I took biochem, histo, and physio. So I went out and bought the BRS books for these classes since I've already taken them before. I'm going threw them now before school starts, because I'm just not as naturally smart as most and it takes me longer to learn things. I'm also afraid that there well be some really smart people in my class, I don't want to seem like a ***** when taking classes w/ these quick learners. A gunner I'm not, just more scared of getting left behind.
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I'm not one to hold anonymous online grudges...🙂
I specifically am not a gunner (I have a 3.71 cum GPA and 3.65 Sci GPA) but have a hard time sitting down to study and end up cramming a lot...I want to change that in med school for sure. I think towards the end of my undergrad i remedied this a bit.
Anyways, I picked up a cell bio book, just b/c one of my med school friends said this is one of the hardest courses once you're in (and one of the first). So I read up a bit during work, but am not a gunner at all.
Dunehog, if you really aced both steps share your secret with the non-gunners here (I'll write it down and not look for two years I promise.🙂
I specifically am not a gunner (I have a 3.71 cum GPA and 3.65 Sci GPA) but have a hard time sitting down to study and end up cramming a lot...I want to change that in med school for sure. I think towards the end of my undergrad i remedied this a bit.
Anyways, I picked up a cell bio book, just b/c one of my med school friends said this is one of the hardest courses once you're in (and one of the first). So I read up a bit during work, but am not a gunner at all.
Dunehog, if you really aced both steps share your secret with the non-gunners here (I'll write it down and not look for two years I promise.🙂
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I have already started writing my 2nd draft of my acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Medicine & Physiology and my acceptance of a professorship at HMS.......and I havent graduated medicine yet.
No dude it is never too early nor too late to do anything.
If you have the drive to get ahead then do it.
Damn-it man like NIKE says 'Just Do It!'
No dude it is never too early nor too late to do anything.
If you have the drive to get ahead then do it.
Damn-it man like NIKE says 'Just Do It!'
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Mike59 said:
why does that mean a person is a gunner. i brought an mcat book right after i graduated from high school. doesnt mean i dont help ppl out and doesnt mean im obnoxious
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You guys, this thread is old.
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principessa said:
Nothing like responding to a statement someone made seventeen months ago, huh? It's kinda refreshing.
