Am I the Only One Who Legit Doesn't Know How Rotations Work?

[ekmf27050]

Like, I get the gist of it (work, study, test, repeat), but have 0.0 details from our school.

For example, how much do you guys study per week?
Do you use school recommended resources or outside resources?
Do you do practice NBMEs before every shelf (even short selective rotations) or just the big ones (IM, surg, etc)?
If you go to a school like mine where some rotations are before step 1, do you study for step 1 and shelves at the same time?

My upperclassmen friends are in dedicated and I don't want to bug them for specifics right now (ie the student-made study guides for each rotation) but I'm trying to get some kind of idea what this whole shebang looks like. Thanks!

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[Emerald2020]

Hey!

So first, I can't comment much on studying for Step 1 while in rotations, I was required to finish Step 1 before starting clinicals as an IMG from St. George's so I hope someone else can shed some light on that for you. But, based on my experience in rotations, you're going to be very busy and studying hard for your shelf exams that I'm not sure you would want to have Step 1 on your mind while also doing rotations and shelf exams. I had 2 months of dedicated Step 1 prep (UFAPS method: Uworld, First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy)

As for shelf exams: study for EVERY shelf exam with the NBMEs. All the shelf exams are preparing you for CK and the practice NBMEs, in my opinion, were very helpful setting me up to get great scores on the actual shelf AND CK.

Resources: UWORLD! NBMEs! for all the shelf exams and then each shelf had some specific resources that were beneficial in my opinion.
** AMBOSS is something a lot of my colleagues started doing and they loved it, I am starting it for Step 3, it just didn't really fit into my study routine for Shelf and CK.
** Online Med Ed, Dustyn is awesome and makes some really helpful videos, I didn't watch every single video-I picked based on topics or rotations (for example: all the Pediatrics, stages of Labor for OB, Pulmonary for IM) So definitely worth using for topics during your clinicals and great for visual aid and studying.
Pestana's Surgery Notes for Surgery (and if you haven't taken IM before this, you will definitely need to study IM topics)
USPSTF guidelines and AAFP questions online for Family Medicine

Your question on how much to study will vary from rotation to rotation, there is no magic number. For example my surgery rotation was M-F 5 AM-5PM so you can imagine after getting home and eating that I was exhausted. I made sure to get at least 1 block of Uworld in and some Pestana's reading. Granted I had already taken my Internal Medicine rotation and shelf before Surgery so I didn't need to spend as much time studying. On the other hand go back to my Internal Medicine rotation which was 6 days a week 7-4pm (w/ on call until 6 every 4th day with the residents), I had to study 4-5 hours a day because there was so much to cover in IM and I had to re-distribute my time management since that schedule was 6 days a week. You will have to gauge whether you're spending enough time studying and learning the material and adjust from there.

I hope this helps you with your questions on clinical rotations, If you have any more I would be happy to answer them!

 

[ekmf27050]

Hey!

So first, I can't comment much on studying for Step 1 while in rotations, I was required to finish Step 1 before starting clinicals as an IMG from St. George's so I hope someone else can shed some light on that for you. But, based on my experience in rotations, you're going to be very busy and studying hard for your shelf exams that I'm not sure you would want to have Step 1 on your mind while also doing rotations and shelf exams. I had 2 months of dedicated Step 1 prep (UFAPS method: Uworld, First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy)

As for shelf exams: study for EVERY shelf exam with the NBMEs. All the shelf exams are preparing you for CK and the practice NBMEs, in my opinion, were very helpful setting me up to get great scores on the actual shelf AND CK.

Resources: UWORLD! NBMEs! for all the shelf exams and then each shelf had some specific resources that were beneficial in my opinion.
** AMBOSS is something a lot of my colleagues started doing and they loved it, I am starting it for Step 3, it just didn't really fit into my study routine for Shelf and CK.
** Online Med Ed, Dustyn is awesome and makes some really helpful videos, I didn't watch every single video-I picked based on topics or rotations (for example: all the Pediatrics, stages of Labor for OB, Pulmonary for IM) So definitely worth using for topics during your clinicals and great for visual aid and studying.
Pestana's Surgery Notes for Surgery (and if you haven't taken IM before this, you will definitely need to study IM topics)
USPSTF guidelines and AAFP questions online for Family Medicine

Your question on how much to study will vary from rotation to rotation, there is no magic number. For example my surgery rotation was M-F 5 AM-5PM so you can imagine after getting home and eating that I was exhausted. I made sure to get at least 1 block of Uworld in and some Pestana's reading. Granted I had already taken my Internal Medicine rotation and shelf before Surgery so I didn't need to spend as much time studying. On the other hand go back to my Internal Medicine rotation which was 6 days a week 7-4pm (w/ on call until 6 every 4th day with the residents), I had to study 4-5 hours a day because there was so much to cover in IM and I had to re-distribute my time management since that schedule was 6 days a week. You will have to gauge whether you're spending enough time studying and learning the material and adjust from there.

I hope this helps you with your questions on clinical rotations, If you have any more I would be happy to answer them!

Thank you very much for the detailed response Emerald! I really appreciate you taking the time to give these details. My first rotations were in-house exams and now I'm starting on ones with shelf exams, so I will definitely be taking a look at these resources and will let you know if I have any questions!!