MD & DO Are my study habits setting me up for failure come step time?

[soysizle]

Im well into my M1 year (systems based curriculum) and I don’t use hardly any of the resources the majority of my classmates use such as anki/zanki, pathoma, B&B, sketchy, etc...

I do use FA occasionally. I have tried anki and as for pathoma, I like the book but I just can’t sit through his videos.

I go to class everyday and take pretty decent notes. Im comfortable with the material and I’m happy with how I’m scoring but I can’t help but feel like maybe I’m setting myself up for failure as far as long term recall goes and knowing high yield content for step which might not be totally covered in lecture.

Any thoughts?

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[Aurum]

Im well into my M1 year (systems based curriculum) and I don’t use hardly any of the resources the majority of my classmates use such as anki/zanki, pathoma, B&B, sketchy, etc...

I do use FA occasionally. I have tried anki and as for pathoma, I like the book but I just can’t sit through his videos.

I go to class everyday and take pretty decent notes. Im comfortable with the material and I’m happy with how I’m scoring but I can’t help but feel like maybe I’m setting myself up for failure as far as long term recall goes and knowing high yield content for step which might not be totally covered in lecture.

Any thoughts?

If you're scoring well on your exams then there is nothing to worry about. Most folks agree that the best way to set yourself up for success for Step 1 is to learn the material well the first time. It seems like you're doing that so I would not worry. I did barely any board directed studying prior to M2 and scored 260+.

 

[soysizle]

I guess the defining moment for me to question my study habits was when I was with a few classmates and someone randomly brought up Lyme disease and like 2-3 people practically jumped out of their seats and were like “Doxycycline!” and they followed it up with man I love sketchy. As for me, nothing but crickets.

 

[getdown]

I guess the defining moment for me to question my study habits was when I was with a few classmates and someone randomly brought up Lyme disease and like 2-3 people practically jumped out of their seats and were like “Doxycycline!” and they followed it up with man I love sketchy. As for me, nothing but crickets.

The thing is to remember studying and studying smart are two different things. A lot of these review books are tailored to be high yield and used for board studying so it's not surprising those that read it can answer the typical board questions. Board exams are a lot about pattern recognition of the types of questions they like to ask. You may have the requisite knowledge in there somewhere but it's not connected together. These board books do that for you. I'm not saying you should change your study habits especially if you're doing well in your classes now, but I would suggest you at least use them as supplemental resources to guide your studying and know what's important and high yield.

 

[longhaul3]

If you're learning everything you need to be learning, it doesn't matter what your resources are. It's important to learn it well the first time, whatever that requires of you. I would recommend checking your progress against a known commodity (First Aid is probably easiest) every once in a while, like every block or so, to make sure you're hitting what you need to, e.g. you should know that doxycycline is used to treat Lyme whether or not you watched Sketchy videos. If you have done your ID block and not covered this (seems implausible to me, maybe your block just hasn't gotten there yet), then you would want to start looking for supplemental materials that are aligned to the boards.

When it comes time for board prep, you can use the purpose-built materials, which make things very simple and can whip you into shape quickly as long as you have that strong foundation from the first time through.

 

[Osteosaur]

Doing well on exams myself now but its feeling a bit like learn-and-purge. Once a block is over I honestly don't know how much of that 95 i got i'm keeping. Does everyone feel this way?

 

[wanderingorion]

Doing well on exams myself now but its feeling a bit like learn-and-purge. Once a block is over I honestly don't know how much of that 95 i got i'm keeping. Does everyone feel this way?

Of course. You'd just be a hard drive if you didn't feel that way. It feels like it doesn't stick, but you revisit it so much in roundabout ways that it will coalesce. Don't worry

 

[Treebeard]

I guess the defining moment for me to question my study habits was when I was with a few classmates and someone randomly brought up Lyme disease and like 2-3 people practically jumped out of their seats and were like “Doxycycline!” and they followed it up with man I love sketchy. As for me, nothing but crickets.

These people have memorized a bunch of flash cards and don't actually know anything.

Stay the course, you'll be better off

 

[libertyyne]

These people have memorized a bunch of flash cards and don't actually know anything.

Stay the course, you'll be better off

no need to put down people who have different methods than you do. Plus what is really knowing anything mean if you dont even know the very basic information that is on those flash cards.


OP , you should do what works for you, if your performance on class exams meets your expectations you are fine. If it doesnt experiment with methods until you find what does work for you.

 

[AsianPersuasion]

These people have memorized a bunch of flash cards and don't actually know anything.

Stay the course, you'll be better off

Don't be salty cause you don't understand the premise and wonder of Anki.

 

[Melanogaster]

anki is low-yield, I only rely on lecture and what my professors tell me to study.

 

[Ho0v-man]

These people have memorized a bunch of flash cards and don't actually know anything.

Stay the course, you'll be better off

Knowing the answer is low-yield...

 

[M&L]

If you're scoring well on your exams then there is nothing to worry about. Most folks agree that the best way to set yourself up for success for Step 1 is to learn the material well the first time. It seems like you're doing that so I would not worry. I did barely any board directed studying prior to M2 and scored 260+.

how DID you study?

 

[Aurum]

how DID you study?

M1 - went to 75% of lectures, completed curricular learning objectives with recommended resources, did as many practice questions (mostly supplied by my school) as I could

M2 - attended 25% of lectures and still completed learning objectives but started doing some pathoma and first aid to supplement

Dedicated - pathoma, first aid aid, Uworld, and drilled qbanks including UsmleRx and some Kaplan

 

[M&L]

M1 - went to 75% of lectures, completed curricular learning objectives with recommended resources, did as many practice questions (mostly supplied by my school) as I could

M2 - attended 25% of lectures and still completed learning objectives but started doing some pathoma and first aid to supplement

Dedicated - pathoma, first aid aid, Uworld, and drilled qbanks including UsmleRx and some Kaplan

Thank you ! Sounds like a good plan