Attendings, Residents, Remember the step exams? Do you feel like you study just as much now?

[Throwaway01]

My wife just finished her step 2, and she was all gung-ho about rads. She enjoyed her rotations, she loves imaging, but now that she is burnt out from studying, she is absolutely dreading having to study the way she did these past 2 months (she had an 8-5 rotation, came home, studied until 10, went to sleep, rinse and repeat). Is it possible to go to a good program where the didactics and attendings are helpful enough that when you get home, you can spend some time with the kids?

So, Residents, how much do you study compared to how much you did in Medical School esp around board times, and how much time do you have for yourself?
Attendings, same question, but compare to your residency as well.

Thank you.

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[Rads4lyfe]

I work about 50 hours a week on average. Most residents in my program read maybe 1 hour a day?

I definitely don't study as much as i did for step exams, and i have plenty of free time for hobbies, netflix, and going out. It's pretty sweet having most weekends off.

Compared to other residencies, i'd say radiology residency has great hours and lifestyle. I see my buddies in surgery and medicine working 80 hour weeks and working most weekends.

 

[redoitall]

I work about 50 hours a week on average. Most residents in my program read maybe 1 hour a day?

I definitely don't study as much as i did for step exams, and i have plenty of free time for hobbies, netflix, and going out. It's pretty sweet having most weekends off.

Compared to other residencies, i'd say radiology residency has great hours and lifestyle. I see my buddies in surgery and medicine working 80 hour weeks and working most weekends.

Totally agree. This is partly why Rads was so attractive to me. As a resident (past the prelim year), I think the hours are reasonable. There are residencies out there, in particular one I am familiar with where during your 4 years of rad you do not work any week-end. The reality is that most other program will throw in some night/and WE coverage but this is very reasonable compared to say surgery, OB Gyn (from which I am still suffering PTSD) or even IM. I would say that your wife will have to do some searching and ask questions about call/WEs as there are variations naturally, but that's definitely something to inquire about. Other ways to secure more free time would be to go to a less populated area where traffic / parking is better. To me this is was extremely important (even though I ended up in a big city at the end, but it remains something I contemplate for the future).

Good luck.

 

[JoshSt]

I have not studied for the core exam yet but to answer your question, no, absolutely do not study as much as in med school. Look for a program that boasts good reading room teaching and has daily education conference or conferences. I don't read very often, maybe 1-2 week and feel comfortable where I am at this point in my training. It would likely be a different case in a program that did not have strong teaching and frequent lectures.

 

[radsisrad]

Hah, these answers are very different from what I heard on my first interview. The PD said, quite seriously, that every radiology resident should be reading a minimum of two hours/day at home. It ended up at the very bottom of my ROL due to the low-tier status (and truly depressingly shabby digs), FWIW.

 

[tartrate]

she had an 8-5 rotation, came home, studied until 10, went to sleep, rinse and repeat

This approximates my schedule currently (usually ending the day a bit later). I feel like I'm studying just as much as I did in medical school (at least in terms of concentrated effort/energy at the end of the day). But from reading some of the other posts this seems like it varies depending on the program, with some having better didactics/teaching than others. Not sure what to make of the fabled programs where teaching during the day is so good you don't have to do much outside studying on your own. The 2nd/3rd year starts to get pretty busy with call, so that would be a more realistic expectation in terms of hours. Of course this too is highly dependent on the program, but going to a low volume program overall would probably hurt more than help. Overall I'd still say better than the mindless grind of being on wards everyday (flip side being you can finish training in 3 years).

 

[rule out normal]

My wife just finished her step 2, and she was all gung-ho about rads. She enjoyed her rotations, she loves imaging, but now that she is burnt out from studying, she is absolutely dreading having to study the way she did these past 2 months (she had an 8-5 rotation, came home, studied until 10, went to sleep, rinse and repeat). Is it possible to go to a good program where the didactics and attendings are helpful enough that when you get home, you can spend some time with the kids?

So, Residents, how much do you study compared to how much you did in Medical School esp around board times, and how much time do you have for yourself?
Attendings, same question, but compare to your residency as well.

Thank you.

It's much less than medical school. However, I was recently told by a couple of attendings that my knowledge base was below the rest of my peers, so I am now doing about 10-14 hours a week of studying at home.

 

[redoitall]

I had read somewhere (maybe here or some place else)
the mediocre rad resident reads 1h per day
the average rad resident reads 2h per day
the good rad resident reads 3h per day.
There is reading and reading... I do not know what it's worth, but it looks that some constant reading/interaction with teaching material (hopefully in an engaging way) is a must. As a prelim I am currently learning medicine but I also realize that I do not know anything when it comes to radiology (not to say ignorant). Anxious to get step 3 behind me and start beefing up my radiology knowledge.

 

[radapplicant920]

consider me a mediocre resident through *most* of residency

While the strongest residents without question put in the time regularly at home I would say the average resident:
- Pays attention in lecture.
- Pays attention on rotations.
- During 1st year mostly studies during the first week or two of each new rotation
- Gets too busy to study 2nd year
- Busts their balls during the back half of 3rd year to catch up and fill in the gaps (ie memorize esoteric minutiae)
- Peaks during the start of their 4th year and slowly lets their knowledge base atrophy before fellowship

Not that I endorse this strategy at all (you only get one shot at this so you should all be studying 3h+ a night to be the best possible version of yourself you can be!), but I've seen plenty use this formula to not only destroy boards but regularly win high praise amongst attendings. YMMV.

 

[guytakingboards]

consider me a mediocre resident through *most* of residency

While the strongest residents without question put in the time regularly at home I would say the average resident:
- Pays attention in lecture.
- Pays attention on rotations.
- During 1st year mostly studies during the first week or two of each new rotation
- Gets too busy to study 2nd year
- Busts their balls during the back half of 3rd year to catch up and fill in the gaps (ie memorize esoteric minutiae)
- Peaks during the start of their 4th year and slowly lets their knowledge base atrophy before fellowship

Not that I endorse this strategy at all (you only get one shot at this so you should all be studying 3h+ a night to be the best possible version of yourself you can be!), but I've seen plenty use this formula to not only destroy boards but regularly win high praise amongst attendings. YMMV.

I'd endorse this as someone who just passed the Core exam and is going into fellowship in July. Lol i was in the bottom 30% of the in-service exam all three years I took it but I never once had my knowledge base questioned in a clinical competency committee meeting.

I do want to add that studying in residency (at least in my opinion) is not all that similar to medical school. I didn't find it nearly as exhausting to spend time studying radiology stuff because it's stuff that directly translates to our job. Reading Radiographics articles or looking stuff up on Statdx is not the same thing as reading a stuffy pulmonary physiology textbook that I couldn't care less about.

 

[tartrate]

consider me a mediocre resident through *most* of residency

While the strongest residents without question put in the time regularly at home I would say the average resident:
- Pays attention in lecture.
- Pays attention on rotations.
- During 1st year mostly studies during the first week or two of each new rotation
- Gets too busy to study 2nd year
- Busts their balls during the back half of 3rd year to catch up and fill in the gaps (ie memorize esoteric minutiae)
- Peaks during the start of their 4th year and slowly lets their knowledge base atrophy before fellowship

Not that I endorse this strategy at all (you only get one shot at this so you should all be studying 3h+ a night to be the best possible version of yourself you can be!), but I've seen plenty use this formula to not only destroy boards but regularly win high praise amongst attendings. YMMV.

This sounds reasonable. 3+ hours a night, every night sounds a bit insane and I think you'd be prone to burning out quickly. Now this is concerted, focused studying that I'm talking about, not having a game or TV show on the side. 3+ hours is actually in the range of Step 1 studying for me. 1 hour is probably a good number (which can easily be stretched out over the night with distractions). TBH I'm sick of studying at this point but this is the game we've entered with our lives.

 

[GadRads]

Studying 3 hrs every night is really high. That is 21 hrs per week! If you can do it, props to you.

 

[radapplicant920]

I should add that your motivation to study is going to ebb and flow depending on what rotation you are on at a given time. On a stretch of nights or a busy IR month, you probably aren't going to accomplish anything. On nucs/mammo/AIRP/"research" you will probably have a lot more time and motivation, use this to your advantage.

This of course goes out the window in the last 3-4 months leading up to boards when everyone ought to be hauling ass no-matter where they are. To answer the OP's question, the 8-5p come home and study till bed does happen during these few months (though any reasonable residency will let their 3rd years duck out a little early during this time, call in "sick" or put you on easy rotations). I don't think this is a big dealbreaker since outside of these few months radiology residency isn't that bad and wayyy better than most alternatives.

Also like the other poster said, I care way more about becoming a badass radiologist than I ever cared to get to the front of the medschool rat-race. Every new detail I pick up makes me better, makes my dictations tighter, and my misses fewer... well except for maybe memorizing the photopeaks and half lives of radiopharmaceuticals