BCSC regimen question

[Mirror Form]

---

Members do not see this ad.

As an ophthalmology pgy2, I've been advised to read through the BCSC at least once per year. However, "they" have put us on a schedule that will get us through the entire series by OKAP time. I've had some trouble keeping up with the reading, so I recently did the math. July through march is only like 8 or 9 months, wtf?

Do we really have to read through the entire series by OKAP time in order not to flunk? Or is it okay to just maintain a once per 12 month reading schedule?

And btw, anybody know any good online path sources? The BCSC path book's pictures don't really seem sufficient to be confident with analyzing path slides.

 

[ryangeraets]

it is possible to read the entire series (except for international and general medicine - which you will outscore all your upper levels on anyway because of the proximity to your intern year) between July and mid-April. It's getting a little late to do it starting now though. The trick is to not only keep up a fairly rigorous pace (~100pg/week) but to DO IT CONSISTENTLY.

At our program, we read the series yearly and have a few hours set aside to quiz the lower level residents on the week's readings - there's nothing like impending questioning from upper levels to get you to read! Granted, it's not like we beat up the PGY-2s, but it's a motivator.

I'll attach the file with the schedule below if you want it.
Just stick with it, you will learn what you need to learn to be a good ophthalmologist as long as you work hard during your residency. Ophthalmologists generally have great lifestyles, but that generally doesn't apply to ophtho residents....but your're getting close!

 

[Xipper]

-

 

[Wolverine98]

In our program we don't have a set schedule for reading. It's basically up to you to come up with how you will study best.
I'm a fairly slow reader, but I was able to get through all of them by April, with time to do the Mass Eye and Ear question book and part of Chern. I set myself for 15-20 pages a day for the entire year. Obviously there were some days (like on call days) where I didn't have time to get through that, but I would just average it out over a week or so. I don't like to go longer than that because I know I'd let myself get farther behind. During the first two weeks of PGY2, I read Practical Ophthalmology. Then after that I started into the neuro book, since my first rotation was neuro-oph. After that I went through depending on which rotation I was on.

As for flunking the OKAP, that's also dependent on how your program sees it. Many places only require that the residents take it, but they aren't evaluated based on how well they do on it. The main reason to do well is it gives you some measure of how well you're learning, which can give you some measure of how well you'll do on the real boards (though there is some limit to that, because I know 3 people who went to Kellogg who scored around the 30th percentile all three years of residency, but all got above the 95th percentile on the real thing).

As for path, it's good to look at the other resources for good slides, but it's also good to be familiar with the ones in the book, since many of them will show up on OKAPs.

Dave