Burning Out, please help (need your advice).

[LichenPlanus]

Hi everyone,

My exam is in 16 days. I've started studying for Step 1 since mid January. I study like a snail & had to work on my test-taking skills a lot. My baseline was 210's and now at low 250's. I did half of Rx (avg 85% moved on to uworld b/c time). Unfortunately I've still got 70% of uworld left (avg so far 80%) & 5 more practice NBME's to go. I know I screwed up by not starting early on these.

I am super burnt out. I've already tried going out with friends and family, relaxing for few days, but the uncertainty of the future is terrible. I go back to some previous organ systems in FA and feel like I forgot a lot while looking at pages. I hope that by time Step 1 comes up, I've forgotten ton of stuff, b/c I'll be doing uworld non-stop then blast thru FA. Is that a good idea? What can I do? What helped you?

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[seminoma]

Hi everyone,

My exam is in 16 days. I've started studying for Step 1 since mid January. I study like a snail & had to work on my test-taking skills a lot. My baseline was 210's and now at low 250's. I did half of Rx (avg 85% moved on to uworld b/c time). Unfortunately I've still got 70% of uworld left (avg so far 80%) & 5 more practice NBME's to go. I know I screwed up by not starting early on these.

I am super burnt out and quite honestly afraid of how this will turn out. I've already tried going out with friends and family, relaxing for few days, but I just feel alone & the uncertainty of my future is terrible. I go back to some previous organ systems in FA and feel like I forgot a lot while looking at pages. I fear that by time Step 1 comes up, I've forgotten ton of stuff, b/c I'll be doing uworld non-stop till 3 days before exam & then blast thru FA. Is that a good idea? What can I do? What helped you?

What a strange coincidence

Anyway, it sounds like you've already done what I was going to suggest regarding burnout so I can't help you there. Going through 70% of Uworld in 13 days is a terrible idea though. At this point I think your best bet is to do 2 blocks of UW everyday and review them thoroughly. Stop doing UW 8 days out from your test and spend 7 days doing a full pass of FA (leaving the day before your exam completely free). You can probably get through FA 1.5-2x in the next 15 days.

 

[MirrorTodd]

You're gonna be fine. Relax and breathe, relax and breathe.

 

[LichenPlanus]

Thank you both for the posts. Seminoma, saw your post on the experience thread, your outcome is inspiring 👍 Congrats on the score and thanks for the advice

 

[malin]

Exercise is great. Breathing exercises are phenomenal (google these; these do wonders). Meditation is probably your best bet, to be honest. It's hard to explain how to meditate; just close your eyes, lay down in your bed, and just focus on your breathing. Or just focus on your mind, and try not to think of anything else other than your mind and being in the moment. Like seriously, no other thoughts should be entering your mind. Be focused while thinking of nothing.

Yes I know this sounds very abstract and silly, but meditation is legit. It's a fantastic way of improving your concentration. I did it 10-30 mins a day during my dedicated period (particularly before I took NBMEs) to improve my concentration, which it did. It also helped with burnout (I'm being serious here). Good luck! This is a perfectly natural response to have to the step study period. I also felt burnt out around that period. But I kept persisting. And I did my meditation and breathing. But whether you do that or not, you'll do great. All the best!

 

[Smiths11]

Thank you both for the posts. Seminoma, saw your post on the experience thread, your outcome is inspiring 👍 Congrats on the score and thanks for the advice

Can you please link me to that thread? I need inspiration badly.

I feel I am in a very similar boat as you. My exam is also coming up and I am thinking about postponing (again). I feel so burned out and can barely get a block done each day. And it's so painful to do it. 🙁