Class vs board studying

[orange_peel]

Hi everyone. I'm currently an M2, and I wanted to know how everyone was managing class material and board prep. I found that a lot of my classmates are already doing Q banks and studying for boards, but I usually find myself lagging behind even just going through class lecture notes, leaving no time for Q banks or let alone look at board review books. I know we get about 6 weeks of dedicated time, but I still wanted to get exposed to the material during the year. My daily schedule is, I usually listen to lectures in the morning which takes about 6-8 hours, and then try to really READ (without listening) the class notes again the second time. And before I get to finish reading all the lectures, it's already time for me to go to bed. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance.

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[orange_peel]

anyone?

 

[KVBane]

What Im going to be doing is questions. Next semester Im going to start my combined class and board prep studying. I will focus on passing my classes, but also dedicate a few hours each week to board studying which include doing questions, and really really focusing on the answers, both incorrect and correct. I have a few Q banks that I have access too, and will start with the less important ones, and save UWorld for my dedicated.

As time goes on I will devote more time to board prep, and less to class/sleep.

Also as for your lectures. I think a great thing to do would be to analyze your study patterns and try to make them more efficienct. Spending 6-8 hrs a day + Rereading lecture notes may be what you are used to, but that doesnt means its the best strategy.
At the start of the next semester, trying doing things a little differently, and see if that helps with the time wasting. Maybe try Anki, maybe don't reread the notes in the same day, but space it out, to activate more memory.

You aren't the first med student with this problem, and you wont be the last. I'm in the same boat as you, with my boards in June, and only 5 weeks of dedicate. Just dont think that the advice you hear will work for you 100% of the time. You are a unique butterfly, which means that you need to play around and see what works best.

Good luck

 

[MedNation907]

What may help open up time is depending more on Pathoma and less on lectures. Personally, my first pass over any topic covered in pathoma is done so in pathoma. I later listen to the corresponding lecture(s). Again personally, I find that there is so much dead time in lecture where they either cover information that you already know or they simply navigate the material inefficiently. This method allows you to move quicker through lectures because you're hearing things that are familiar. While doing this I always have a doc open and I simply type in the random information that they add (i.e. what is not mentioned in pathoma) which covers me for the tests. For the other lectures not in pathoma, I note what I personally find important which is normally screened by topics that appear in FA. Also realize that with these seemingly small adjustments in where you plays your focus may actually accentuate "board studying" as you are slightly filtering out "lower-yield" information common in any curriculum.

As far as specifically Qbank time, I use the few days immediately after an exam to spend time (maybe 3 hours a day) doing questions. That's typically in the morning, and then the evening I will spend time covering the lecture material.

Overall I think 6-8 hours for 4 in-depth lectures isn't absurd by any means but should not be an average time. Again if you are able to streamline the high-yield information in an organized fashion (pathoma) it makes moving through lectures so much faster.. like 25 minutes/lecture -kind of faster.

Oh and (obviously) I'm not suggesting any bit of material absent a board-approved book lacks importance, just that hitting the highest-yield information first in a disease makes accepting the smaller facts (obscure lecture material) easier during your first pass.