Dilemma... how many weeks should I use to prep? Please advise!

[kl323]

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Hey everybody,

I'd love some insights in to what I should do. I have two test days in mind and it would be equivalent to the following:

Prep time: 6 weeks and 4 days ...........Vacation time: 2 weeks.
Prep time: 7 weeks and 4 days ...........Vacation time: 1 week.

Some issues I'm struggling with:

Should I use that extra week to give myself more time or would that extra week not be wise? I'm having trouble deciding because of my fear of "diminishing returns." My advisor said that most people do fine w/ just 6 weeks. Any more would cause unneeded anxiety and cause a drop in performance simply due to being worn out from all that studying.

2 weeks of vacation definitely sounds better, but that one extra week of studying doesn't sound bad either...

I'm only an average student. I hit the mean in each block and nothing more. I'm not too sure whether I'm an efficient studier or not, but I do manage to get stuff done. I've never done this sort of lockdown intensive prep before...so I can't really say whether I can work effectively in 6 weeks.

Thanks in advance!

 

[kl323]

Btw, I plan on using the Taus method. It was stated in some thread that it's a 10 week process.. but I guess I'll have to modify it to fit into my schedule.

Again, thanks for reading!

 

[watcher34]

I would definitely take the extra week to study for the usmle .... even if you use the extra week to do some unintense studying like rapid reviews for example.

 

[Stork2786]

I would say take it earlier. I took 4 wks and I was getting antsy in that last week. The advice I've been giving is just do well with 2nd yr courses-that's where the money's at.

 

[slowbutsteady]

I took the extra week and needed every minute of it. Except took (most) of the day before off!

Got over 250. 🙂