extra month to study = better score?

[Downstatedoc]

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I know this is highly variable...but i heard that some students work out their rotations 3rd year so they basically get less vacation time but like an extra 4 wks or so to study for the boards....does anyone know if this is possible? Does it make sense to do this?

It seems to me like everyone is pressed for time...and 6 wks doesn't seem like enough, maybe the extra 4 wks would be valuable....

thoughts? thanks.

 

[lankysudanese]

I sacrificed vacation time to do 11wks of prep, and do not regret doing that at all. The extra time allowed me to be thorough, and to use ALL available resources. I felt very confident/prepared the day of the exam, and did very well.

So my advice is; if you can squeeze in some extra time, take it because a great Step 1 score can help open doors...

 

[Law2Doc]

I know this is highly variable...but i heard that some students work out their rotations 3rd year so they basically get less vacation time but like an extra 4 wks or so to study for the boards....does anyone know if this is possible? Does it make sense to do this?

It seems to me like everyone is pressed for time...and 6 wks doesn't seem like enough, maybe the extra 4 wks would be valuable....

thoughts? thanks.

The catch is that stuff you review prior to a certain time frame won't still be in your head by the time of the exam. So IMHO for most people, if you go back much further than 6-7 weeks, anything you learn before that time period is just stuff you will have forgotten by testing day. Everyone is going to be different on this, but I suspect most people fall within the 6-8 week range.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Some schools only give 3-4 weeks so in that case adding a month to make it 8 weeks would be nice. Trust me vacations aren't all that much fun while waiting to see the results of your step 1 (and thus career options).

 

[osli]

People often quote the "6 weeks" limit on "keeping stuff in your head" but as far as I can remember that does not correlate to any of the commonly accepted memory types - working, short term, long term. If you can remember something for three weeks, you can remember it for eight... it is just that things will be dropping out of memory a bit quicker at eight than at three. It's not like you hit some magic barrier where everything you studied more than six weeks ago is gone. I wish people would stop perpetuating that myth.

Hell, repetition with relatively long time intervals is one of the keys to locking something into long term memory and having a better opportunity to integrate the information with other memories.
it.

 

[Downstatedoc]

so if we are in agreement that an extra month would be good...why dont other med students do it?

 

[Law2Doc]

It's not like you hit some magic barrier where everything you studied more than six weeks ago is gone. I wish people would stop perpetuating that myth.

I don't think it's a hard cut off, but things certainly start dropping out at that point, and it's a fairly steep drop off the further past that point (or whatever point is your own memory duration) you go. I'm pretty confident that I know less of the things I read 12 weeks ago than 8 than 6 and so on. Once you get inside the 5-6 week range I actually find most can remember the stuff pretty well. But you're right, for one person the drop-off will be 10 weeks, another it will be 5. There is nothing magic about 6 weeks, but IMHO it is probably a good estimate of optimum for many.

 

[Law2Doc]

so if we are in agreement that an extra month would be good...why dont other med students do it?

Most med students have a fixed time interval between the end of classes and the start of rotations. If you want an extra month, you have to generally get permission, bump a 3rd year rotation back into 4th year (thereby losing an elective), etc. So most people don't have the luxury of more than whatever time is given for summer break.

Plus most people want to take at least a few days off before rotations -- it would be rough to go right from second year to studying 10 hours a day for boards and then into rotations without a few days off.

 

[DragonWell]

so if we are in agreement that an extra month would be good...why dont other med students do it?

We had to choose our priority for 3rd yr rotations - a particular schedule or a particular location. I was more concerned about where I would be spending 3rd year than having another month of board prep.

I also think burn out could be a big factor for me if I take too long to study. We get a study week now before taking tests on about 50 chapters worth of material, and by the time the week is up, I'm pretty fried...it seems like I hit a point of diminishing returns as far as study goes and although I can keep pushing, my motivation drops considerably. I've worked my *ss off over the first two years, so I think the 5 weeks I've got to devote to step 1 prep will be enough for me w/o being too much. At least I hope so!

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Wait a minute...there are schools that let you have vacation time third year!?

 

[osli]

I don't think it's a hard cut off, but things certainly start dropping out at that point, and it's a fairly steep drop off the further past that point...

Claim supported by what evidence?

That simply doesn't agree with what I understand about memory formation. You lose information pretty sharply after it leaves short term memory (hours to days depending on the person) and gradually thereafter, with a big key being how you committed the information to long term memory.

Think about it... why do people say that your first two years of classes are the best preparation for the step 1? Shouldn't everything past the last six weeks of class be useless time spent learning and forgetting information? Of course not.

Repetition is key... how you learn the information is key.

Advice to limit your study time is wise from a burnout perspective, but that is highly variable from individual to individual. The six week myth is probably more a result of being the maximum time most med school students have to study. You can figure out the psychology behind the recommendation from there.

 

[Law2Doc]

Claim supported by what evidence?

Nothing. Just a lot of people's experiences. The 6 week number is what most med schools recommend and many review courses adopt because it has sort of become conventional wisdom. (and is not accidental/arbitrary). But I agree that everyone is a bit different, and it appears (from observation) that everyone's memory works a bit different

And I'm not saying you have no memory prior to 6 weeks -- we aren't a bunch of amnesiacs. But having it fresh, accessible and useful has an expiration date. You probably still have it longer than that, but if you don't refresh it within the 6 week window, it is not going to be useful to you (which is why learning everything the first two years is important, but why you still have to study for the boards even if you got A's).

 

[osli]

I don't think conventional wisdom is accidental or arbitrary - just not causally linked to memory formation as is so often cited as the reason. I think the conventional wisdom was more likely established more around med school schedules and burnout phenomenon.

But I'm one of those with only about 6 weeks to really study as well, so I'm part of that "conventional wisdom." I am however starting early with general review of conceptual topics. For example, I'm not going to memorize any side effect lists, but I'm going to read about the mechanisms behind certain common side effects so that it is easier to integrate that knowledge and apply it down the road.

Bottom line is that it isn't going to hurt anyone to start studying earlier, so long as they (1) don't unduly sacrifice current grades, (2) have the time [see 1], and (3) make sure to pace themselves, limit early study to conceptual material, and keep high-yield memorization for much later.

Besides, if I have to refresh within 6 weeks, I'd rather it be refreshing stuff I had learned well, reviewed thoroughly already, and only needed to refresh details.

 

[SoCuteMD]

I studied for 5 weeks. I chose a test date in January last year and never changed it. Actually, I don't think I even CONSIDERED changing it. By the time the test came I was SOOOOOOO ready to be done with it that I couldn't have even taken another day to study. I honestly think that was a good place to be before I took the test.

I think studying any longer than 6 weeks risks burnout, especially if your school has tests more frequently. Since my school has exams every 5 weeks, I was extremely accustomed to having that much time between exams. More might have been a handicap rather than an advantage.

 

[Law2Doc]

I think the conventional wisdom was more likely established more around med school schedules and burnout phenomenon.

It's sort of a chicken and egg thing, I guess. I know of some schools that gave a certain number of weeks break (6-7) because they feel that is the amount of time necessary to study for the boards, give or take a week off. So it is circular to say that this amount of time exists only because of the med school schedules, I think. Med school schedules are not set in stone -- they can structure them any way they want so long as they satisfy all the LCME requirements. So some schools are very definitely blocking off time because the conventional wisdom is that this is the appropriate timing needed. It isn't the schedule that the wisdom is being built around, it is the wisdom that the schedule is being built around.🙂

 

[osli]

So you think it is a chicken-and-egg paradox, yet you know that it is the chicken and not the egg that was first? Then it isn't chicken/egg... you just disagree with my opinion. That's fine, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

Whether memory or burnout related, most students do seem to think 6 weeks is a good and appropriate study period. My only real problem is the assertion that anything longer is wasted time... I certainly think it can be beneficial if approached carefully and logically.

 

[Law2Doc]

So you think it is a chicken-and-egg paradox, yet you know that it is the chicken and not the egg that was first? Then it isn't chicken/egg... you just disagree with my opinion. That's fine, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

Yes, I'm saying chicken, you are saying egg. The ultimate question is still "which came first".

 

[SoCuteMD]

I think all parties have made their point with respect to this tangent. I'm sure the OP appreciates your input!

 

[joe6102]

3 weeks was plenty for me, and I wouldn't have scored any higher with 6 or 8 weeks. Plenty of people do very well with only 2-3 weeks of prep.