Feeling like trash...

[medstudent1718]

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[humblethinker]

Hi All,

So I'm a med student who is currently in their M1 year. I'm taking biochemistry this semester. Normally, I do fairly well on the bio exams, in that I score about 6-7% points above the class average. I would usually just make my own Anki cards from the slides and study those. Considering that I was doing well, I figured that I would experiment a bit, in that I would try to focus on learning the material well for boards. I decided to use the lightyear deck, and watch the boards and beyond videos, then supplement + add anki cards from what was on my lecture slides. Going in, I felt confident, like I had a good grasp on the concepts. It seemed like everyone else was just memorizing things that they didn't understood from the slides. However, I just got my score back, and I got an 85, when the class average was a 92, in that I was 7 percentage below. Most of the things that I missed were super picky things from her slides. I just don't know what to do now. I know it doesn't technically matter, but our school is basically on a graded system. Everyone says that they're only trying to pass, yet everyone is so picky if they got this question right, and some are even willing to sacrifice understanding just to do well on the local exam. In fact, I was talking with my classmates, and they said that it was stupid to even consider trying to focus on what's important for boards. The reason being was because we'll see the information again before step. Interestingly, our school does has actually one of the lowest step I score averages (via US world news). I came up with a few options on what I should do, but not sure which is the right path

1) Ignore board material and only focus on lecture material (least amount of work)
2) Continue to use BnB, but only as a supplement to solidify lecture material. Ignore the lightyear ANKI deck totally and continue to make my own
3) Uses BnB and lightyear Anki cards, but pay close attention to what the professor is saying to nab those points. (Most amount work)

Also, with my Anki reviews in general, I normally just delete the deck after the exam ends. Should I try to keep on top of my reviews, even if they will not be tested.

just remember.....if you trust your board prep method and you do well, it will mean a lot more than your pre-clinical grades. imagine you are evaluating someone with low pre-clinical grades, above average board score vs. high pre-clinical grades, below average board score. which one would you rather be....I think its a pretty clear decision that essentially comes down to one thing--- whether or not you fully trust that the way you are prepping for board material right now is likely to benefit you long term.

 

[wanderingorion]

Hi All,

So I'm a med student who is currently in their M1 year. I'm taking biochemistry this semester. Normally, I do fairly well on the bio exams, in that I score about 6-7% points above the class average. I would usually just make my own Anki cards from the slides and study those. Considering that I was doing well, I figured that I would experiment a bit, in that I would try to focus on learning the material well for boards. I decided to use the lightyear deck, and watch the boards and beyond videos, then supplement + add anki cards from what was on my lecture slides. Going in, I felt confident, like I had a good grasp on the concepts. It seemed like everyone else was just memorizing things that they didn't understood from the slides. However, I just got my score back, and I got an 85, when the class average was a 92, in that I was 7 percentage below. Most of the things that I missed were super picky things from her slides. I just don't know what to do now. I know it doesn't technically matter, but our school is basically on a graded system. Everyone says that they're only trying to pass, yet everyone is so picky if they got this question right, and some are even willing to sacrifice understanding just to do well on the local exam. In fact, I was talking with my classmates, and they said that it was stupid to even consider trying to focus on what's important for boards. The reason being was because we'll see the information again before step. Interestingly, our school does has actually one of the lowest step I score averages (via US world news). I came up with a few options on what I should do, but not sure which is the right path

1) Ignore board material and only focus on lecture material (least amount of work)
2) Continue to use BnB, but only as a supplement to solidify lecture material. Ignore the lightyear ANKI deck totally and continue to make my own
3) Uses BnB and lightyear Anki cards, but pay close attention to what the professor is saying to nab those points. (Most amount work)

Also, with my Anki reviews in general, I normally just delete the deck after the exam ends. Should I try to keep on top of my reviews, even if they will not be tested.

Keep on top of those reviews. Trust me, you'll thank yourself for it later.
BnB is a good introduction/refresher to material, but doesn't replace what they cover in lecture. Since your grades matter, you should focus on the lecture stuff, and supplement with lightyear to save yourself time making cards. I think lectures generally overshoot with info or focus on errata, but you get a good foundation overall. So I guess 3 is your best option, but be flexible. Do whatever gets you the most points now and gets you familiar with the boards stuff you might be missing.

 

[medstudent1718]

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[831929]

M1 = study hard for class material and do the best you can
M2 = focus more on board prep

You are way too far out to be using review resources for Step 1. What are you reviewing? You haven't learned anything yet.

Concepts like biochem anatomy embryology and histology are not taught in the review resources so you need to do well in class. M2 year when pathology is the focus, boards and pathoma do a great job.

Edit: Zanki is a bit different. The cards in that biochem deck cover a lot. Anatomy cards are ehh but you can do those biochem cards as a review for class but not your main study source

 

[medstudent1718]

M1 = study hard for class material and do the best you can
M2 = focus more on board prep

You are way too far out to be using review resources for Step 1. What are you reviewing? You haven't learned anything yet.

Concepts like biochem anatomy embryology and histology are not taught in the review resources so you need to do well in class. M2 year when pathology is the focus, boards and pathoma do a great job.

Edit: Zanki is a bit different. The cards in that biochem deck cover a lot. Anatomy cards are ehh but you can do those biochem cards as a review for class but not your main study source

I was using the anki light year deck! The deck is basically made from boards and beyond videos that cover basically everything I was doing in biochem. A lot of his videos go into more depth than my professor

 

[21Rush12]

@humblethinker above really nailed it.

How you do in classes is immaterial, it’s your mastery and understanding of the core information that counts. Trust your board prep and actually comprehend and think critically about what’s being taught.

My own personal experience was almost all Pass preclinical with a HP or two thrown in by sheer luck, and I scored >250 on step 1 when the time came. Build your framework of knowledge around board material and fill in the gaps for in house.

 

[medstudent1718]

@humblethinker above really nailed it.

How you do in classes is immaterial, it’s your mastery and understanding of the core information that counts. Trust your board prep and actually comprehend and think critically about what’s being taught.

My own personal experience was almost all Pass preclinical with a HP or two thrown in by sheer luck, and I scored >250 on step 1 when the time came. Build your framework of knowledge around board material and fill in the gaps for in house.

Mind me asking what you used to study throughout those preclinical years? How did you get over the idea that you were doing worse than your classmates on local exams? Did you keep up with your anki cards even after the exam?

 

[Ho0v-man]

You won’t care about your class rank when next year you’re able to answer third order questions about material your class mates forgot existed.

 

[medstudent1718]

You won’t care about your class rank when next year you’re able to answer third order questions about material your class mates forgot existed.

What's your opinion on what one of my classmates said, in that it is pointless to look of BnB because we'll see much of the same information over and over again.

 

[Ho0v-man]

What's your opinion on what one of my classmates said, in that it is pointless to look of BnB because we'll see much of the same information over and over again.

Is this a second year classmate or an M1 like you? If you’re both M1’s, how is this person an expert on what will show up in second year material? I mean you said yourself they don’t do great on boards so just going off that they probably don’t hit it again crazy hard.

I can only speak to my own schools curriculum, and it goes something like this:
“ hey remember that thing we did a really sh***y job teaching you last year? No? Well anyway, doing well this block requires that you have that mastered. Here comes some pain!”

That’s the closest thing I get to seeing material again.

 

[medstudent1718]

Is this a second year classmate or an M1 like you? If you’re both M1’s, how is this person an expert on what will show up in second year material? I mean you said yourself they don’t do great on boards so just going off that they probably don’t hit it again crazy hard.

I can only speak to my own schools curriculum, and it goes something like this:
“ hey remember that thing we did a really sh***y job teaching you last year? No? Well anyway, doing well this block requires that you have that mastered. Here comes some pain!”

That’s the closest thing I get to seeing material again.

It was a first year classmate, and that's only if the US News is right. I never thought of it that way. It seems like everyone at my school is so concerned about the moment. No one cares about the long hall

 

[deleted103644]

What's your opinion on what one of my classmates said, in that it is pointless to look of BnB because we'll see much of the same information over and over again.

The whole point of things like Anki is the concept of spaced repetition.

If there is something you will eventually need to know, repeating it is a feature, not a bug.

And if your school really does have a low average USMLE score, being significantly above the curve will make more of a difference than preclinical grades.

Residency programs generally care about USMLE first, followed by relevant clinical grades, followed by everything else.

 

[Ho0v-man]

It was a first year classmate, and that's only if the US News is right. I never thought of it that way. It seems like everyone at my school is so concerned about the moment. No one cares about the long hall

Well what you likely have there with your classmate is someone who wants to seem like they have a superior understanding compared to you of something they know nothing about. This is a common phenomenon in medical school. Also, if you’re friend scored really well due to acquiring a more superficial understanding of the material as you described in your original post, then that person was likely reluctant to admit that there’s anything wrong with what they’re doing (as most would be).

I’m just some random dude on the internet so take that for what you will, but first semester I very much lived in the moment too. It’s a big adjustment and seeing an “A” show up on blackboard can do wonders for your self esteem, even if you really didn’t learn/retain much of it. When finals first semester came around I realized the error of my ways. I spent those few days between or last block exam and finals frantically just trying to find words that looked familiar. Refreshing material I already knew was almost a laughable concept. Heck, I was just looking for buzzwords. I crammed so much into my head I thought my hair was gonna catch on fire.

I learned from that experience that every block of med school is your one shot to nail down the material. A lot of our classmates seem to think they can just turn it up for boards (and hey, maybe they can)...but I know I can’t. I almost died trying to remind myself of concepts just 4 months old. There’s no way I could do that for two years worth of material. I focused more on long term retention second semester and finals were a joke compared to first semester despite having double the material.

TLDR: focus on retention and it will pay off later.

 

[Hippocrates II]

Dude, I would lick the bottom of someone's shoe to be able to get an 85% on a class exam while focusing solely on board prep. That's awesome. I barely crack an 85 on our class tests and I study class material. Honestly, I couldn't care less what grade I got as long as I passed the class if I was just doing zanki or whatever. I'm just afraid to leave our class lectures behind because one bad grade can sink an entire class when our entire score is based off of two exams.

 

[medstudent1718]

Well what you likely have there with your classmate is someone who wants to seem like they have a superior understanding compared to you of something they know nothing about. This is a common phenomenon in medical school. Also, if you’re friend scored really well due to acquiring a more superficial understanding of the material as you described in your original post, then that person was likely reluctant to admit that there’s anything wrong with what they’re doing (as most would be).

I’m just some random dude on the internet so take that for what you will, but first semester I very much lived in the moment too. It’s a big adjustment and seeing an “A” show up on blackboard can do wonders for your self esteem, even if you really didn’t learn/retain much of it. When finals first semester came around I realized the error of my ways. I spent those few days between or last block exam and finals frantically just trying to find words that looked familiar. Refreshing material I already knew was almost a laughable concept. Heck, I was just looking for buzzwords. I crammed so much into my head I thought my hair was gonna catch on fire.

I learned from that experience that every block of med school is your one shot to nail down the material. A lot of our classmates seem to think they can just turn it up for boards (and hey, maybe they can)...but I know I can’t. I almost died trying to remind myself of concepts just 4 months old. There’s no way I could do that for two years worth of material. I focused more on long term retention second semester and finals were a joke compared to first semester despite having double the material.

TLDR: focus on retention and it will pay off later.

Gotcha. While I have you, I want to ask something else. A common theme in our class is that everyone always says that they're so behind, yet in most cases I found out the exact opposite. Is there a reason for this?

 

[medstudent1718]

Dude, I would lick the bottom of someone's shoe to be able to get an 85% on a class exam while focusing solely on board prep. That's awesome. I barely crack an 85 on our class tests and I study class material. Honestly, I couldn't care less what grade I got as long as I passed the class if I was just doing zanki or whatever. I'm just afraid to leave our class lectures behind because one bad grade can sink an entire class when our entire score is based off of two exams.

I know aha. It's just hard to shake the competitveness at our school. Every always says it's not, but there clearly is some level of competition. And me too. I still briefly stream them to see if I'm missing anything major, but I might have to do more of that now

 

[21Rush12]

Mind me asking what you used to study throughout those preclinical years? How did you get over the idea that you were doing worse than your classmates on local exams? Did you keep up with your anki cards even after the exam?

I used lectures first year and Boards and Beyond second year. No Anki except occasional cramming.

I generally don’t give a **** what people are doing, there’s nothing to gain by worrying about other people score on anything. We all make it through, the numbers aren’t important.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Gotcha. While I have you, I want to ask something else. A common theme in our class is that everyone always says that they're so behind, yet in most cases I found out the exact opposite. Is there a reason for this?

Maybe bc they feel behind no matter how much they know. You can be super ahead of one thing and be behind on three others. Another idea is that if you’re always claiming you’re behind and end up doing well you look better than saying you’re ahead but do poorly. It’s really best to just not worry too much about what others do. No matter what others are doing/saying, how does that affect you?

 

[medstudent1718]

Maybe bc they feel behind no matter how much they know. You can be super ahead of one thing and be behind on three others. Another idea is that if you’re always claiming you’re behind and end up doing well you look better than saying you’re ahead but do poorly. It’s really best to just not worry too much about what others do. No matter what others are doing/saying, how does that affect you?

True. It's when we're studying, they all the sudden become commandimg and know the answer. I guess it's something I got to get over

 

[medstudent1718]

I used lectures first year and Boards and Beyond second year. No Anki except occasional cramming.

I generally don’t give a **** what people are doing, there’s nothing to gain by worrying about other people score on anything. We all make it through, the numbers aren’t important.

Looking back at it, do you wish you used bnb your first year?

 

[21Rush12]

Looking back at it, do you wish you used bnb your first year?

Not at all. I don’t think it would have helped that much, and I think Step 1 went great using it along with second year material.

 

[JonQ]

I can tell you how this works out from experience.

My classmates that spent their time on details and cramming for exams did better than me on exams and impressed the faculty.
But when it came to boards, their scores ranged from average to below average while I scored above average.

Standardized test scores > Grades.

Its far better to have First AID/Pathoma/Boards memorized and understood 100% than to fill your mind with excessive details that you will forget in a week.

Also, keep reviewing old material! Keep going over things again and again. Keep repeating ANKI cards.

Start doing practice questions! Questions suck (they take more effort than writing notes) but they are key. Everyone says- do questions if you want to succeed. They're right.

 

[medstudent1718]

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[humblethinker]

Gotcha. While I have you, I want to ask something else. A common theme in our class is that everyone always says that they're so behind, yet in most cases I found out the exact opposite. Is there a reason for this?

everyone also always says "I'm just so tired" ---- here is the trick, stop caring what everyone else is saying or doing. Just do YOU.

 

[SouthernGent]

I can only speak to my own schools curriculum, and it goes something like this:
“ hey remember that thing we did a really sh***y job teaching you last year? No? Well anyway, doing well this block requires that you have that mastered. Here comes some pain!”

That’s the closest thing I get to seeing material again.

This is most of my second year classes in a nutshell so far.

Anyways, the strength in anki is in the reviews. Don't delete the decks when you're done, but instead merge them into one big super deck to constantly be reviewing from. Second, your goal in first year is to survive while also building a good foundation of study skills and basic knowledge. Boards trump all, but you need to pass your classes first to get to STEP. We have in house exams at my school, but most of us focus on boards material. When test week rolls around everyone just goes through the power points with the "If I was an anal-retentive pHD, then I would expect these students to know this random fact" and it seems to payoff well.

Don't get discouraged, flukes happen and as long as you are building a firm foundation for 2nd year studies and STEP while still safely passing you are fine. See how the next test goes before you go changing your study habits. If you need advice, go talk with the 2nd years and above. They actually went through what you did already and know what is actually important, unlike like your fellow M1.

 

[fantasticman221]

This is most of my second year classes in a nutshell so far.

Anyways, the strength in anki is in the reviews. Don't delete the decks when you're done, but instead merge them into one big super deck to constantly be reviewing from. Second, your goal in first year is to survive while also building a good foundation of study skills and basic knowledge. Boards trump all, but you need to pass your classes first to get to STEP. We have in house exams at my school, but most of us focus on boards material. When test week rolls around everyone just goes through the power points with the "If I was an anal-retentive pHD, then I would expect these students to know this random fact" and it seems to payoff well.

Don't get discouraged, flukes happen and as long as you are building a firm foundation for 2nd year studies and STEP while still safely passing you are fine. See how the next test goes before you go changing your study habits. If you need advice, go talk with the 2nd years and above. They actually went through what you did already and know what is actually important, unlike like your fellow M1.

Not apart of this thread (sorry for the hijack) but do you think it would be worth it too keep ANKI cards for anatomy, or do you think that's unncessary

 

[Medic741]

Hi All,

So I'm a med student who is currently in their M1 year. I'm taking biochemistry this semester. Normally, I do fairly well on the bio exams, in that I score about 6-7% points above the class average. I would usually just make my own Anki cards from the slides and study those. Considering that I was doing well, I figured that I would experiment a bit, in that I would try to focus on learning the material well for boards. I decided to use the lightyear deck, and watch the boards and beyond videos, then supplement + add anki cards from what was on my lecture slides. Going in, I felt confident, like I had a good grasp on the concepts. It seemed like everyone else was just memorizing things that they didn't understood from the slides. However, I just got my score back, and I got an 85, when the class average was a 92, in that I was 7 percentage below. Most of the things that I missed were super picky things from her slides. I just don't know what to do now. I know it doesn't technically matter, but our school is basically on a graded system. Everyone says that they're only trying to pass, yet everyone is so picky if they got this question right, and some are even willing to sacrifice understanding just to do well on the local exam. In fact, I was talking with my classmates, and they said that it was stupid to even consider trying to focus on what's important for boards. The reason being was because we'll see the information again before step. Interestingly, our school does has actually one of the lowest step I score averages (via US world news). I came up with a few options on what I should do, but not sure which is the right path

1) Ignore board material and only focus on lecture material (least amount of work)
2) Continue to use BnB, but only as a supplement to solidify lecture material. Ignore the lightyear ANKI deck totally and continue to make my own
3) Uses BnB and lightyear Anki cards, but pay close attention to what the professor is saying to nab those points. (Most amount work)

Also, with my Anki reviews in general, I normally just delete the deck after the exam ends. Should I try to keep on top of my reviews, even if they will not be tested.

The sooner you start ignoring the inane, useless crap your school wants you to know the better. If it's not important enough to be in either Robbins/FA/Firecracker, and you miss a question on it -- you shouldn't care less. I've found a good middleground for this problem....

While listening to a lecture try to pay a lot of attention to what your prof is emphasizing. Could be an inflection in their voice, could be their Learning Objectives or they could outright say "This will be a question on the exam." Once you get good at reading a professor, and you know the exam will have 50 questions on it, at 3 questions per lecture (or whatever) all you need to know is 3 questions out of a 50 minute block that they emphasized. Med school is playing a game, and once you've got that down it'll make the next year and a half a breeze.

I use firecracker, mark sections that were just covered in a lecture, do those cards right after the lecture... and the day before the exam (after seeing relevant cards 3-5x over the leading up days) I zip through the prof's slides, make the random Anki cards so I can do well on the exam and then move on & don't lose any sleep.

Take a moment to ask yourself: HOW DO I WIN THIS GAME? You win by learning the information, retaining it for a long period of time, passing your classes and ACING your boards. Everything else is a strong second.

 

[medstudent1718]

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[RockMcat520]

luck you!!! wish I was in your med school 😀 😀