First Semester Progress Report

[Anicetus]

So I have completed my first semester of medical school. MERRY CHRISTMAS BY THE WAY!!

I don't really trust my administration so I can only really turn to random anonymous people on the internet.

I pretty much finished in the middle third of my class at a "low tier" medical school and I have a few questions:

- I WANT to like primary care, but it is so unappealing when I talk to residents about it, so as of now I will do whatever it takes to stay away from it. Being the middle third of my class, is it realistic to still want to shoot for radiology, general surgery, or a good IM residency (from which I would want to do a fellowship into something pretty competitive like GI)? I originally thought that I may be stuck with primary care if I didn't make top third of the class, but being since it's only the first semester of medical school, I still like to believe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

- As far as working hard, I spent every waking moment either studying, eating, or working out for a short period of time (yoga/gym/running). It is easy to say "Well, only one semester has been by so I have time to improve", but quite frankly I feel like I worked my *** off and still only landed around average or a little above/little below the average, which tends to be about an 85% at my school. What should I do differently? I have tried 1) Make outlines for every class, which didn't work well. 2) Use anki for everything, which ended in me having like 400-500 cards of details that would take me an entire day to try to grasp, and even so it didn't feel solidified, 3) Study groups here and there and even just going through the slides as many times as I can.

These strategies didn't "NOT" work as I passed all my exams around the middle of the class, but I still feel like I haven't found my way to just BUST through into the TOP of the class (1/3 or 1/4), which is ultimately my goal and be able to have more options come residency or choosing a specialty. Should I just keep trying different strategies and risk ending up in middle?

Ultimately, I would love to be in the AOA by the end of my 4 years and haven't been able to grasp any helpful advice since I feel that the advising deans just only care about us passing, etc.

Thanks and I hope all of you are enjoying a happy holidays with your families.

EDIT: I also want to note that I don't like to listen to 2nd year advice since they mostly just say "Oh don't worry Pass = MD etc etc no one will know your rank", but I have began to have disbelief in that theory as the semester went on.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Greenberg702]

So I have completed my first semester of medical school. MERRY CHRISTMAS BY THE WAY!!

I don't really trust my administration so I can only really turn to random anonymous people on the internet.

I pretty much finished in the middle third of my class at a "low tier" medical school and I have a few questions:

- I WANT to like primary care, but it is so unappealing when I talk to residents about it, so as of now I will do whatever it takes to stay away from it. Being the middle third of my class, is it realistic to still want to shoot for radiology, general surgery, or a good IM residency (from which I would want to do a fellowship into something pretty competitive like GI)? I originally thought that I may be stuck with primary care if I didn't make top third of the class, but being since it's only the first semester of medical school, I still like to believe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

- As far as working hard, I spent every waking moment either studying, eating, or working out for a short period of time (yoga/gym/running). It is easy to say "Well, only one semester has been by so I have time to improve", but quite frankly I feel like I worked my *** off and still only landed around average or a little above/little below the average, which tends to be about an 85% at my school. What should I do differently? I have tried 1) Make outlines for every class, which didn't work well. 2) Use anki for everything, which ended in me having like 400-500 cards of details that would take me an entire day to try to grasp, and even so it didn't feel solidified, 3) Study groups here and there and even just going through the slides as many times as I can.

These strategies didn't "NOT" work as I passed all my exams around the middle of the class, but I still feel like I haven't found my way to just BUST through into the TOP of the class (1/3 or 1/4), which is ultimately my goal and be able to have more options come residency or choosing a specialty. Should I just keep trying different strategies and risk ending up in middle?

Ultimately, I would love to be in the AOA by the end of my 4 years and haven't been able to grasp any helpful advice since I feel that the advising deans just only care about us passing, etc.

Thanks and I hope all of you are enjoying a happy holidays with your families.

EDIT: I also want to note that I don't like to listen to 2nd year advice since they mostly just say "Oh don't worry Pass = MD etc etc no one will know your rank", but I have began to have disbelief in that theory as the semester went on.

What tier school do you go to? Being in the middle 1/3 at Penn is very different from being in the middle 1/3 at a lower tier place. In any case, I'd try to study for boards along side with your classes since that's what really matters in terms of pre-clinical achievement.

 

[Anicetus]

What tier school do you go to? Being in the middle 1/3 at Penn is very different from being in the middle 1/3 at a lower tier place. In any case, I'd try to study for boards along side with your classes since that's what really matters in terms of pre-clinical achievement.

"low" tier. I have heard that studying for boards is useless at my stage. Do you recommend like going through a First Aid USMLE on Friday nights or something?

 

[Greenberg702]

"low" tier. I have heard that studying for boards is useless at my stage. Do you recommend like going through a First Aid USMLE on Friday nights or something?

I usually try and correlate what we're learning with First Aid/high yield books to better learn the information in a way that's more relevant for the USMLE. I'm not suggesting burning through question banks or anything, just supplementing what you're learning in class with more board-relevant material. I definitely don't do that on Friday nights though

 

[Anicetus]

I usually try and correlate what we're learning with First Aid/high yield books to better learn the information in a way that's more relevant for the USMLE. I'm not suggesting burning through question banks or anything, just supplementing what you're learning in class with more board-relevant material. I definitely don't do that on Friday nights though

Yeah I hear you. I just always feel like I am still just working so hard to only end up in the middle third so I am worried if I start implementing First Aid for like an hour after my regular studying that I may slide into the bottom third =\

 

[Greenberg702]

Yeah I hear you. I just always feel like I am still just working so hard to only end up in the middle third so I am worried if I start implementing First Aid for like an hour after my regular studying that I may slide into the bottom third =\

Hmmm that is a tough situation. My school is true P/F and a lot of people end up putting in a lot of time into studying for boards (one of my roommates literally only studied Step I material and spent maybe 1 day on the professor's powerpoints to pass the exam - ended up with a 269). I don't think you have anything to worry about because pre-clinical rank means very little from what I've read. If you put up a 250 nobody will care that you were ranked in the bottom 1/3 pre-clinically. MS3 is a different story though. Don't worry too much and keep working at it. Best of luck to you!

 

[Anicetus]

Hmmm that is a tough situation. My school is true P/F and a lot of people end up putting in a lot of time into studying for boards (one of my roommates literally only studied Step I material and spent maybe 1 day on the professor's powerpoints to pass the exam - ended up with a 269). I don't think you have anything to worry about because pre-clinical rank means very little from what I've read. If you put up a 250 nobody will care that you were ranked in the bottom 1/3 pre-clinically. MS3 is a different story though. Don't worry too much and keep working at it. Best of luck to you!

Woah woah woah, you don't just throw me a number like 269 and just walk away!!!! Please let me know any advice you can give to get that score. I have a First Aid and a Goljan, which I haven't opened yet. First Aid seems very "surface level". Any secrets you want to spill about getting that score?

 

[Greenberg702]

Woah woah woah, you don't just throw me a number like 269 and just walk away!!!! Please let me know any advice you can give to get that score. I have a First Aid and a Goljan, which I haven't opened yet. First Aid seems very "surface level". Any secrets you want to spill about getting that score?

That wasn't mine and I haven't taken Step I yet so I'm not the best person to be giving out advice. In all honesty scores that high are partially due to luck (I bet he could have gotten anywhere between 250 and 270 depending on the topics covered on that day). He also sacrificed a lot while studying (never went out, no SO, etc.) and was a very good test taker (40+ MCAT). I only used that as an example of how people study for boards alongside classes, but unfortunately it doesn't sound like you can just ignore your classes because your school actually ranks you :/

If you want to score well on boards learn as much as you can during the first two years and go absolutely HAM during dedicated study time.

 

[MadRadLad]

First of all, being in the middle 1/3 of your class (I assume you're comfortably passing) is not the worst thing in the world. Secondly, if all your time is spend studying, it sounds like you need to alter your studying habits, because whatever you're doing might not be efficient enough. Try making less Anki cards, or trying different books for a topic and doing practice questions on them. Team up with some people and try to see if you can do something else besides just running through slides.

 

[Psai]

Think about all the people who study just as hard as you and end up in the bottom third of their class. You're competing against some of the brightest people you'll ever meet. Also, first semester tends to cover things like biochem where people who majored in those subjects would have an advantage. Everyone would like to be AOA and top of the class but only a few people will get there by a combination of hard work and intelligence. You can start glancing at first aid to see the topics covered but you can't really study it yet. Pathoma is good with the organ systems. First aid and a qbank like usmlerx are better to be used at the beginning of next year when you have a more solid foundation.

Just do your best, rock the boards and strive for long term retention. Learn the concepts and try not to worry too much about grades.

 

[Espadaleader]

Anki is too much of a time sink. Purchase Firecracker. They made a significant upgrade that allows you to do subject tests - an Anki killer. I also bought the Kaplan QBank and do 10 questions daily of the stuff I already learned. I haven't touched First Aid that much yet but I stick to what I do above religiously. I am usually around 90% in my courses but it's fine because I know I have grasped the material. Don't buy into the hype of not preparing for boards in MS-1 cause people are definitely preparing where I'm at.

 

[Psai]

Anki is too much of a time sink. Purchase Firecracker. They made a significant upgrade that allows you to do subject tests - an Anki killer. I also bought the Kaplan QBank and do 10 questions daily of the stuff I already learned. I haven't touched First Aid that much yet but I stick to what I do above religiously. I am usually around 90% in my courses but it's fine because I know I have grasped the material. Don't buy into the hype of not preparing for boards in MS-1 cause people are definitely preparing where I'm at.

Ah yes, what would we know? It's not like we've taken step 1 already or anything, it's all just hype. I'm sure you and your compatriots know what you're doing

 

[SilentSoldier]

I haven't touched a first aid book or anything like that, what's the point? I'd rather focus on doing well in my classes right now to build the foundation that will then be useful once I actually have dedicated study time next year. It makes things so less stressful.