For those that did step 1 studying summer between MS1 and MS2....

[22031 Alum]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Get the PreTest books for whatever subjects you want to review, such as Anatomy/Histology/Cell Biology. Do all the questions, and then review the answers with no fewer than two textbooks at hand for each subject. Of course, one book should be the one used for your M1 course. The second one can be pretty much picked at random from the medical library shelves- the key is, you want two different takes on the material. Take detailed notes on all of the questions- even the ones you get right. Create a document, Anki deck, or other database of your choice from these notes. This actually goes faster than you'd think; you should be done no later than July 1. Then review those notes for the rest of the summer. When in review phase, you really should be able to get through a full subject a day. Maybe even a half day if you're especially smart. A year later, when your classmates are in panic mode, you will be straight chilling.

Good luck and have fun!!

 

[DocWinter]

Which makes you an M1, aka someone who has not taken boards, and therefore has zero credibility to claim that your summer studying helped your step 1 prep. Now if you just love studying, and would have a fulfilling and enjoyable summer doing it, then whatever, do it. But if you are just studying to boost your step 1 score, your summer (or at least the part of it you spend studying) will be both miserable and ineffective.

I will grant you that SDN, or at least those who post, tend to skew towards higher performing students, but people of all capabilities do post here, and the answer to step 1 studying the summer before has across the board been a resounding no. I actually can't think of anyone off the top of my head who has actually taken step 1 that has recommended it. It's usually first years leading the first years planning out their sick 9 month step 1 prep schedules that will guarantee them 280s.

I promise you that most of us who post here don't come here to troll and mislead the first years. We truly believe in this advice, and many people on here have the experience and success to back it up. Don't throw it away too flippantly.

No need for attitudes. What is with people feeling the right to be a jack a$$ when behind the computer screen?
OP stated in the beginning he's not interested in your message. I've contributed something relevant, you're not. No further debate on the merits of summer studying amigo.

 

[Psai]

It's the ops attitude that was annoying from the start. "I want your advice but only what I want to hear because your experience is irrelevant to me". I did well on step 1 without summer studying and contributed my perspective to the step 1 experience thread. If op wanted advice he would read through that thread

 

[22031 Alum]

It's the ops attitude that was annoying from the start. "I want your advice but only what I want to hear because your experience is irrelevant to me". I did well on step 1 without summer studying and contributed my perspective to the step 1 experience thread. If op wanted advice he would read through that thread

Most people who do well on Step 1 do so without M1 studying. OP isn't most people. The exceptional always face their share of criticism from the ignorant masses.

 

[JP2740]

It's the ops attitude that was annoying from the start. "I want your advice but only what I want to hear because your experience is irrelevant to me". I did well on step 1 without summer studying and contributed my perspective to the step 1 experience thread. If op wanted advice he would read through that thread

There's not 1 single person in the multiple years of step 1 experiences threads I've gone through who ever mentioned summer studying, and some of those posts are around a page long (on like microsoft word lets say). And people in the experiences threads score anywhere from the 210s to 280s. Not everyone in there gets ridiculous board score, but no one in there studied for step 1 in the summer.

 

[masaraksh]

I can't see how spaced repetition of some things like pharm could hurt. Some things it helps to see many times over until it sort of becomes burned in. However, I will be doing research over M1 summer and doubt I will do much if any board prep.

 

[pd1112]

If you're so set on ignoring the advice of the 99+%, why ask for advice in the first place? If you want to be a trailblazer, be a trailblazer. Don't stop five minutes into it and ask for directions.

 

[CubsFan314]

I got nervous seeing the title of this thread, but feel a little better about myself seeing some of the responses. I am doing research this summer before M2 year. I had no idea people were thinking of studying for Step 1 already... having not even staring M2 year yet. Good for them... probably not going to be my thing this summer.

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[JP2740]

I got nervous seeing the title of this thread, but feel a little better about myself seeing some of the responses. I am doing research this summer before M2 year. I had no idea people were thinking of studying for Step 1 already... having not even staring M2 year yet. Good for them... probably not going to be my thing this summer.

Don't think twice about it.... it's not even an option in your mind. You're doing the right things.

 

[ChEMD]

There's not 1 single person in the multiple years of step 1 experiences threads I've gone through who ever mentioned summer studying, and some of those posts are around a page long (on like microsoft word lets say). And people in the experiences threads score anywhere from the 210s to 280s. Not everyone in there gets ridiculous board score, but no one in there studied for step 1 in the summer.

This logic doesn't really make sense. So you're saying people should be listening to the study habits of others that got lower scores than their target in addition to those who's scores may be out of reach? Listen, you may not understand this, but some people learn at different paces than others, have different retention capacities, and may need to spend a little extra time over the summer to make sure they aren't forgetting any key ideas that they learned over the past year. Or perhaps they need to clear some concepts up that they really just didn't understand the first time.

Of course not everyone needs this, and plenty of people (in particular those who were already performing well in school) go on to do exceptionally well on step without even thinking about studying over the summer. But on the other hand, there is a group of people (particularly those who have been somewhat struggling throughout their first year) who also don't even think about studying over the summer, but then go on to get a step score that was less than they would have hoped for. Could that group have benefited from doing a little studying over the summer? It's absolutely possible that the answer is yes.

Bottom line, please stop berating those who are just trying to work hard and do well on their exams. There's no reason to be so rude to others just because you're on the Internet. What worked for you may not work for them, and you shouldn't be telling someone that they're an idiot for wanting to do something different. Give your advice, tell them what worked for you, and then respect their decision afterwards without belittling them. I feel like I'm having to teach How to be a Decent Human Being 101 over here.

 

[Wordead]

This logic doesn't really make sense. So you're saying people should be listening to the study habits of others that got lower scores than their target in addition to those who's scores may be out of reach? Listen, you may not understand this, but some people learn at different paces than others, have different retention capacities, and may need to spend a little extra time over the summer to make sure they aren't forgetting any key ideas that they learned over the past year. Or perhaps they need to clear some concepts up that they really just didn't understand the first time.

Of course not everyone needs this, and plenty of people (in particular those who were already performing well in school) go on to do exceptionally well on step without even thinking about studying over the summer. But on the other hand, there is a group of people (particularly those who have been somewhat struggling throughout their first year) who also don't even think about studying over the summer, but then go on to get a step score that was less than they would have hoped for. Could that group have benefited from doing a little studying over the summer? It's absolutely possible that the answer is yes.

Bottom line, please stop berating those who are just trying to work hard and do well on their exams. There's no reason to be so rude to others just because you're on the Internet. What worked for you may not work for them, and you shouldn't be telling someone that they're an idiot for wanting to do something different. Give your advice, tell them what worked for you, and then respect their decision afterwards without belittling them. I feel like I'm having to teach How to be a Decent Human Being 101 over here.

You'll notice that all the people who are talking about it being a "potentially" good idea are people who havent matched yet or even taken step yet.

Perhaps there's a reason for that.

 

[JP2740]

Bottom line, please stop berating those who are just trying to work hard and do well on their exams. There's no reason to be so rude to others just because you're on the Internet. What worked for you may not work for them, and you shouldn't be telling someone that they're an idiot for wanting to do something different. Give your advice, tell them what worked for you, and then respect their decision afterwards without belittling them. I feel like I'm having to teach How to be a Decent Human Being 101 over here.

 

[JP2740]

You'll notice that all the people who are talking about it being a "potentially" good idea are people who havent matched yet or even taken step yet.

Perhaps there's a reason for that.

Just a bunch of people trying to justify wasting a chunk of their summer studying. It's absolutely useless and I feel compelled to keep replying to this thread to help anyone who searches this in the future from thinking it's a good idea to study during the summer. Plain and simple, rarely does anyone on SDN encourage people to do less work. We're not pretending to be cool. Most people on here think you should work your ass off to do well the first 2 years and do well on step 1. When those same people say it's a waste of time to study in the summer, it says a lot.

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[JP2740]

by the way, where do you find these video clips?

It's a famous gif. I just googled "Michael Jordan gif" and it comes up pretty fast. There's actually gif sites out there that compiles em

 

[Psai]

The time to work hard is during second year. Read all the first aid and pathoma you want. Do usmlerx or uworld or kaplan. Study your ass off. No one is saying don't study for step 1. We are saying that studying for step 1 during the summer between first and second year is a complete waste of time. You won't remember anything. If you do, it will be very little compared to the amount of effort you put in. Summer time is for relaxing or doing something productive. There's really nothing more useless than studying for step 1

I could barely remember half of the things I learned a week after taking step 1 and that was after 7 weeks of intensive studying with 12 hour days. How much do you really think you're going to retain a year after doing an hour a day? What can you even get done in that time period?

 

[Shipping News]

Ah, one of many of the yearly "how should I study for Step 1 in the summer between M1 and M2?" threads. People were posting these threads 5 years ago when I was in M1 and not much has changed since. The staunch, anxiety-fueled M1/M2s will echo-chamber it up with the "do whatever you want to do, bro, study if that's your thing" mantra and then others will join in with "stop judging OP for being so driven you meanies". And yet it's always the M3s, M4s, and residents who shout loudly "do not studying for Step 1 during the summer between M1 and M2 because it's a waste of time". Only those on the fence or who stumbled in and didn't realize this kind of craziness was an option will end up not doing it and will wisely spend their last summer enjoying life with some mild CV-padding research or something more cool like traveling. The gunners who are asking these questions have answered them for themselves. They will have miserable summers.

So let me add-on to the pile-up: as a resident, who has all forms of the USMLE behind him, I recommend not studying in the summer between M1 and M2.

 

[thepretender67]

the only valid advice would be to get a copy of first aid and use whatever resources to annotate - the relevant areas you covered during M1. Also I would do questions in Uworld pertinent to subjects you covered during M1 whether it be - biochemistry, anatomy, physiology. You can do these questions, understand them, but now actually learn the relevant things that are tested on step 1.

 

[Jabbed]

Never understood the principle of "do not study early because you will forget everything." By that logic, is there any point in the knowledge gained through the first two years of med school considering that you're going to forget all of it within a year anyways?

You can leisurely master pathoma during MS1-MS2 summer and be ahead of the game. You can easily read a physio text 20-30 minutes a day and solidify your background knowledge before you head into the pathophys of M2.

Just remember to travel, live life, and enjoy your last summer.

 

[Shipping News]

Never understood the principle of "do not study early because you will forget everything." By that logic, is there any point in the knowledge gained through the first two years of med school considering that you're going to forget all of it within a year anyways?

You can leisurely master pathoma during MS1-MS2 summer and be ahead of the game. You can easily read a physio text 20-30 minutes a day and solidify your background knowledge before you head into the pathophys of M2.

Just remember to travel, live life, and enjoy your last summer.

"Leisurely master pathoma"? Huh? Since when does leisurely doing anything result in mastery?

There is no context, structure, rigor, or application for material you'd be "leisurely" thumbing through in an aimless summer between M1 and M2. That kind of half-baked approach to the material will not stick. Much like how looking at a couple chest x-rays per day as an intern offers you zero advantages the day you start a radiology residency.

 

[Psai]

Never understood the principle of "do not study early because you will forget everything." By that logic, is there any point in the knowledge gained through the first two years of med school considering that you're going to forget all of it within a year anyways?

You can leisurely master pathoma during MS1-MS2 summer and be ahead of the game. You can easily read a physio text 20-30 minutes a day and solidify your background knowledge before you head into the pathophys of M2.

Just remember to travel, live life, and enjoy your last summer.

lmao ok bro you go do that because you're the first one to ever think of this
come back after you take step 1 and let us know how useless it was for you

 

[Jabbed]

"Leisurely master pathoma"? Huh? Since when does leisurely doing anything result in mastery?

There is no context, structure, rigor, or application for material you'd be "leisurely" thumbing through in an aimless summer between M1 and M2. That kind of half-baked approach to the material will not stick. Much like how looking at a couple chest x-rays per day as an intern offers you zero advantages the day you start a radiology residency.

I would describe virtually all of my studying as "leisurely". I study when I want to, and then I stop when I want to. I'll even study things unrelated to my current module if I feel like it. I score at the top of the class, so this obviously works for me. Assuming that I'm not the only person in America who studies this way, I think that it's reasonable to say that some people can benefit from studying "leisurely" without the presence of external motivators like grades and standardized tests.

Each Pathoma chapter is +/- 1 hour on double speed. You could very easily get through 2-3 chapters a week at any pace. The way he presents information is so simplistic that you can re-read a section of the notes months later and all the knowledge comes back very quickly.

 

[JP2740]

Never understood the principle of "do not study early because you will forget everything." By that logic, is there any point in the knowledge gained through the first two years of med school considering that you're going to forget all of it within a year anyways?

You can leisurely master pathoma during MS1-MS2 summer and be ahead of the game. You can easily read a physio text 20-30 minutes a day and solidify your background knowledge before you head into the pathophys of M2.

Just remember to travel, live life, and enjoy your last summer.

I like the disclaimer at the end. The fact of the matter is that if you're traveling, living life, or enjoying yourself then you're not really learning ****. Reading 20-30 minutes a day doesn't do anything. That's what I do when I take a **** and read a novel. It's hard to put it into words. Usually most people are ok with knowing that close to every single human being who has been through the process recommends against studying. You need the stress of upcoming exams, you need the 10+ hour studying days, the thought that you're having a test around the corner or that you just scored poorly on a uworld section and that's now a problem (closer to the exam).

Solidifying physio knowledge is not really necessary. You solidify your knowledge of physio when you study pathophysio. When you study pulmonary disease, you'll be reminded of V/Q ratios, surfactant producing cells, how blood vessels work including vasoconstriction and dilation. When you study heme/onc, you'll be reminded of anemia and it's effect on the heart and how the heart responds, how the sympathetic nervous system reacts, maybe even how the RBC carries the products of metabolism (+biochem knowledge) and oh yea you went through some of that in pulmonary too, and how ischemia works, what it does to cells, and what infarction looks like. Every unit builds up on the other and integrates from other units whether you know it or not, and you bear the fruit of that integration on that long study days that you have back to back to back for months. Not 20-30 minutes of leisurely studying physio.

It's not about whether or not it hurts you. It's just a waste of time. It's inefficient. It's unnecessary. It doesn't help, except to burn you out quicker on your intense 10 year plan to become a physician.

 

[Jabbed]

lmao ok bro you go do that because you're the first one to ever think of this
come back after you take step 1 and let us know how useless it was for you

Eh I didn't mean to speak to the benefit of "preparing for step 1" specifically. I think that success on the step is largely tied to academic performance during the first 2 years as well as your ability to retain what you've learned. Spending 5 weeks with your thumb up your ass is unlikely to benefit your M2/step performance as much as virtually any type of academic enrichment.

 

[Jabbed]

I like the disclaimer at the end. The fact of the matter is that if you're traveling, living life, or enjoying yourself then you're not really learning ****. Reading 20-30 minutes a day doesn't do anything. That's what I do when I take a **** and read a novel. It's hard to put it into words. Usually most people are ok with knowing that close to every single human being who has been through the process recommends against studying. You need the stress of upcoming exams, you need the 10+ hour studying days, the thought that you're having a test around the corner or that you just scored poorly on a uworld section and that's now a problem (closer to the exam).

Solidifying physio knowledge is not really necessary. You solidify your knowledge of physio when you study pathophysio. When you study pulmonary disease, you'll be reminded of V/Q ratios, surfactant producing cells, how blood vessels work including vasoconstriction and dilation. When you study heme/onc, you'll be reminded of anemia and it's effect on the heart and how the heart responds, how the sympathetic nervous system reacts, maybe even how the RBC carries the products of metabolism (+biochem knowledge) and oh yea you went through some of that in pulmonary too, and how ischemia works, what it does to cells, and what infarction looks like. Every unit builds up on the other and integrates from other units whether you know it or not, and you bear the fruit of that integration on that long study days that you have back to back to back for months. Not 20-30 minutes of leisurely studying physio.

It's not about whether or not it hurts you. It's just a waste of time. It's inefficient. It's unnecessary. It doesn't help, except to burn you out quicker on your intense 10 year plan to become a physician.

I think that the first part is highly subjective and varies from person to person. Stress can be a good motivator, but I don't think that it's a necessary one.

With regards to the second part, I think that solidifying your knowledge base and previewing the material is actually the best way to achieve exactly that. If you have a broad overview and understanding of the M2 material it becomes much, much easier to make the multi-system connections and appreciate some of the more nuanced material as you're going through your coursework. I mention reviewing physio specifically because I think that most students don't have nearly as good of a handle on this subject as they think that they do.

Regardless, I realize that my opinion on this sort of stuff is a fringe one, so I won't belabor my viewpoints any more.

 

[Shipping News]

Yeah, your opinions are fringe and apply to virtually no one else beyond yourself. Most peoples' brains, like JP was saying, need in-depth study with the structure and stress of tests and self-assessment to meaningfully retain the information they're studying. Otherwise you're just memorizing facts and figures that you'll later forget.

 

[wjs010]

There's not 1 single person in the multiple years of step 1 experiences threads I've gone through who ever mentioned summer studying, and some of those posts are around a page long (on like microsoft word lets say). And people in the experiences threads score anywhere from the 210s to 280s. Not everyone in there gets ridiculous board score, but no one in there studied for step 1 in the summer.

But how do we know if our m1 academics were adequate? Maybe some do it out of paranoia that they will forget too much of M1 to be successful for m2/ boards. I'm probably wrong, but I'm also a little paranoid about that. I made A's and B's but that doesn't comfort me. Lol

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[xffan624]

lets just eliminate the first 1.75 years of medical school since it doesn't really matter, you don't learn anything, and even if you did you wont remember ANY of it. all you need is a high school diploma, 3 months to study FA and Uworld and you can poop out a 260....EVERYONE DOES IT AND HAS DONE IT THIS WAY FOR 100 YEARS.

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman

 

[JP2740]

lets just eliminate the first 1.75 years of medical school since it doesn't really matter, you don't learn anything, and even if you did you wont remember ANY of it. all you need is a high school diploma, 3 months to study FA and Uworld and you can poop out a 260....EVERYONE DOES IT AND HAS DONE IT THIS WAY FOR 100 YEARS.

 

[DOFOSHO]

.

 

[Psai]

I don't recall being this stupid when I was a first year although I do remember thinking that prestudying for medical school would be a good idea

 

[JP2740]

I don't recall being this stupid when I was a first year although I do remember thinking that prestudying for medical school would be a good idea

But I'm sure when someone told you that's a waste of time you had the sense to listen to it.

 

[Shipping News]

I don't recall being this stupid when I was a first year although I do remember thinking that prestudying for medical school would be a good idea

All I know is that the farther I get through my training, the more I look back and hope I wasn't talking/stressing like the "kids these days" do. #blunderyears

 

[Bancrofti]

Didn't read the posts OP, so not sure if you got your answer or not, but in the summer between M1/M2 I started Firecracker and tried to flag as much M1 stuff as I could.

I got Pathoma and also listened to the first 3-4 chapters? However many chapters was just the basic pathology/intro type stuff.
Also bought Micro Made Ridiculously simple because I was freaked out. I think I read only the first 2 chapters... and didn't have enough time to read any more of it when 2nd year started. I only covered the intro, gram positives, and the intro to gram negatives I believe.

All that took me maybe an hour to 2 hours per day of studying. I did fine on Step 1.

You don't need to study during the summer to do well on step 1... ~240+ just hit 2nd year hard and you'll be fine. I knew my goal was a bit higher than that and didn't want to look back and say I could have done a little bit more at some point so I figured it wasn't a big deal to put in minimal time over summer break to reap big rewards later.

Anyways... if I had to recommend anything to someone, it would be to buy Pathoma for sure and get started on the intro to path stuff. Besides that, there is too much covered during 2nd year to try to get ahead and retain things. FC was useful I believe, but can also be a detriment to classes (and help for others), so get it only if you know you'll be able to keep up.

 

[AlexMack12]

Okay but fair question (I think)...how does all this advice translate to people with an accelerated (1.5 year) curriculum? My class is the first class to do this at my school so we don't have any upperclassmen to compare notes with. My boards are in about 7 months (so June for me now is like November/December of M2 for people with a traditional curriculum). At the end of M1, we completed anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, general pathology, and cardio/pulmonary/renal. On the one hand, the boards seem far enough away that I can understand how it still might not be a good idea to study over the summer (because I absolutely don't dispute the wisdom of that advice for people with a traditional curriculum). On the other hand, we have already covered a decent amount of the traditional M2 material. Also, I've been looking at other threads on people's advice for boards studying during M2 and I'm not sure if I can keep up with that because we really do go noticeably quicker through the material as compared to what upperclassmen have shared and since pretty much all redundancy has been eliminated, once we see something, we very frequently don't see it again as sometimes happens with more traditional curricula. As a consequence, I feel like I probably spend more time trying to keep up and learn the material the first time around (the BEST board prep, amiright?) than these study plans account for.
Thoughts?

PS I'm not complaining about my school's curriculum. I understand its merits (more time for electives before residency applications and the general agreement that in the grand scheme of things, M1/M2 is not as important as M3/M4. Just trying to get advice/opinions on how, if it all, this timeline changes board prep strategies.

 

[sinombre]

But how do we know if our m1 academics were adequate? Maybe some do it out of paranoia that they will forget too much of M1 to be successful for m2/ boards. I'm probably wrong, but I'm also a little paranoid about that. I made A's and B's but that doesn't comfort me. Lol

Maybe because there are numerous classes of students at your school who have successfully gone through the exam before? I'm convinced 90% of the benefit of first year is that it trains you how to study efficiently. Most of the information you need for step 1 you will learn during 2nd year.

 

[wjs010]

Maybe because there are numerous classes of students at your school who have successfully gone through the exam before? I'm convinced 90% of the benefit of first year is that it trains you how to study efficiently. Most of the information you need for step 1 you will learn during 2nd year.

I want to take this information and have little baby informations with it

 

[North meets South]

what worked? and what didn't worked? how many hours did you study? what programs did you use? etc.

*The point of this thread is not to debate the merits or utility of doing step 1 related studying the summer between MS1 and MS2. I already know and have heard the large majority of the arguments for/against it, so please do not derail the thread with such comments.

There's not 1 single person in the multiple years of step 1 experiences threads I've gone through who ever mentioned summer studying, and some of those posts are around a page long (on like microsoft word lets say). And people in the experiences threads score anywhere from the 210s to 280s. Not everyone in there gets ridiculous board score, but no one in there studied for step 1 in the summer.

Perhaps @mcloaf could spare a few minutes to share a bit of his experience and offer some advice to the OP on the topic.

 

[cs24]

No need for attitudes. What is with people feeling the right to be a jack a$$ when behind the computer screen?
OP stated in the beginning he's not interested in your message. I've contributed something relevant, you're not. No further debate on the merits of summer studying amigo.

I'm sorry if my post came off as jackass-esque. That is truly not my intent. I was not calling you out as a first year that hasn't taken step 1 to be a dick, but because it really matters in this discussion. There were many things I thought I knew about taking step 1 and preparing for it during first and second year, but after going through the real thing I realized how wrong I was. It's hard to understand before you've done it, maybe you'll see what I mean next year.

Anyways- this is a message board for giving and getting advice read by more than just OP. You ask a question, you're going to get advice whether you like it or not, even if it isn't what you want. Plus I wanted my perspective out there for any lurkers out there that read this conversation and would consider studying in the summer solely because of this thread. My contribution is certainly relevant in that perspective, and if I may actually be a bit of a jacka$$ now, since apparently I'm going to be accused of it anyways, my contribution is more relevant than yours, because I've actually taken the test.

 

[wjs010]

Tldr: insofar, the consensus has been overwhelmingly "don't study for boards during m1 summer"... Have fun or do research or both. Also mixed in with like 4 posts that make you want to study the entire summer.

 

[pd1112]

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman

Thanks for this site, going to come in handy for all future explanations to idiots about why they're idiots.

 

[Ace Khalifa]

To the M3's, M4's, and residents who gave their advice: thank you. This incoming M1 appreciates it.

Lemme ask y'all this simple question. Why should I believe someone who HAS NOT TAKEN this exam over someone who HAS ALREADY TAKEN this exam?

 

[Tenk]

You don't need to study during your summer break. In fact this has more of a chance of burning you out than helping you. Work steady throughout the first two years, focus on not burning out but do well. Then ramp up your studying 1-2 months before the exam. It's a fine balance. All the people who I knew in med school that did poorly burnt out a few weeks before the exam due to poor planning or just didn't care.

 

[cs24]

Most people who do well on Step 1 do so without M1 studying. OP isn't most people. The exceptional always face their share of criticism from the ignorant masses.

Hey 22031, what do you mean by exceptional? I'm debating whether or not I should be offending by being lumped in with the ignorant masses 😉

 

[mcloaf]

Perhaps @mcloaf could spare a few minutes to share a bit of his experience and offer some advice to the OP on the topic.

I'm sort of on the fence TBH. I did study over the summer, but it was secondary to my research projects and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others without hesitation.

I think if you're pretty committed to a spaced-repetition program by the end of M1 you probably owe it to yourself to keep up with it over the summer or you shouldn't have bothered in the first place. I was a pretty heavy firecracker user and getting after it over the summer allowed me to start M2 ~75% banked and made the rest of the year easier for me in that regard. Similarly if you want to get going on firecracker but didn't keep up during M1 then that summer is kind of the only chance you have. In addition to this, though, I did spend time going back over M1 material like neuroanatomy and physiology in notes/books, and I don't think that this was a great use of my time. I felt like I was learning as I was doing it, and I probably was, but when it came time to take step I don't think that little bit I may have gained in M1 knowledge during that time made much of a measurable difference in comparison to the intervening months of hard work using M2 info and boards specific materials. I know people that spent hours a day prereading the entirety of first aid and reviewing M1 material in depth over that summer and I think those people were completely wasting their time.

Tl;dr: I think it's possible that a focused effort on something that can pay longer term dividends isn't necessarily a terrible idea, but I don't think it's necessary to kill step 1. I wouldn't waste time with a qbank, and I wouldn't sit around reading textbooks. And again, even having done it and feeling like I got some benefits from doing so I don't think it's something that should be passed along as an important or necessary part of doing well on the boards.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

I'm sort of on the fence TBH. I did study over the summer, but it was secondary to my research projects and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others without hesitation.

I think if you're pretty committed to a spaced-repetition program by the end of M1 you probably owe it to yourself to keep up with it over the summer or you shouldn't have bothered in the first place. I was a pretty heavy firecracker user and getting after it over the summer allowed me to start M2 ~75% banked and made the rest of the year easier for me in that regard. Similarly if you want to get going on firecracker but didn't keep up during M1 then that summer is kind of the only chance you have. In addition to this, though, I did spend time going back over M1 material like neuroanatomy and physiology in notes/books, and I don't think that this was a great use of my time. I felt like I was learning as I was doing it, and I probably was, but when it came time to take step I don't think that little bit I may have gained in M1 knowledge during that time made much of a measurable difference in comparison to the intervening months of hard work using M2 info and boards specific materials. I know people that spent hours a day prereading the entirety of first aid and reviewing M1 material in depth over that summer and I think those people were completely wasting their time.

Tl;dr: I think it's possible that a focused effort on something that can pay longer term dividends isn't necessarily a terrible idea, but I don't think it's necessary to kill step 1. I wouldn't waste time with a qbank, and I wouldn't sit around reading textbooks. And again, even having done it and feeling like I got some benefits from doing so I don't think it's something that should be passed along as an important or necessary part of doing well on the boards.

so basically spaced-repetition (ie. anki/firecracker), or don't study?

 

[jw3600]

So a person getting a 210 shouldnt tell other people not to study
And a person getting a 260 shouldnt tell other people not to study

Makes sense. Can a 240 tell you that?

It would appear that you are dismissing this argument. While I agree there are not absolute cutoffs, why do you think it is not reasonable to take the advice of someone scoring 260 more heavily than someone scoring 220? Genuine inquiry.