From B’s to A’s—Help!

[rg2o3]

Looking for some guidance. I’m on my third week of first year and am continuously scoring mid to high Bs. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can break into the A range? It’s bothering me as it’s much lower than I used to score. I know that this is much different, but I’d like to at least get some As. Thanks!

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[Medic741]

Explain how you study?

 

[Goro]

Looking for some guidance. I’m on my third week of first year and am continuously scoring mid to high Bs. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can break into the A range? It’s bothering me as it’s much lower than I used to score. I know that this is much different, but I’d like to at least get some As. Thanks!

Read this:

• Goro's Guide to Success in Medical School (2018 edition)

 

[BorntobeDO?]

Looking for some guidance. I’m on my third week of first year and am continuously scoring mid to high Bs. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can break into the A range? It’s bothering me as it’s much lower than I used to score. I know that this is much different, but I’d like to at least get some As. Thanks!

You won't get much A being a B. Thats all I got. Do some Uworld and rub some dirt on it.

 

[rg2o3]

Explain how you study?

I began by using anki. It was making information stick very well, but the amount of material left me spending far too much time making cards. It was also taking a long time to get through them and I also felt like the cards I were making weren't great. Then I tried making passes through the notes while doing active recall and combining that with practice problems. I feel like I understand the material and it's not too difficult, but then come exam time, there will be questions that I know I have learned, but have slipped my mind. This happens to enough of the information to slide me down to the B range. So, I'm not really sure what to do to study efficient. In undergrad, I just read the notes a few times and that was enough to get me high A's.

 

[rg2o3]

You won't get much A being a B. Thats all I got. Do some Uworld and rub some dirt on it.

Well, at least I got a laugh out of it!

 

[austintr]

This may just be your lot in life. I had a hell of a time getting over 88% in basically all the big classes first year. I'm probably going to be a B average doctor. But I'll be a B average doctor with a boat.

In all seriousness though, it sounds like you're learning the material rather than cramming and regurgitating. Cramming and regurgitating may be good for school exams early on (trust me, it's all I did first year), but actually LEARNING it will benefit you greatly down the road, especially in your later courses. If you really REALLY need to break into that A range, spend only the necessary amount of time required on the high yield info and try and shove some more minutiae into your brain. The minutiae, at least at my school, is what generally separates 88% from 92%.

Or you could just embrace the dark side, get more B's, do average or better on boards (USMLE especially) and be flexible with your residency location. Trust me, it's a lot less stressful over here.

 

[rg2o3]

This may just be your lot in life. I had a hell of a time getting over 88% in basically all the big classes first year. I'm probably going to be a B average doctor. But I'll be a B average doctor with a boat.

In all seriousness though, it sounds like you're learning the material rather than cramming and regurgitating. Cramming and regurgitating may be good for school exams early on (trust me, it's all I did first year), but actually LEARNING it will benefit you greatly down the road, especially in your later courses. If you really REALLY need to break into that A range, spend only the necessary amount of time required on the high yield info and try and shove some more minutiae into your brain. The minutiae, at least at my school, is what generally separates 88% from 92%.

Or you could just embrace the dark side, get more B's, do average or better on boards (USMLE especially) and be flexible with your residency location. Trust me, it's a lot less stressful over here.

Haha, this is great!

Yeah, I agree that this might just be the way it goes. I don’t know if cramming more minutiae is worth it for me. Thinking that I might just have to do what you suggested. Just deal with getting B’s, try to do decent on step, be flexible and see where the path takes me.

 

[Medic741]

I began by using anki. It was making information stick very well, but the amount of material left me spending far too much time making cards. It was also taking a long time to get through them and I also felt like the cards I were making weren't great. Then I tried making passes through the notes while doing active recall and combining that with practice problems. I feel like I understand the material and it's not too difficult, but then come exam time, there will be questions that I know I have learned, but have slipped my mind. This happens to enough of the information to slide me down to the B range. So, I'm not really sure what to do to study efficient. In undergrad, I just read the notes a few times and that was enough to get me high A's.

I switched pretty early on from using Anki & making my own cards to using the pre-made card decks on Firecracker. I'd watch a lecture, click the topics that the lecture covered as 'current', go through those cards by selecting the topic and 'study current' cards that were 'not yet seen.' On top of that I'd get my spaced repetition through doing the daily tasks, and if I didn't know something cause it was forgotten... open up FA or class materials and refresh. Before an exam I'd go through all the topic cards on the exam that I had marked as 'low confidence.' Got consistent A's when I would use this method and it's been working *great* through second year.

Biggest advantage: FC cards emphasize board material which will be the HY stuff for your classes, you just don't know what to pick out as the 'important stuff' yet; FC does that for you and saves a bunch of time.

If I remember right there's a free trial availabel for the first 2 weeks. I'd highly recommend giving it a go.

>I have no affiliation w/ FC

 

[rg2o3]

I switched pretty early on from using Anki & making my own cards to using the pre-made card decks on Firecracker. I'd watch a lecture, click the topics that the lecture covered as 'current', go through those cards by selecting the topic and 'study current' cards that were 'not yet seen.' On top of that I'd get my spaced repetition through doing the daily tasks, and if I didn't know something cause it was forgotten... open up FA or class materials and refresh. Before an exam I'd go through all the topic cards on the exam that I had marked as 'low confidence.' Got consistent A's when I would use this method and it's been working *great* through second year.

Biggest advantage: FC cards emphasize board material which will be the HY stuff for your classes, you just don't know what to pick out as the 'important stuff' yet; FC does that for you and saves a bunch of time.

If I remember right there's a free trial availabel for the first 2 weeks. I'd highly recommend giving it a go.

>I have no affiliation w/ FC

I was thinking about giving FC a try. I kn it gets a bad rep from some, but I was learning with my Anki cards, they were just taking far too long. I think I’ll check it out today! Thanks.

 

[Medic741]

I was thinking about giving FC a try. I kn it gets a bad rep from some, but I was learning with my Anki cards, they were just taking far too long. I think I’ll check it out today! Thanks.

Awesome! After you use it for a few days would be great to hear what you think about it, if you have any questions about how to use it feel free to shoot me a pm; there's a learning curve to using their UI (which I think is where a lof of the bad rap comes from. GL!

 

[ortnakas]

Did not get As as an MS1, so I can’t give you any advice there. I will tell you essentially all of your classmates, including the ones currently struggling to pass, all are “used to scoring much higher,” so don’t feel too bad about being a high-B student. If you’re right around the cutoff I’d also encourage minor adjustments only (or one-at-a-time major adjustments vs a total revamp); what you’re doing mostly works, so making major changes runs the risk of dropping you into C territory or worse as much as it gives you the chance of becoming a rockstar.

 

[ohmanwaddup]

OP, i'm pretty sure we go to the same school. If we do, I bet half of your issue just that this first block is only 3 weeks long. Med school is a shock to anyone and everyone and the speed we are burning through stuff doesn't help at all. If you're getting high Bs on our midterm and quizzes I wouldn't worry too much. If you don't go to my school this comment is useless, but i wish you the best of luck regardless

 

[rg2o3]

Did not get As as an MS1, so I can’t give you any advice there. I will tell you essentially all of your classmates, including the ones currently struggling to pass, all are “used to scoring much higher,” so don’t feel too bad about being a high-B student. If you’re right around the cutoff I’d also encourage minor adjustments only (or one-at-a-time major adjustments vs a total revamp); what you’re doing mostly works, so making major changes runs the risk of dropping you into C territory or worse as much as it gives you the chance of becoming a rockstar.

Thanks for the advice! I am slowly tweaking things and trying to refine my study habits. I guess I will try to relax a bit and just roll with it for now!

 

[rg2o3]

OP, i'm pretty sure we go to the same school. If we do, I bet half of your issue just that this first block is only 3 weeks long. Med school is a shock to anyone and everyone and the speed we are burning through stuff doesn't help at all. If you're getting high Bs on our midterm and quizzes I wouldn't worry too much. If you don't go to my school this comment is useless, but i wish you the best of luck regardless

I'm not sure if we do, but thanks for the kind words! I'm trying to let it be and just roll with the punches.