Gunner training and a 1.5/2.5 curriculum

[rizan1986]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey everyone,

I'm finishing up my first year at a school that has a 1.5 years of preclinical and then 2.5 years of clinical. We take step 1 after our core clerkships in February 2014. For those people that have used gunner training and have done their core clerkships, is it feasible to do gunner training everyday like you're supposed to and prepare for clerkships? Or is GT a waste of time for me?

Thanks!

 

[Dr Ypaint]

I'm in the exact same boat as you (I am a soon-to-be MS2 at a 1.5/2.5 school) and I'm not sure how I should prepare for Step 1 if I'm gonna be fully occupied with clerkships for a year.

 

[lrkoehle]

I doubt you'll find anyone here who has gone through what you're asking about. While I haven't done clerkships yet, I would say it is feasible to do GT with them. Though it will certainly be tough. If you work your butt off to finish banking cards by the end of this year, then you'll probably be able to have things spread out enough to where your daily GT load is only around an hour or so (which you could spread throughout the day in 10-15 minute chunks as you have time). It sounds like a tough task too me, but at the same time, do you want to have to relearn all of biochem in a couple years, or just keep refreshing yourself on it? A 1.5/2.5 split curriculum without time to take Step-I until after clerkships sounds horrendous to me, so good luck with whatever method you choose.

 

[rizan1986]

I doubt you'll find anyone here who has gone through what you're asking about. While I haven't done clerkships yet, I would say it is feasible to do GT with them. Though it will certainly be tough. If you work your butt off to finish banking cards by the end of this year, then you'll probably be able to have things spread out enough to where your daily GT load is only around an hour or so (which you could spread throughout the day in 10-15 minute chunks as you have time). It sounds like a tough task too me, but at the same time, do you want to have to relearn all of biochem in a couple years, or just keep refreshing yourself on it? A 1.5/2.5 split curriculum without time to take Step-I until after clerkships sounds horrendous to me, so good luck with whatever method you choose.

Well, we do get time off to study for step 1. We get the standard 6 weeks which most schools give. It's led to an increase ion scores on the exams, so it can't be a terrible idea.

 

[lrkoehle]

Well, we do get time off to study for step 1. We get the standard 6 weeks which most schools give. It's led to an increase ion scores on the exams, so it can't be a terrible idea.

But you don't get those 6 weeks off until after rotations, right? I'm not super surprised it has led to an increase in scores. When you actually see a patient with a particular condition it usually sticks better than just reading about these things and trusting that they actually exist. Still, the concept seems intimidating to me.

 

[rizan1986]

Right, its not until after clerkships. I guess what I am really wondering is between now and January 2013, can I get through enough GT for it to actually be worth it for me?

 

[lrkoehle]

Do you have this summer off from school, or do they keep you going straight through to finish in 1.5 years? If you have this summer off, then you should be able to bank a good 2/3 of GT over the summer and then finish up banking things as you learn them in the fall. It would be somewhat tough, but I think pretty doable. Then you would just have to do your daily questions during clerkships, which again would be a challenge, but not impossible. If you do that, you should have a huge leg up on everyone in your class who will be stuck relearning a fair amount of basic science material during the 6 weeks you guys get, while you can focus on doing practice questions from the qbanks.

 

[rizan1986]

I do have the summer off but will be doing research for most of it. I guess I will try it for 30 days and make sure I like its techniques. If so, I'll just do as much as possible until I go to the wards in January and then try to maintain while doing clerkships.