How Effective is This Plan for Boards?

[surfguy84]

I'm making it a goal to read all of Robbins this summer/next fall. I plan on making anki cards for the chapters and basically ensuring I have a very good handle on Path before I begin serious board prep.

My question is, how much will this approach help when it comes time to board prep/improve my board score? Is developing a thorough understanding of the content in Robbins going to give me a significant boost come board prep time?

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[DrBowtie]

I'm making it a goal to read all of Robbins this summer/next fall. I plan on making anki cards for the chapters and basically ensuring I have a very good handle on Path before I begin serious board prep.

My question is, how much will this approach help when it comes time to board prep/improve my board score? Is developing a thorough understanding of the content in Robbins going to give me a significant boost come board prep time?

Read all of big Robbins? Hugely inefficient.

 

[surfguy84]

Read all of big Robbins? Hugely inefficient.

Sorry, I meant little Robbins.

What do you think would be the best way to begin board prep before M2?

 

[kenjixshadow]

Pathoma is all you need.

 

[surfguy84]

Pathoma is all you need.

Can you recommend a text to read over the summer to firm up things heading into M2?

If not, what would you recommend I study before M2? I know a lot of people say nothing, but humor me..

 

[kderekb]

Can you recommend a text to read over the summer to firm up things heading into M2?

If not, what would you recommend I study before M2? I know a lot of people say nothing, but humor me..

Pathoma. It's a video series that comes with a book.

 

[AlteredScale]

Can you recommend a text to read over the summer to firm up things heading into M2?

If not, what would you recommend I study before M2? I know a lot of people say nothing, but humor me..

Pathoma or Goljan RR for path would be good. Have you had an intro to path yet?

 

[surfguy84]

Pathoma or Goljan RR for path would be good. Have you had an intro to path yet?

We get path in chunks, as it relates to a current system. It's a bit disjointed, and of course I don't remember all the fine details of what we were taught.

I guess my plan was to go through all the path sections in baby Robbins that we covered during M1 and really get a strong hold of them heading into M2.

Seems like path is such a big part of step 1, really having a firm understanding in this area would be really helpful.

Enjoy other opinions though... what do you think?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Pathoma or Goljan RR for path would be good. Have you had an intro to path yet?

Is Golijan just a book or a course like Pathoma as well?

I'm probably going to sub pathoma this summer for sure tho. It seems like a very highly regarded review course and will be useful all next year.

 

[surfguy84]

Is Golijan just a book or a course like Pathoma as well?

I'm probably going to sub pathoma this summer for sure tho. It seems like a very highly regarded review course and will be useful all next year.

It's a book, but I beleive it has a Qbank too?

 

[DocWinter]

I wouldn't recommend board studying topics you haven't yet seen.

If you want to accomplish something, pick up BRS Path and review the sections you have seen. A foundation in pathology is probably the best thing you can do, assuming you are dead set on doing something.

Also pathoma. It's overall good, and if you learn through watching videos it will be worth the while.

Goljan is a book. There are also some audio lectures floating around online. It's another style-dependent resource: those who like lists and bullet points might gain something from it.

 

[surfguy84]

I wouldn't recommend board studying topics you haven't yet seen.

If you want to accomplish something, pick up BRS Path and review the sections you have seen. A foundation in pathology is probably the best thing you can do, assuming you are dead set on doing something.

Also pathoma. It's overall good, and if you learn through watching videos it will be worth the while.

Goljan is a book. There are also some audio lectures floating around online. It's another style-dependent resource: those who like lists and bullet points might gain something from it.

Thanks; any reason you recommend BRS over Robbins?

And I agree, probably best to simply do the systems we covered in M1.

 

[DocWinter]

Thanks; any reason you recommend BRS over Robbins?

And I agree, probably best to simply do the systems we covered in M1.

I'm a big BRS fan b/c they are succinct, to the point and clear. I just found Robbins wordy. For review, go with BRS. To learn, use Robbins as a supplement.

 

[ninjaman22]

Just chillax for the summer. Pick up on the board studying (i.e. First Aid, Pathoma, Questions) once you are back from break.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Make sure you read big Robbins, re-review all your M1 notes, then read little Robbins, then big Robbins again. Then, read Costanzo 5x. This needs to be done within 2 weeks of starting summer or you are destined for a <200.

 

[AlteredScale]

Make sure you read big Robbins, re-review all your M1 notes, then read little Robbins, then big Robbins again. Then, read Costanzo 5x. This needs to be done within 2 weeks of starting summer or you are destined for a <200.

Gunner. You know you're supposed to read costanzo 10x.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Is Golijan just a book or a course like Pathoma as well?

I'm probably going to sub pathoma this summer for sure tho. It seems like a very highly regarded review course and will be useful all next year.

Tell your class president to email Pathoma when Path starts up before the summer. They will work out a discount with you guys.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Tell your class president to email Pathoma when Path starts up before the summer. They will work out a discount with you guys.

Idk how many people are going to want to do that because it seems like the professor was very anti-pathoma. But yah, I'll tell our CP about it.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Idk how many people are going to want to do that because it seems like the professor was very anti-pathoma. But yah, I'll tell our CP about it.

They also want you to succeed on boards and Pathoma will help with that.

Doing Pathoma on the weekends isn't going to take away too much time from Robbins.

 

[ortnakas]

They also want you to succeed on boards and Pathoma will help with that.

Doing Pathoma on the weekends isn't going to take away too much time from Robbins.

100% concur with this. We're tested straight from Robbins (PBL) and a pass through Pathoma first is a huge help.

 

[NurWollen]

Idk how many people are going to want to do that because it seems like the professor was very anti-pathoma. But yah, I'll tell our CP about it.

Students as an aggregate population are usually very good at figuring out the best way to study, the best materials to use, etc.

For some reason, basic science professors tend to push back against that and recommend attending class, studying from the textbook, etc. Maybe @Goro would have some idea as to why that is from their perspective.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Students as an aggregate population are usually very good at figuring out the best way to study, the best materials to use, etc.

For some reason, basic science professors tend to push back against that and recommend attending class, studying from the textbook, etc. Maybe @Goro would have some idea as to why that is from their perspective.

Probably for the bottom 1/4 of the class that doesn't know how to study properly and would be dicking around on YT or FB if they weren't in class.

 

[JustPlainBill]

Probably for the bottom 1/4 of the class that doesn't know how to study properly and would be dicking around on YT or FB if they weren't in class.

Actually, I think it hurts the basic science professors feelings when over 3/4 of the students don't show up -- the academic dean at TCOM used to have a policy where he would walk through and peek in on both MS1 and MS2 classrooms -- if he saw that attendance was down, he'd cut off the recordings for a period to encourage class attendance --- same guy once yanked a student from class after he saw him doing some non-class related activity on his computer through the door portal ---

I made the mistake of believing them when they said you had to do all the reading, plus PPT review, plus making notes, plus .... I spent so much time doing what they told me to do that I didn't have time to study -- I went in with the attitude I had adopted by studying a family system of bushido in my youth --- as a student, you don't walk in and tell the senior students/soke/shihan how you're going to study the material and what you will and won't do -- you commit yourself to the system wholeheartedly, do what you're told and by the time you get your menkyo kaiden (certificate of mastery) you have become the art the way the system was intended -- indeed, you are molded to the system --- I expected that sort of thing in medicine--- took me a while to catch on and I suffered for it.

 

[AlteredScale]

Actually, I think it hurts the basic science professors feelings when over 3/4 of the students don't show up -- the academic dean at TCOM used to have a policy where he would walk through and peek in on both MS1 and MS2 classrooms -- if he saw that attendance was down, he'd cut off the recordings for a period to encourage class attendance --- same guy once yanked a student from class after he saw him doing some non-class related activity on his computer through the door portal ---

I made the mistake of believing them when they said you had to do all the reading, plus PPT review, plus making notes, plus .... I spent so much time doing what they told me to do that I didn't have time to study -- I went in with the attitude I had adopted by studying a family system of bushido in my youth --- as a student, you don't walk in and tell the senior students/soke/shihan how you're going to study the material and what you will and won't do -- you commit yourself to the system wholeheartedly, do what you're told and by the time you get your menkyo kaiden (certificate of mastery) you have become the art the way the system was intended -- indeed, you are molded to the system --- I expected that sort of thing in medicine--- took me a while to catch on and I suffered for it.

When you had Dr Puthoff as your professor for path what was your way of approaching studying Robbins?

 

[JustPlainBill]

When you had Dr Puthoff as your professor for path what was your way of approaching studying Robbins?

Remember that you're talking to a German former engineer, verstast du? -- so when you tell me you want an outline, I will give you the compleat, perfect outline -- if you say you want it handwritten, it will be error free with no smudges in handwriting you can read -- some call it OCD, I call it following directions ---

So, as only Putthoff can, he told us to 1) read the chapter like a novel 2) use the general outline on the first page of each chapter as a general outline 3) outline the chapter paying particular attention to bolded/italicized/underlined text and any tables/figures 4) repeat each step adding in detail with each iteration.

First chapter, I did that -- at about 4 pages an hour -- given 60 page chapters, you could tell where this was going ---- so then some second year was selling outlines that included all manner of symbols and hieroglyphics that were basically a rewrite of Robbins which didn't help.

I wound up getting ahold of some outlines from some upper classmen and followed those along with the reading of each entire chapter, modified them to my liking and then went over the notes pedantically ---

what truly worked however, was when I had the time to read -- if I read it with focus and understanding, I only had to do it once -- problem is that gets tiring and I found myself drifting after a good 45 minutes of reading -- I tried quite a few different methods but what really worked for me was a good, solid reading of the material and using the outlines from upperclassmen to refresh the material on a daily basis ---

On a whim, I've reread certain sections of Robbins now with 5 years of clinical experience -- makes a whole lot more sense and what's important just jumps out at you --that truly didn't happen in MS2 ---

Dr. P is a challenge -- but he's very old school and knows what it takes to be a competent doc -- there's a standard and you will either meet it or you won't --

Look up the movie,"The Paper Chase" on Netflix -- it's an old one about a guy in law school -- you'll see elements of Dr. Dubin and Dr. Putthoff in the main character.

sorry -- gotta go

 

[NurWollen]

Probably for the bottom 1/4 of the class that doesn't know how to study properly and would be dicking around on YT or FB if they weren't in class.

So instead they peruse FB in class.

 

[KP2AZ]

I wish I would have reviewed Physiology again before 2nd year. Path and Pharm rely pretty heavily on Physiology!

 

[Mbeas]

Just chillax for the summer. Pick up on the board studying (i.e. First Aid, Pathoma, Questions) once you are back from break.

This. Just enjoy your break. I scored very high on COMLEX and didn't even start studying for boards until January of second year.

Longer period of time studying =/= higher score. You just need to be efficient and use the appropriate study materials. You only increase your risk of burning out and frankly I don't know the benefit of reading over a bunch of topics you haven't learned yet.

I don't recommend doing ANYTHING boards related until second year, but that's my two cents