How to be able to differentiate between high yeild and low yeild material?

[def1]

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Hi guys,

Im a current first year, and so far I'm actually doing quite well in my classes. However, I am having a hard time distinguishing which material is actually going to result in being high yield to know. I know its probably too early too be worrying about step 1 but it would be nice to know which material Im actually seeing will end up in Step 1. My curriculum is integrated so we are already seeing pathology along with most other courses all at once based on each system.

This is probably the one part of studying that slows me down greatly. Since I'm not sure what is high yield I tend to focus on everything.

I was just wondering for those currently studying for step or who have taken step what did you do to focus only on high yield stuff?

For example in genetics, we are told which gene locus, which codon, which exon, which type of mutation, etc.

Would Step 1 ever ask a question about which codon a certain disease is on?

I know there are Rapid review books and other books that contain the high yield material, should I be going over these while taking classes or read them later on specifically for Step studying?

One of the main reasons I want to know what is high yield, is so that my Anki cards don't get filled up with useless material.

 

[Leonidis I]

if it's in first aid, uworld, or pathoma it's super high yield. if it's only found in one of the review books (brs physio, hy neuro, etc.) but not one of the big 3 then it's less high yield. if it's only found in big robbins or one of your prof's random ppts then it's probably not high yield. that's kind of the rule of thumb i would go by.

i would make anki cards for as much info as you can take. but then after each exam i would go through each of the cards for that exam in your browser and if it doesn't meet whatever standard you set for "high yield" then suspend the card. that way you won't see it again and it will lessen your review burden but it will still be searchable in your deck if you need it at a later time and want to unsuspend it for some reason.

 

[deleted547339]

if it's in first aid, uworld, or pathoma it's super high yield. if it's only found in one of the review books (brs physio, hy neuro, etc.) but not one of the big 3 then it's less high yield. if it's only found in big robbins or one of your prof's random ppts then it's probably not high yield. that's kind of the rule of thumb i would go by.

That's pretty reasonable.

 

[SilverCat]

I also have this question about studying. I've been trying to essentially memorize every detail of the lectures, because the study session leaders have been saying it's important to do so for the exams. However, I can't find time to read the textbook, and almost all of this information is stuff I've seen before (I feel like I'm not using my time wisely).

So how do people decide what to study and what not to study for class exams (not Step)? Moreover, I keep hearing that it's important to learn the stuff well in the preclinical courses to do well on Step--so what techniques do people use to keep all of this vast information fresh in their minds come time to study for Step?

 

[DrDoogie]

Could NOT agree more with ^^

Honestly, if you did nothing but sit at home and did first aid, pathoma, and UWorld, and heck throw in Kaplan Qbank in your spare time...that knowledge alone and its application via qbanks should guarantee you a 90 on your exams

 

[Etorphine]

.

 

[operaman]

I would define high yield as anything that allows you to intuit many of the details. Unfortunately, many professors don't structure their notes in such a way that makes this obvious. Pathoma does, which is why he's so admired and so helpful, but he won't help you much in first year unless your school does Path with every system.

So something like:
Every time glucagon works, something gets phorphorylated
Every time insulin does stuff, something is ultimately dephosphorylated

2 concepts, and now you can answer every one of those annoying regulatory biochem detail questions in 1st year. That's high yield.

You can just figure out many details from bigger picture stuff. This way of thinking is huge for step 1 as the test writers continue to write in such a way that you can't answer with rote recall of First Aid. Look for patterns as much as possible.

 

[def1]

Good advice guys

 

[yehhhboiii]

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[Charles_Carmichael]

Differentiating HY vs LY really improves with experience. As fresh M1s, it's tough to figure that out. But as you keep learning more and, importantly, go through more exams, you'll get a better spidey sense of what's important to know vs. what's not as important. At the beginning, it's safer to go with the idea that everything is HY and tone it down afterward rather than screw up on the first set of exams because what you thought was low-yield was actually high-yield.

 

[operaman]

Differentiating HY vs LY really improves with experience. As fresh M1s, it's tough to figure that out. But as you keep learning more and, importantly, go through more exams, you'll get a better spidey sense of what's important to know vs. what's not as important. At the beginning, it's safer to go with the idea that everything is HY and tone it down afterward rather than screw up on the first set of exams because what you thought was low-yield was actually high-yield.

This is actually really good advice and worth taking to heart. I knew a number of people who underestimated the first exam or two because it covered a lot of material they had covered in undergrad, especially if they were science majors, and they were surprised by the level of detail they were expected to know compared with college exams.

 

[alpinism]

Another problem is that every school tests differently. Some schools focus more on minutiae while others are more geared towards the boards. Studying pathoma/FA/goljan may get you an A at some places but at others you'll get stuck with mostly Bs and Cs.

As a general rule, HY topics tend to be more clinically oriented and focus on "why." As in: why did the pt get this dz, why did they present w these symptoms and labs, why are they treated w this drug...

Non HY stuff would be things like memorizing origins/insertions, pKa of amino acids, chemical structures of drugs, random GFs and cytokines...