How to study for step 1 during clerkships.

[Katniss Everdeen]

Hi Everyone!

Because of the COVID situation, our school gave us the option to delay step 1. I was originally supposed to take it in June, but I decided to delay until mid-January 2021. I'm worried that I won't have time, with clerkships/studying for shelf exams, to adequately keep up with step 1 stuff and I'll just forget it all by the time I enter dedicated in December. I was wondering:

1. How good are clerkships at reenforcing step 1 material? I have OB/GYN, Psych, and Family Medicine prior to step.
2. Is there time to study for step 1 during clerkships/how would you recommend doing this?
3. Tips in general?

Thank You!
- Katniss

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[FindersFee5]

Other than family medicine, those are probably the worst clerkships material wise to prep for step 1. I doubt you will have time to keep up with step 1 stuff on OB/Gyn, but probably would be able to at least do something like anki on psych and family medicine. Don't try taking step 1 right after a clerkship ends though, I would definitely recommend at least a 3 week dedicated period.

 

[Katniss Everdeen]

Other than family medicine, those are probably the worst clerkships material wise to prep for step 1. I doubt you will have time to keep up with step 1 stuff on OB/Gyn, but probably would be able to at least do something like anki on psych and family medicine. Don't try taking step 1 right after a clerkship ends though, I would definitely recommend at least a 3 week dedicated period.

Thank you! Yes, I have 5 weeks after the end of my last clerkship to use for dedicated. I'm planning on trying to keep up with Anki on all my clerkships, but I agree that it'll be really difficult during OB/GYN.

 

[efle]

How long would winter dedicated block be? If you've studied up I would hold onto your June slot until/unless it gets cancelled. Clerkships are awful for Step 1 content.

 

[Katniss Everdeen]

How long would winter dedicated block be? If you've studied up I would hold onto your June slot until/unless it gets cancelled. Clerkships are awful for Step 1 content.

Thank you! I have 5 weeks to prepare in December/January. I've honestly really been slacking off since the whole stay at home thing started and have only done the bare minimum to pass my school exams (not NBME style) the past 6 weeks with no board review. I think postponing would be the better option, even it it makes the first half of M3 more hectic.

 

[Dr.Cut.em.up]

You are getting a dedicated during third year? Can i ask how that is working?

 

[Katniss Everdeen]

You are getting a dedicated during third year? Can i ask how that is working?

I'm using 5 weeks of my elective time for dedicated

 

[Dr.Cut.em.up]

I'm using 5 weeks of my elective time for dedicated

nice. we dont have that option... ugh

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

How long would winter dedicated block be? If you've studied up I would hold onto your June slot until/unless it gets cancelled. Clerkships are awful for Step 1 content.

Our school takes step 1 after a year of clerkships. The school’s average step 1 score went up by like 15-20 points after that change I think. We also get 3 weeks of vacation followed by 6 weeks of dedicated though.

 

[Domepiece]

Before dedicated starts, your goals should be:
1) First pass of First Aid
2) First pass of Pathoma videos, adding annotations to First Aid from those videos
+/- First pass of sketchy videos
Some people are die hard Anki people on here. Do it if thats how you operate, but the length of time doing hundreds to thousands of notecards each day was too much of an opportunity cost for me personally.

These goals can be accomplished by setting aside ~30 minutes per night to study for Step 1. You will thank yourself 100 times over when dedicated comes around that you've done this. Save UWorld for dedicated.

I'd also recommend holding off on starting to study for dedicated until ~August if you are taking it just after the Holidays in Jan. My school takes Step 1 after core year and the testing period fell in the Dec-Feb window as well.

 

[NonTrad16]

I could only retain sketchy pharm/micro using Anki, and would definitely recommend having the majority of those two completed before dedicated. Will make life easier. Learn some path/phys in the videos, and they can be easier/fast points.