How to study using Board material ?

[Chelsea FC]

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Need advice for people who studied for second year using board material. I am far from a top student in my class but struggle all of first year and still struggling in taking notes quickly and effectively (normally end up 3 days before a exam with great notes but havent studied and having to cram). My intentions of using Board material right now is to pass my classes not to ace step 1 so I know I will have to supplement that with watching lectures to ensure I catch anything that the professor likes. Any help or advice much appreciated.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Was thinking Boards and beyond /Pathoma the organ system, use zanki for that organ and a question back (kaplan-RX) to supplement. Atleast most of my time will be spent on learning rather than note taking. Then spemnd 30 min per lecture seeing if there is anything important to the lecturer I might want to jot down. My largest concern is that I wasnt exactly acing exams first year so board material shouldnt be on my mind but having a way to get over my largest problem (note taking) will free up more time to actually learn the information.

 

[theonlytycrane]

Was thinking Boards and beyond /Pathoma the organ system, use zanki for that organ and a question back (kaplan-RX) to supplement. Atleast most of my time will be spent on learning rather than note taking. Then spemnd 30 min per lecture seeing if there is anything important to the lecturer I might want to jot down. My largest concern is that I wasnt exactly acing exams first year so board material shouldnt be on my mind but having a way to get over my largest problem (note taking) will free up more time to actually learn the information.

^solid plan. Hopefully your pre-clinical is P/F and passing is set to a lowish bar. Note taking sounds super time-consuming and low-yield so try to cut that out as much as possible. Also, stop going to class if you don't have to.

 

[Chelsea FC]

^solid plan. Hopefully your pre-clinical is P/F and passing is set to a lowish bar. Note taking sounds super time-consuming and low-yield so try to cut that out as much as possible. Also, stop going to class if you don't have to.

Pass is a 70% but I nearly was passing for alot of classes in first year so I am nervous about trying this method. But the fact that I nearly passed first year kinda makes me want to try something new. I dont know ??

 

[Roverreign]

Was thinking Boards and beyond /Pathoma the organ system, use zanki for that organ and a question back (kaplan-RX) to supplement. Atleast most of my time will be spent on learning rather than note taking. Then spemnd 30 min per lecture seeing if there is anything important to the lecturer I might want to jot down. My largest concern is that I wasnt exactly acing exams first year so board material shouldnt be on my mind but having a way to get over my largest problem (note taking) will free up more time to actually learn the information.

Note taking was time-consuming for me as well and I quickly stepped away from it after realizing how little I retained for the time spent. Instead, I realized I am very much a visual and kinesthetic learner. So drawing figures and flow-charts was much better and oddly took less time for me. I also found it helpful to teach and learn with peers. Maybe consider finding out your learning style? Some others learn really well from audio/listening to others. I stopped attending lectures for the most part though and instead I would read the textbook chapters associated with them to make my diagrams (e.g. Lily's cardio, Purve's neuro, Robbins, Harrison's, etc.) and like you said, then sift through the lectures at some later point to make sure I covered my bases. Sometimes I used B&B if I had the time and I made my own Anki cards for little details. I also used Rx as a Qbank, not too familiar with Kaplan.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Note taking was time-consuming for me as well and I quickly stepped away from it after realizing how little I retained for the time spent. Instead, I realized I am very much a visual and kinesthetic learner. So drawing figures and flow-charts was much better and oddly took less time for me. I also found it helpful to teach and learn with peers. Maybe consider finding out your learning style? Some others learn really well from audio/listening to others. I stopped attending lectures for the most part though and instead I would read the textbook chapters associated with them to make my diagrams (e.g. Lily's cardio, Purve's neuro, Robbins, Harrison's, etc.) and like you said, then sift through the lectures at some later point to make sure I covered my bases. Sometimes I used B&B if I had the time and I made my own Anki cards for little details. I also used Rx as a Qbank, not too familiar with Kaplan.

I know that anki works for me but its the time it takes to take notes which is killing me. I need to see the info over and over again for it to stick not just watching vids. Its just hard to change your study techniques when exams come so fast

 

[themoonman2]

Are your exams nbme questions or professor written?

 

[Chelsea FC]

Are your exams nbme questions or professor written?

prof written

 

[themoonman2]

I almost exclusively used board material to study, but my exams were old nbme questions, so I'm not sure my perspective can help that much. For what it's worth, I thought boards and beyond was great for introduction to the material and would annotate in first aid as I watched the videos. After I had finished the B&B videos, then I would do usmle rx questions to solidify the knowledge and then review first aid before the exams. The problem here is that you may not learn enough of the nitty-gritty your professors will expect you to know.

Taking handwritten notes is definitely a time sink, so I'd try to minimize that and maximize the number of times you can review the material

 

[themoonman2]

I don't see a problem here.

Screw it, do poorly on your in-class exams. Focus on annihilating your q-banks, NBME exams, and step 1.

I mean, yeah, but you gotta pass the exams

 

[Treebeard]

I don't see a problem here.

Screw it, do poorly on your in-class exams. Focus on annihilating your q-banks, NBME exams, and step 1.

At my school, you could memorize 100% of First Aid and Pathoma and still have a real chance of failing exams or getting lucky and just skirting by with a low 70s score (the latter is of course fine, but the point is you'd be taking a risk by not studying the course materials). I hate it, but its the truth.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Don't take notes. It is literally the biggest waste of time and the people who come up to me to ask for study tips because they are borderline passing are invariably always religious note takers who refuse to let the habit die. Even just reading the material 4-5x will be so much more beneficial than 2x with one pass being a super detailed note taking session.

 

[Treebeard]

Don't take notes. It is literally the biggest waste of time and the people who come up to me to ask for study tips because they are borderline passing are invariably always religious note takers who refuse to let the habit die. Even just reading the material 4-5x will be so much more beneficial than 2x with one pass being a super detailed note taking session.

What techniques do you recommend? I'm specifically looking for efficient techniques to memorize class materials, as at my school just learning FA/Pathoma/Sketchy is not enough - we need the esoteric stuff too.

 

[LutGholein]

Ive found Boards and Beyond to be effective in pairing it with class material— we have a 50/50 mix of NBME and faculty written and often times I spend my time looking at lectures purely just to match key terms to related boards and beyond/First Aid material and rely more on that to do well in the exam. As @AnatomyGrey12 stated—- note taking is a time sink. I like to think of boards and beyond as First Aid with explanations.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

What techniques do you recommend? I'm specifically looking for efficient techniques to memorize class materials, as at my school just learning FA/Pathoma/Sketchy is not enough - we need the esoteric stuff too.

Well if you have the time then make Anki cards. There is no better way to memorize something. BnB is also more in depth than the other board sources and might be used as a replacement.

 

[sunshinefl]

I almost exclusively used board material to study, but my exams were old nbme questions, so I'm not sure my perspective can help that much. For what it's worth, I thought boards and beyond was great for introduction to the material and would annotate in first aid as I watched the videos. After I had finished the B&B videos, then I would do usmle rx questions to solidify the knowledge and then review first aid before the exams. The problem here is that you may not learn enough of the nitty-gritty your professors will expect you to know.

Taking handwritten notes is definitely a time sink, so I'd try to minimize that and maximize the number of times you can review the material

Don't take notes. It is literally the biggest waste of time and the people who come up to me to ask for study tips because they are borderline passing are invariably always religious note takers who refuse to let the habit die. Even just reading the material 4-5x will be so much more beneficial than 2x with one pass being a super detailed note taking session.

@Chelsea FC I am the same as you OP. Semi-struggled through first year and now we have our integrated midterm for 5 systems on Monday. I too have always learned from writing out course material. However, due to volume in medical school, 98% of exams I only see the material ONE time. Literally one. Not learn first then take notes. Not go to class then take notes. My first and only time seeing the material is me sitting at home by myself with the PowerPoints on one screen, first aid on the other, and an old school sheet of paper. I try to cull down what I write, but it’s hard. I always think eh that’s probably not important enough to write down but then I get freaked out and think every tiny word in every diagram and every tiny fact could be a test question. So then I end up writing way too much. Not only is it super time consuming but I’m also giving the same brain space to something 100% important and something 0.01% important.

For each lecture I do a very thorough read, think through, understand, clarify something in first aid, and flip back to compare and contrast with related things I’ve already learned. But then I never see it again before the exam!!!! Unless it’s one of those things where I flip back. Like if I’m learning that a disease is associated with HLA-DR4 and I’m like wait, what else had that? Anyway so my first pass I try to be very thorough and actually Learn/understand. BUT I don’t get enough into long term memory storage by only doing one pass!!!! I always have grand plans to come back and watch the boards and beyond, do usmle Rx, watch the lecture, make a highlights chart version of my notes, etc.... but I never have time!!! By the time I do my first pass boom the exam is in 4 hours.

It’s killing me. I have to do something to reduce/eliminate this hand writing everything out because I NEED to get more repetition in but there isn’t time!! We have around 18 systems lecture hours per week + 3 hours OPP lecture and lab per week + 4 hours Clinical reasoning per week + 2 hours Clinical Medicine lab per week + 5 hours community preceptor every other week + misc other requirements. It adds up!!! Systems classes are optional and I don’t go. The other stuff is mandatory. It takes me on average 4-5 hours with this thorough handwriting and correlating thing I do per each systems lecture hour, which that alone is 72-90 hours per week just to cover the systems material. It’s not sustainable and I barely squeeze the first pass in.

PS also in excruciating neck pain lately from being hunched over writing 14 hours a day 7 days a week.

TLDR: also a read-write learner and it’s taking toooooo long and I’m only getting ONE pass on anything. SOS

 

[takeurmeds02]

Bro, you gotta make your anki cards alongside watching the lecture. It'll take time to get through the lecture obviously but now the "note" is in your anki and you don't have to rewatch a lecture or go over written notes. Depending on how many lectures you have per day, you can start your study period doing your anki from the previous day and then do your lectures from that day. Weekends you can hit a bit harder if you fall behind.

You also have to be comfortable knowing that you don't need to write everything down - some things you already know or are very easy facts so what's the point of writing it down? There's absolutely no way you can take notes on everything.

I personally don't think using review materials is going to change your situation. It could possibly make it worse by giving you too much information to focus on when you already don't know how to synthesize it.

 

[owenwilsonwoah]

I don't see a problem here.

Screw it, do poorly on your in-class exams. Focus on annihilating your q-banks, NBME exams, and step 1.

you seem knowledgeable,

what percentages indicate that someone is doing really well on Qbanks?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

you seem knowledgeable,

what percentages indicate that someone is doing really well on Qbanks?

80% is always a good number.

 

[Save a life]

Bro, you gotta make your anki cards alongside watching the lecture. It'll take time to get through the lecture obviously but now the "note" is in your anki and you don't have to rewatch a lecture or go over written notes. Depending on how many lectures you have per day, you can start your study period doing your anki from the previous day and then do your lectures from that day. Weekends you can hit a bit harder if you fall behind.

You also have to be comfortable knowing that you don't need to write everything down - some things you already know or are very easy facts so what's the point of writing it down? There's absolutely no way you can take notes on everything.

I personally don't think using review materials is going to change your situation. It could possibly make it worse by giving you too much information to focus on when you already don't know how to synthesize it.

I agree with this post. I watch lectures on x2 while making Anki cards/putting Zanki cards into my deck.

Basically, I have a deck for my current class with sub decks for every lecture. As I watch the lectures at x2 I have the “browse” feature of Anki open. I then move cards from the Zanki deck to each lecture deck as I watch the lecture. If there is something I think I will be test on in the lecture that there is no Zanki card for, I make a quick and easy image occlusion card with a screenshot and keep moving forward. I usually will have 50 cards per lecture and most are pre-made Zanki cards.

I can have a 50 minute lecture watched with lecture specific Anki cards in 30-90 minutes. This strategy seems to work perfectly because I can memorize everything quickly and will have all the Zanki deck matured (I.e everything in FA memorized) by the end of this year before step.

After each block I move the Zanki cards back to their respective deck and delete the lecture specific minutia that I made image occlusion cards of.

 

[sunshinefl]

I agree with this post. I watch lectures on x2 while making Anki cards/putting Zanki cards into my deck.

Basically, I have a deck for my current class with sub decks for every lecture. As I watch the lectures at x2 I have the “browse” feature of Anki open. I then move cards from the Zanki deck to each lecture deck as I watch the lecture. If there is something I think I will be test on in the lecture that there is no Zanki card for, I make a quick and easy image occlusion card with a screenshot and keep moving forward. I usually will have 50 cards per lecture and most are pre-made Zanki cards.

I can have a 50 minute lecture watched with lecture specific Anki cards in 30-90 minutes. This strategy seems to work perfectly because I can memorize everything quickly and will have all the Zanki deck matured (I.e everything in FA memorized) by the end of this year before step.

After each block I move the Zanki cards back to their respective deck and delete the lecture specific minutia that I made image occlusion cards of.

This would change my life (maybe? Lol). Wish I was this tech capable.

 

[Goro]

Need advice for people who studied for second year using board material. I am far from a top student in my class but struggle all of first year and still struggling in taking notes quickly and effectively (normally end up 3 days before a exam with great notes but havent studied and having to cram). My intentions of using Board material right now is to pass my classes not to ace step 1 so I know I will have to supplement that with watching lectures to ensure I catch anything that the professor likes. Any help or advice much appreciated.

I recommend using Board materials as supplements, rather than course study material. I've seen too many of my own student crash and burn by trying to get away with only FA and similar.

Keep in mind that your professors all have different ideas as to what's important for Boards (except those dinguses who teach their research).

In particular, with question banks, you should be looking for solutions to either of these situations:

1. Finding out what areas your're weakest in overall (ie, Anatomy, or Hem/Onc)
2. Being able to narrow down possible answers to two choices. If you can't get beyond that's OK. You have some brushing up to do.
3. If you're completely stumped, you've found a big database hole that you need to fill.

Just a caveat: with 2), if you are continually guessing wrong on the final choice, are you second guessing yourself? If so, you are overthinking and need to build up your confidence and trust your gut; go with your first choice answer.

 

[Womb Raider]

Do a first pass of the material to get a “big picture” of the necessary knowledge. Pathoma/FA is great for this. After that, start hammering out tons and tons of questions. Do RX and/or Kaplan then finish with uworld. You’ll start making connections while doing questions and learn how to differentiate between major diagnoses. Somewhere toward the end (when you feel fairly competent) watch B&B - you’ll have the basics down and your brain will naturally start honing in on the “low yield” minutiae that you need in order to get high board scores. Reading is passive and highly overrated. Question banks is the way to go.

 

[21Rush12]

I always recommend B+B alongside the material to build the foundation and then supplementing that with in-house material. It’s a great way to get the basics and it builds your foundational knowledge around what will be Step 1. Pathoma is great also, I liked using it for dedicated since it’s shorter but I always felt B+B was more comprehensive for a first pass.

Using this made it so that for Step 1, more often than not if there was a question about a disease and I only knew one fact about that disease it would be the answer to the Step question.

There’s no one right way, just play to your strengths and change things if they’re not working. A big mistake people make is trying to do 4-5 different things and ending up scattered and scrambling.