If you could only pick one, would you rather focus on top 25% or boards?

[Proudfather94]

My school is p/f with top 25% distinction, and alot of second years are coming to the realization that they can crush boards or get the distinction but they can't do both. How important would being top 25% be vs passing step and comlex 1 and going all out on step 2ck and comlex 2?

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[Darrow O'Lykos]

My school is p/f with top 25% distinction, and alot of second years are coming to the realization that they can crush boards or get the distinction but they can't do both. How important would being top 25% be vs passing step and comlex 1 and going all out on step 2ck and comlex 2?

The people in the top quarter of your class are not going to struggle passing their boards.

You need to pass step 1 and comlex 1 on your first attempt, otherwise your rank won't matter.

Nailing Step 2 and Comlex 2 out of the park will open more doors for you than being in the top 25% will, however it is unlikely to nail those if you aren't at least doing well on your shelf exams 3rd year anyway.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

At DO schools probably boards since they don’t have AOA

At MD schools AOA opens up more doors than having a 260+ assuming board score is at least median for specialty

 

[Kardio]

Boards > Clerkship > Preclerkship

 

[Proudfather94]

Thanks guys next year I think I'm going to try to maintain a 80% average for some cushion and spend more time crushing boards. Should I start this summer between os1 and os2?

 

[DrZoidbergDO]

For PF it's not necessary to start that early. I started in winter break of 2nd year and I was chilling in dedicated

 

[Ho0v-man]

Thanks guys next year I think I'm going to try to maintain a 80% average for some cushion and spend more time crushing boards. Should I start this summer between os1 and os2?

The advice I always give is to spend summer vacation on sketchy pharm and micro anki decks so that you catch up to all the material you’ve covered up until the end of M1. Then just add in cards as you go through your curriculum.

This is super high yield for both comlex and step and really isn’t too crazy of a time commitment either.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

The advice I always give is to spend summer vacation on sketchy pharm and micro anki decks so that you catch up to all the material you’ve covered up until the end of M1. Then just add in cards as you go through your curriculum.

This is super high yield for both comlex and step and really isn’t too crazy of a time commitment either.

This is good advice. M2 here and my biggest regret from the summer is not keeping up with my micro and pharm. I refreshed my basic A&P for our first few blocks but wish I focused more on keeping them up to date because we’re in Pulm now and I just reset those cards to start over. Half of them I remember with ease, the other half I could if I kept things up.

 

[Ho0v-man]

This is good advice. M2 here and my biggest regret from the summer is not keeping up with my micro and pharm. I refreshed my basic A&P for our first few blocks but wish I focused more on keeping them up to date because we’re in Pulm now and I just reset those cards to start over. Half of them I remember with ease, the other half I could if I kept things up.

I didn’t keep up with sketchy until summer like I described. Once you get caught up, which only takes a week or two of pain, reviews are only ~ 30 minutes/day. It’s much harder to do this during the semester though.

Keep at it. I promise in March you’ll be MUCH less miserable than your peers.

 

[Proudfather94]

The advice I always give is to spend summer vacation on sketchy pharm and micro anki decks so that you catch up to all the material you’ve covered up until the end of M1. Then just add in cards as you go through your curriculum.

This is super high yield for both comlex and step and really isn’t too crazy of a time commitment either.

Would uworld and boards and beyond work if you don't want to do anki? Our school doesn't go dedicated and I'm thinking of hitting up pharm, biochem, and anatomy over the summer.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Would uworld and boards and beyond work if you don't want to do anki? Our school doesn't go dedicated and I'm thinking of hitting up pharm, biochem, and anatomy over the summer.

It’s hard for me to say with confidence as uworld for step 1 now has like 1500 more questions or something. So what I’m saying is based on performing well on it in 2019.

So anatomy is pretty low yield tbh, especially for step 1. I definitely wouldn’t waste time on that and just learn the very small amount in uworld. Also between 2 USMLE and 3 comlex exams I’ve yet to be tested on embryology.

I went ham on biochem and knew so much. I knew every little thing in Zanki biochem and boards and beyond. Step 1 literally asked me nothing outside of FA biochem. Uworld was much harder than that though. A friend of mine ignored biochem and just did well on other stuff and broke 240 fwiw.

Even for people who hate anki, I strongly recommend just sucking it up for micro and pharm. There’s just nothing intuitive about these concepts. It’s all memorization. If you do what I’m saying, you’ll get a random micro question this time next year and think “oh yeah, narwhals” and your life will be so much easier I promise. I guess you could probably do this by watching a couple of videos everyday for 6 months and complete a second question bank for similar results, but that actually seems much less efficient imo. But you do you.

 

[MCAT-boy]

Would uworld and boards and beyond work if you don't want to do anki? Our school doesn't go dedicated and I'm thinking of hitting up pharm, biochem, and anatomy over the summer.

I think we go to the same school. We get dedicated time! Its from May to the end of June, but you can always take step1/level1 early May and relax for the rest of summer if you have good assessment scores.

I highly recommend sketchy and biochem over the summer since our school has one of longest summer. Add research during the summer too

 

[Proudfather94]

I think we go to the same school. We get dedicated time! Its from May to the end of June, but you can always take step1/level1 early May and relax for the rest of summer if you have good assessment scores.

I highly recommend sketchy and biochem over the summer since our school has one of longest summer. Add research during the summer too

Thanks, maybe the person that told me that thought you had to take in May. I'm going to start with biochem and pharm over the summer and gradually increase my studying until May then. My goal is to use dedicated to hit up my weak points. I know step and comlex 1 are p/f but the next exam builds off of it so you still want to know the material well.

 

[Future_Bone_Docta]

At DO schools probably boards since they don’t have AOA

At MD schools AOA opens up more doors than having a 260+ assuming board score is at least median for specialty

You think AOA helps more than a great board score?

I have always been told boards are king

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

You think AOA helps more than a great board score?

I have always been told boards are king

From a low tier MD school, AOA is almost a prerequisite for getting interviews at places like MGH, BWH, UCSF, JHU. Once you get over like 245ish there is really diminishing returns.

 

[JimBone905]

Board score is the most important factor. Everything else builds on it

 

[deomnibusdubitandum]

From a low tier MD school, AOA is almost a prerequisite for getting interviews at places like MGH, BWH, UCSF, JHU. Once you get over like 245ish there is really diminishing returns.

I'm at a low tier MD and I'd love to read more about this. Where are you getting this info from? I've always been under the impression that while AOA is great, it isn't necessarily a dealbreaker either and that board scores have always been king.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

I'm at a low tier MD and I'd love to read more about this. Where are you getting this info from? I've always been under the impression that while AOA is great, it isn't necessarily a dealbreaker either and that board scores have always been king.

He just means AOA is helpful to get into the "elite" places. But yes, board scores will continue to be king. You'll need a high board score to get into a competitive field. You benefit from being AOA at the elite places, but it's not a dealbreaker without it. And alas, at most programs, being AOA is not a need.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I'm at a low tier MD and I'd love to read more about this. Where are you getting this info from? I've always been under the impression that while AOA is great, it isn't necessarily a dealbreaker either and that board scores have always been king.

Yes I was mainly talking about the top places. Somebody from a low tier MD school probably isn’t matching big 4 IM without AOA

Also n=1 but in the past some people at my school who were AOA matched ortho, optho, neurosurgery etc. without extensive research (some pubs but definitely not above median). I think like half of ortho applicants are AOA for example

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

Yes I was mainly talking about the top places. Somebody from a low tier MD school probably isn’t matching big 4 IM without AOA

Also n=1 but in the past some people at my school who were AOA matched ortho, optho, neurosurgery etc. without extensive research (some pubs but definitely not above median). I think like half of ortho applicants are AOA for example

36% for ortho per the 2022 charting outcomes.

It helps to have, but isn't a requirement.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

My school is p/f with top 25% distinction, and alot of second years are coming to the realization that they can crush boards or get the distinction but they can't do both. How important would being top 25% be vs passing step and comlex 1 and going all out on step 2ck and comlex 2?

I would focus on being top 25% for preclinical curriculum as you're pretty much guaranteed to pass both COMLEX and USMLE 1. I would focus on Step 2 for M3 then focus again on being top 25% for M4.