I'm afraid please help me

[HIghbury]

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Hey Guys,
I know this will not be last email from a 2nd year panicking about the boards. My grades have dropped from my relative to my first year grades.. I keep hearing that your 2nd year grades are a measure of your boards performance. This makes me worried because my grades during 2nd year hasn't be stellar relative to last year. Be that as it may, I am willing not to let that deter me from doing well in the boards.. My question to those who've crossed successfully to the other side (3rd year), please help me with:

1) how to study? I'm lost as to how to study
2) sources of info.
3) how did u budjet your study time for the boards?
4)schedule..
5)help me.... I am desperate... Please.....😕😕😕😕😕😕

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

Okay. First, breath. It's going to be okay.

Now, let's take this slow.

1) how to study? I'm lost as to how to study

Well, first you've got to pinpoint where the problem is. Your grades have slipped. Do you have any inkling why? Are you having trouble covering all the material required of you? Or are you covering it, but not in enough depth? Or are you covering it and finding it difficult? Basically, how is this year different from first year?

2) sources of info.

For grades? School dependent. Some professors test right out of their favorite testbook. Others, right out of notes and syllabus. Talk to your fellow students and senior students to find out how to study best for each class.


For boards? Some board prep books can be valuable for overviews of topics. Personally I liked First Aid (You're going to buy it anyway), BRS Path (Lots of people like Goljan Rapid Review), The Lange Pathophys of Disease book, and a bunch of specific books for organ segments. Remember, these books only serve as a very large overview, need to hit other sources for the nitty gritty. But you're going to use them for boards anyway, so why not?

3) how did u budjet your study time for the boards?

Individual. Personally, studying for the M2 exams WAS my board prep. I thought studying Biochem when I should be learning GI was like "Robbing from Peter to pay Paul" as they say. I then hit board prep really hard the weeks leading up to the exam. I ended up doing pretty good. Other people have different strategies and they did good on the board stoo.

4)schedule..

Sorry? I don't follow

 

[dizzle69]

Okay. First, breath. It's going to be okay.

Now, let's take this slow.

1) how to study? I'm lost as to how to study

Well, first you've got to pinpoint where the problem is. Your grades have slipped. Do you have any inkling why? Are you having trouble covering all the material required of you? Or are you covering it, but not in enough depth? Or are you covering it and finding it difficult? Basically, how is this year different from first year?

2) sources of info.

For grades? School dependent. Some professors test right out of their favorite testbook. Others, right out of notes and syllabus. Talk to your fellow students and senior students to find out how to study best for each class.


For boards? Some board prep books can be valuable for overviews of topics. Personally I liked First Aid (You're going to buy it anyway), BRS Path (Lots of people like Goljan Rapid Review), The Lange Pathophys of Disease book, and a bunch of specific books for organ segments. Remember, these books only serve as a very large overview, need to hit other sources for the nitty gritty. But you're going to use them for boards anyway, so why not?

3) how did u budjet your study time for the boards?

Individual. Personally, studying for the M2 exams WAS my board prep. I thought studying Biochem when I should be learning GI was like "Robbing from Peter to pay Paul" as they say. I then hit board prep really hard the weeks leading up to the exam. I ended up doing pretty good. Other people have different strategies and they did good on the board stoo.

4)schedule..

Sorry? I don't follow

I think OP wants examples of study schedules to follow.

 

[nowai]

Check out the USMLE 2007 experience thread for examples of people's schedules and books.

 

[Terpskins99]

Hey Guys,
I know this will not be last email from a 2nd year panicking about the boards. My grades have dropped from my relative to my first year grades.. I keep hearing that your 2nd year grades are a measure of your boards performance. This makes me worried because my grades during 2nd year hasn't be stellar relative to last year. Be that as it may, I am willing not to let that deter me from doing well in the boards.. My question to those who've crossed successfully to the other side (3rd year), please help me with:

1) how to study? I'm lost as to how to study
2) sources of info.
3) how did u budjet your study time for the boards?
4)schedule..
5)help me.... I am desperate... Please.....😕😕😕😕😕😕

I wouldn't put too much stock into the whole grades:USMLE performance stuff.

I agree with what everyone else has said so far (ESPECIALLY to go to the USMLE 2007 experience thread). Just want to reassure you that it can be done. And frankly, if anything you should look at boards as a 2nd chance to shine DESPITE your grades. Thats the attitude that I took, and it certainly helped.

In my own class, I personally know people that had marginal grades that did pretty well on boards (I'd put myself into this group), as well as students that had VERY good grades that did relatively poorly on boards. The difference was their preparation. The good news is you've already taken the first step by logging onto here.

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I'm not sure how much of 2nd year you have left, but don't let boards studying get in the way of doing well in your remaining classes. If you have some time after classes are over to prepare for step 1, I would focus mostly on your classes for now. If you find you are still struggling in your classes, it won't help matters to be doing a bunch of extraneous boards studying on top of it. Talk to someone at your school (we have "academic development" people who are there just to help us study more efficiently and do better in our classes) about what you might be missing and how you can turn things around for the last part of 2nd year. Once you get classes under control, then you can think about adding some boards study time.