lazy studying during years 1 & 2

[Arctic Char]

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can it be made up for with thorough board studying?

just curious if those of you who took step 1 felt a little behind due to more-or-less lax study habits in the first two years. if so, to what extent can you make up for it in board prep? extra time?

 

[path problems]

if u're still in ur first 2 years, study as much as you can and more. trying to pump it up for the boards has not worked for me. but i'll tell u if anything changes when i get my score. it's always the topics and concepts that i mastered in the first 2 years - those are the areas I've done consistently well on during my board prep.

 

[Arctic Char]

thanks for the reply.

i've done well in every subject (i'm beginning MS2), but i honestly know that i could have learned it much much better. at this point i'm starting to rally and really study hard, but allthewhile banking on recall via familiarity for baord review. just trying to gauge if anyone else out there cruised through year 1 & 2, then handled the boards A-OK . . . . it seems doable, as my school's curriculum teaches infinitely bogus details that don't really apply to board type questions.

 

[39094]

I would say that 85% of the knowledge I used on my boards came from my first 2 years of classes. My actual board studying just added that extra 15% and put everything in a framework which made it easy to recall.

My school (as many are) was also bad about going over things in too much detail while ignoring the obvious board-testable material. Study your butt off but realize that what you need for class exams and what you need for Step 1 can often be very different.

 

[Arctic Char]

roger

 

[njbmd]

can it be made up for with thorough board studying?

just curious if those of you who took step 1 felt a little behind due to more-or-less lax study habits in the first two years. if so, to what extent can you make up for it in board prep? extra time?

If you mastered your course material with your "lazy studying", then a good review should get you up to speed for USMLE Step I. When you start your reviews, you should have a good idea of how much you need to buff up.

If you managed to pass your courses, you learned "something", and Step I review might be just the thing for you to put your acquired knowledge to work. I would caution you about thinking that USMLE review will "make up" for anything. Again, if you passed your coursework, you don't need a "make up" but you DO need a good and thorough review to pull everything together.

Set yourself a good study schedule and make sure that you cover your weaknesses in more depth than your strengths. Good luck!