MD & DO Managable as "dumb" MS1?

[tunaktunak]

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Incoming MS1 here. I've never been a particularly bright student, so something that would take my average classmate 1 hour to learn would take me about 2 hours. It just takes me longer to process information (not sure if it's a learning disability but likely not).

I'm about to start M1 year, and I was planning to keep up with in house lectures, BnB, and AnKing every day along with required group sessions my med school makes me do (~4-6 hours/day).

Could I reasonably do all that within 10-12 hours every day (if I start all those resources from Day 1)? In your experiences, did you struggle a lot finding what works for you in the first few weeks of M1? Ngl, I'm pretty petrified of what's to come, so any advice would be so awesome lol.

 

[acstylin]

I am the same. I spend way more time studying than my cohorts in order to get similar scores. You’ll find that you need to have balance or you’ll quickly get overwhelmed and burnt out. Make time to exercise. Even if you’re not an exercise type person, become one or depression is bound to creep up on you. Also try to form an Anki group to split up card writing from class material (if it’s needed ). Making cards takes a LONG time so don’t be a fool and try to do it alone. Incorporate practice questions to break up the monotony too. I enjoy questions so it’s like a nice break to work on USMLE for a while between the grind.

 

[tunaktunak]

I am the same. I spend way more time studying than my cohorts in order to get similar scores. You’ll find that you need to have balance or you’ll quickly get overwhelmed and burnt out. Make time to exercise. Even if you’re not an exercise type person, become one or depression is bound to creep up on you. Also try to form an Anki group to split up card writing from class material (if it’s needed ). Making cards takes a LONG time so don’t be a fool and try to do it alone. Incorporate practice questions to break up the monotony too. I enjoy questions so it’s like a nice break to work on USMLE for a while between the grind.

Thank you for the advice! I will definitely try to find that balance early on.

Regarding practice questions, are there any question banks you'd recommend to start at the beginning of M1? Obviously I wouldn't want to waste UWorld or USMLE-RX this early, but is there another resource which might be good to use from Day 1?

 

[acstylin]

USMLE would be fine. You’ll still have UWORLD and AMBOSS. BnB also had a bunch. Sketchy does too. They’re more specific and kind of easier but everything helps. I doubt you’ll run out of questions.

 

[Gilakend]

To answer your original question, no I don't think that's realistic. Or at least would not be realistic for me. There's no way I could have done all my reviews, BnB, lectures, and new cards in 4-6 hours or have the will to live after. But I'm also not very efficient and easily distractable. So for me 4-6 hours of "studying" is 2-4 hours of actual studying if I'm lucky.

 

[deleted1079620]

Incoming MS1 here. I've never been a particularly bright student, so something that would take my average classmate 1 hour to learn would take me about 2 hours. It just takes me longer to process information (not sure if it's a learning disability but likely not).

I'm about to start M1 year, and I was planning to keep up with in house lectures, BnB, and AnKing every day along with required group sessions my med school makes me do (~4-6 hours/day).

Could I reasonably do all that within 10-12 hours every day (if I start all those resources from Day 1)? In your experiences, did you struggle a lot finding what works for you in the first few weeks of M1? Ngl, I'm pretty petrified of what's to come, so any advice would be so awesome lol.

That’s seems unrealistic to me, an incoming OMS-2. Why is your school requiring 4-6 hr group sessions of M-1s? Are you in a PBL curriculum?

 

[Billiam95]

Incoming MS1 here. I've never been a particularly bright student, so something that would take my average classmate 1 hour to learn would take me about 2 hours. It just takes me longer to process information (not sure if it's a learning disability but likely not).

I'm about to start M1 year, and I was planning to keep up with in house lectures, BnB, and AnKing every day along with required group sessions my med school makes me do (~4-6 hours/day).

Could I reasonably do all that within 10-12 hours every day (if I start all those resources from Day 1)? In your experiences, did you struggle a lot finding what works for you in the first few weeks of M1? Ngl, I'm pretty petrified of what's to come, so any advice would be so awesome lol.

In the long run, I don't think 10-12 hours/day is sustainable - I think you'll run yourself into the ground quickly. If you really do have 4-6 hours of mandatory activities per day, I think you'll ultimately have to choose between 3rd party or lectures.

 

[Goro]

Incoming MS1 here. I've never been a particularly bright student, so something that would take my average classmate 1 hour to learn would take me about 2 hours. It just takes me longer to process information (not sure if it's a learning disability but likely not).

I'm about to start M1 year, and I was planning to keep up with in house lectures, BnB, and AnKing every day along with required group sessions my med school makes me do (~4-6 hours/day).

Could I reasonably do all that within 10-12 hours every day (if I start all those resources from Day 1)? In your experiences, did you struggle a lot finding what works for you in the first few weeks of M1? Ngl, I'm pretty petrified of what's to come, so any advice would be so awesome lol.

Have a little faith in yourself, and work on the self-esteem. You were bright enough to get into Medical School. You will be fine. Plenty of people in your shoes right now are just like you, they have imposter syndrome.

 

[djiboutiman]

Most people that use BnB will skim the lectures, using BnB as their primary source. Some just do lecture, especially with things being Pass/Fail. I think it would be very hard to keep up with all your lectures and BnB/Anki with a mandatory 4-6 hour in-person session everyday. If you go that route make sure to not try to also do all the lecture associated BnB videos. Instead do 1 BnB video every day and the associated Anki cards.

 

[mesopic]

You will be setting yourself up for burnout with 10-12 hour days of studying and classes. Especially with Step 1 P/F and if your preclinical classes are graded/ranked, I'd focus on in-house material in the beginning of M1. Don't worry about incorporating third party resources at first, just get the hang of medical school in the first couple of weeks. You can add BnB, AnKing (though I don't think the full deck is worth it anymore TBH), etc later.

It also depends on your curriculum and quality of your classes. I would highly recommend Sketchy/Pixorize if you are a visual learner for any micro/pharm/biochem content. If your first block is anatomy, there's a small anatomy anki deck that focuses on high yield Step 1 content that you could try out to get the hang of Anki if that is a goal of yours. If you really are struggling with the lectures due to their quality, then I'd look into supplementing/replacing with BnB.

The only third party resource I'd wholeheartedly recommend from the beginning of M1 is Amboss. Amazing resource as a reference, Anki plugin, and question bank (though the questions are harder than the other qbanks). It's also relatively cheap.

 

[Babble Heap]

There is certainly some degree of variation in study style in undergrad and post-grad programs, but I think that variation becomes even more extreme in medical school. Coming in as a first year, I was under the impression that there was a study style that would predictably yield success. I tried a few "one size fits all" approaches that were recommended by trusted resources, but really struggled until I found my own path. My process required me to pre-read the night before to template flashcards, attend in-person lectures to complete the flashcards, and then review said flashcards many times. In short, I probably spent 4-5 hours working on material that took most of my colleagues <1 hour to learn. That effort paid off, though, when it came time to take the Step examinations and, more importantly, when I started practicing medicine. My "dumb" approach to learning resulted in greater retention of material which continues to pay dividends daily. It was incredibly demoralizing when I was in medical school, but I am very grateful for it now.

You've been admitted to medical training for a reason. Trust that you will find your way to success if you put in the effort.