MS0 who will be starting in the Fall, question on how to spend my time? Read all please.

[anesussy]

I find it ironic how frequently posts like this ask for advice from people who've "already gone through it" yet reject the near-unanimous advice from those people to not study at all.

If you insist that you want to spend your free time preparing for a medical career, I would, in order of priority:
1) Either learn medical Spanish or develop a new hobby you're interested in and can do in med school. There is a very short window of time when people will care at all what you scored on boards. They'll always care about who you are as a person.
2) Shadow a diverse group of fields, even stuff you aren't as interested in. I can't quote the source, but anecdotally I've been told 80% of med students go into a different specialty than they initially thought they would.
3) If you have to study, I'd study anatomy, and maybe a little histology. Being able to quickly identify a histology slide - while something you'll probably never actually do in real life - is something you'll always be tested on, including potentially on your medical boards. While having a good knowledge base of biochem is nice, realistically that'll get you the first few weeks of med school at best.

Studying histology is so incredibly low yield. Very questionable advice imo

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[voxveritatisetlucis]

Maybe before step 1 pass fail but now other things are more important.

 

[Ganon]

Memorize sketchy micro and pharm with Anki. Anyone saying pre studying doesn’t help is delusional.

PM me if you need help understanding something. I’ll try my best to answer.

This is what I would say. Absolutely don't study, but if you must it might as well be the stuff you just have to memorize completely, which is micro and pharm.

Sketchy+Anki for micro and pharm are a nice combo, just don't freak out when you see the volume.

 

[deleted849476]

I second what someone said above, you could read costanzos. I did before school started and Phys was easier because of it. Being concept heavy you don’t have to remember little factoids so much as get a bigger picture understanding. And the book is really readable. I annotated it as well bc it helped me learn it. Took only a few weeks a couple hours a day and helped get me up to speed with endurance for longer days once school started. I wouldn’t waste time on memory type stuff like anatomy or Biochem.

 

[Redpancreas]

Hello everyone! I was fortunate enough to get an acceptance this cycle and will be starting medical school this fall. I graduated from undergrad this last December so I do not have work or classes until August when classes start. I wanted to know, what is the best way ahead of time to prep for medical school and get a headstart on material? I know what you're gonna say, "Don't study! Go travel! Go do things you enjoy!" Please keep in mind that I still do these things and have them planned. I am doing this studying of my own volition and need some guidance from those who have already gone through the process. These are the materials I have currently:

I have begun the Anking Step 1 study deck on Anki. Currently doing 40 cards a day in Biochem only, as I majored in Biochem and found this to be a great starting point.

I have bought the most recent First Aid book and also have the newest edition of Netter's Anatomy.

How would you recommend I use Anki, First Aid, and Netter's in the most effective way possible together?

What other steps would you recommend I do to get ahead with all this free time I have? Please refrain from saying anything rude, "Gunner" etc. I am simply trying to make better use of my time. Thanks!

Anything you spend the next 4 months learning even at a moderate pace will touch on at best two weeks of medical school material. Maybe getting that leg up on the first two weeks is important as competition is fierce, but it's not going to make a difference in the long term scheme of things. Maybe you'll honor the first block. What happens with the rest? I suppose if you have nothing better do it, I guess it's something to use that you can occupy your time with.

Biochemistry/Organic Chemistry were two of my FAVORITE subjects. Just know that they are entirely useless for the majority of what matters in medical school and you will not revisit the topics unless you go into genetics, anesthesia research, and a few other niche areas.

 

[NegativeMargin]

I second what someone said above, you could read costanzos. I did before school started and Phys was easier because of it. Being concept heavy you don’t have to remember little factoids so much as get a bigger picture understanding. And the book is really readable. I annotated it as well bc it helped me learn it. Took only a few weeks a couple hours a day and helped get me up to speed with endurance for longer days once school started. I wouldn’t waste time on memory type stuff like anatomy or Biochem.

For someone like me who hasn't done anat and phys for like 7 years would you recommend this Costanzos book, or something else?

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

I understand the sentiment of pre-studying doing no good for students. However, I am a non-trad who has been out of school for FOUR full years. Even my MCAT is years out. Suffice to say, I am incredibly nervous that I do not even remember how to study and lack the focus required to study beyond an hour and a half. So yes, I would like to put some time into re-developing a habit of looking at academic literature. Not for the purpose of giving me a "knowledgeable edge" but to reestablish habits.

I graduated undergrad 5+ years ago, did some postbacc work that ended in 2018, and started med school this past year. Treat it like it's the most important job you've had to date and you'll find your groove just fine. I honored our first few blocks not because I came into med school knowing how to study, but because I knew I'd fail my job if I didn't adapt and figure it out quick. That mindset and treating it like a full time job + overtime will help you succeed. People coming straight out of college struggle to adopt the 9-5 mindset. Study like it's 9-5 and you'll do fine. Adaptability is far more important than recent coursework when it comes to succeeding in your first year, in my opinion. You'll find this resonate truly when you switch from studying things like anatomy to immunology and micro. Often times, the way you study for one block simply won't translate over to the next, so you need to adapt your strategy and find out what works for that material. Non-trads with relevant work experience will often succeed at this better than those fresh out of college.

 

[deleted849476]

For someone like me who hasn't done anat and phys for like 7 years would you recommend this Costanzos book, or something else?

Yea costanzo for sure. I’m not big on pre learning anatomy, you’ll get all of that you need from school, but Phys can’t be learned well enough in my opinion and I found Phys takes time to digest. Anat you can learn in like a week before you lab practical if you have to lol

 

[Bloobury]

1. proceed to your computer
2. google flights to exotic countrys with a large population of attractive women (or men, depending on your preference)
3. Pull out wallet/credit card
4. Book most appealing flight

If after your trip you don't feel like you have obtained a therapeutic response, try again for good measure

THIS. I quit my job and did a LOT of adventuring for 2 months before school started and I didn't regret a single moment of it. I did zero pre-studying.

A few "useful"/practical things you could do now are make sure your vaccinations are up to date (or check titers), get a TB test, buy a new phone/tablet/laptop/bike/whatever other things you want before school starts, go on dates (if you're single), clean/organize your apartment, watch TV, read books for fun, and spend time with your friends. And maybe buy and fill out and address and stamp birthday cards for everyone you love for the next 4 years. Those are things that will be harder to manage when you're busy with school.

 

[IWishIWasBuff]

1) learn how to use Anki effectively so you can hit the ground running
2) learn how to network
3) if you’re socially awkward, practice how to schmooze and be an engaging smooth talker. Fake it if you need. I have honestly seen this be one of the most important skills. I’ve seen my peers have institutional policies bent for them, earn favors from peers and superiors, and gain numerous advantages big and small because they knew how to work their mouth. Especially with P/F step 1, the arms-race now lies with the other ways to shine. Every 4.0/528 M0 thinks they don’t need friends and can megamind big brain their way to derm at MGH with a 300 Step score. Then they find out their peers get better clinical grades and a friendlier working environment because they connect with residents better. They find out their peers are sharing “resources” and insider knowledge. They find out not many faculty, especially the big names, work with M1/2s without a connection, but somehow their better-networked peer is working with the big-shot PI who just rejected you two days ago claiming they “have no projects”. They find out their peers put each other on their papers and get 5x the publications for only 2x the work. Trust me, the biggest gunners in my class didn’t spend the first week studying.

4) however I’d still prepare for step 1 as if it was still scored, especially if you’re going the AnKing route.

 

[la flame]

1. Learn how to use Anki; there is a "standard" deck that medical students use these days called Anking. It's probably the best deck out there and you can probably find it on Reddit/Youtube. Just be familiar with it. Understand the algorithm and the purpose behind Anki. There's really good YouTubers out there that explain it very well.

2. Maybe get a BnB/SketchyMicro subscription. I would suggest mainly watching the Biochem series on BnB in order and watching HY bugs from SketchyMicro like Staph Aureus, Strep Pyogenes, E.Coli, Psuedomonas. Also, I think Immunology from BnB would be pretty nice to have done before med school.

I was pretty bored last summer so I got extremely familiar with Anking + BnB about 1-2 months before I started medical school. I would mainly spend 1-2 hours at the very most just passively watching the videos and doing the cards. So when medical school started, I knew exactly how to use Anki and had already watched some Biochem videos needed for my 1st medical school exam. This was only helpful for my first exam but it helped me hit the ball rolling and I scored above average in my cohort in that exam. Congrats on the acceptance btw !