MS2 Struggling w/ Exams

[kl323]

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I really need some advice on how to approach this year.

I've been studying hard and trying do well (at least hitting the mean on my exam). It seems that I can only do it every other exam. On my midterm 2.5 weeks ago I was above the mean by a few points. On midterm #2, I was a few points below the mean. This has been happening for a few blocks now!

I don't think its my slacking.. though I definitely question my habit of studying (lots of multitasking and gets distracted a lot). It isn't until the day before the exam when I start to get 150% focused. I plan on trying to change that as well as doing my practice questions from Q banks.

I'm not gunning to know everything fact and detail on the lectures, because my goal is to pass. If I feel my chances are good to HP, I'll put more time to it (like I did this block). I'm just disappointed that I've been below average and I definitely worry about this translating into a poor Step I performance (everyone does say that MS2 and STEP 1 grades have a good correlation).

So anyone know of anyone or have been in situations like this? Not only do I not want this to translate to a bad Step 1, I really don't want this to translate to a bad 3rd and 4th year...

Thanks for reading! Would love any sort of advice I can get.

 

[unsung]

I really need some advice on how to approach this year.

I've been studying hard and trying do well (at least hitting the mean on my exam). It seems that I can only do it every other exam. On my midterm 2.5 weeks ago I was above the mean by a few points. On midterm #2, I was a few points below the mean. This has been happening for a few blocks now!

I don't think its my slacking.. though I definitely question my habit of studying (lots of multitasking and gets distracted a lot). It isn't until the day before the exam when I start to get 150% focused. I plan on trying to change that as well as doing my practice questions from Q banks.

I'm not gunning to know everything fact and detail on the lectures, because my goal is to pass. If I feel my chances are good to HP, I'll put more time to it (like I did this block). I'm just disappointed that I've been below average and I definitely worry about this translating into a poor Step I performance (everyone does say that MS2 and STEP 1 grades have a good correlation).

So anyone know of anyone or have been in situations like this? Not only do I not want this to translate to a bad Step 1, I really don't want this to translate to a bad 3rd and 4th year...

Thanks for reading! Would love any sort of advice I can get.

I feel like Step 1 is a different beast from MS2 coursework grades.

And this can vary drastically by school, so I don't know how well your school follows step 1 material. I know that my school really does NOT teach to the steps... so often I'm learning more clinically oriented "step 2" type material for a school exam... while the details step 1 wants you to know aren't covered very well at all. Other times, professors want you to know random genetics info about cancers that's basically entirely useless (these are NOT the important translocation, etc. type info covered in Goljan!)

Therefore... what I'm trying to say is... don't stress. 😉 It does depend on your school. But at least for me personally, I'm not that worried about acing coursework. It's more about step 1, the long haul, for me.

Like you, I figure it's only worthwhile to put in that extra effort to figure out what the school wants if I have a chance at honoring. And with my school & various curriculum issues we're having, that ain't a possibility for me... lol

But I don't think my school performance is going to translate into step 1 or beyond at all. Because I see some of my classmates (who are presumably scoring at a higher level on school exams), but they've forgotten stuff even just off the last exam. Whereas since I've been doing step 1 review in the background for a while now, I've actually retained a lot of info.

As for MSIII & beyond... once I started studying for step 1, I realized that many of the details actual docs love to pimp you on are RIGHT in Goljan, or GT, or BRS books.

They don't pimp you on the random mess that you get taught in class. (Depending on what your classes are like, I guess.) They pimp you on those finer points covered in any good review book. If you can get yourself to know those few sources really well, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to do well on step 1... or in year 3, for that matter.

To address your OP though... I would set a goal of getting X% on the exam, regardless of the curve. (I.e. could be passing %, or 80%, 85%, 90%... totally depends on your school/class) I mean, if your class average is like a 92% or something, is it really logical to feel "bad" for scoring a 85% on a school exam? Think about it... knowing 85% of the school material doesn't exactly put you in a bad place. The rest of the energy, I would expend on step 1. It's a marathon, not a sprint! Short-term massive memorization of "school details" doesn't necessarily translate into step 1 performance. I mean, I'm sure it can for some people... if they actually retain all that junk... but it doesn't have to.

 

[BigRedder]

If you want to do well, you should simply study as if you are trying to get every question right. It seems like you are working pretty hard but not necessarily going the extra mile, which is pretty much par for medical students, hence you are hovering around the mean. I have experienced being on the cusp of HP/H and not doing the extra bit of studying to get over the hump, and yeah, it sucks.

The solution? Pardon the tagline, but just do it. Spend the extra hour at the library. Read the chapter in Robbins. Get some flashcards. I promise it will pay off in the end. In a couple years, you won't wish you had procrastinated more on the internet. You will, however, enjoy seeing letters other than P on your transcript. And you will know more for Step 1 and your clerkships.

The good news is that if the problem has simply been a lack of dedication, you can fix it. You can start working harder now, working harder to study for Step 1, and working hard during your clinical years. Just be aware that old habits die hard, and you need to actually put in the effort. If you start now, you should have no problem being very successful the rest of this year and on Step 1.

 

[2012mdc]

I really need some advice on how to approach this year.

I've been studying hard and trying do well (at least hitting the mean on my exam). It seems that I can only do it every other exam. On my midterm 2.5 weeks ago I was above the mean by a few points. On midterm #2, I was a few points below the mean. This has been happening for a few blocks now!

I don't think its my slacking.. though I definitely question my habit of studying (lots of multitasking and gets distracted a lot). It isn't until the day before the exam when I start to get 150% focused. I plan on trying to change that as well as doing my practice questions from Q banks.

I'm not gunning to know everything fact and detail on the lectures, because my goal is to pass. If I feel my chances are good to HP, I'll put more time to it (like I did this block). I'm just disappointed that I've been below average and I definitely worry about this translating into a poor Step I performance (everyone does say that MS2 and STEP 1 grades have a good correlation).

So anyone know of anyone or have been in situations like this? Not only do I not want this to translate to a bad Step 1, I really don't want this to translate to a bad 3rd and 4th year...

Thanks for reading! Would love any sort of advice I can get.

They flood you with so much information M2 that doing questions is essential to doing well. Focus your reading based on stuff you struggle to understand and stuff really emphasized in questions. I wasn't a fan of big Robbins at all so I used Robbins Review primarily while only glancing into Big Robbins when needed.

Also evaluate your studying style, I did well M1 and felt like my methods were great. Had to re-evaluate them and change them around several times during M2, be willing to adapt to different material and professors.

Become as efficient as you can b/c when it gets closer to Step 1 you won't have the time just to study harder

 

[ArcGurren]

I feel like Step 1 is a different beast from MS2 coursework grades.

And this can vary drastically by school, so I don't know how well your school follows step 1 material. I know that my school really does NOT teach to the steps... so often I'm learning more clinically oriented "step 2" type material for a school exam... while the details step 1 wants you to know aren't covered very well at all. Other times, professors want you to know random genetics info about cancers that's basically entirely useless (these are NOT the important translocation, etc. type info covered in Goljan!)

Therefore... what I'm trying to say is... don't stress. 😉 It does depend on your school. But at least for me personally, I'm not that worried about acing coursework. It's more about step 1, the long haul, for me.

Like you, I figure it's only worthwhile to put in that extra effort to figure out what the school wants if I have a chance at honoring. And with my school & various curriculum issues we're having, that ain't a possibility for me... lol

But I don't think my school performance is going to translate into step 1 or beyond at all. Because I see some of my classmates (who are presumably scoring at a higher level on school exams), but they've forgotten stuff even just off the last exam. Whereas since I've been doing step 1 review in the background for a while now, I've actually retained a lot of info.

As for MSIII & beyond... once I started studying for step 1, I realized that many of the details actual docs love to pimp you on are RIGHT in Goljan, or GT, or BRS books.

They don't pimp you on the random mess that you get taught in class. (Depending on what your classes are like, I guess.) They pimp you on those finer points covered in any good review book. If you can get yourself to know those few sources really well, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to do well on step 1... or in year 3, for that matter.

To address your OP though... I would set a goal of getting X% on the exam, regardless of the curve. (I.e. could be passing %, or 80%, 85%, 90%... totally depends on your school/class) I mean, if your class average is like a 92% or something, is it really logical to feel "bad" for scoring a 85% on a school exam? Think about it... knowing 85% of the school material doesn't exactly put you in a bad place. The rest of the energy, I would expend on step 1. It's a marathon, not a sprint! Short-term massive memorization of "school details" doesn't necessarily translate into step 1 performance. I mean, I'm sure it can for some people... if they actually retain all that junk... but it doesn't have to.

THIS. This is the major pitfall of most medical school curriculums (curriculae?) in that very few of them teach directly towards doing well on the boards. That being said there's a couple of reasons for this:

1. Some of your lecturers are attendings who are too busy to put in the work or care what is actually tested on the boards because for one and the boards are also very dynamic and change every few years. What they were taught and the way they were taught is probably WAY easier than what we're required to learn now. So they generally just play it safe (and lazy) and teach what they know from their clinical practice and hope desperately that some of it sticks.

2. The ones who aren't MDs are usually PhDs who get bogged down in the mess of basic sciences that defines their research, and therefore lose clinical relevance. This isn't entirely their fault either as they don't always know what is important for clinical practice... they're just lecturers who are being paid to talk about a certain topic and they usually take the one-size-fits-all approach and talk about it as though they're giving a research symposium presentation.

3. Most schools actually PRIDE themselves on having slightly different curricula since it makes them feel "unique" in some fields. For example we have a short unit on transplant medicine including a lecture on liver transplantation which goes way above and beyond step 1 or step 2 required knowledge and talks about cold time, warm time, etc. The most step 1 will cover on transplants is usually about hyperacute/acute/acclerated acute/chronic rejection and the different mechanism + histopath of it... not on the procedures and what arteries to ligate and how to roll the liver off the pancreas etc... that's extremely specialist level material.

So... don't worry if you haven't been up to par necessarily with MS2 exams. The vast majority of these exams try to test your memorization ability, not your knowledge of integration of pathology for step 1. We had a question on one of our exams to the effect of "which of the following HLA types is most important in organ matching?"--something you couldn't have known unless you specifically read that one random line.

I like what I'm doing now - preparing for step 1 on the side in conjunction with my studying so that - though i am preparing individually for each exam and memorizing - i'm also trying to integrate and LEARN the information. This is usually simple and involves UWorld practice questions, Goljan, and Costanzo, and isn't seriously time consuming.