My Spring Break 8 Day Power Plan

[Blondnuttyboy]

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Hey all,

I want to drop 80 hrs/8 days over my spring break. (Pls don't tell me to "take it easy" or "take one last vacation").

What I was thinking was tackling Robbins 1-7. For some reason, I keep hearing it's a good investment to get these first 7 ch. down cold.

50-100 qbank ?s/day.

Tackling Bio-stats and Psych. Both easy enough to finish in a week.

2 hours of Pharm/Day.

This should represent a nice, well-rounded 8 days.

Thoughts? I go in June btw.

 

[Krazykyle]

lame. Not enough time/day.

 

[Krazykyle]

Truthfully though, I think unless you are slow with statistics than doing any biostats is low yield and questions should be adequete assuming your school has had some level of epidemiology. I also feel the same way about psych.

I think the highest yield stuff at this point would be making sure you have microbiology down cold as well as biochemistry so you can spend maximum 2-3 days on those topics in summer and focus on pathology/questions and not have to learn basics that are important to answering every integrated questions.

Pharm is always good, but I don't find that long days of it are effective. I have found the best way for me to learn it is to do a little bit of it every day and make sure I review every drug for each unit a couple times a week even if it is just a glance.

I personally think Robbins 1-10 is very high yield stuff, and am going to be going through it this next two weeks and using spring break to get my biochem down cold so I don't have to spend almost any time with it, and make sure I know all my genetics and facts including bacteria, viruses, organisms and infectious disease drugs.

Mine:

Lippincotts Biochem - Read all of it
Robbins - Ch. 1-10
Tons of questions
Re-read BRS Physiology

 

[Blondnuttyboy]

Krazyk - I was just trying to come up with two subjects to cover --> you're right. Micro and BioChem are probably better bets at this point. More high yield and more important for repetition.

Only reason i wanted to drill pharm is b/c of exposure to SE. I feel like every question I see is regarding side effects.

Robbins 1-10 eh? I'm sure I can get through 10 chapters in 8 days. I've never even opened a Robbins.

 

[Krazykyle]

Krazyk - I was just trying to come up with two subjects to cover --> you're right. Micro and BioChem are probably better bets at this point. More high yield and more important for repetition.

Only reason i wanted to drill pharm is b/c of exposure to SE. I feel like every question I see is regarding side effects.

Robbins 1-10 eh? I'm sure I can get through 10 chapters in 8 days. I've never even opened a Robbins.

Gotcha, gotcha. Like 50% of our exams are direct quotes from Robbins so I have seen it in that context before making it an easier read, but yeah for a first time through I think just getting 1-4 down for your basic path would be pretty admirable over that time frame.

 

[Nikki2002]

i'm reading First Aid cover to cover on Easter.


i will eat Peeps to stay awake and focused.

 

[Gozar]

Robbins 1-10 eh? I'm sure I can get through 10 chapters in 8 days. I've never even opened a Robbins.

The first time through Robbins will hurt. Some of the first ten chapters (environmental) are not all that great, and others (infectious disease) are better skipped and covered using a dedicated source. The key thing to get from Robbins is a more fundamental understanding of pathology. Unless you're a savant memorizing ten chapters in 8 days is not possible. Getting a real handle on inflammation is definitely doable. It makes reading/listening to Goljan really click.

 

[ChiDO]

i'm reading First Aid cover to cover on Easter.


i will eat Peeps to stay awake and focused.

I plan on putting my peeps in the microwave, oh and, probably not doing that first part..reading FA....

 

[badasshairday]

Tentative plan. RR path cover to cover and all of webpath questions again.

 

[Krazykyle]

Tentative plan. RR path cover to cover and all of webpath questions again.

Are you done with year 2 stuff already? That seems like a waste if you still have units to cover. We still have like 3 domains left.

 

[badasshairday]

Are you done with year 2 stuff already? That seems like a waste if you still have units to cover. We still have like 3 domains left.

We will be nearly done by then. Just before spring break we will cover male/female path, the only thing left afterwards is going to basically be kidney and skin. So it would be cool to read at least all the stuff we covered from 1st semester to half of second semester

 

[MDpride]

Tentative plan. RR path cover to cover and all of webpath questions again.

I plan to do same along with micro and biochem.


If I can do that, board study break study would be relatively easier.

 

[badasshairday]

I plan to do same along with micro and biochem.


If I can do that, board study break study would be relatively easier.

Most definitely. I mean, I only have a week off, so the micro/biochem for me would just be to read through it in FA and do the USMLERX questions before classes let out. Also I will be keeping up with FA with my classes thus far, hopefully can do as many Rx questions as possible. But I specifically want to knock out FA micro/biochem before my last days of class.

 

[rockchalkjdoc]

I plan on putting my peeps in the microwave

Be sure to get a lot of pilot research in before you take on such a weighty project:
http://www.peepresearch.org/

 

[Blondnuttyboy]

So slightly modified - I think Robbins alone is a waste of time and that Goljan's + supplements from Robbins if something is unclear is a better use of time.

50-100q/day. BRS PSIO cover to cover. Micro/Bio-Chem From First Aid.
Psych over one weekend because it's a joke. and repetition for the kill.

 

[Doctorverardoll]

I wasn't a fan of Lippencott's for Biochem and was thinking of doing review over spring break. Any recommendations? I was thinking about taking my notes from last year and distilling down. My other goal is super quick anatomy review.

 

[kunfu]

I wasn't a fan of Lippencott's for Biochem and was thinking of doing review over spring break. Any recommendations? I was thinking about taking my notes from last year and distilling down. My other goal is super quick anatomy review.

A popular alternative is Rapid Review for Biochem. Its shorter, and co-authored by Goljan. As long as you have an OK understanding of Biochem I think Rapid Review is the way to go. Lippencotts is great though for its explanations.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Sadly, I'm also going to sacrifice my spring break to the Step 1 gods. I'll probably just read a bunch of Goljan and associated FA sections while doing practice questions. It'll be just like college again except without the sex, booze, vacation, fun, and relaxation.

 

[RapidReview]

Sadly, I'm also going to sacrifice my spring break to the Step 1 gods. I'll probably just read a bunch of Goljan and associated FA sections while doing practice questions. It'll be just like college again except without the sex, booze, vacation, fun, and relaxation.

I'm on a Taus first pass, so I'm gonna finish up BRS phys for repro and neuro; finish HY neuro; Levinson immuno; CMMRS.

At least that's the plan... hopefully it doesnt turn into a binge drink fest.

 

[username456789]

I've been legitimately considering trying to gun my way through DIT (or as much as I can) in the 9 days I have off to force myself to really get through a significant portion of FA, and do so "actively." But it's kind of a lot of money and I'm not sure that'd really pay off. I'd keep working on it when I could during the first week back from break.

My other options include:
-reading RR Path cover to cover (omitting renal/repro/skin since that's yet to come)
-reading as much of FA as humanly possible
-going through BRS Phys/RR Biochem/etc to do all the boring annotating into FA (trying to finagle a Taus method here)


I really have no idea which plan of attack to use.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'm still trying to figure out what to do, myself. I've been going through FA and Goljan for the last few blocks instead of studying from class notes, so I guess I'll be a tad ahead of the Taus game on neuro, skin/MSK, renal, and reproductive stuff. I also found the time to burn through biochem and embryo in FA. I guess it'd be smart to use my break to get through the rest of FA and Goljan (which I wasn't using through the whole first semester 🙁) so I've seen the material that our path program conveniently did not teach us. Practice questions will follow each section, of course. I'm not sure how much time that will take, but I'd imagine 8 days is overshooting a little, if I'm hardcore. It's probably just right if I actually want to have a little bit of a break in addition to my studying.

I guess I'll see if I can organize all the stuff I missed last semester into pairs, Taus style. That would make the most sense to me and probably be the easiest to execute.

 

[FutureDoc4]

Just out of curiosity have you all basically given up on reading robbins as of now? I just dont know where you all find the time to do all of this. I have been trying to continue my Robbins/Goljan reading and adding in some biochem and USMLERx questions into the mix. Other than that, I feel as though I have little time (though I am also adding in G-money audio and am I have been sticking to Daddy Robbins--ugh).

 

[username456789]

Just out of curiosity have you all basically given up on reading robbins as of now? I just dont know where you all find the time to do all of this. I have been trying to continue my Robbins/Goljan reading and adding in some biochem and USMLERx questions into the mix. Other than that, I feel as though I have little time (though I am also adding in G-money audio and am I have been sticking to Daddy Robbins--ugh).

I'll be honest, I don't even own Robbins. I've been trying to follow along with Goljan since right before Christmas.

I've done very well in class, but now I sometimes wonder if I should've sacrificed some of that minutiae-memorizing in lieu of reading some Robbins or something.

 

[username456789]

I guess it'd be smart to use my break to get through the rest of FA and Goljan (which I wasn't using through the whole first semester 🙁) so I've seen the material that our path program conveniently did not teach us.

Exact same boat, man.

I guess I'll see if I can organize all the stuff I missed last semester into pairs, Taus style. That would make the most sense to me and probably be the easiest to execute.

What do you mean "into pairs"?

 

[RapidReview]

Just out of curiosity have you all basically given up on reading robbins as of now? I just dont know where you all find the time to do all of this. I have been trying to continue my Robbins/Goljan reading and adding in some biochem and USMLERx questions into the mix. Other than that, I feel as though I have little time (though I am also adding in G-money audio and am I have been sticking to Daddy Robbins--ugh).

i still read robbins, but that's also bc my path class does not give class notes, although we get a lab manual which has alot of the higher yield topics as well as images for our tests. this may sound dumb, but i've considered quitting reading robbins, but i just read female gu and i only got a few more hundred before i can say i read all of it haha.

just an fyi: im not doing amazing in my path class - just a B.

 

[MilkmanAl]

What do you mean "into pairs"?

Oops, that was kind of a stream-of-consciousness post. I meant I'd read the corresponding sections of FA and Goljan together: renal FA with renal Goljan, etc. Nothing special - just typical Taus stuff minus the BRS phys.

There's no way I could ever force myself to read Robbins. There's just way too much material in it for me to digest. I can usually get through a Goljan section and the related FA material plus about 100 practice questions per day if the reading is of average length. That all probably takes me about 8-ish solid hours of work, including going back through all the questions, so trying to jam in more minutiae that probably won't be on Step 1 isn't in the cards.

 

[illixir]

We finished second year last week so I'm on full board study mode starting this week with spring break but for the past 2-3 weeks I've been reading a chapter of Robbins a day, it takes about 3 hours; i read it like a novel. I highlight things I feel like are important, I've listened to most of goljan once over course of first year and done a few hundred practice questions so I feel like I have an ok filter; we'll see how that goes. Along with the chapter, I do robbins review of path questions for the previous day's chapter as well as robbins flashcards i have. I'm then running behind that first pass with robbins doing the same sections in RR, FA, UCV, and BSS. I'm trying to get all that done before my path exam in late march. Then that'll jumpstart me into memorizing biochem/micro/pharm in first part of april and then DIT and then the exam in early may.

 

[Blondnuttyboy]

I quit reading robbins b/c I can't find one concept/topic that I can't gather, in a more streamlined version, from rr/fa. Just my two cents.

I'm pretty sure the majority of board takers don't read robbins - it just seems so low yield at this point. I think the trick is repetition, repetition. Spring break should be about knocking out subjects that you may not have time to hit during classes. I.e. Micro/Biochem : ) + 50 q's/day.