Not using school's lectures/ Powerpoints

[Strider_91]

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US MD 1st year
So after a section that was taught particularly poorly at my school I started just using Pathoma, Sketchy, First aid, and/ or boards and beyond to prepare for our exams almost exclusively (I listen to like 10% of lectures, usually the ones presented by clinicians).

I have been scoring within a standard deviation of the average on every test (but usually on the higher side of the avg) and feel that I have been learning the material quite well. I am studying much less than I used to and have been able to keep up with old stuff (100 cards/ day) except for right before an exam.

I read someones step advice yesterday and they really suggested "trusting your schools curriculum" because these board review sources do not go into enough detail to really understand things which idk if I agree with.

Do you think im shooting myself in the foot by using these high yield sources as my primary learning source? My grades have gone up since doing it but maybe im just better at taking tests now.

Anyone know anyone who employed a similar method and crushed step?

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Use both. I had plenty of Step 1 questions that were not covered by my high-yield resources and (I think) I got them right because I paid attention to the lectures.

 

[68PGunner]

Skip the PhD lectures and listen to the MD lectures.

 

[Strider_91]

Skip the PhD lectures and listen to the MD lectures.

This is essentially what I have been doing, just can you clarify that his wasn’t actually sarcastic?

 

[Nucleophile1]

If your grades have gone up, then you should definitely keep doing what you are doing. If you are concerned, you can skim through your professor's lectures to pick up the important information.

 

[68PGunner]

This is essentially what I have been doing, just can you clarify that his wasn’t actually sarcastic?

This is what I have been doing for all of second year while managing to do 60-80 Qbank quests per day. There’s no point to learn and take notes from 80-120 ppt slides for each hr of PHD lecture when I can just dive into Qbank and make sure that I get all important key infos that I need to know. NBME projects that I will do very well on my USLME. No regrets so far.

 

[68PGunner]

When I mean skipping PhD lectures, I mean skipping all physiology, embryo, and anatomy lectures and diving right into Zanki deck for these sections. Sure, I will miss certain bs that some PhDs take straight from their slides — usually the histology quests. But, I rarely get below 90% on my anatomy and Physiology quests in both Uworld and in class exams so I dgaf.

 

[Strider_91]

When I mean skipping PhD lectures, I mean skipping all physiology, embryo, and anatomy lectures and diving right into Zanki deck for these sections. Sure, I will miss certain bs that some PhDs take straight from their slides — usually the histology quests. But, I rarely get below 90% on my anatomy and Physiology quests in both Uworld and in class exams so I dgaf.

This is exactly what I have been doing. It seems to work well.

 

[operaman]

I tend to suggest people give adequate attention to their class materials so that they actually learn the material before reviewing it, but many of the review materials do a better job presenting some concepts than the faculty do teaching them. Many people do fine on Step after favoring the review sources, and your approach seems to have helped your grades as well, so it's hard to argue with what's obviously working for you.

There is a decent amount of material on step that isn't covered in review sources, simply by virtue of how much information is fair game for the exam. While it's hard to put a percentage on, there are a number of "low yield" topics that add up to real points (things like anatomy and social sciences, etc). Obviously these aren't what you want to be studying during your dedicated prep time, but might be worth learning over the 2 preceding years of class time. Maybe feel it out and see if you can shift a little time back toward your lectures, especially better-taught ones, without giving up any of the ground you've gained academically. Don't forget that the NBME also has access to review sources and are always re-writing questions so that they are testing your understanding rather than your ability to memorize a page of a review book.

I can say I've never heard someone come out of step 1 and feel like they went in knowing too much and feeling too comfortable with the material.

 

[Strider_91]

I tend to suggest people give adequate attention to their class materials so that they actually learn the material before reviewing it, but many of the review materials do a better job presenting some concepts than the faculty do teaching them. Many people do fine on Step after favoring the review sources, and your approach seems to have helped your grades as well, so it's hard to argue with what's obviously working for you.

There is a decent amount of material on step that isn't covered in review sources, simply by virtue of how much information is fair game for the exam. While it's hard to put a percentage on, there are a number of "low yield" topics that add up to real points (things like anatomy and social sciences, etc). Obviously these aren't what you want to be studying during your dedicated prep time, but might be worth learning over the 2 preceding years of class time. Maybe feel it out and see if you can shift a little time back toward your lectures, especially better-taught ones, without giving up any of the ground you've gained academically. Don't forget that the NBME also has access to review sources and are always re-writing questions so that they are testing your understanding rather than your ability to memorize a page of a review book.

I can say I've never heard someone come out of step 1 and feel like they went in knowing too much and feeling too comfortable with the material.

Appreciate the response. To be fair I have been looking at the lecture outlines and if the topic isn’t covered in a review source I learn it from the school lectures so I think I Ann covering the material.

For anatomy my school uses the team based learning approach and that is a completely seperate Class so I learn all of that through the school.

I think I sort of exaggerated how little I’m using the school curriculum. I am sticking to their plan just not learning it primarily from the professors unless the info isn’t covered by another source.

 

[operaman]

Appreciate the response. To be fair I have been looking at the lecture outlines and if the topic isn’t covered in a review source I learn it from the school lectures so I think I Ann covering the material.

For anatomy my school uses the team based learning approach and that is a completely seperate Class so I learn all of that through the school.

I think I sort of exaggerated how little I’m using the school curriculum. I am sticking to their plan just not learning it primarily from the professors unless the info isn’t covered by another source.

Yeah honestly if you’re grades got better and you feel better about the material, keep doing that until it quits working.

Sometimes when I’m replying to a thread I try to consider not just the OP but also others who might read it. I think there’s a lot of medical school mythology that has developed out of advice that was intended for one person in one situation and taken out of context by others. I’ve known people like you who took your approach and ended up crushing step one while also doing better in their classes; their use of review sources was actually, for them (and you) a more effective and efficient means of study. But then I’ve seen others come along and struggle in class, switch to an all boards review strategy because someone told them that was the secret, and see their grades drop to barely passing and then end up struggling on step as well. I believe that learning this material is ultimately a very personal thing and everyone finds their own mix of methods that gets the job done.

 

[zero0]

I'd still study the lectures. Prepping for boards myself but fwiw I regularly come across q-bank questions that I would not have gotten right otherwise. I'm kind of moving away from watching lectures though and just reviewing the powerpoints instead. It's just much faster and the loss of yield seems minimal.

 

[68PGunner]

US MD 1st year
So after a section that was taught particularly poorly at my school I started just using Pathoma, Sketchy, First aid, and/ or boards and beyond to prepare for our exams almost exclusively (I listen to like 10% of lectures, usually the ones presented by clinicians).

I have been scoring within a standard deviation of the average on every test (but usually on the higher side of the avg) and feel that I have been learning the material quite well. I am studying much less than I used to and have been able to keep up with old stuff (100 cards/ day) except for right before an exam.

I read someones step advice yesterday and they really suggested "trusting your schools curriculum" because these board review sources do not go into enough detail to really understand things which idk if I agree with.

Do you think im shooting myself in the foot by using these high yield sources as my primary learning source? My grades have gone up since doing it but maybe im just better at taking tests now.

Anyone know anyone who employed a similar method and crushed step?

I should have done this from the beginning, but if your learning style is like mine, here’s my suggestion:
1) Use Zanki to finish every block by 1 week ahead of time
2) In your last week, you should do about 100-200 Kaplan quests and 150-250 Uworld quests. Yes, I’m serious about the Uworld quests.

In my opinion, you should use Kaplan and Uworld explanations as your primary tool to take excessive notes instead of class materials. Make sure to get all the details down for each quest to fill in your knowledge gaps. Make notes to fill in knowledge gaps, not notes to get the same quest right the next time.

Since you get started on Uworld quests so early, in 12 months in preparation for board, you won’t remember any of the questions, and thereby can reuse them again on your 2nd or third trial to test for knowledge competency.

 

[Strider_91]

I should have done this from the beginning, but if your learning style is like mine, here’s my suggestion:
1) Use Zanki to finish every block by 1 week ahead of time
2) In your last week, you should do about 100-200 Kaplan quests and 150-250 Uworld quests. Yes, I’m serious about the Uworld quests.

In my opinion, you should use Kaplan and Uworld explanations as your primary tool to take excessive notes instead of class materials. Make sure to get all the details down for each quest to fill in your knowledge gaps. Make notes to fill in knowledge gaps, not notes to get the same quest right the next time.

Since you get started on Uworld quests so early, in 12 months in preparation for board, you won’t remember any of the questions, and thereby can reuse them again on your 2nd or third trial to test for knowledge competency.

Hmmm I have always heard to save the u world questions. I need to strongly consider this. I do think that I would probably forget them by the time dedicated came around but idk it is hard for me to go against well accepted advice. I have been doing the usmle rx questions to prepare for shelf exams. Don’t know if it’s working because I am just now taking my first shelf.

The other suggestions is basically what I have been doing.

 

[68PGunner]

Hmmm I have always heard to save the u world questions. I need to strongly consider this. I do think that I would probably forget them by the time dedicated came around but idk it is hard for me to go against well accepted advice. I have been doing the usmle rx questions to prepare for shelf exams. Don’t know if it’s working because I am just now taking my first shelf.

The other suggestions is basically what I have been doing.

Uworld explanations are superior to any other Qbanks and class materials. For example, I didn’t know that acute pancreatitis is a major risk factor to ARDS until I got hit w/ that in Uworld. We had a one hr lecture covering ARDS from a pulmonologist and there isn’t even a slide mentioning that fact.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Uworld explanations are superior to any other Qbanks and class materials. For example, I didn’t know that acute pancreatitis is a major risk factor to ARDS until I got hit w/ that in Uworld. We had a one hr lecture covering ARDS from a pulmonologist and there isn’t even a slide mentioning that fact.

You are 100% correct about using Uworld as a study tool. I can still choose blocks that I have already covered and study them (not really that multi-system). There are subjects I thought I knew extremely well until Uworld wrecked me (then again I'm not that strong of a student) --> and this was after going through lectures and Robbins.

I think studying Uworld 6 months out is still a good choice for those who want to use it early.

 

[Strider_91]

You are 100% correct about using Uworld as a study tool. I can still choose blocks that I have already covered and study them (not really that multi-system). There are subjects I thought I knew extremely well until Uworld wrecked me (then again I'm not that strong of a student) --> and this was after going through lectures and Robbins.

I think studying Uworld 6 months out is still a good choice for those who want to use it early.

Do you suggest it for a first year? I have always heard to save it for 6 months out or dedicated. Hard to believe I’d actually remember the questions though a year from now.

 

[Goro]

US MD 1st year
So after a section that was taught particularly poorly at my school I started just using Pathoma, Sketchy, First aid, and/ or boards and beyond to prepare for our exams almost exclusively (I listen to like 10% of lectures, usually the ones presented by clinicians).

I have been scoring within a standard deviation of the average on every test (but usually on the higher side of the avg) and feel that I have been learning the material quite well. I am studying much less than I used to and have been able to keep up with old stuff (100 cards/ day) except for right before an exam.

I read someones step advice yesterday and they really suggested "trusting your schools curriculum" because these board review sources do not go into enough detail to really understand things which idk if I agree with.

Do you think im shooting myself in the foot by using these high yield sources as my primary learning source? My grades have gone up since doing it but maybe im just better at taking tests now.

Anyone know anyone who employed a similar method and crushed step?

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Now temper this with knowledge (which should be found from your senior students) that some professors will test upon their own research, or upon minutiae from their slides, OR that there is material missing in Board review that you will be tested on. Many SDNers seem to mistake this with minutiae.

TLDR: if your study style is working, go with that.

 

[Strider_91]

Hmmm I have always heard to save the u world questions. I need to strongly consider this. I do think that I would probably forget them by the time dedicated came around but idk it is hard for me to go against well accepted advice. I have been doing the usmle rx questions to prepare for shelf exams. Don’t know if it’s working because I am just now taking my first shelf.

The other suggestions is basically what I have been doing.

I have decided I’m gonna do UWorld questions. There’s zero chance I remember it by next year.

I am an anki die-hard. How do you suggest I make notes based on the gap in material. Would anki cards work for this?

 

[IslandStyle808]

I have decided I’m gonna do UWorld questions. There’s zero chance I remember it by next year.

I am an anki die-hard. How do you suggest I make notes based on the gap in material. Would anki cards work for this?

Don't do Uworld yet. Just do Usmlerx or Kaplan Qbanks if you have a 1st year curriculum with pathology. Save Uworld for 2nd year.

 

[Jojos]

i did what you are doing now and it worked great. only used the school provided stuff when i knew the lecturere based the exam specifically off of the material s/he gave us. Since it was **** most of the time i turned to the step review sources. I think you should be fine.

 

[intubesteak]

I have been doing a similar thing for the past year or so, except I like to read textbooks to understand the material. I do skim the powerpoints but I do not listen to lectures or anything. I also highly recommend uworld, but I would wait until you are in systems, but do not wait any longer than that. Once you start systems, do every single question for the block. I also did most/all of Rx questions and also the Robbins questions. A little overkill but doing questions and doing flashcards are KEY, once you have conceptualized the material from lecture or reading. Just about to start dedicated and my peers who religiously "studied the slides" are panicking because they realize how much we don't cover in class...

Also firecracker was awesome for filling in gaps and hammering home the stuff you have to memorize.

 

[mehc012]

I'm doing the same thing. (Firecracker, Boards and Beyond, Sketchy, Pathoma) Grades dropped from a standard deviation or two above on exams to below average on the last one.

An important note - Firecracker covers a significant amount of additional information (diseases, terms, bugs, etc.) that is not cited to be in FAPS (not sure if it's found in Uworld) so I feel confident that I'm learning all the extra info that people claim to get from class and not boards review books. I'd be pretty shocked to find a boards question that is not covered by FC. You need to find a way to learn the extra info not in FAPS + BB because there's plenty.

Just curious, as most of the info in FC is sourced from FA, Pathoma, or Sketchy, where that info comes from. I'd be curious to see if you could look at the sources on the next few FC questions you notice that you think are beyond FAPS and let me know...may find another great resource to use!

 

[IslandStyle808]

Just curious, as most of the info in FC is sourced from FA, Pathoma, or Sketchy, where that info comes from. I'd be curious to see if you could look at the sources on the next few FC questions you notice that you think are beyond FAPS and let me know...may find another great resource to use!

I also use FC at times when I need specific material to study. It actually utilizes sources outside of UFAP and sketchy. I would find links to osmosis video or pubmed articles. However, it has explanation which seem very comprehensive in comparison to FA.

 

[68PGunner]

If the question is not in First Aid, then they do not provide a resource or explanation as to why they included the information. I assume that a lot of these questions might be pulled from answer choices/explanations in UWorld.

For example, under the single topic "mitochondrial diseases" FC covers detailed information about Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, Leigh Syndrome, Kearne's Sayer Syndrome, Myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibers. None of these conditions are in First Aid or Pathoma to the best of my knowledge. This is also just 1 topic out of 1,169 topics. My main point to the OP being, FAPS is not comprehensive enough and you need to learn from more than just those resources.

Those quests are covered in Uworld, Kaplan, and USMLERx Qbanks. I have seen them.

 

[68PGunner]

I have been doing a similar thing for the past year or so, except I like to read textbooks to understand the material. I do skim the powerpoints but I do not listen to lectures or anything. I also highly recommend uworld, but I would wait until you are in systems, but do not wait any longer than that. Once you start systems, do every single question for the block. I also did most/all of Rx questions and also the Robbins questions. A little overkill but doing questions and doing flashcards are KEY, once you have conceptualized the material from lecture or reading. Just about to start dedicated and my peers who religiously "studied the slides" are panicking because they realize how much we don't cover in class...

Also firecracker was awesome for filling in gaps and hammering home the stuff you have to memorize.

This here. You can learn all the details that you want but you need to see how test makers attack a topic from multiple angles and then make Anki flash cards in order to train your mind to beat the test makers at their games.

 

[68PGunner]

I have decided I’m gonna do UWorld questions. There’s zero chance I remember it by next year.

I am an anki die-hard. How do you suggest I make notes based on the gap in material. Would anki cards work for this?

To answer your question, this is my routine. I finish Zanki flash Cards for an entire block. Then, I go straight for the kill and do timed mode Organ block w/ 40m quests. Don’t go soft on this one. You need to build up the stamina and speed to real testing conditions. Don’t worry about your %. But, if,you’re using Zanki, you should get average around 70-77% on Kaplan and around 68-72% on Uworld initially.

The major lifting will be done when you go back to content review of each question and make flash cards of possibly knowledge gaps that lead you to select the wrong answers. I honestly believe that you will hit 230-235 min as your baseline before dedicated if you dgaf about your preclinical grades and follow this routine.

 

[intubesteak]

A lot of the firecracker extra content seems like it comes straight from Robbins, with some clinical pearls and stuff mixed in as well. Could be wrong on this but a lot of times I would read a chapter in Robbins and then see stuff almost word for word in firecracker. Who knows..

 

[bananafish94]

This semester I'm taking the plunge and learning primarily from board materials instead of class materials. I've always studied the class lectures in detail to get the lower yield questions on class exams but I just feel like I can no longer justify spending that much time on class now that Step 1 is looming. Hopefully it won't come back to bite me!

 

[zhuang]

When I mean skipping PhD lectures, I mean skipping all physiology, embryo, and anatomy lectures and diving right into Zanki deck for these sections. Sure, I will miss certain bs that some PhDs take straight from their slides — usually the histology quests. But, I rarely get below 90% on my anatomy and Physiology quests in both Uworld and in class exams so I dgaf.

What are the materials you use to help you understand in the first time? I am M1. Just want to find the most efficient way to study. Thanks

 

[slowthai]

What are the materials you use to help you understand in the first time? I am M1. Just want to find the most efficient way to study. Thanks

He's gone. Permanently, lol. But I use BnB. Most people seem to run it before seeing the relevant Zanki cards, but I prefer to learn the details first and then connect the dots with BnB. I also do it this way because starting off with a fast Zanki session really starts off my day of studying right (active studying), and then I can "chill" (passive studying) while watching BnB.

 

[thatchemguy]

He's gone. Permanently, lol. But I use BnB. Most people seem to run it before seeing the relevant Zanki cards, but I prefer to learn the details first and then connect the dots with BnB. I also do it this way because starting off with a fast Zanki session really starts off my day of studying right (active studying), and then I can "chill" (passive studying) while watching BnB.

With this method, how do you understand any of the new Zanki cards you do on a given day without context? Or do you just start memorizing the cards right away?

 

[slowthai]

With this method, how do you understand any of the new Zanki cards you do on a given day without context? Or do you just start memorizing the cards right away?

I make sure to read the extras section every time. It provides me with that greater context. It honestly doesn't matter which order you do it in. You just have to make sure that you understand the content at the end of the day. I'm constantly doing practice questions, so I'm testing my understanding all the time.

 

[thatchemguy]

I make sure to read the extras section every time. It provides me with that greater context. It honestly doesn't matter which order you do it in. You just have to make sure that you understand the content at the end of the day. I'm constantly doing practice questions, so I'm testing my understanding all the time.

Gotcha. I'm just now starting my systems blocks (I'm an M1, and we do physio only for first year) so I'm trying to find a good study regimen that I could try out. So far, I've read that reading Costanzo + doing Zanki/BB for that relavent system is the way to go. Should I also supplement with practice questions everyday, and if so, which resources do you use?

 

[slowthai]

Gotcha. I'm just now starting my systems blocks (I'm an M1, and we do physio only for first year) so I'm trying to find a good study regimen that I could try out. So far, I've read that reading Costanzo + doing Zanki/BB for that relavent system is the way to go. Should I also supplement with practice questions everyday, and if so, which resources do you use?

Yeah, I used to read Costanzo too but I dropped it because I found that BnB had me covered.

In regards to questions, it's really up to you. I'm really trying to work on my test taking skills and deepen my understanding/knowledge of the content. That's why I do them.
I use Pretest, Thieme's, BRS, Guyton, and the BnB questions at the end of every video that I watch. That nets me about 200-500 questions per system.

 

[zhuang]

Do you use UWorld, Rx & Kaplan Qbank? Thanks

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Yeah, I used to read Costanzo too but I dropped it because I found that BnB had me covered.

In regards to questions, it's really up to you. I'm really trying to work on my test taking skills and deepen my understanding/knowledge of the content. That's why I do them.
I use Pretest, Thieme's, BRS, Guyton, and the BnB questions at the end of every video that I watch. That nets me about 200-500 questions per system.

I think zhuang may have forgotten to quote you, but I would also like to know. Do you use other resources other than the ones you listed to practice. The other poster had talked about doing Kaplan Q's and UW Q's at the end of their blocks.

 

[slowthai]

I think zhuang may have forgotten to quote you, but I would also like to know. Do you use other resources other than the ones you listed to practice. The other poster had talked about doing Kaplan Q's and UW Q's at the end of their blocks.

Yeah, he was an M2 at the time, so it makes sense that he was using Kaplan and Uworld. I'm planning to run Kaplan, Rx, and UWorld during M2 as well. I'm an M1 so it doesn't make sense to do it now because I haven't been exposed to all of the path yet.

The ones I mentioned are for M1 phys.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Yeah, he was an M2 at the time, it makes sense that he used Kaplan and Uworld. I'm planning to run Kaplan, Rx, and UWorld during M2 as well. I'm an M1 so it doesn't make sense to do it now because I haven't been exposed to all of the path yet.

The ones I mentioned are for M1 phys.

Ah that makes sense, for the resources you mentioned is it fairly easy to go in and find the pertinent questions that match up to your curriculum?

 

[slowthai]

Ah that makes sense, for the resources you mentioned is it fairly easy to go in and find the pertinent questions that match up to your curriculum?

Honestly, I just do all of them. Like if we're in cardiovascular, for example, I do the cardiovascular chapter in each resource.