Okay, if not first aid then what?

[Funny_Current]

That's incomplete, don't forget also to memorize the innervations and blood supplies. Also memorize common anatomical variants. Browse the UMich anatomy practical website to really hammer home core concepts with their self quizzes.

Lol okay, yea. Cause I'm super human and gunning for 260+ so I can match into ortho and make millions over my lifetime


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[DNC127]

That's incomplete, don't forget also to memorize the innervations and blood supplies. Also memorize common anatomical variants. Browse the UMich anatomy practical website to really hammer home core concepts with their self quizzes.

fair enough you could go that far OP, but the reason I left it at muscle & bones is because it provides you a foundation to build upon. Spatial awareness. I found that learning blood supply and innervation was a lot easier after I had what they were supplying already down cold instead of learning it all at the same time

 

[Stagg737]

Okay now you are assuming. See, the problem I'm finding is that I thought maybe, just maybe, the rhetoric from pre allo to allo would change. And yet here again I find that there still are people incapable of being objective. Cool story, bro. Thanks for your time! If you are done coming at me, that'd be cool.

And there's a reason for that. The whole "don't pre-study" thing is one of the few things said in the pre-med forums they actually get right. No matter how hard you try, no matter how organized you are or how much you think you're getting through, you're only going to learn/retain a very small fraction of what you're studying and an even smaller fraction is going to actually be useful to you in med school. If you're really that desperate to pre-study, call your school up and ask what your first class or two will be and try and take an online or summer course for it. Otherwise any studying you do will legitimately be a massive waste of your time. Example:

At my school our first 2.5 weeks was biochem. We covered almost everything I learned in a full semester of undergrad biochem and more in those 2.5 weeks. Had I spent the summer trying to study biochem I probably would have tried to learn glycolysis and Krebs, re-taught myself how to draw all the amino acids, and tried to teach myself mechanisms for various reactions. The latter two would have been completely useless for medical school, and Krebs cycle and glycolysis were literally covered in less than an hour. So my summer would have yielded an hours worth of class time. Sound like a good use of time? Didn't think so.

Honestly, the only actual pre-studying that may not be depressingly low yield is the origins/insertions and innervations for anatomy. You can also try and teach yourself how to draw the brachial plexus and lumbar/sacral plexi from scratch. Other than that, pre-studying will be the most epic waste of your time that you could possibly undertake, at least I'm assuming so because the literally dozens of people I've met who pre-studied said they wish they hadn't and felt like it was useless. You've literally got a dozen people here, and probably hundreds if you count all of the "how should I pre-study" threads, who have already finished their first two years telling you it's a waste of time. Maybe, just maybe most of those people (if not all of them) actually know what they're talking about better than you do (because, you know, they've already done it...).

If you really want to do something useful, figure out the other ways to build your CV or develop yourself professionally. Take a few days to create your CV and really make it look professional. Having one already made will be one less headache you'll have to go through in med school when you can just add stuff to it instead of building it from scratch. You said you're doing research and you don't want to do more, which is fine, but what about other aspects of medicine? Call up docs in 3 or 4 different fields and ask if you can shadow them for a few days. The more exposure you have to different fields, the more of an idea you'll have about what you want to end up doing and you can get started on building your CV for that field earlier. Some fields that won't matter, but if you're shooting for something like ortho or IR, it would benefit you a lot to know sooner rather than later. Try out different apps that you think might be useful during med school like anki, quizlet, or cram fighter. Take a class on personal finances or investments. It never ceases to amaze me how many people are brilliant when it comes to medicine but don't have a clue about the most basic concepts of money management. Maybe you don't need that since you're almost 30, but why not find a decent paying job and work for 3 months? If you can pay for a semester's tuition or your living expenses for a year, it'll go a really long way in terms of saving on interest when you finally start trying to pay your debt back (I saved myself at least 30k in interest by doing this). Or take the 3-4 months to learn a skill or do a hobby that you've always wanted to learn to do.

Seriously, there are literally dozens of things you can do that will be a far better use of your time during those 3-4 months than actually trying to pre-study. There's no reason to try and guess what is worth studying and end up wasting your time. You'll only be creating unnecessary stress for yourself before you even get to the really stressful part of your education. So if you want to be "that guy" that thinks he'll be the special snowflake that really gets ahead of the game by pre-studying, then knock yourself out. Just remember that burnout is very real, and it hit pretty much everyone at some point in med school. The only difference is when it will hit you, and there's no point in making that time sooner than it needs to come.

 

[Funny_Current]

And there's a reason for that. The whole "don't pre-study" thing is one of the few things said in the pre-med forums they actually get right. No matter how hard you try, no matter how organized you are or how much you think you're getting through, you're only going to learn/retain a very small fraction of what you're studying and an even smaller fraction is going to actually be useful to you in med school. If you're really that desperate to pre-study, call your school up and ask what your first class or two will be and try and take an online or summer course for it. Otherwise any studying you do will legitimately be a massive waste of your time. Example:

At my school our first 2.5 weeks was biochem. We covered almost everything I learned in a full semester of undergrad biochem and more in those 2.5 weeks. Had I spent the summer trying to study biochem I probably would have tried to learn glycolysis and Krebs, re-taught myself how to draw all the amino acids, and tried to teach myself mechanisms for various reactions. The latter two would have been completely useless for medical school, and Krebs cycle and glycolysis were literally covered in less than an hour. So my summer would have yielded an hours worth of class time. Sound like a good use of time? Didn't think so.

Honestly, the only actual pre-studying that may not be depressingly low yield is the origins/insertions and innervations for anatomy. You can also try and teach yourself how to draw the brachial plexus and lumbar/sacral plexi from scratch. Other than that, pre-studying will be the most epic waste of your time that you could possibly undertake, at least I'm assuming so because the literally dozens of people I've met who pre-studied said they wish they hadn't and felt like it was useless. You've literally got a dozen people here, and probably hundreds if you count all of the "how should I pre-study" threads, who have already finished their first two years telling you it's a waste of time. Maybe, just maybe most of those people (if not all of them) actually know what they're talking about better than you do (because, you know, they've already done it...).

If you really want to do something useful, figure out the other ways to build your CV or develop yourself professionally. Take a few days to create your CV and really make it look professional. Having one already made will be one less headache you'll have to go through in med school when you can just add stuff to it instead of building it from scratch. You said you're doing research and you don't want to do more, which is fine, but what about other aspects of medicine? Call up docs in 3 or 4 different fields and ask if you can shadow them for a few days. The more exposure you have to different fields, the more of an idea you'll have about what you want to end up doing and you can get started on building your CV for that field earlier. Some fields that won't matter, but if you're shooting for something like ortho or IR, it would benefit you a lot to know sooner rather than later. Try out different apps that you think might be useful during med school like anki, quizlet, or cram fighter. Take a class on personal finances or investments. It never ceases to amaze me how many people are brilliant when it comes to medicine but don't have a clue about the most basic concepts of money management. Maybe you don't need that since you're almost 30, but why not find a decent paying job and work for 3 months? If you can pay for a semester's tuition or your living expenses for a year, it'll go a really long way in terms of saving on interest when you finally start trying to pay your debt back (I saved myself at least 30k in interest by doing this). Or take the 3-4 months to learn a skill or do a hobby that you've always wanted to learn to do.

Seriously, there are literally dozens of things you can do that will be a far better use of your time during those 3-4 months than actually trying to pre-study. There's no reason to try and guess what is worth studying and end up wasting your time. You'll only be creating unnecessary stress for yourself before you even get to the really stressful part of your education. So if you want to be "that guy" that thinks he'll be the special snowflake that really gets ahead of the game by pre-studying, then knock yourself out. Just remember that burnout is very real, and it hit pretty much everyone at some point in med school. The only difference is when it will hit you, and there's no point in making that time sooner than it needs to come.

I really wish I would have worded this original post differently. I'm. I'm not solely focused on studying. Just looking for something to study, but just something more enlightening and meaningful whether it be studying or experience. anyhow, this is the kind of advice I was seeking and I am grateful for your response


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[Stagg737]

I really wish I would have worded this original post differently. I'm. I'm not solely focused on studying. Just looking for something to study, but just something more enlightening and meaningful whether it be studying or experience. anyhow, this is the kind of advice I was seeking and I am grateful for your response

Glad to help. Like I said, I don't think all pre-studying is necessarily a total waste of time, but there's no way to really know what you need to know until you get to med school. That being said, there are so many other things that people can do in those final months of freedom that will be far more beneficial that the easiest way to put the situation is "don't pre-study, it's a waste of time".

 

[Mr Roboto]

Lol okay, yea. Cause I'm super human and gunning for 260+ so I can match into ortho and make millions over my lifetime

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You asked what to prestudy if you were absolutely going to do it. I'd say the blood supply is lower yield than the innervations. At my school the origin/insertion of muscles was very low yield, apart from which ones attach to which tubercles in the shoulder and hip. This isn't stuff to memorize as an ortho gunner though it's stuff that literally every med student in the country has to memorize.

 

[Funny_Current]

You asked what to prestudy if you were absolutely going to do it. I'd say the blood supply is lower yield than the innervations. At my school the origin/insertion of muscles was very low yield, apart from which ones attach to which tubercles in the shoulder and hip. This isn't stuff to memorize as an ortho gunner though it's stuff that literally every med student in the country has to memorize.

I was being facetious!


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[Mr Roboto]

I was being facetious!


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But you forgot the /s tag

 

[Duke1K]

I agree with everyone else in saying that you shouldn't "pre-study." But I also disagree with those who say that there isn't utility in "pre-studying." There are things you can learn right now that will help you over the next four years.

My advice: don't read any of the medical texts that you'll encounter in medical school, and don't focus on anatomy, which is low yield. Take introductory Coursera/EdX/Stanford Online courses in medicine, which will give you the language and some relevant info for next year. The Medical Neuroscience course, for instance, is almost exactly the same one we use at Duke. Epidemiology, if you learn this well, will be incredibly helpful throughout medical school and beyond, and on the behavioral sciences sections of Steps 1-3. You can also learn physiology decently well on your own.

But to emphasize what everyone else is saying, there is plenty of time to learn this more efficiently later when you have teachers guiding you on what's relevant and what's not. This is essentially the last time you'll have to yourself before Match Day 4+ years from now. Focus on developing yourself as a person, however that means to you. Some see the world (to gain perspective that sustains them during medical school), some work (to better inform them on how to succeed in a job like clinical medicine), some train (to build time management skills they'll apply to their study habits), etc. These are the things that really matter in medical school, not how much you know beforehand. You can predict who does well clinically by their personalities, not by how much they know.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pre-study something, I would have read the autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular chapters of Physiology by Costanzo. Not only because it's interesting, but because autonomics and CV physiology are really the most "thought-intensive" subjects in the preclincal curriculum in my opinion (renal physiology or endocrine a close 2nd). You can read those chapters in a week pretty easily, and hopefully you can gain a little bit of a conceptual understanding that will last longer than memorizing a bunch of random stuff. It seems like you have an itch and you need to scratch it. Ths chapters mentioned are interesting and good for understanding. You will want the book for school anyway, so might as well buy it now.

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

I see that everyone says don't study first aid prior to starting medschool. Cool. BUT, if there was one thing you could have studied before hand just for a little leeway, what would it have been?

I would actually disagree that you should study First Aid prior to med school. It wouldn't be a bad idea to buy the latest edition prior to matriculation, then skim through it just to get an idea of the format and how to use the book. I do agree with others who advise using it as a skeleton guide as you go through your preclinical rotations to ensure that you are learning everything the USMLE will expect you to know on Step 1.

However, I think spending any appreciable amount of time studying it prior to med school is overkill. As others have suggested, it's your last chance of some free time...and then it's going to be hitting the books hard and heavy. You risk getting burnt out early if you start ahead of time. Besides, First Aid is very dense and top-level, so I'm not sure how much it's useful for first-time learning versus review of previously learned material. Finally, studying First Aid for an extra 100 hours or so before going to med school would be like studying an MCAT review book before you start undergrad. Do you really think it would have made any difference?

All that said, I think personally, if I could have studied anything prior to starting med school, it would have been some anatomy. I maybe would have started doing some Netter Anatomy flashcards or something like that. At my med school, we started up front with a 2-month intensive anatomy class, and we only got 2 weeks to learn all of the extremities along with dermatomes, nervous innervation, etc. It was a lot of information, particularly since I had been out of school for a year prior and wasn't accustomed to that pace.

So I guess if you feel compelled to study something right before starting med school, my advice would be to brush up on whatever your first class(es) will be...and maybe buy First Aid and skim through it to learn the format and overall gist of material you'll need to learn for Step 1. I think anything beyond that is overkill, won't actually help you, and may increase the rate of burnout.

Good luck!

 

[Funny_Current]

I would actually disagree that you should study First Aid prior to med school. It wouldn't be a bad idea to buy the latest edition prior to matriculation, then skim through it just to get an idea of the format and how to use the book. I do agree with others who advise using it as a skeleton guide as you go through your preclinical rotations to ensure that you are learning everything the USMLE will expect you to know on Step 1.

However, I think spending any appreciable amount of time studying it prior to med school is overkill. As others have suggested, it's your last chance of some free time...and then it's going to be hitting the books hard and heavy. You risk getting burnt out early if you start ahead of time. Besides, First Aid is very dense and top-level, so I'm not sure how much it's useful for first-time learning versus review of previously learned material. Finally, studying First Aid for an extra 100 hours or so before going to med school would be like studying an MCAT review book before you start undergrad. Do you really think it would have made any difference?

All that said, I think personally, if I could have studied anything prior to starting med school, it would have been some anatomy. I maybe would have started doing some Netter Anatomy flashcards or something like that. At my med school, we started up front with a 2-month intensive anatomy class, and we only got 2 weeks to learn all of the extremities along with dermatomes, nervous innervation, etc. It was a lot of information, particularly since I had been out of school for a year prior and wasn't accustomed to that pace.

So I guess if you feel compelled to study something right before starting med school, my advice would be to brush up on whatever your first class(es) will be...and maybe buy First Aid and skim through it to learn the format and overall gist of material you'll need to learn for Step 1. I think anything beyond that is overkill, won't actually help you, and may increase the rate of burnout.

Good luck!

Thank you very much for your thorough response! Some, but not all, are saying anatomy as well. I don't plan on studying massive amounts of hours a day. maybe a few hours over the course of the week just to familiarize my self with the terms/ language.

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

Thank you very much for your thorough response! Some, but not all, are saying anatomy as well. I don't plan on studying massive amounts of hours a day. maybe a few hours over the course of the week just to familiarize my self with the terms/ language.

Sounds like a reasonable plan. I agree that there is a lot of vocabulary and a general language of anatomy that is much easier to understand and memorize if you've at least exposed yourself to it a bit beforehand. If you don't have a background in Latin, reviewing that stuff a bit may be helpful.

 

[Doctor Strange]

God this question gets asked year after year after year. Grow up. Work when you're at work, study when you're in school, and be leisurely when you're on vacation.

 

[neoevolution]

Anatomy/biochem might be the hardest memorization, but physio is the conceptual stuff that I've seen people really struggle to grasp when we had a few weeks to get through the organ system. I'd recommend skimming "BRS physiology" to make sure you don't have any glaring gaps in background knowledge, and then you can start reviewing high yield biochem and anatomy if you want. Check out Firecracker too, you can mark some stuff as past content if you prestudy or know it from undergrad, so you can start off with a goof flashcard system

 

[mehc012]

OK, now that I'm almost done with M1 am I finally allowed to have a dissenting opinion on this?

Go ahead and pre-study, if you want. What you do cover will make your life easier.
Go ahead and take med-school relevant coursework in undergrad, too...then it'll mostly be review.

Med school covers a finite amount of material, and knowing things ahead of time makes pre-clinical years more relaxing. You end up only needing to learn your school's specific quirks, not how to study those subjects.

That being said, it's completely unnecessary, and you'll likely be inefficient/unproductive without structure and a timeframe. Whatever works for you.

 

[ridethecliche]

If you're bored, go shadow or something...
Enter a hot dog eating contest, run a marathon, learn to code or do things in R, tear apart an engine and put it back together...

There are so many freaking things to do in your spare time that don't involve school. This sh1t is rad, but you legit have 4 years dedicated to it. Do something else for 3 months. It won't kill you.

 

[mehc012]

If you're bored, go shadow or something...
Enter a hot dog eating contest, run a marathon, learn to code or do things in R, tear apart an engine and put it back together...

There are so many freaking things to do in your spare time that don't involve school. This sh1t is rad, but you legit have 4 years dedicated to it. Do something else for 3 months. It won't kill you.

But see, I learned a bunch of this crap before I got to med school (while also doing some of the stuff above) so now I can split my time in med school and do some learning, some of the above. There's no more point to doing all leisure things pre-med school and all medical learning during than there is in doing some of each both before and during. It all washes out the same in the end.

 

[dadaddadaBATMAN]

OK, now that I'm almost done with M1 am I finally allowed to have a dissenting opinion on this?

Go ahead and pre-study, if you want. What you do cover will make your life easier.
Go ahead and take med-school relevant coursework in undergrad, too...then it'll mostly be review.

Med school covers a finite amount of material, and knowing things ahead of time makes pre-clinical years more relaxing. You end up only needing to learn your school's specific quirks, not how to study those subjects.

That being said, it's completely unnecessary, and you'll likely be inefficient/unproductive without structure and a timeframe. Whatever works for you.

In response to the bolded: no, you filthy heretic.

But really, it's a waste of some very finite free time. M1 and m2 offer more than enough time and ideal circumstances to master the pre-clinical curriculum.

Learn to make some food that tastes good.

Read up on strategies to deal with anxiety.

Learn a hobby, the basics of a new skill, or read up on something interesting.

Some people will act like every second not spent memorizing some factoid is a waste.

Those people are idiots. Even if you ignore your very limited time here, you'll actually connect better with patients if you're halfway human and know how to talk to them.

People like to know about the parts of you that aren't medicine. Find a few.

 

[mehc012]

In response to the bolded: no, you filthy heretic.

But really, it's a waste of some very finite free time. M1 and m2 offer more than enough time and ideal circumstances to master the pre-clinical curriculum.

Learn to make some food that tastes good.

Read up on strategies to deal with anxiety.

Learn a hobby, the basics of a new skill, or read up on something interesting.

Some people will act like every second not spent memorizing some factoid is a waste.

Those people are idiots. Even if you ignore your very limited time here, you'll actually connect better with patients if you're halfway human and know how to talk to them.

People like to know about the parts of you that aren't medicine. Find a few.

I still don't understand how it's a waste; if you enjoy it and it makes later blocks easier so that you can cook more, read for fun more, and generally enjoy life more, how was that wasteful? Sounds productive to me.

 

[Shams al Deen]

If I HAD to study before med school, I would watch all the SketchyMicro vids and make a corresponding Anki deck (or do a premade deck) so you can keep up with it. You'd be able to understand 80% of the content of the video seeing as you've taken the MCAT and what not.

I think getting down all the bacteria and viruses before med school starts would be pretty cool.

 

[Mad Jack]

I see that everyone says don't study first aid prior to starting medschool. Cool. BUT, if there was one thing you could have studied before hand just for a little leeway, what would it have been?


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Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is nothing you can do now that will help you at all, aside from getting some time to relax in to ensure you're as sane and grounded as possible when you begin.

 

[dadaddadaBATMAN]

I still don't understand how it's a waste; if you enjoy it and it makes later blocks easier so that you can cook more, read for fun more, and generally enjoy life more, how was that wasteful? Sounds productive to me.

If you enjoy it, that's different in my eyes at least. Learning about things for fun is great. I still watch occasional videos on physiology for review and because physiology is the ****.

But if you're forcing yourself to do it, I really doubt you'll spend the time to cover anything of importance. Even if you do, you probably won't be very organized, and even then there's the issue of retention. Overall a waste of time, and especially so because you can just study during the year and still have plenty of time for food and fun.

 

[mehc012]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is nothing you can do now that will help you at all, aside from getting some time to relax in to ensure you're as sane and grounded as possible when you begin.

See, I can understand saying it's not worth it, but this mantra about it being absolutely unhelpful is unreasonable, extreme, and just false. It literally makes zero sense to say that studying a subject will not make that subject easier later. The one subject I prestudied (for fun, it took me little time and I 100% have no regrets about it) with no class ahead of time, I didn't have to study when it came up in med school. The ones that came up in my postbacc have also been incredibly helpful and made med school way easier.

So yeah, I get it if people say that pre-studying isn't worth it (though again, if people still enjoy it at that point, I don't see how it's a waste either way), but not that it doesn't help. It does, and it makes no sense to say that it wouldn't.

This is one of those weird SDN blind spots that everyone swore I would magically understand when I was there...but it makes even LESS sense from this end. Pure SDN Kool-aid.

 

[Stagg737]

I still don't understand how it's a waste; if you enjoy it and it makes later blocks easier so that you can cook more, read for fun more, and generally enjoy life more, how was that wasteful? Sounds productive to me.

But are you really going to learn that material well enough in your spare time that you won't have to study it all again in med school? I took a lot of the courses in year 1 of med school during undergrad and I still had to spend a significant amount of time re-teaching myself. The problem isn't, "can you learn stuff by pre-studying?" The answer is obviously yes. The problem is "in the 2-3 months before med school is what your studying actually relevant and can you learn it well enough to really save time during pre-clinical years?" To that I'd say the answer is almost uniformly no. The only exception I could maybe think of is if you could somehow get a hold of powerpoints or learning objectives (which may be awful) that are actually used and try and learn straight from that. Then it could actually be worthwhile. Otherwise people are better off finding other ways to be productive with their time.

 

[mehc012]

But are you really going to learn that material well enough in your spare time that you won't have to study it all again in med school? I took a lot of the courses in year 1 of med school during undergrad and I still had to spend a significant amount of time re-teaching myself. The problem isn't, "can you learn stuff by pre-studying?" The answer is obviously yes. The problem is "in the 2-3 months before med school is what your studying actually relevant and can you learn it well enough to really save time during pre-clinical years?" To that I'd say the answer is almost uniformly no. The only exception I could maybe think of is if you could somehow get a hold of powerpoints or learning objectives (which may be awful) that are actually used and try and learn straight from that. Then it could actually be worthwhile. Otherwise people are better off finding other ways to be productive with their time.

If you learn it, you learn it. The courses I took 4-5yrs ago that cover this med school material make it so I don't need to study the basics, I just get to do extra research on the cool stuff. And the stuff I 'prestudied' over the summer, I didn't have to bother reading or reviewing all in med school, because I already had it in my Anki deck.

There are basics that all med schools are going to cover. The principles of pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, straightforward things like muscle anatomy, and the broad strokes of all systems physiologies are pretty non-varying between textbooks and there's no chance that you won't need them in med school. A decent MedMicro textbook meant for undergrad will also be a straight-memorization, useful thing to study.

 

[Promethean]

You can never know too much anatomy. Better yet, anatomy and physiology, as function and form are interrelated. Any study of these two topics, through whatever resource, is never wasted time. Any anatomy textbook is fine. You won't learn all you need, or even as much as you will acquire in the first couple weeks of cadaver lab. But the more times you look at the material, the better it will stick. You can't ever know all of anatomy. There is always a greater level of detail that you can fill in. But getting the broad strokes down early won't hurt you.

I understand the "I can't just do nothing for 4 months" thing. Some of us really can't just chill. It isn't in us. Dr. Najeeb has more hours of video than you can ever watch. Many of them are free on youtube. Check out anything by Conrad Fisher. His videos with Kaplan have been widely bootlegged to youtube, and they are great for getting an entertaining overview of various diseases.

If I could go back and prestudy more, those are where I would have invested the time.

 

[Doctor Strange]

If you learn it, you learn it. The courses I took 4-5yrs ago that cover this med school material make it so I don't need to study the basics, I just get to do extra research on the cool stuff. And the stuff I 'prestudied' over the summer, I didn't have to bother reading or reviewing all in med school, because I already had it in my Anki deck.

There are basics that all med schools are going to cover. The principles of pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, straightforward things like muscle anatomy, and the broad strokes of all systems physiologies are pretty non-varying between textbooks and there's no chance that you won't need them in med school. A decent MedMicro textbook meant for undergrad will also be a straight-memorization, useful thing to study.

If only we were all blessed with your genius brain and passion for studying medicine.

 

[mehc012]

If only we were all blessed with your genius brain and passion for studying medicine.

Jesus, man, just saying that learning things isn't a complete waste of time and is useful later. If everything you learn automatically evaporates, then what's the point of going to medical school at all?

My 'passion' lasted me through a few chapters of the basic Pharm principles (outside of my postbacc classes, which were not passion but necessity). I still find the time I spent learning those basics very well spent. I'm not saying people should spend their time prestudying, but just that I don't understand the SDN mantra that any prestudying you do will be useless and unhelpful. That's just silly. Learning things is helpful for when you need to know them later, regardless of whether you put in the effort for a Block exam or for your own interest.

The only reason I brought up my experience at all is because in the past, these threads always devolve into "you'll understand when you're in med school." Well, I am in med school now, and my experience is that undergrad courses and prestudying are helpful if you've done them. Whether they're worth the time comes down to the individual person and how enjoyable they find it/how well they learn when not under external pressure.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Jesus, man, just saying that learning things isn't a complete waste of time and is useful later. If everything you learn automatically evaporates, then what's the point of going to medical school at all?

My 'passion' lasted me through a few chapters of the basic Pharm principles (outside of my postbacc classes, which were not passion but necessity). I still find the time I spent learning those basics very well spent. I'm not saying people should spend their time prestudying, but just that I don't understand the SDN mantra that any prestudying you do will be useless and unhelpful. That's just silly. Learning things is helpful for when you need to know them later, regardless of whether you put in the effort for a Block exam or for your own interest.

The only reason I brought up my experience at all is because in the past, these threads always devolve into "you'll understand when you're in med school." Well, I am in med school now, and my experience is that undergrad courses and prestudying are helpful if you've done them. Whether they're worth the time comes down to the individual person and how enjoyable they find it/how well they learn when not under external pressure.

You are n=1. Tongue and cheek aside, good for you! You obviously have the discipline and internal drive (for whatever reason) to get these things accomplished and make pre-studying effective to the extent that it can be. I have followed your posts and seen you around for several years now on SDN, and it honestly doesn't surprise me that you A) pre-studied and B) came back to tell everyone how wonderful it is. Not everyone is you. I would say that the majority of medical students don't have this kind of anal-retentive behavior to the extent that you do. The mere fact that you have Anki cards left from undergrad and your post-bacc that you still revisit is saying volumes. Most people come on here and ask what kind of "light" reading they can do to prepare and there simply isn't. Most people won't commit to a solid pre-studying regimen. Most people look back and say "gee, I wish I would have done more before med school started." This is why the SDN mantra is to avoid pre-studying. Even if pre-studying was going to give me a leg up, I would not trade the summer I had before medical school started for the world.

That's all. I'm done.

 

[mehc012]

You are n=1. Tongue and cheek aside, good for you! You obviously have the discipline and internal drive (for whatever reason) to get these things accomplished and make pre-studying effective to the extent that it can be. I have followed your posts and seen you around for several years now on SDN, and it honestly doesn't surprise me that you A) pre-studied and B) came back to tell everyone how wonderful it is. Not everyone is you. I would say that the majority of medical students don't have this kind of anal-retentive behavior to the extent that you do. The mere fact that you have Anki cards left from undergrad and your post-bacc that you still revisit is saying volumes. Most people come on here and ask what kind of "light" reading they can do to prepare and there simply isn't. Most people won't commit to a solid pre-studying regimen. Most people look back and say "gee, I wish I would have done more before med school started." This is why the SDN mantra is to avoid pre-studying. Even if pre-studying was going to give me a leg up, I would not trade the summer I had before medical school started for the world.

That's all. I'm done.

The bolded I 100% agree with. That is why I toyed with the idea, did a few chapters, and stopped. I travelled instead and it was great. Actually, I think we more agree than disagree, and I'm sorry if I came off snotty.

I just prefer to tell people that things are a bad idea, for the actual reason they're a bad idea. Prestudying works, it's just harder than most people think and not worth it most of the time.

 

[EM2Be2017]

I love how this topic comes up all the time and the answer is always the same, yet people keep trying to ask the same question in a different way. Lol.

My two cents, if you do anything at all, you want to get the best bang for your buck. Everyone is telling you not to "pre-study" because the reality is even if you put in a few hundred hours prior to starting, it most likely won't benefit you that much when you actually start. That being said, something that I think is worthwhile is to understand how to study. I find that students who struggle in med school struggle because they don't fully understand their learning type and how to optimize their study strategies. I would highly recommend reading "success types in medical education."

(https://www.ttuhsc.edu/som/success/documents/successtypes_in_medical_education.pdf)

It's based on the theory that your myer-Briggs personality type correlates with how you process information. In my experience it was accurate, and helped me to identify my weaknesses and ways to improve upon them. Suceeeding in med school is all about efficiency. There is just too much info and not enough time. Learning to study efficiently and effectively, in my opinion, will be of far more benefit than any actual studying you could possibly do. And most importantly, enjoy yourself. Pretty soon med school will occupy all of your waking thoughts.

 

[ridethecliche]

But see, I learned a bunch of this crap before I got to med school (while also doing some of the stuff above) so now I can split my time in med school and do some learning, some of the above. There's no more point to doing all leisure things pre-med school and all medical learning during than there is in doing some of each both before and during. It all washes out the same in the end.

Sure, you're preaching to the choir though... my car is sitting on jack stands in the garage right now. Unfortunately it has been there for a while and I oscillate between wanting to work on it and build things and setting the entire project on fire.
Hash tag, that's what we call dedicated step time...

If someone is dead set on taking classes before med school to 'pre-study' I'd tell them to take a pharm or micro class if they hadn't already.

Edit: Mehc, you're also one of a kind. I think you forget that when you give advice. There are few people in the world wired like you. It's not a bad thing. It's just a thing.

 

[Redpancreas]

You are n=1. Tongue and cheek aside, good for you! You obviously have the discipline and internal drive (for whatever reason) to get these things accomplished and make pre-studying effective to the extent that it can be. I have followed your posts and seen you around for several years now on SDN, and it honestly doesn't surprise me that you A) pre-studied and B) came back to tell everyone how wonderful it is. Not everyone is you. I would say that the majority of medical students don't have this kind of anal-retentive behavior to the extent that you do. The mere fact that you have Anki cards left from undergrad and your post-bacc that you still revisit is saying volumes. Most people come on here and ask what kind of "light" reading they can do to prepare and there simply isn't. Most people won't commit to a solid pre-studying regimen. Most people look back and say "gee, I wish I would have done more before med school started." This is why the SDN mantra is to avoid pre-studying. Even if pre-studying was going to give me a leg up, I would not trade the summer I had before medical school started for the world.

That's all. I'm done.

I bet a lot of M0's reading this are salivating at the prospect that they're this rare legendary breed and are just waiting for someone to post a dedicated pre-med study regimen.


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[Funny_Current]

I think this thread ran its course. That said, I went through and picked out what I consider to be the best advice/input I was given. There is a wealth of information here and I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my question and not automatically assume I'm an obnoxious M0 thinking I will be the one to do it all. @Backtothebasics8, your posts were most helpful because if there is one thing for sure I took away from this it's that if I ever want to know how to be a douche to someone on SDN for no reason I can refer to your posts .

Best advice:
1. If you really hate yourself you could try to memorize the action, origin and insertion of as many muscles as possible.
2. You should make a list of every show/movie/book you've ever wanted to watch/read and get through them. This is the best thing you can do.
3. I highly recommend using this time to gain some "liberal art" aspect of medicine. Like random fun facts that will impress people at parties and on the wards.
4. If you know muscle and bone anatomy, and the biomechanics, you will be off to a good start, and it will cut down your studying time for anatomy by a lot.
5. Honestly, the only actual pre-studying that may not be depressingly low yield is the origins/insertions and innervations for anatomy.
6. If you really want to do something useful, figure out the other ways to build your CV or develop yourself professionally.
7. Take introductory Coursera/EdX/Stanford Online courses in medicine, which will give you the language and some relevant info for next year. The Medical Neuroscience course, for instance, is almost exactly the same one we use at Duke. Epidemiology, if you learn this well, will be incredibly helpful throughout medical school and beyond, and on the behavioral sciences sections of Steps 1-3. You can also learn physiology decently well on your own.
8. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pre-study something, I would have read the autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular chapters of Physiology by Costanzo.
9. All that said, I think personally, if I could have studied anything prior to starting med school, it would have been some anatomy. I maybe would have started doing some Netter Anatomy flashcards or something like that.
10. I'd recommend skimming "BRS physiology" to make sure you don't have any glaring gaps in background knowledge, and then you can start reviewing high yield biochem and anatomy if you want.
11. If you're bored, go shadow or something...
Enter a hot dog eating contest, run a marathon, learn to code or do things in R, tear apart an engine and put it back together...
12. If I HAD to study before med school, I would watch all the SketchyMicro vids and make a corresponding Anki deck (or do a premade deck) so you can keep up with it. You'd be able to understand 80% of the content of the video seeing as you've taken the MCAT and what not.
13. You can never know too much anatomy. Better yet, anatomy and physiology, as function and form are interrelated. Any study of these two topics, through whatever resource, is never wasted time. Any anatomy textbook is fine. You won't learn all you need, or even as much as you will acquire in the first couple weeks of cadaver lab. But the more times you look at the material, the better it will stick. You can't ever know all of anatomy. There is always a greater level of detail that you can fill in. But getting the broad strokes down early won't hurt you.
14. That being said, something that I think is worthwhile is to understand how to study. I find that students who struggle in med school struggle because they don't fully understand their learning type and how to optimize their study strategies. I would highly recommend reading "success types in medical education."

 

[Redpancreas]

I think this thread ran its course. That said, I went through and picked out what I consider to be the best advice/input I was given. There is a wealth of information here and I want to thank everyone ...automatically assume I'm an obnoxious M0 thinking I will be the one to do it all. @Backtothebasics8, your posts were most helpful because if there is one thing for sure I took away from this it's that if I ever want to know how to be a douche to someone on SDN for no reason I can refer to your posts .
."

The fact that you have issues with me gives me reassurance.

 

[Lexicon0]

I think this thread ran its course. That said, I went through and picked out what I consider to be the best advice/input I was given. There is a wealth of information here and I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my question and not automatically assume I'm an obnoxious M0 thinking I will be the one to do it all. @Backtothebasics8, your posts were most helpful because if there is one thing for sure I took away from this it's that if I ever want to know how to be a douche to someone on SDN for no reason I can refer to your posts .

Best advice:
1. If you really hate yourself you could try to memorize the action, origin and insertion of as many muscles as possible.
2. You should make a list of every show/movie/book you've ever wanted to watch/read and get through them. This is the best thing you can do.
3. I highly recommend using this time to gain some "liberal art" aspect of medicine. Like random fun facts that will impress people at parties and on the wards.
4. If you know muscle and bone anatomy, and the biomechanics, you will be off to a good start, and it will cut down your studying time for anatomy by a lot.
5. Honestly, the only actual pre-studying that may not be depressingly low yield is the origins/insertions and innervations for anatomy.
6. If you really want to do something useful, figure out the other ways to build your CV or develop yourself professionally.
7. Take introductory Coursera/EdX/Stanford Online courses in medicine, which will give you the language and some relevant info for next year. The Medical Neuroscience course, for instance, is almost exactly the same one we use at Duke. Epidemiology, if you learn this well, will be incredibly helpful throughout medical school and beyond, and on the behavioral sciences sections of Steps 1-3. You can also learn physiology decently well on your own.
8. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pre-study something, I would have read the autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular chapters of Physiology by Costanzo.
9. All that said, I think personally, if I could have studied anything prior to starting med school, it would have been some anatomy. I maybe would have started doing some Netter Anatomy flashcards or something like that.
10. I'd recommend skimming "BRS physiology" to make sure you don't have any glaring gaps in background knowledge, and then you can start reviewing high yield biochem and anatomy if you want.
11. If you're bored, go shadow or something...
Enter a hot dog eating contest, run a marathon, learn to code or do things in R, tear apart an engine and put it back together...
12. If I HAD to study before med school, I would watch all the SketchyMicro vids and make a corresponding Anki deck (or do a premade deck) so you can keep up with it. You'd be able to understand 80% of the content of the video seeing as you've taken the MCAT and what not.
13. You can never know too much anatomy. Better yet, anatomy and physiology, as function and form are interrelated. Any study of these two topics, through whatever resource, is never wasted time. Any anatomy textbook is fine. You won't learn all you need, or even as much as you will acquire in the first couple weeks of cadaver lab. But the more times you look at the material, the better it will stick. You can't ever know all of anatomy. There is always a greater level of detail that you can fill in. But getting the broad strokes down early won't hurt you.
14. That being said, something that I think is worthwhile is to understand how to study. I find that students who struggle in med school struggle because they don't fully understand their learning type and how to optimize their study strategies. I would highly recommend reading "success types in medical education."

No one is assuming you're obnoxious. You've been consistently proving so by antagonizing a poster who has been giving you some pretty sound advice...

 

[Mr Roboto]

I think this thread ran its course. That said, I went through and picked out what I consider to be the best advice/input I was given. There is a wealth of information here and I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my question and not automatically assume I'm an obnoxious M0 thinking I will be the one to do it all. @Backtothebasics8, your posts were most helpful because if there is one thing for sure I took away from this it's that if I ever want to know how to be a douche to someone on SDN for no reason I can refer to your posts .

Best advice:
1. If you really hate yourself you could try to memorize the action, origin and insertion of as many muscles as possible.
2. You should make a list of every show/movie/book you've ever wanted to watch/read and get through them. This is the best thing you can do.
3. I highly recommend using this time to gain some "liberal art" aspect of medicine. Like random fun facts that will impress people at parties and on the wards.
4. If you know muscle and bone anatomy, and the biomechanics, you will be off to a good start, and it will cut down your studying time for anatomy by a lot.
5. Honestly, the only actual pre-studying that may not be depressingly low yield is the origins/insertions and innervations for anatomy.
6. If you really want to do something useful, figure out the other ways to build your CV or develop yourself professionally.
7. Take introductory Coursera/EdX/Stanford Online courses in medicine, which will give you the language and some relevant info for next year. The Medical Neuroscience course, for instance, is almost exactly the same one we use at Duke. Epidemiology, if you learn this well, will be incredibly helpful throughout medical school and beyond, and on the behavioral sciences sections of Steps 1-3. You can also learn physiology decently well on your own.
8. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pre-study something, I would have read the autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular chapters of Physiology by Costanzo.
9. All that said, I think personally, if I could have studied anything prior to starting med school, it would have been some anatomy. I maybe would have started doing some Netter Anatomy flashcards or something like that.
10. I'd recommend skimming "BRS physiology" to make sure you don't have any glaring gaps in background knowledge, and then you can start reviewing high yield biochem and anatomy if you want.
11. If you're bored, go shadow or something...
Enter a hot dog eating contest, run a marathon, learn to code or do things in R, tear apart an engine and put it back together...
12. If I HAD to study before med school, I would watch all the SketchyMicro vids and make a corresponding Anki deck (or do a premade deck) so you can keep up with it. You'd be able to understand 80% of the content of the video seeing as you've taken the MCAT and what not.
13. You can never know too much anatomy. Better yet, anatomy and physiology, as function and form are interrelated. Any study of these two topics, through whatever resource, is never wasted time. Any anatomy textbook is fine. You won't learn all you need, or even as much as you will acquire in the first couple weeks of cadaver lab. But the more times you look at the material, the better it will stick. You can't ever know all of anatomy. There is always a greater level of detail that you can fill in. But getting the broad strokes down early won't hurt you.
14. That being said, something that I think is worthwhile is to understand how to study. I find that students who struggle in med school struggle because they don't fully understand their learning type and how to optimize their study strategies. I would highly recommend reading "success types in medical education."

How are you able to discern the good advice from the bad when you haven't even started med school?

 

[mehc012]

How are you able to discern the good advice from the bad when you haven't even started med school?

I thought they did a pretty good job of pulling out the things that weren't off-topic arguments from this thread. Just because they're not a med student doesn't mean they can't recognize "relevant to my question" vs "irrelevant".

 

[Doctor Strange]

Please don't go about learning all the muscle attachments/insertions. That's nonsense.

 

[68PGunner]

Anything short of complete memorization of Netter is a total fail.

 

[Funny_Current]

How are you able to discern the good advice from the bad when you haven't even started med school?

? If you read the advice/suggestions then it would be clear that it's not solely about pre-studying. there are a number of things listed that have nothing to do with studying. I was never dead set on just studying!! Just looking for legit advice of what some people wish they may have done beforehand, whether it be study or not. I got a lot of good advice from people who suggested certain materials as well as other meaningful experiences.


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[Funny_Current]

No one is assuming you're obnoxious. You've been consistently proving so by antagonizing a poster who has been giving you some pretty sound advice...

you can't be serious? That my post is stupid? That M0s like me salivate at the prospect of study regimens? That his disposition towards people like me has been made clear? Okay, cool


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[deleted781806]

you can't be serious? That my post is stupid? That M0s like me salivate at the prospect of study regimens? That his disposition towards people like me has been made clear? Okay, cool

You are really going to have to learn to take criticism better (and sooner rather than later to boot!).

 

[Funny_Current]

You are really going to have to learn to take criticism better (and sooner rather than later to boot!).

I'm all about constructive criticism. I mean, I don't know what's so difficult to understand. I was given a lot of good tips about how to spend this summer, and I am grateful for the suggestions that are beyond what materials might be good to glance at before m1. In fact I've already started to make some plans based on them. That dude did nothing but call my post stupid, condescend me, and act like I'm ignorant for making a general inquiry. I don't feel bad for speaking my mind about it. That said, you and everyone else who seem to have a problem with that are entitled to be that way. I got what I came for and it was worth having to deal with said people.


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[TheFutureFatMan]

I see that everyone says don't study first aid prior to starting medschool. Cool. BUT, if there was one thing you could have studied before hand just for a little leeway, what would it have been?


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Study. Nothing.

If you're going to bend your brain on anything, read, read for fun, learn as much as you can about politics and health care politics as possible. It will make you better informed. If you're in an area that sees a lot of non-english speaking patients you could look at improving your language skills. But that's really about it.

 

[deleted781806]

That dude did nothing but call my post stupid, condescend me, and act like I'm ignorant for making a general inquiry.

To be fair, Backtobasics did actually give you advice on what to do over the summer in addition to calling your post obnoxious. The latter was a little confrontational, to be sure, but the big rule of moving to Allo from Pre-Allo is: "use the search function" because 100s of people have had this exact question and have received 100s of responses, so I understand their frustration. Also, your responses were by far more antagonistic than Backtobasics, and who even uses "triggered?" and "cool story, bro" anymore?

 

[Funny_Current]

To be fair, Backtobasics did actually give you advice on what to do over the summer in addition to calling your post obnoxious. The latter was a little confrontational, to be sure, but the big rule of moving to Allo from Pre-Allo is: "use the search function" because 100s of people have had this exact question and have received 100s of responses, so I understand their frustration. Also, your responses were by far more antagonistic than Backtobasics, and who even uses "triggered?" and "cool story, bro" anymore?

And yet, even without having to search, I still got more than enough information to help me plan for a meaningful summer. Some people are willing to reply regardless, and some just want to complain and call it stupid. That frustrates me. If someone is that upset about my post then report it or go on to another post! And I still stay "triggered" and "cool story, bro" to people who want to be negative.

 

[sammiesings]

And yet, even without having to search, I still got more than enough information to help me plan for a meaningful summer. Some people are willing to reply regardless, and some just want to complain and call it stupid. That frustrates me. If someone is that upset about my post then report it or go on to another post! And I still stay "triggered" and "cool story, bro" to people who want to be negative.

But you're the one who seems "triggered" with all these over the top angry reactions.

 

[SunnyDO]

I see that everyone says don't study first aid prior to starting medschool. Cool. BUT, if there was one thing you could have studied before hand just for a little leeway, what would it have been?


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3 words... ANATOMY COLORING BOOK .
Post up at Starbuck and chill with some coloring pencils.