Preparing for Boards while trying to Ace Classes

[RLMD]

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I will be going to my second year in the fall. Is it me or does it seem like it is almost impossible to prepare for boards while trying to do extremely well in your classes? I tried to read first aid and BRS Physiology during first year, but, in terms of trying to ace an exam, they were useless because the exams were extremely detailed. There just doesnt seem to be any time to look at those review books while trying to memorize every detail of the lectures and syllabus. I am obviously trying to do extremely well in my classes as well as the boards. Are the two mutually exclusive? There just doesnt seem to be enough hours in the day for both. Anyone else find themselves in this situation?

 

[bigfrank]

I will be going to my second year in the fall. Is it me or does it seem like it is almost impossible to prepare for boards while trying to do extremely well in your classes? I tried to read first aid and BRS Physiology during first year, but, in terms of trying to ace an exam, they were useless because the exams were extremely detailed. There just doesnt seem to be any time to look at those review books while trying to memorize every detail of the lectures and syllabus. I am obviously trying to do extremely well in my classes as well as the boards. Are the two mutually exclusive? There just doesnt seem to be enough hours in the day for both. Anyone else find themselves in this situation?

Good question. I tried to "ace" my exams as well, and I usually did. I might have been lucky, but I felt that if you prepared really well for classes, that would also prepare you well for the boards. I'm not talking about memorizing minutiae, but truly understanding the material. This is by far the best prep for the Step I. And I would never study FA specifically for class material, it's useless in that respect.

Basically, I always viewed the Step I as my "gradecard" for the first 2 years of medical school, not as a score representing 6 weeks of cramming. I think this approach should work well for you in general.

 

[KidDr]

First Aid is not useless for class material. While studying for 2nd year exams, I always had many sources of info spread out in front of me--class notes, handouts, textbook (sometimes) AND First Aid. I don't learn all that well by just re-reading information. Instead I learn better when I draw new diagrams, re-write important points, etc. First Aid is really an outline. So while I was studying for year 2 exams, I would write the info I was studying (not all the fine details, but the relevant stuff), new diagrams, and so on, into the margins of First Aid. Killed 2 birds w/ one stone--studying for 2nd year exams, and creating a great study source for step 1. So by the time I got to May of my 2nd year and had to study for Step 1, I had a comprehensive, totally personalized, review source ready to study from. It worked for me.

 

[Wednesday]

I agree with bigfrank. I did well in my classes and on the boards and I think it was because I had studied so hard for my classes. A lot of people on here will suggest that you annotate First Aid while you go through second year. I tried to do that, but found that it was almost impossible for me. The level of detail required by my classes was so far above what was required for Step I that I had no idea what to write in FA! I had a couple weeks of guilt about it and then I just gave up. Once I started my 4 week review after classes were over, I annotated FA with things I found in my review books, which worked really well since things found in review books are definitely high yield.

I also didn't read BRS Path much during 2nd year. I read it for a couple of sections but didn't find that it helped me at all even once I got to review. So try these things, but if they don't work for you, don't sweat it, you can still do well. Just make sure you study for classes steadily and you will be suprised at how much you retain. Of course I didn't get a supergenius score like a lot of folks on here but I broke 240, which is fine by me.

 

[bigfrank]

Anyone relying on FA too heavily for either the boards or [especially] their course exams will be sorely disappointed.

 

[AlexRusso]

I agree w. Wednesday. try to do well in classes by studying the stuff they want you to study b/c the level of detail for clases is greater than the USMLE and the stress is placed on different things. USMLE is more integrated while your classes tend to test one thing at a time. Doing well in your classes will give you a solid base when you start getting ready for the USMLE. Anotate FA from review books once you start studying. I concentrated on doing well in classes all year and really only started to study for the boards when clases ended.

 

[Stinger86]

Here's how I worked through second year:

I did most of my studying from my textbooks and review texts. About a day before an exam (the night before), I would look over the lecture slides for any little details not learned anywhere else. These details were usually pretty clinically irrelevant, but then again that's my precious faculty, and the last minute studying allowed me to remember the minutiae long enough to regurg it on an exam and do well, but forget it soon after. Worked pretty well for me.