Question on integrating board prep resources

[ExcitatorySynapse]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm a new MS1. I read through r/medicalschool and the STEP forum here as well, and also spoke with several students. From my understanding, many students like to rely upon external resources such as BnB, Pathoma etc. in conjunction with anki and so forth. With BnB, for example, people seem to watch their videos over going to lecture (which they see as too detailed) and then use LY or other decks.

I guess my question is - will it harm you to focus on class and try to really learn the material instead of prepping explicitly for the test, at least until dedicated? Does anyone have experience with this? I went to a pretty rigorous undergrad and had to learn the material well if I wanted to pass, so when the MCAT rolled around, basically a couple weeks of review/prep was enough to score well.

After this, the idea of not caring about class content is a bit scary to me. I want to score as high as I can, but I'd also like to keep working on my research during school (I'm MD/PhD). I'm aiming for a research residency.

I was hoping lecture -> flashcards -> school problems + outside problems would be enough. But I guess if it *is* necessary to go to the trusted resources, what's the simplest yet effective workflow? Zanki + school?

Thanks!

 

[Gurby]

I was hoping lecture -> flashcards -> school problems + outside problems would be enough.

If you do the Rx question bank alongside classes and finish it prior to dedicated, I think that should get you plenty of "boards material" exposure. You certainly don't need BnB or any of those resources.

Your plan is good. Give it a shot.
However, it might end up being too time consuming - I ended up switching to Zanki during winter of M1 because I found making flashcards for class was taking too much time / was inefficient.

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Thanks @Gurby ! I will give it a whirl then and if it's too exhaustive, I'll go to a premade deck. 🙂

 

[wanderingorion]

I personally used B&B in conjunction with lectures. Watching them at the beginning of the term to get a good introduction of the material so the lectures would be more useful with my understanding.

I agree with Gurbs that you should use a pre-made deck. I made mine for the first year, and it probably doubled/tripled my study time. You can still make your own cards, but the premades will prevent you from wasting time making cards for universal facts

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Thanks for your insight @wanderingorion ! I guess you're right, its honestly been a bit challenging to keep up with card making right now, so I might as well save time where I can. I watched some BnB today and the videos are not too long, so it should be decently manageable to watch them *and* lecture, especially if the latter is done at 2x speed.

 

[wanderingorion]

Thanks for your insight @wanderingorion ! I guess you're right, its honestly been a bit challenging to keep up with card making right now, so I might as well save time where I can. I watched some BnB today and the videos are not too long, so it should be decently manageable to watch them *and* lecture, especially if the latter is done at 2x speed.

What's useful is that the B&B videos cover FA pretty closely, so it'll match the cards you'll see. One thing that might help is going through the tags to sort the topic beforehand (like if you're in a neuro block, sort out the neuro pre-made cards), then you can just sort based on a keyword.
That's pretty much what I did, and it worked out well. Best of luck!

 

[Medic741]

Thanks @Gurby ! I will give it a whirl then and if it's too exhaustive, I'll go to a premade deck. 🙂

Instead of writing on the back of your cards add screenshots from the lecture slide deck and add in a few words of extra info. Cuts down on the time it takes to make a deck immensely

 

[Goro]

I'm a new MS1. I read through r/medicalschool and the STEP forum here as well, and also spoke with several students. From my understanding, many students like to rely upon external resources such as BnB, Pathoma etc. in conjunction with anki and so forth. With BnB, for example, people seem to watch their videos over going to lecture (which they see as too detailed) and then use LY or other decks.

I guess my question is - will it harm you to focus on class and try to really learn the material instead of prepping explicitly for the test, at least until dedicated? Does anyone have experience with this? I went to a pretty rigorous undergrad and had to learn the material well if I wanted to pass, so when the MCAT rolled around, basically a couple weeks of review/prep was enough to score well.

After this, the idea of not caring about class content is a bit scary to me. I want to score as high as I can, but I'd also like to keep working on my research during school (I'm MD/PhD). I'm aiming for a research residency.

I was hoping lecture -> flashcards -> school problems + outside problems would be enough. But I guess if it *is* necessary to go to the trusted resources, what's the simplest yet effective workflow? Zanki + school?

Thanks!

Personally, I think studying for your classes IS studying for Boards, but the caveat is that some PhD Faculty teach their research, and some clinical Faculty think that you're residents and teach way over your heads.

You have to find what works for you.

Read this:
Goro’s guide to success in medical school

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Thank you all for your advice! 🙂 It's definitely been a transition and I really appreciate getting input from people with experience.

 

[Thesimplelifeofamyloid]

Also, focus on finding a way that helps you retain things for the long term. Regardless of what resources you're using, if you can't retain it, you're kicking yourself in the foot for boards. Just my two cents

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

^ I definitely agree. I think understanding why something is the way it is really helps with retention. Unfortunately I’ve been having some health issues so I am a bit overwhelmed with everything right now.

 

[kinjin24]

It’ll be pass fail by the time you take it