Rearview Mirror: Counting down the Days

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I hate the floaters in my eye. grrrrr.

ever since optho, everytime I get a floater I'm like "retinal detachment!!!!" :scared:

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well, my mom is legally blind (from something completely different) so I freaked a little. I have a posterior vitreous detachment.
 
I just finished my last day of Medical School! I don't graduate for another month, but technically I'm done :D

PS Kangaroos really are that strange looking
 
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Woohoo! I'm no longer a "junior" member but a full-fledge SDN member! :hardy:

Still 2 weeks left for my last rotation (ED ultrasound)...
 
I'm starting to freak out. 6 more weeks for me...I think. You'd think I'd be keeping track.

jeez, I didn't start worrying about my step 1 until I started studying it, and we only get 4 weeks here. Do you get more?
 
maybe this is a nerdy thing to say, but studying for the boards is fun! :)
 
Does using this icon give my mom special powers? She might need them to find me an apt this weekend :smuggrin:
 
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jeez, I didn't start worrying about my step 1 until I started studying it, and we only get 4 weeks here. Do you get more?

Technically we get 4-12 weeks. Our last section is pretty much board prep for 3 weeks, so I'm adding that in (and we still have a cumulative exam next week). We have summer classes, but everyone has to take it before July 31. I'm taking mine the first week of summer classes because I've heard that after they start, we don't have as much time to study.
 
Wow...things have really slowed in here. Started this thread 2 weeks ago and still barely on the 3rd page. You 4th years/now dr's must really be enjoying your time off from EVERYTHING!!
 
Wow...things have really slowed in here. Started this thread 2 weeks ago and still barely on the 3rd page. You 4th years/now dr's must really be enjoying your time off from EVERYTHING!!

well, sort of... we do have to find new places to live, fill out paperwork, study, etc, etc.
 
show-off! :(

I'll send pictures.
Remember, I close on it Monday. I don't get to live in it until I finish my prelim. My wife gets to live in it though.

Also, anyone notice how bedroom furniture is freaking expensive? I've bought cars for less than I spent at the furniture store yesterday. Ahh, the king size mattress with ultra plush pillow top. To me, it actually was more comfortable than the foam mattresses in the store. My wife agreed.
You do feel like a putz going around laying down on beds though.
 
well, sort of... we do have to find new places to live, fill out paperwork, study, etc, etc.

Just out of curiosity, what are you studying at this point? EM stuff or for your next round of boards?
 
I'll send pictures.
Remember, I close on it Monday. I don't get to live in it until I finish my prelim. My wife gets to live in it though.

Also, anyone notice how bedroom furniture is freaking expensive? I've bought cars for less than I spent at the furniture store yesterday. Ahh, the king size mattress with ultra plush pillow top. To me, it actually was more comfortable than the foam mattresses in the store. My wife agreed.
You do feel like a putz going around laying down on beds though.

At least someone will get to enjoy it. About the bedroom stuff, I'm going to downsize to a queen to help out with the costs. I am dreading that part of things. And to get a company to deliver it.
 
I'll send pictures.
Remember, I close on it Monday. I don't get to live in it until I finish my prelim. My wife gets to live in it though.

Also, anyone notice how bedroom furniture is freaking expensive? I've bought cars for less than I spent at the furniture store yesterday. Ahh, the king size mattress with ultra plush pillow top. To me, it actually was more comfortable than the foam mattresses in the store. My wife agreed.
You do feel like a putz going around laying down on beds though.

I just found my apt. and signed a lease. After that I went bed shopping and it was fun just going around laying on beds (heck of a lot more fun than apt shopping). I, of course, loved a bed that was out of my price range. Figured it was better that I don't get it anyway. I'd never want to get out of it to go to work. Found a much cheaper pillow top that works and is comfy. I don't really want to think about the rest of the furniture. I'm seriously thinking about using packing crates and bean bags for the rest of the place.
 
haha...I was asked by my dad (who is totally opposed to me moving that far away) what I was going to use for furniture in the living area. I told him milk crates. And my coffee table if I have room to pack it. It's sturdy enough to sit on.
 
haha...I was asked by my dad (who is totally opposed to me moving that far away) what I was going to use for furniture in the living area. I told him milk crates. And my coffee table if I have room to pack it. It's sturdy enough to sit on.

I was thinking IKEA, but even stuff there can be expensive (in tha amount I need) and the closest one to me is a little under an hour in Baltimore, so it would be a one trip deal. Did see bean bags and a cheap futon at Walmart which I'm considering. Still need a dresser and bringing my desk (literally just a folding table, but I love it and it packs easily). I'm ignoring that I might need a table.
 
Technically we get 4-12 weeks...
We get ~7 weeks max here - I'm taking 6 to study, and will probably need every last day.
We have 8 weeks (max). I decided to take a 2 week clinical elective early to make 4th year easier, so I'll have ~6 weeks to study. Some of my classmates have to do 4-week electives (they are part of a particular program track) so they have even less time.

I made up a study schedule a couple of nights ago, so that'll stave off the Step I jitters for awhile.
 
I found schedules don't work for me. I get up and study until I'm falling asleep, take a nap, get up and study more, call bf and talk for app 1 hr, study more if I have the stamina, then watch tv as I go to bed for the night. Or that's at least my ideal studying. It's getting better, but I need to decrease the drugs one doc put me on, so that's slowing me down big time (2 drugs that make me tired). Just decreased yesterday, so hopefully it will help with the tiredness and with the trying to learn something.

How many hours do you plan to study in a day?
 
I was thinking IKEA, but even stuff there can be expensive (in tha amount I need) and the closest one to me is a little under an hour in Baltimore, so it would be a one trip deal. Did see bean bags and a cheap futon at Walmart which I'm considering. Still need a dresser and bringing my desk (literally just a folding table, but I love it and it packs easily). I'm ignoring that I might need a table.

I thought about checking out walmart/target for the dresser. Don't need an expensive one. Told my bf I'm taking his shelf, so that solves that problem. I think there is an IKEA near where I'll be, but as you said, that may run expensive.
 
We have 8 weeks (max). I decided to take a 2 week clinical elective early to make 4th year easier, so I'll have ~6 weeks to study. Some of my classmates have to do 4-week electives (they are part of a particular program track) so they have even less time.

I made up a study schedule a couple of nights ago, so that'll stave off the Step I jitters for awhile.

I remember Step I. Not fondly, but I remember it. We got 6.5 weeks and I took 6 weeks to study (had a friend's wedding in there too, so not quite six). It was ten hour days with one day off week. I would break the day up with a work out in-between. I got really sick and burnt out. It was worth it though. Amazing how scores open and close doors.
 
I don't think I ever shared with you all how peacefully my grandma died. She had some dementia, but was hilarious her last week she was around. She even pointed out to me they wouldn't give her enough laxatives, and all that stomach area wasn't fat, it was cement, full of s***. From a grandmother I never heard cuss, this was quite hilarious.

Anyway, in her last day, they were giving her morphine to make her comfortable. My brother (a nurse paramedic) was there along with all her kids and a few other grandchildren. She woke up one time from the morphine and said "Why am I still here? Can't I just die yet?" She then turned to my brother and asked him "Can't you just give me a little extra of that stuff so I can just die?" He told her he'd probably get in lots of trouble for that and not be able to work any more. They then gave her her last dose of morphine, and her last words (and response to the sublingual tablet) was "mmmmm...that was good." Then she died. All I can say is that I hope I go that peacefully and those are my last words.

(the suicide thread reminded me of this story)
 
I thought about checking out walmart/target for the dresser. Don't need an expensive one. Told my bf I'm taking his shelf, so that solves that problem. I think there is an IKEA near where I'll be, but as you said, that may run expensive.

Yeah, I'm looking around at those places for a dresser. The last one I got was unfinished from Lowe's or Home depot. I ended up stripping my bed and finishing the bed and dresser in the same tone. Took me a month or something and I loved it. Don't think my current apt would appreciate me on their grass with stain and a dresser. Plus I arrive on Saturday and start on Friday-probably not enough time with having to exchange my license and register my car and crap. Maybe I'll get cheap plastic organizational drawers and use them until something I like comes around in my price range.
 
Yeah, I'm looking around at those places for a dresser. The last one I got was unfinished from Lowe's or Home depot. I ended up stripping my bed and finishing the bed and dresser in the same tone. Took me a month or something and I loved it. Don't think my current apt would appreciate me on their grass with stain and a dresser. Plus I arrive on Saturday and start on Friday-probably not enough time with having to exchange my license and register my car and crap. Maybe I'll get cheap plastic organizational drawers and use them until something I like comes around in my price range.

My last one came from a garage sale. Maybe I could pay them extra to deliver to me......

I don't have problems getting stuff like that from garage sales. I do have problems getting anything cloth (couches, beds, etc) because you can't clean them out with things like bleach or other rough cleaners. And I don't feel like getting scabies from my furniture.
 
We figured we would buy expensive and keep it for a long time. We finally get to live together again, so it is the first stuff we have bought as a couple that we didn't bring to the relationship.
I'm not worried about moving after residency. I'll make enough money to pay people to move that stuff.
 
true...my problem is that I may only be there for a year...and still not be earning any money.
 
I remember Step I. Not fondly, but I remember it. We got 6.5 weeks and I took 6 weeks to study (had a friend's wedding in there too, so not quite six). It was ten hour days with one day off week. I would break the day up with a work out in-between. I got really sick and burnt out. It was worth it though. Amazing how scores open and close doors.
I found schedules don't work for me...How many hours do you plan to study in a day?
From 10-12 hrs a day. The 12s will be the last week before the exam. Similar to ineedsleep, I have a day off each week, and a half day just before the exam. I've posted a copy of my draft schedule (I also have an alternate in case I start burning out :rolleyes:) so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. The lunch hour and evenings are free. The schedule is not hard and fast, it's a guide to get me in the groove for a month and a half and to push me along. It also gives me goals to shoot for as I go.

I have the advantage of being given a blank check to fund my prep, so I'm going for both Kaplan and USMLEWorld qbanks. I'll probably end up cross-training between the two. Every week I plan to increase the number of question sets I do every day (see color-coding), and taper off on the book learning/review. I've penciled in a NBME halfway through so I can gauge my progress and delay the real exam if I need to.

You can argue whether it was a smart move or not, but I'm presenting at ACSM right after school lets out (i.e. during my first week of Step I prep), so that knocks out a few days from my time. I am proud of how hard I worked on my project, and I wanted to it show off.

Check out the USMLE Step I forum. My schedule is just an amalgamation of what worked for a lot of those posters.
 

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It's definitely an interesting way to set a schedule. I guess I do better with just setting a schedule in my head and go from there. I am currently listening to lectures our profs give to help prep for boards. Some are more helpful than others. I work Kaplan q-bank when I'm sick of reading and/or finish a section in the first aid book. I am also in the Kaplan course, which still has 6 days left in it (starts next week again). The path is in the week before I take the exam, so hopefully some of it will be fresh. I of course am going to study path before that point. I just swear there's not enough time to get everything done ideally. I use the Kaplan books to review what they said was really high yield, and write it into the first aid book. Trying to get everything in one spot so I don't have 10 books to carry around. Going to have to start with the Goljian here in a few days, if not earlier.
 
And if it makes you feel any better, I am out of town visiting my bf while I had "a break" and I am just studying at his place. And then he mentions going somewhere when he wants to get out and I of course jump up to go to get away for a while. Not the best studying situation, but I am getting away from the school for a while. Very nice for the sanity.
 
From 10-12 hrs a day. The 12s will be the last week before the exam. Similar to ineedsleep, I have a day off each week, and a half day just before the exam. I've posted a copy of my draft schedule (I also have an alternate in case I start burning out :rolleyes:) so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. The lunch hour and evenings are free. The schedule is not hard and fast, it's a guide to get me in the groove for a month and a half and to push me along. It also gives me goals to shoot for as I go.

I have the advantage of being given a blank check to fund my prep, so I'm going for both Kaplan and USMLEWorld qbanks. I'll probably end up cross-training between the two. Every week I plan to increase the number of question sets I do every day (see color-coding), and taper off on the book learning/review. I've penciled in a NBME halfway through so I can gauge my progress and delay the real exam if I need to.

You can argue whether it was a smart move or not, but I'm presenting at ACSM right after school lets out (i.e. during my first week of Step I prep), so that knocks out a few days from my time. I am proud of how hard I worked on my project, and I wanted to it show off.

Check out the USMLE Step I forum. My schedule is just an amalgamation of what worked for a lot of those posters.

Interesting schedule. I had one where I broke up the topics (along the lines of first aid) and would schedule a certain amount of time each day for each topic. That way I kept my butt moving and didn't miss any major topic. Yes I could spend weeks on cardio, but 2.5 days was all I had so I didn't forget all of neuro or something.

I'd usually start out with the questions in BRS, to see what I remembered vs. what I had to relearn and worked from there in each section. First Aid was important. Review books were helpful and original notes/text books were only last resort.

The first hour of the day was actually reviewing what I went over the day or two before (I'm a geek I'd make little questions for myself). Then two four hour blocks separated by lunch/workout. The evening would be about an hour of SBS (social and behavior sciences-heck easier ?s that counted as much as the others) and usually random study review with my roommate and or her study partner over dinner.

Saturdays were reserved for Q banks ?s. I did blocks of fifty and then would review the great explanations. I think Q bank and reading all the answers (including the wrong ones even if you got it right) and looking up any questions I had was a pain in the but but very helpful.

I did well, but it was a hell of a lot of work. No 265, but no one who forced me to reveal my score could say it was bad. Oh, and I studied anatomy for Step one=wasted time. I had only two questions and they involved the brachial plexus.

Good luck to those who are dealing with the exams.:luck::luck::luck:
 
Interesting schedule. I had one where I broke up the topics (along the lines of first aid) and would schedule a certain amount of time each day for each topic. That way I kept my butt moving and didn't miss any major topic. Yes I could spend weeks on cardio, but 2.5 days was all I had so I didn't forget all of neuro or something.

I'd usually start out with the questions in BRS, to see what I remembered vs. what I had to relearn and worked from there in each section. First Aid was important. Review books were helpful and original notes/text books were only last resort.

The first hour of the day was actually reviewing what I went over the day or two before (I'm a geek I'd make little questions for myself). Then two four hour blocks separated by lunch/workout. The evening would be about an hour of SBS (social and behavior sciences-heck easier ?s that counted as much as the others) and usually random study review with my roommate and or her study partner over dinner.

Saturdays were reserved for Q banks ?s. I did blocks of fifty and then would review the great explanations. I think Q bank and reading all the answers (including the wrong ones even if you got it right) and looking up any questions I had was a pain in the but but very helpful.

I did well, but it was a hell of a lot of work. No 265, but no one who forced me to reveal my score could say it was bad. Oh, and I studied anatomy for Step one=wasted time. I had only two questions and they involved the brachial plexus.

Good luck to those who are dealing with the exams.:luck::luck::luck:

I do things kind of similar to what you did. Usually the explanations are enough, but if I just don't remember anything about it, I go and look it up on the internet. Unfortunately, I may have more anatomy-type questions due to the whole osteopathic questions in mine (but still not straight-forward anatomy I don't think). All I've heard from people is there is no way you can get a q-bank similar to the questions on the COMLEX...anyone else hear any different?
 
I've never been able to force myself to study that much. I read maybe 4 hours per day for a couple weeks, then simply got bored of the reading. I crammed the week before Step I. It probably shows in my score.
Step II I didn't study for at all. Didn't seem like there was a way to do so. I did a lot of reading for my EM/Tox month, and it was probably the best thing to ever happen to me.
 
It's definitely an interesting way to set a schedule...

Interesting schedule...
I didn't expect this reaction. I feel like you all just told me that my blind date has a good personality. :laugh:

On the hours, it's like any other job. You go to work, you put in your time, you go home. FA's one of my books, and I intend to read through subjects in roughly the same order. If you all think I'm missing something, then please speak up.
 
see, this is the kind of thanatopsis I want for my terminal patients. :love:

I don't think I ever shared with you all how peacefully my grandma died. She had some dementia, but was hilarious her last week she was around. She even pointed out to me they wouldn't give her enough laxatives, and all that stomach area wasn't fat, it was cement, full of s***. From a grandmother I never heard cuss, this was quite hilarious.

Anyway, in her last day, they were giving her morphine to make her comfortable. My brother (a nurse paramedic) was there along with all her kids and a few other grandchildren. She woke up one time from the morphine and said "Why am I still here? Can't I just die yet?" She then turned to my brother and asked him "Can't you just give me a little extra of that stuff so I can just die?" He told her he'd probably get in lots of trouble for that and not be able to work any more. They then gave her her last dose of morphine, and her last words (and response to the sublingual tablet) was "mmmmm...that was good." Then she died. All I can say is that I hope I go that peacefully and those are my last words.

(the suicide thread reminded me of this story)
 
Just out of curiosity, what are you studying at this point? EM stuff or for your next round of boards?

Medicine! There is something about being given a license to kill people that motivates you to study like nothing else! :scared:
 
Hey, I signed a lease, too - by proxy! My mom, dad, and aunt found me a great 1BR 2 blocks from the beach in a happenin' area of town! :cool:
 
I didn't expect this reaction. I feel like you all just told me that my blind date has a good personality. :laugh:

On the hours, it's like any other job. You go to work, you put in your time, you go home. FA's one of my books, and I intend to read through subjects in roughly the same order. If you all think I'm missing something, then please speak up.

LOL didn't mean it that way at all. The whole job think is the best way to think about it. That and knowing it won't go on forever.:luck:
 
Hey, I signed a lease, too - by proxy! My mom, dad, and aunt found me a great 1BR 2 blocks from the beach in a happenin' area of town! :cool:

Congrats on getting a place. I'm jealous. No beach for me.
 
I didn't expect this reaction. I feel like you all just told me that my blind date has a good personality. :laugh:

On the hours, it's like any other job. You go to work, you put in your time, you go home. FA's one of my books, and I intend to read through subjects in roughly the same order. If you all think I'm missing something, then please speak up.

RxnMan,

That's a pretty hardcore schedule. It's good to view it as a job. Also good to consider that as much as it is a test of pre-clinical knowledge, it is also a test of stamina. That should also be a goal: trying to keep sharp for 8-9 hours.

Also, I did Qbank and many of the questions were much more indepth than on Step I. Definitely read through First Aid, because it provides you the breadth of knowledge. You'll encounter some easy rote memorization questions--about say urology--that you don't want to miss.

Good luck y'all, and make sure to have a break before third year! :luck:
 
Hey, I signed a lease, too - by proxy! My mom, dad, and aunt found me a great 1BR 2 blocks from the beach in a happenin' area of town! :cool:

That's awesome, congrats!

Will head out to ATL in about a week to look for a condo or apt...
 
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