Recommendations for CBSE Workflow

[tallnlanky]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm a D2, looking to take the CBSE in February (so about 6 months time). I am familiar with some of the resources that students use (UFAP, Anking, Sketchy, Kaplan, etc.) but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how to integrate these resources together effectively? For example, were there any resources you started using first? Or maybe used throughout? And how did you structure your time with Anki reviews/new cards? (I'm not looking for answers to any of these questions specifically, just trying to see if anyone else had these considerations in mind)

Sorry if this seems like a super demanding post, I'm just trying to avoid FOMO with other resources and hit the ground running! Thanks!

 

[PerioDont]

IMO start with Pathoma. My d school med background was super weak, so I literally had never heard of about half the diseases in the book. I had to watch the entire thing twice, with the first time just googling all the words and finding out what was going on. Took me about 6 weeks. I also watched sketchy videos at night or whenever I got bored.

Then just start UWORLD. you might get sucky scores at the beginning, I know I even got 20% on some blocks in the beginning. I then moved to untimed subject based. Completed one run through of UWORLD, then did another one with timed random.

just some thoughts to get you started!

 

[tallnlanky]

IMO start with Pathoma. My d school med background was super weak, so I literally had never heard of about half the diseases in the book. I had to watch the entire thing twice, with the first time just googling all the words and finding out what was going on. Took me about 6 weeks. I also watched sketchy videos at night or whenever I got bored.

Then just start UWORLD. you might get sucky scores at the beginning, I know I even got 20% on some blocks in the beginning. I then moved to untimed subject based. Completed one run through of UWORLD, then did another one with timed random.

just some thoughts to get you started!

Did you use any sort of Anki premade deck?

 

[fit2]

Did you use any sort of Anki premade deck?

I used Zanki but finished like 18k/28k cards. I wouldn’t make it my life mission to complete all those and keep repeating them. Be honest with what you know and what you don’t and rather use anki heavily for topics that you’re weak in. I would however use Zanki when you like cover an organ system so see how much you’ve retained and if you need more practice.
anki was great in the first few months of studying but towards the end I knew many many facts so separating material so much was not the way to go. I’d get a lot more out of covering an entire FA chapter in 1-2 days and stuff.

 

[PerioDont]

I used Pepper for sketchy. I did Zanki for about 10k...but its a huge slog. you gotta be all in. I made my own deck for Pathoma ~2k cards of just the stuff I didn't know. also combined some of the cards from zanki into mine.

 

[tallnlanky]

I used Pepper for sketchy. I did Zanki for about 10k...but its a huge slog. you gotta be all in. I made my own deck for Pathoma ~2k cards of just the stuff I didn't know. also combined some of the cards from zanki into mine.

Thanks! My biggest hesitation with Zanki is for that exact same reason. It seems like an enormous effort. Even though it works I don't know if I could reasonably do that. I might follow your advice and make my own cards / copy cards from zanki.

 

[Polkadotfan]

Pathoma for sure. I watched all to get a good overview of what little I knew. Watched all sketchy in between then hit Uworld ASAP
I would crash and burn each test in the beginning and then pick my worst subject --> read FA/Pathoma/Sketchy to see what fundamental thing I missed. Repeat.
I really only used premade decks for things I found difficult (blood things, brain cancer) and then if I still couldn't learn it I would try to find a mnemonic near that last month if just to have the key words in my brain.

I was constantly rewatching pathoma then looking at FA to see what extra thing I could cram. Sometimes I would go section by section in Uworld ( reviewed cardiovascular --> Uworld block --> see what still didn't stick) if just to change it up and help me focus on systems I still had troubles with.

 

[deleted923283]

I'm a D2, looking to take the CBSE in February (so about 6 months time). I am familiar with some of the resources that students use (UFAP, Anking, Sketchy, Kaplan, etc.) but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how to integrate these resources together effectively? For example, were there any resources you started using first? Or maybe used throughout? And how did you structure your time with Anki reviews/new cards? (I'm not looking for answers to any of these questions specifically, just trying to see if anyone else had these considerations in mind)

Sorry if this seems like a super demanding post, I'm just trying to avoid FOMO with other resources and hit the ground running! Thanks!

I 100% recommend starting with SketchyMicro, then SketchyPharm. They assume 0 previous knowledge and are fun To learn with. I say the same thing to any underclassmen who ask how to start. From there you can tackle Path and First Aid. But absolutely start right now with Sketchy. Even if you back out from the CBSE, it will make Microbiology and Pharmacology courses a breeze!

 

[deleted923283]

I'm a D2, looking to take the CBSE in February (so about 6 months time). I am familiar with some of the resources that students use (UFAP, Anking, Sketchy, Kaplan, etc.) but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how to integrate these resources together effectively? For example, were there any resources you started using first? Or maybe used throughout? And how did you structure your time with Anki reviews/new cards? (I'm not looking for answers to any of these questions specifically, just trying to see if anyone else had these considerations in mind)

Sorry if this seems like a super demanding post, I'm just trying to avoid FOMO with other resources and hit the ground running! Thanks!

I used Zanki throughout, but wouldn’t recommend it. Definitely have First Aid on your desktop, because I was referencing it at least once every day during studying

 

[desertrat12]

Definitely check out pixorize. Same style as sketchy, but for biochem and immuno. I’ve only done their biochem and it is extremely good. It covers your basic biochem pathways and associated diseases, but also does vitamins and a ton of other difficult to remember pathologies like the glycogen storage disorders, lysosomal storage disorders, porphyrias, etc. there is a super good pre made anki deck as well.

 

[PerioDont]

Definitely check out pixorize. Same style as sketchy, but for biochem and immuno. I’ve only done their biochem and it is extremely good. It covers your basic biochem pathways and associated diseases, but also does vitamins and a ton of other difficult to remember pathologies like the glycogen storage disorders, lysosomal storage disorders, porphyrias, etc. there is a super good pre made anki deck as well.

Okay thats really cool. wish I had known about that. I also really liked Physeo for physiology + public health/epi stuff

 

[desertrat12]

**The following is my experience, LOTS of people do it completely different and still do really really well. So take this with a grain of salt...

Sketchy style learning works great for me, so the following is basically what I did but also includes some stuff I wish I had done.


1. Either pixorize immuno and its anki deck, pixorize biochem and its anki deck, sketchy micro and its anki deck, or sketchy pharm and its anki deck
2-4: work your way through each of these video sets with their decks
**Many of these anki decks include photo links to first aid so read those as you go through the cards
5. Work on something with pathology. Whether that be Pathoma, Sketchy Path (I'm a fan, but its definitely not as good as other sketchy stuff), or Physeo I think just came out with a whole pathology section and Physeo is VERY good with all their stuff, so I'm assuming the pathology will be good too. I'd say pick a reasonable anki deck along with it. By reasonable I mean one that isn't 10,000+ cards unless you can handle that.
6. Hit questions in uworld. Review all answer descriptions and cross reference with first aide. Make a personal anki deck for concepts you are missing
7. Keep up with anki reviews and uworld questions everyday, rinse and repeat

Bonus: I used Physeo for nuerology, and Randy Niel's youtube videos for stats

About your time frame, 6 months is definitely enough time for some people, but with school work you may find you feel really overwhelmed to balance everything. I'd suggest finding a pace that allows you to understand everything AND retain it through anki AND balance your schoo/life. And just consistently day in and day out work that plan. If February comes and you haven't completed everything but have already signed up, then go take it and hope for the best. If it goes well (which it definitely could) then congrats your are done. But if not, you've got an incredible foundation and you will absolutely kill it in August. I see plenty of classmates, myself included, that try and cram for the cbse, skim through things, overlook other things, etc, and take it and do poorly and have to take it again but still not be in a good starting point to study for the next exam.

 

[rotichawal]

Maybe this is just me, but in my experience I've found it more helpful to focus on a few resources more intensely than many different ones in less detail. It's really easy to spread yourself too thin and start forgetting big picture things in the attempt to pick up fine details, there's a reason why UFAPS is the backbone to this kind of exam