Recommended Reading/Studying Structure for R1?

[RealHumanBean1]

Hey all! Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.

Just a lowly R1 here - officially starting on Monday - curious to hear your opinions on the ideal reading/studying structure for R1. I'm lucky enough to be mostly 8a-5p with no weekend call during the majority of R1, so I'm looking to develop a solid foundation of knowledge to prepare myself for a more intensive call schedule starting R2.

What do you all feel is the most efficient/reasonable studying method for R1s that will both actively prepare us for our rotations AND set us up to perform well on the Core exam during R3?

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[maxxor]

Hey all! Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.

Just a lowly R1 here - officially starting on Monday - curious to hear your opinions on the ideal reading/studying structure for R1. I'm lucky enough to be mostly 8a-5p with no weekend call during the majority of R1, so I'm looking to develop a solid foundation of knowledge to prepare myself for a more intensive call schedule starting R2.

What do you all feel is the most efficient/reasonable studying method for R1s that will both actively prepare us for our rotations AND set us up to perform well on the Core exam during R3?

Read core radiology when you start a rotation.

Read about the cases you see each day.

Do ACR case in point every day

 

[guytakingboards]

Hey all! Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.

Just a lowly R1 here - officially starting on Monday - curious to hear your opinions on the ideal reading/studying structure for R1. I'm lucky enough to be mostly 8a-5p with no weekend call during the majority of R1, so I'm looking to develop a solid foundation of knowledge to prepare myself for a more intensive call schedule starting R2.

What do you all feel is the most efficient/reasonable studying method for R1s that will both actively prepare us for our rotations AND set us up to perform well on the Core exam during R3?

Ideally, you'd be reading 1-2hr a day. At first, just the Core Radiology section of the rotation you're on. This is a high yield overview of the topics covered on the Core exam in R3 year and a good, broad foundation to build on.

Later on in the first rotation you might get through the entry level books for your specialty and/or directed Statdx/Radiopedia entries on the cases you see and/or selected topics from comprehensive intermediate level books like the Requisites series.

If you're really into heavy reading, then reading the Requisites series the 2nd-3rd time you go through rotation is gonna give you a solid knowledge base. Fourth year/fellowship should focus on the big in-specialty texts and some journal article reading.

If you haven't heard of the Ben White Blog, it's a blog created by a now-early career rad who posts a lot of useful information on all topics radiology/practice of medicine.

Good blog posts for you would be:
Approaching the Radiology R1 Year
Recommended reading for first-year radiology residents
Recommended Books for Radiology Residents

I think the single most important thing is just consistency. Doing an hour a day in first year will serve you very well.

I wouldn't worry too much about call preparation at this time. The best thing you can do to prepare for call down the line is becoming a good radiologist now. At the workstation, that means: seeing a lot of cases, developing your search pattern, reading prior reports to develop your dictation style, looking up your cases.

Good luck, R1 is a challenging year but it can be a fun one and unquestionably the lowest expectation year you'll have for the rest of your career.

 

[letmebe]

Meanwhile I’m an R2 re-reading core radiology like I’m reading it for the first time. Just doesn’t stick.

 

[LittleFoot]

I highly recommend watching the Crack the Core 'Titan' videos as a first year. My seniors told me to not worry about Crack the Core until board study in 3rd year and I wholeheartedly disagree. I think it's a great first year resource. He explains things really well and it also compliments Core Radiology.

 

[RealHumanBean1]

I highly recommend watching the Crack the Core 'Titan' videos as a first year. My seniors told me to not worry about Crack the Core until board study in 3rd year and I wholeheartedly disagree. I think it's a great first year resource. He explains things really well and it also compliments Core Radiology.

Are these videos free to access?

PS gotta appreciate the Land Before Time love

 

[guytakingboards]

Are these videos free to access?

PS gotta appreciate the Land Before Time love

No. It's pay to view on the Titan Radiology website but there's usually copies of the videos circulating through residency programs on somebody's external hard drive.

 

[bobjonesbob]

Hey all! Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.

Just a lowly R1 here - officially starting on Monday - curious to hear your opinions on the ideal reading/studying structure for R1. I'm lucky enough to be mostly 8a-5p with no weekend call during the majority of R1, so I'm looking to develop a solid foundation of knowledge to prepare myself for a more intensive call schedule starting R2.

What do you all feel is the most efficient/reasonable studying method for R1s that will both actively prepare us for our rotations AND set us up to perform well on the Core exam during R3?

I'd recommend having a small notebook to take notes in during conferences and during readouts. Any time there's a disease or anatomical structure I didn't know I'd write it down then at some point usually that night or the next weekend I'll go read about those topics in radiopaedia or statdx. It helps with repetition and to see it across different resources and modalities. I've never been that much of a fan of just reading large chapters or whole text books on topics because it's very inefficient. You won't retain much material that you passively read like that.