May be I didn't make it very clear. I had to repeat the year because not because I didn't pass my courses, but because I didn't get the required minimum in the CBSE exams I had to take at my school before taking the board exam.
Hi John,
I was wondering if you have you been able to reflect on why you may have struggled in your second year. A lot of times it helps to identify areas in which you struggled so that you may try a different approach next time. For example, I reviewed concepts I struggled with more times than those that came easier to me. A lot of people do the opposite though, they review the things they understand the same or more times than the concepts they are weak in, because frankly, its easier. However, more than likely the concepts that are being placed not the back burner are those that are deserving of more attention. Another thing I would try to do is definitely try to really understand the material and if there's something you don't understand look it up. For example, for subjects which were pathophys heavy such as cardio and resp. I actually reviewed they physo doing 2nd year so that I could better understand how abnormal functioning led to pathology. This really helped me for my classes but even more so for step 1. My last, but probably most important tip would be to make connections. Step 1 and even our lecture exams tied in multiple organ systems and subjects . You'd be surprised at how integrative some questions are. Below is a summarized list of 5 major things I did during 2nd year and step studying that may be helpful:
1: Try to really understand things(if you have to say it out loud to yourself, do it! I did it all the time lol!) think about every possible scenario b/c they will be answer choices.
2: As I mentioned earlier, identify your weak areas and develop a plan for them.
3: Integrate what you learned
4: Prioritize...for example for step, path was more important to me than pharm because it is a major component of step In fact, since my memory is so bad I hammered in as much pharm as I could during the last week in half before my test. For me, I new there was no point in focusing on it prior to then b/c on the test it would be gone lol.
5: Try to really learn and focus 2nd year.
I honestly didn't "go hard" on my step studying until 2 months out. I focused on learning 2nd year really well.
I really hope this helps. Good luck to you!
