Scared of STEP I already...

[circulus vitios]

Sounds like a martyr complex. You don't have 5 minutes to shave, you're really that busy?

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[Kaputt]

I have the advantage of a 6 year retrospectiscope...but step one studying really wasn't that bad.

I woke up at 7:30 every day, ate breakfast and fooled around on the internet til 8. Then I went into a regimented study routine from 8 until 6 pm. Then I went to the gym for an hour, ate for an hour, and did some questions from 8-10. Repeat 6 days per week, times 5 weeks.

Sure there was a lot of stress. But I showered, shaved, worked out, and generally was a normal human being at night. I went out one night per week and did something on Sundays to make it a more relaxing day.

You don't have to be some weird bearded hobo living in the library for a month. I generally found that the students who spent a lot of time on the medical campus (i.e. around other students) stressed themselves out way too much as a result.

My 5 weeks of Step 1 study were some of the best weeks of med school, period. I had a very similar schedule as yours. Got up at a reasonable hour, had a good breakfast, hit up the library from like 9am - 5pm, worked out afterwards. Always made Sundays a relaxing half-day. I was living at home so my parents made me dinner every night, and I got to hang out more with my old friends than I had in years. It was great.

Step 1 study is what you make of it. The actual studying part is par for the course...if you made it this far, you're a professional studier and the process of studying is not difficult. The hours you need to actually put in on a day-to-day basis don't need to be all-consuming. I had the best study-life balance during those 5 weeks that I ever had. Because I was in complete control of my schedule, I was able to construct my study schedule to allow for having lots of fun during my free time.

Or, if you are a festering ball of stress, make yourself as miserable as possible during that 5 weeks. Your choice.

 

[Kaputt]

At least you were smart enough to get First Aid BEFORE med school starts so you can research how to use it effectively.

C'mon, you're just fueling neuroticism. I'm of the belief that you shouldn't own, much less touch, a copy of First Aid before the edition comes out in the year that you'll take the exam (so January of your second year). THE BEST PREP for Step 1 is doing well in your preclinical curriculum. There aren't any easy passes. Buying First Aid early and "aquatinting" yourself with its mind-numbing lists and tables while you're an M-0/M-1 isn't going to do anything positive. First Aid is the condensed cheat sheet you've earned after you've burned the midnight oil learning the basic sciences and passing your tests in your curriculum. It focuses the knowledge you learned during M-1/M-2, but is a useless collection of facts until you've actually learned enough for it to be useful.

Yes the match is getting more difficult but that doesn't mean the arms race has extended into studying for Step 1 before med school/the moment you matriculate. People who narrow their focus so early on Step 1 aren't even the people who do best on it...they stunt their own knowledge base.

 

[DermViser]

Sounds like a martyr complex. You don't have 5 minutes to shave, you're really that busy?

It's people like this who then distract from actual legitimate complaints. It's completely self-induced.

 

[DermViser]

C'mon, you're just fueling neuroticism. I'm of the belief that you shouldn't own, much less touch, a copy of First Aid before the edition comes out in the year that you'll take the exam (so January of your second year). THE BEST PREP for Step 1 is doing well in your preclinical curriculum. There aren't any easy passes. Buying First Aid early and "aquatinting" yourself with its mind-numbing lists and tables while you're an M-0/M-1 isn't going to do anything positive. First Aid is the condensed cheat sheet you've earned after you've burned the midnight oil learning the basic sciences and passing your tests in your curriculum. It focuses the knowledge you learned during M-1/M-2, but is a useless collection of facts until you've actually learned enough for it to be useful.

Yes the match is getting more difficult but that doesn't mean the arms race has extended into studying for Step 1 before med school/the moment you matriculate. People who narrow their focus so early on Step 1 aren't even the people who do best on it...they stunt their own knowledge base.

I didn't say start studying the lists and tables. Read what I wrote again.

 

[notbobtrustme]

C'mon, you're just fueling neuroticism. I'm of the belief that you shouldn't own, much less touch, a copy of First Aid before the edition comes out in the year that you'll take the exam (so January of your second year). THE BEST PREP for Step 1 is doing well in your preclinical curriculum. There aren't any easy passes. Buying First Aid early and "aquatinting" yourself with its mind-numbing lists and tables while you're an M-0/M-1 isn't going to do anything positive. First Aid is the condensed cheat sheet you've earned after you've burned the midnight oil learning the basic sciences and passing your tests in your curriculum. It focuses the knowledge you learned during M-1/M-2, but is a useless collection of facts until you've actually learned enough for it to be useful.

Yes the match is getting more difficult but that doesn't mean the arms race has extended into studying for Step 1 before med school/the moment you matriculate. People who narrow their focus so early on Step 1 aren't even the people who do best on it...they stunt their own knowledge base.

yea, the match is getting more competitive, but for DOs and IMGs. Since MDs are first pick 95% of the time, they are only really competing with other MDs.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Because I was in complete control of my schedule, I was able to construct my study schedule to allow for having lots of fun during my free time.

Exactly. It was actually probably the most control I've had over my schedule in any time period before or after. I literally had zero other obligations for 5 weeks. My number of emails received per day was at an all time low since I had nothing coming in from the med school. I had no meetings, no research projects, no mandatory classes, etc.

 

[DermViser]

My 5 weeks of Step 1 study were some of the best weeks of med school, period. I had a very similar schedule as yours. Got up at a reasonable hour, had a good breakfast, hit up the library from like 9am - 5pm, worked out afterwards. Always made Sundays a relaxing half-day. I was living at home so my parents made me dinner every night, and I got to hang out more with my old friends than I had in years. It was great.

Step 1 study is what you make of it. The actual studying part is par for the course...if you made it this far, you're a professional studier and the process of studying is not difficult. The hours you need to actually put in on a day-to-day basis don't need to be all-consuming. I had the best study-life balance during those 5 weeks that I ever had. Because I was in complete control of my schedule, I was able to construct my study schedule to allow for having lots of fun during my free time.

Or, if you are a festering ball of stress, make yourself as miserable as possible during that 5 weeks. Your choice.

Key words: I was living at home.

That being said I agree with the rest as far as study-life balance.

 

[Kaputt]

I didn't say start studying the lists and tables. Read what I wrote again.

You spread your ideas across dozens of posts, you realize?

Using it as some road-map to the boards is a waste of time and that $40. Opening up First Aid in parallel to your preclinical material just tempts you to cut corners with your understanding, in my opinion. Spending more time with a meatier source is way more valuable than referencing First Aid every once in a while. First Aid doesn't teach you about how the boards integrates material, or how to think like the boards. Question banks do that. First Aid is just a set of lists.

Correct me if I'm wrong about what you're suggesting people use First Aid for during the preclinical years.

 

[Kaputt]

Key words: I was living at home.

That being said I agree with the rest as far as study-life balance.

Your point? A lot of my friends left town for a change in scenery during boards study. It was very nice to study on my own and not run into neurotic classmates.

 

[DermViser]

Your point? A lot of my friends left town for a change in scenery during boards study. It was very nice to study on my own and not run into neurotic classmates.

It's a lot easier to get more study time in when your parents are taking care of EVERYTHING ELSE for you. That being said I agreed with the study-life balance in the rest of your post. It does not have to be the way the OP portrayed it as being.

 

[Kaputt]

It's a lot easier to get more study time in when your parents are taking care of EVERYTHING ELSE for you. That being said I agreed with the study-life balance in the rest of your post. It does not have to be the way the OP portrayed it as being.

Ha, they made me dinner, but that was about it. And I chipped in -- I walked the dog. My day-to-day life would not have been that different if I was staying in my apartment in the city I go to school in.

 

[DermViser]

You spread your ideas across dozens of posts, you realize?

Using it as some road-map to the boards is a waste of time and that $40. Opening up First Aid in parallel to your preclinical material just tempts you to cut corners with your understanding, in my opinion. Spending more time with a meatier source is way more valuable than referencing First Aid every once in a while. First Aid doesn't teach you about how the boards integrates material, or how to think like the boards. Question banks do that. First Aid is just a set of lists.

Correct me if I'm wrong about what you're suggesting people use First Aid for during the preclinical years.

Sorry, but nowhere did I say to get First Aid to actively study it ahead of time. That would make absolutely no sense. I also said First Aid is not all encompassing (hence it's not a "road-map") - that why students use board review books. It does have clever mnemonics and learning tools that are helpful in learning material that is new while doing coursework.

 

[235009]

I have the advantage of a 6 year retrospectiscope...but step one studying really wasn't that bad.

I woke up at 7:30 every day, ate breakfast and fooled around on the internet til 8. Then I went into a regimented study routine from 8 until 6 pm. Then I went to the gym for an hour, ate for an hour, and did some questions from 8-10. Repeat 6 days per week, times 5 weeks.

Sure there was a lot of stress. But I showered, shaved, worked out, and generally was a normal human being at night. I went out one night per week and did something on Sundays to make it a more relaxing day.

You don't have to be some weird bearded hobo living in the library for a month. I generally found that the students who spent a lot of time on the medical campus (i.e. around other students) stressed themselves out way too much as a result.

Good for you but there's nothing special about being 6 years out. I doubt in the next three years I'll suddenly change my mind. The first two years of med school were miserable and step 1 studying was the culmination of that misery. There's just so much pressure and uncertainty. Some (actually many) people in med school are hard wired to be "professional studiers" as someone put it but that's not true of everyone. Don't dismiss others' experiences because they don't correlate to your own.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Good for you but there's nothing special about being 6 years out.

My point with the six years out comment is that (a) we tend to forget some of the specifics of events, particularly unpleasant ones, over time. It's not uncommon to romanticize/whitewash events in retrospect. and (b) now I've gotten to experience events that were much worse so it puts it all in perspective a bit.

Don't dismiss others' experiences because they don't correlate to your own.

I don't see how posting an alternate perspective dismisses yours. I was merely providing another experience.

 

[235009]

My point with the six years out comment is that (a) we tend to forget some of the specifics of events, particularly unpleasant ones, over time. It's not uncommon to romanticize/whitewash events in retrospect. and (b) now I've gotten to experience events that were much worse so it puts it all in perspective a bit.



I don't see how posting an alternate perspective dismisses yours. I was merely providing another experience.

Your tone was pretty dismissive.

With each passing year the preclinical years and step 1 studying seem even more awful and stressful. My advice to anyone in the midst of it who isn't wired to sit at a desk for hours studying minutiae is that it gets WAY better.

 

[notbobtrustme]

also ark, get off SDN during your dedicated study period. this site is full of top performers and if you compare yourself to the average SDNer, you're going to go crazy

if you want an extra case of the neurotic, go check out the Step 1scores thread in the Step 1 forums; probably half of the people who will score >260 in the nation are in that thread because every other score report is some dude getting a 260+.

 

[Kaputt]

also ark, get off SDN during your dedicated study period. this site is full of top performers and if you compare yourself to the average SDNer, you're going to go crazy

if you want an extra case of the neurotic, go check out the Step 1scores thread in the Step 1 forums; probably half of the people who will score >260 in the nation are in that thread because every other score report is some dude getting a 260+.

Ark just needs to get off sdn, period. Seems every week he's posting a thread about another crisis.

 

[DermViser]

Ark just needs to get off sdn, period. Seems every week he's posting a thread about another crisis.

Not necessarily a crisis, just concerns, more likely. I think it's hard for med students to sometimes interpret what they see and know if it's actually the way it's supposed to be. Doesn't help if you're surrounded by more neurotic, more tightly wound up classmates.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

You're scared? I take it within 48 hours and I've had a **** show for a dedicated study period. I have no time for a second pass. You have most of second year to get your **** together. I should be scared.

 

[DermViser]

Your tone was pretty dismissive.

With each passing year the preclinical years and step 1 studying seem even more awful and stressful. My advice to anyone in the midst of it who isn't wired to sit at a desk for hours studying minutiae is that it gets WAY better.

SouthernIM wasn't being dismissive, but more putting it in perspective (although a different perspective than yours).

Sorry, but there are people I know who liked the learning that took place in the first 2 years in the basic sciences. They didn't necessarily love Step 1, but the first 2 years expectations are pretty straightforward. Many of them hated MS-3, in which the expectations are very different rotation to rotation, much less person to person, esp. with certain rotations having notorious types of residents. For you to say that it gets better, as if it's a tried and true rule is ridiculous. There are tons of people who would find the MS-3 year a "culmination of misery" - which is why they go for things like Rads, Ophtho, Anesthesia, Derm, Path, PM&R, ENT, Urology, etc.

 

[DermViser]

You're scared? I take it within 48 hours and I've had a **** show for a dedicated study period. I have no time for a second pass. You have most of second year to get your **** together. I should be scared.

For the love of God, get the **** off SDN and come back after Monday like you said you would and stop freaking out.

 

[Kaputt]

SouthernIM wasn't being dismissive, but more putting it in perspective (although a different perspective than yours).

Sorry, but there are people I know who liked the learning that took place in the first 2 years in the basic sciences. They didn't necessarily love Step 1, but the first 2 years expectations are pretty straightforward. Many of them hated MS-3, in which the expectations are very different rotation to rotation, much less person to person, esp. with certain rotations having notorious types of residents. For you to say that it gets better, as if it's a tried and true rule is ridiculous. There are tons of people who would find the MS-3 year a "culmination of misery" - which is why they go for things like Rads, Ophtho, Anesthesia, Derm, Path, PM&R, ENT, Urology, etc.

I was definitely one of those people

3rd year was the bane of my existence

 

[Kaputt]

You're scared? I take it within 48 hours and I've had a **** show for a dedicated study period. I have no time for a second pass. You have most of second year to get your **** together. I should be scared.

And this is why you should stay off sdn during your Step 1 study time

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

C'mon, you're just fueling neuroticism. I'm of the belief that you shouldn't own, much less touch, a copy of First Aid before the edition comes out in the year that you'll take the exam (so January of your second year). THE BEST PREP for Step 1 is doing well in your preclinical curriculum. There aren't any easy passes. Buying First Aid early and "aquatinting" yourself with its mind-numbing lists and tables while you're an M-0/M-1 isn't going to do anything positive. First Aid is the condensed cheat sheet you've earned after you've burned the midnight oil learning the basic sciences and passing your tests in your curriculum. It focuses the knowledge you learned during M-1/M-2, but is a useless collection of facts until you've actually learned enough for it to be useful.

Yes the match is getting more difficult but that doesn't mean the arms race has extended into studying for Step 1 before med school/the moment you matriculate. People who narrow their focus so early on Step 1 aren't even the people who do best on it...they stunt their own knowledge base.

i agree with this,thats what i was trying to say at the start of the thread.. im just to lazy

 

[DermViser]

I was definitely one of those people 3rd year was the bane of my existence

Same for me. The MS-3 year incentives are quite perverse, IMHO. If you don't have a hard skin, MS-3 will make sure you do, after being on certain rotations. Hence why I love the comparison of MS-3 to a liquor store.

 

[DermViser]

i agree with this,thats what i was trying to say at the start of the thread.. im just to lazy

No one ever said to start studying First Aid early. That's what you interpreted - wrongly.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

No one ever said to start studying First Aid early. That's what you interpreted - wrongly.

ok i give up. you win.
im too lazy to argue

edit: kaputt defend me

 

[DermViser]

ok i give up. you win.
im too lazy to argue

edit: kaputt defend me

I'm not arguing. I just don't want anyone to think I'm actually advocating for someone to start studying First Aid when you don't have anything to study from. You'd literally be memorizing the words on the page in First Aid as factoids.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

No one ever said to start studying First Aid early. That's what you interpreted - wrongly.

i dont get why you'd buy a book if your not going to study it. It doesn't take long how to figure out how to use first aid. in the front of the book they have a table of index duhhhh

 

[DermViser]

i dont get why you'd buy a book if your not going to study it. It doesn't take long how to figure out how to use first aid. in the front of the book they have a table of index duhhhh

You mean a table of contents? I'm talking about the "Guide to Efficient Exam Preparation" section. That along with the NBME website where they tell you how they write test questions.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

You mean a table of contents? I'm talking about the "Guide to Efficient Exam Preparation" section. That along with the NBME website where they tell you how they write test questions.

Is that a section in First Aid?. Thanks Tao Le

 

[Kaputt]

You mean a table of contents? I'm talking about the "Guide to Efficient Exam Preparation" section. That along with the NBME website where they tell you how they write test questions.

That's worth $40?

And after 10 UWorld questions and you'll get the gist of how the questions are constructed.

 

[DocVapor]

I bought First Aid at the beginning of first year, opened it once or twice too look at the layout, then never opened it again and bought the 2014 edition.

I wish I had annotated the first one as we went along in class, because it would have saved some time now that I'm coming up on Step 1.

 

[DermViser]

That's worth $40?

And after 10 UWorld questions and you'll get the gist of how the questions are constructed.

And you'd use it throughout the first 2 years as well.

I'm not talking about only question construction, but HOW they test things.

 

[DermViser]

I bought First Aid at the beginning of first year, opened it once or twice too look at the layout, then never opened it again and bought the 2014 edition.

I wish I had annotated the first one as we went along in class, because it would have saved some time now that I'm coming up on Step 1.

 

[Kaputt]

I bought First Aid at the beginning of first year, opened it once or twice too look at the layout, then never opened it again and bought the 2014 edition.

I wish I had annotated the first one as we went along in class, because it would have saved some time now that I'm coming up on Step 1.

No you don't. You would have filled that copy of First Aid with so much useless drivel that it would have been useless come board study. There is very little material that actually needs annotating into First Aid. The important details from 1st and 2nd year are in First Aid already...the only stuff you really need to add are the few things that are in UWorld but not FA, or some integration made across disciplines that UWorld highlights, or an emphasis you need to place on your problem areas. Or sometimes there are better diagrams in UWorld than FA. That kind of stuff. The bulk of the detail, however, is already there.

I'm a firm believer that you should have nothing in your brand new copy of First Aid on the day you start your dedicated study time. Annotating is an active process. Reading your annotations is a passive process. You want to be doing active things during your board study period, not reading a bunch of scribbles you wrote a year ago.

It's extremely important to not gorge yourself on resources -- stick to the tried and true stuff and limit yourself to that. I can't think of a quicker way to drown in unnecessary detail than to reference a copy of First Aid annotated during the preclinical years.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

No you don't. You would have filled that copy of First Aid with so much useless drivel that it would have been useless come board study. There is very little material that actually needs annotating into First Aid. The important details from 1st and 2nd year are in First Aid already...the only stuff you really need to add are the few things that are in UWorld but not FA, or some integration made across disciplines that UWorld highlights, or an emphasis you need to place on your problem areas. Or sometimes there are better diagrams in UWorld than FA. That kind of stuff. The bulk of the detail, however, is already there.

I'm a firm believer that you should have nothing in your brand new copy of First Aid on the day you start your dedicated study time. Annotating is an active process. Reading your annotations is a passive process. You want to be doing active things during your board study period, not reading a bunch of scribbles you wrote a year ago.

It's extremely important to not gorge yourself on resources -- stick to the tried and true stuff and limit yourself to that. I can't think of a quicker way to drown in unnecessary detail than to reference a copy of First Aid annotated during the preclinical years.

Hello?? my own brain?? is that you??

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

No you don't. You would have filled that copy of First Aid with so much useless drivel that it would have been useless come board study.

This actually happened with a number of my class mates. They bought first aid on day one with all these plans of annotating it with "high yield" information throughout the first two years.

By the time board studying came around their books were packed full of tiny, cramped, useless notes that they couldn't even remember when or why they wrote down. Almost all of them just bought a fresh copy for their board studying.

 

[DermViser]

No you don't. You would have filled that copy of First Aid with so much useless drivel that it would have been useless come board study. There is very little material that actually needs annotating into First Aid. The important details from 1st and 2nd year are in First Aid already...the only stuff you really need to add are the few things that are in UWorld but not FA, or some integration made across disciplines that UWorld highlights, or an emphasis you need to place on your problem areas. Or sometimes there are better diagrams in UWorld than FA. That kind of stuff. The bulk of the detail, however, is already there.

I'm a firm believer that you should have nothing in your brand new copy of First Aid on the day you start your dedicated study time. Annotating is an active process. Reading your annotations is a passive process. You want to be doing active things during your board study period, not reading a bunch of scribbles you wrote a year ago.

It's extremely important to not gorge yourself on resources -- stick to the tried and true stuff and limit yourself to that. I can't think of a quicker way to drown in unnecessary detail than to reference a copy of First Aid annotated during the preclinical years.

Not unless you annotate with information from a board review book, not from a professor's syllabus of powerpoints.

 

[DermViser]

This actually happened with a number of my class mates. They bought first aid on day one with all these plans of annotating it with "high yield" information throughout the first two years.

By the time board studying came around their books were packed full of tiny, cramped, useless notes that they couldn't even remember when or why they wrote down. Almost all of them just bought a fresh copy for their board studying.

But were they more familiar with the info in FA?

 

[Psai]

Just download a pdf of first aid for the school year to glance at it and then buy it when you need it for your dedicated study time

 

[DermViser]

Just download a pdf of first aid for the school year to glance at it and then buy it when you need it for your dedicated study time

I'm sure Kaputt will find some reason to say this is wrong too.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

Just download a pdf of first aid for the school year to glance at it and then buy it when you need it for your dedicated study time

this is piracy, we don't support that here on SDN

 

[DermViser]

this is piracy, we don't support that here on SDN

 

[Kaputt]

Not unless you annotate with information from a board review book, not from a professor's syllabus of powerpoints.

The only stuff you should be annotating is material from qbanks like UWorld, in my opinion. Aimlessly copying details from random review books doesn't help you build knowledge. Working through a set of difficult/tricky practice questions that make the material active...annotating that thought process is helpful.

You should only annotate the stuff that you know is important. Does every random detail in Goljan need to be annotated in FA? No, probably not. If you love another review book that much, might as well carry it around with your FA as opposed to trying to consolidate it into the margins of FA.

I'm sure Kaputt will find some reason to say this is wrong too.

Haha. Priapism has this one covered.

 

[DermViser]

The only stuff you should be annotating is material from qbanks like UWorld, in my opinion. Aimlessly copying details from random review books doesn't help you build knowledge. Working through a set of difficult/tricky practice questions that make the material active...annotating that thought process is helpful.

You should only annotate the stuff that you know is important. Does every random detail in Goljan need to be annotated in FA? No, probably not. If you love another review book that much, might as well carry it around with your FA as opposed to trying to consolidate it into the margins of FA.

Haha. Priapism has this one covered.

I didn't say to aimlessly write it. I'm saying as you learn it during the course. Most people (maybe not you) use board review books along with a course.

 

[Kaputt]

I didn't say to aimlessly write it. I'm saying as you learn it during the course. Most people (maybe not you) use board review books along with a course.

I tended to read books, review or not, and take extensive paper notes. Thus, I definitely didn't need to annotate FA. That's how I studied -- by making outlines and writing things down. Rarely ever actually read those notes a second time. Probably not the norm.

 

[DermViser]

I tended to read books, review or not, and take extensive paper notes. Thus, I definitely didn't need to annotate FA. That's how I studied -- by making outlines and writing things down. Rarely ever actually read those notes a second time. Probably not the norm.

Yes, definitely not the norm, Rainman.

 

[gregoryhouse]

I gotta agree with DermViser here. Perhaps its different because my school is integrated and organ-based so we get thrown into pathology right off the bat, but I thought first aid was helpful, especially to fine tune what is really important to focus on vs. what our professors like to torture us with. I never annotated first aid but thats mostly because I don't really make notes to begin with. I've said this before but I almost exclusively use RR path, pathoma, and first aid to study (maybe throw in BRS physio, and high yield embryo every so often) to study and have done extremely well on tests. The week before a final exam, I go over the relevant first aid chapter and pathoma chapter and thats it and its allowed me to be at the top of my class. My school also has us take two NBME exams at the end of first year over the material we have covered and I did extremely well on them, which I believe to be due to my familiarity with first aid and pathoma that I accumulated over the entire year.