Simulating med school studying?

[Deecee2DO]

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I highly doubt your are a medical student. Medical students don't talk like that.

Im an M1. Talk to any physician and ask them how relevant preclinical coursework is to practicing clinical medicine. It is merely a stepping stone of foundational knowledge to understanding and practicing your clinical education. I will study my butt off for Step 1 but my point is the stuff you are learning in M1 for Step is not stuff you are going to use "for life". Let me know how competent you feel in practicing clinical medicine autonomously as an M4 at graduation.

 

[Mike Bagwell]

“Anybody who picks up First Aid on their first day of medical school is one of those people who DOESN'T know what they are doing. First Aid should always be looked at as a review AFTER basic sciences are completed.“

I was just replying to this point. I agree first aid is bare bones but it definitely helps knowing what to focus in on. And like I said going through it during preclinical saved me a ton of time since I barley used it at all during dedicated.

Again, not knocking FA but there is a place for it and if you are using it DURING basic sciences, you are wasting your time. Firstly, I don't think you can even use FA until having taken pathology. So if I saw a first semester student in anatomy cracking open FA, I would think they don't know what they are doing because they already don't understand the sequence of coursework and how it is integrated.

During STEP1 prep, you have a set amount of time, unlike the MCAT, and during that time I would invest it into UWORLD or a similar resource where your score can increase immensely with mastery.

But hey, if you can crack open FA on the first day of class and it leads you to a 260 or 280, then more power to you. I'm just saying that's not how it is supposed to work.

 

[863168]

@Mike Bagwell You are derailing this thread. Don't bother responding to this post. I only typed it in hopes that you would give your keyboard some space to breathe.

 

[ThrowawayShmoaway]

you haven't started medical school so I don't think it's appropriate that when I am offering advice "from the inside" so to speak that you attempt to discredit or label it as anything but reliable just because you have been made a moderator.

You don’t need to be a med student to point out that your way of studying isn’t necessarily the be all end all of studying. What makes this site great is a lot of us can see that there a lot of different approaches to studying successfully in med school, including which resources people use and how/when. A quick perusal of the Step 1 forum shows this. I think we were just pointing out that you post a lot of helpful advice, but in very dogmatic terms, instead of conceding that it’s just one way that you’ve found to be helpful, and that others’ mileage may vary.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

@Matthew9Thirtyfive to be fair, you haven't started medical school so I don't think it's appropriate that when I am offering advice "from the inside" so to speak that you attempt to discredit or label it as anything but reliable just because you have been made a moderator.

I wouldn't bring up FA as a resource unless I thought it was worth discussing. When you start medical school, feel free to counter what I have been saying. Until then, you can always take my advice with a grain of salt if you feel skeptical.

I don't know how many associations you have with medical students who have recently taken STEP1 or will be studying for STEP1 but the higher the caliber of student, the less you hear about their preparation and the use of FA. But again, when you get there, report back what you see.

I’m not discrediting it. In fact, I said it’s valuable (which it is). I’m just pointing out that you are shooting down any differing opinion as though your way is the only correct way. It may be for you, but I know many med students, and that’s not how they’ve all done things. There is rarely only one right way.

 

[Mike Bagwell]

You don’t need to be a med student to point out that your way of studying isn’t necessarily the be all end all of studying. What makes this site great is a lot of us can see that there a lot of different approaches to studying successfully in med school, including which resources people use and how/when. A quick perusal of the Step 1 forum shows this. I think we were just pointing out that you post a lot of helpful advice, but in very dogmatic terms, instead of conceding that it’s just one way that you’ve found to be helpful, and that others’ mileage may vary.

Ok fair enough. Just don't fall into a trap when you get to medical school. Even the best and brightest students choose a wrong approach and pay dearly for it. I have seen that even in my own family.

The main idea I have been getting at is to take the long road. It will pay you back dividends in the end. FA, in this example, is not the long road. Tread wisely.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Im an M1. Talk to any physician and ask them how relevant preclinical coursework is to practicing clinical medicine. It is merely a stepping stone of foundational knowledge to understanding and practicing your clinical education. I will study my butt off for Step 1 but my point is the stuff you are learning in M1 for Step is not stuff you are going to use "for life". Let me know how competent you feel in practicing clinical medicine autonomously as an M4 at graduation.

Agree. That sentiment is all over SDN, and the docs I know IRL have said as much.

 

[Mike Bagwell]

I’m not discrediting it. In fact, I said it’s valuable (which it is). I’m just pointing out that you are shooting down any differing opinion as though your way is the only correct way. It may be for you, but I know many med students, and that’s not how they’ve all done things. There is rarely only one right way.

Fair enough. But when you do start classes, let us know what you observe. I have a feeling your experience won't be that much different than mine. If it is, I'm certainly open to differing viewpoints.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Fair enough. But when you do start classes, let us know what you observe. I have a feeling your experience won't be that much different than mine. If it is, I'm certainly open to differing viewpoints.

I will. For what it's worth, I'm not planning on heavily relying on UFAPS for most of M1/M2. I'm planning on using sketchy for micro and path (and pathoma), and I'm probably going to go through and annotate FA as we go along, but my plan is to really just know the material from class and get a lot of practice applying it. We do NBME exams.

 

[AllBleedingStops]

Again, not knocking FA but there is a place for it and if you are using it DURING basic sciences, you are wasting your time. Firstly, I don't think you can even use FA until having taken pathology.

I disagree. For one, let me point out that different schools have differences in curriculum and while you may not feel it is useful during M1 at your school, it is at mine.

I would also like to point out that there are multiple sections that have been invaluable even just though the 1st semester and these past several weeks of 2nd semester. We have covered all of the material in the biochemistry and the vast majority of the genetics (I don't have it handy right now so I can't reference exact sections). We also covered most of the biostats and there are bits of the anatomy that were useful for the clinically oriented question stems. Moving into pathology and systems physiology and microbiology and such, more and more sections are becoming relevant.

When I am studying something I will cross reference it with the appropriate area in FA. Sometimes I find useful memory aids. Sometimes I find that I want to write things from class down in FA. That is why is has so much blank space. I put notes and references all over it and then can rapidly review later. This reinforces my studying as we go and will make it faster to pick that material back up in a year from now.

I do not think that this is the wrong way to use FA.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Anyone use picmonic?

 

[Mike Bagwell]

Im an M1. Talk to any physician and ask them how relevant preclinical coursework is to practicing clinical medicine. It is merely a stepping stone of foundational knowledge to understanding and practicing your clinical education. I will study my butt off for Step 1 but my point is the stuff you are learning in M1 for Step is not stuff you are going to use "for life". Let me know how competent you feel in practicing clinical medicine autonomously as an M4 at graduation.

Do you know how I figured out that you are not a medical student?

1. You edited this post
2. If you do enter clinical practice, how would you be able to teach a resident or a medical student when you took the approach of not knowing "this stuff for life?"
3. If you never make it out of medical school or if you leave clinical practice to pursue other interests, what could you possibly do with a bare bones understanding of basic science knowledge that got you through a licensing exam? Who would hire you for your expertise?
4. No medical student goes to another medical student and says "oh yeah, well try treating patients autonomously as a PGY-1."

 

[redsox93]

Do you know how I figured out that you are not a medical student?

1. You edited this post
2. If you do enter clinical practice, how would you be able to teach a resident or a medical student when you took the approach of not knowing "this stuff for life?"
3. If you never make it out of medical school or if you leave clinical practice to pursue other interests, what could you possibly do with a bare bones understanding of basic science knowledge that got you through a licensing exam? Who would hire you for your expertise?
4. No medical student goes to another medical student and says "oh yeah, well try treating patients autonomously as a PGY-1."

What? A lot of the preclinical stuff is useless once you’re done with step. If I ever need to know anything about gluconeogenesis in actual practice I’ll be shocked haha

 

[Sephirakra]

Do you know how I figured out that you are not a medical student?

1. You edited this post
2. If you do enter clinical practice, how would you be able to teach a resident or a medical student when you took the approach of not knowing "this stuff for life?"
3. If you never make it out of medical school or if you leave clinical practice to pursue other interests, what could you possibly do with a bare bones understanding of basic science knowledge that got you through a licensing exam? Who would hire you for your expertise?
4. No medical student goes to another medical student and says "oh yeah, well try treating patients autonomously as a PGY-1."

Chill out. I don't think anyone here is pretending to be something they're not. They may give opinion based on what they think it'll be like when they reach a certain point in the future, but no one here is being disingenuous. We're all going to be colleagues one day.

 

[longhaul3]

Do you know how I figured out that you are not a medical student?

1. You edited this post
2. If you do enter clinical practice, how would you be able to teach a resident or a medical student when you took the approach of not knowing "this stuff for life?"
3. If you never make it out of medical school or if you leave clinical practice to pursue other interests, what could you possibly do with a bare bones understanding of basic science knowledge that got you through a licensing exam? Who would hire you for your expertise?
4. No medical student goes to another medical student and says "oh yeah, well try treating patients autonomously as a PGY-1."

Is it really likely that this person is misrepresenting himself as an M1 just to dispute your personal opinion of First Aid? Your reaction to people with differing opinions throughout this thread has consistently been to question their authority to hold them...but you haven't even taken Step 1 yet? Come on now. There are lots of ways to succeed in pre-clinical and lots of ways to score highly on Step 1.

For what it's worth, when you hit the wards, you will probably be the most knowledgeable in the basic sciences of everyone on your clinical team. Your ob/gyn attending will probably not remember the characteristic chromosomal translocations in follicular vs. Burkitt vs. mantle cell lymphoma, but you will when you're an M3 (and then you won't when you're a Sub-I). And guess what? They're also in First Aid, which as much as you insist otherwise, is a reasonable tool to use throughout pre-clinical, and is definitely a sufficient resource for Step 1 for some students.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Let’s try to refrain from calling people out and claiming they are misrepresenting themselves or denigrating people for wanting to learn everything as best they can. Believe it or not, people can have differing opinions, and what works for one student may not work for another. If everyone learned best the same way, we wouldn’t have tons of different types of resources.

 

[Gurby]

Talk to any physician and ask them how relevant preclinical coursework is to practicing clinical medicine. It is merely a stepping stone of foundational knowledge to understanding and practicing your clinical education. I will study my butt off for Step 1 but my point is the stuff you are learning in M1 for Step is not stuff you are going to use "for life". Let me know how competent you feel in practicing clinical medicine autonomously as an M4 at graduation.

Do you know how I figured out that you are not a medical student?

1. You edited this post
2. If you do enter clinical practice, how would you be able to teach a resident or a medical student when you took the approach of not knowing "this stuff for life?"
3. If you never make it out of medical school or if you leave clinical practice to pursue other interests, what could you possibly do with a bare bones understanding of basic science knowledge that got you through a licensing exam? Who would hire you for your expertise?
4. No medical student goes to another medical student and says "oh yeah, well try treating patients autonomously as a PGY-1."

This statement pissed me off too. I have met several patients who have terrible prognoses because their PCP missed a diagnosis that I, a bushy-tailed M2, figured out (or at least considered the importance of ruling out) within 5 minutes of talking to them. Not everything you learn in pre-clinicals is useless.

I mean, a lot of it is probably useless... but there is definitely also a sizable portion that you will use for life depending on what specialty you go into.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Anyone use picmonic?

Every block for micro. It's incredible and I highly recommend it. I actually like it better than Sketchy for micro. Sketchy is also very good but my personal preference is picmonic. I'd recommend both

 

[Ad2b]

Just checked out Sketchy and lawled at the med student seemingly laughing hard ... didn't think that was allowed in med school??? Thought it was in some TOS or something.

I mean, you can be HAPPY in med school!??! 🙄

 

[longhaul3]

This statement pissed me off too. I have met several patients who have terrible prognoses because their PCP missed a diagnosis that I, a bushy-tailed M2, figured out (or at least considered the importance of ruling out) within 5 minutes of talking to them. Not everything you learn in pre-clinicals is useless.

I mean, a lot of it is probably useless... but there is definitely also a sizable portion that you will use for life depending on what specialty you go into.

I would assume that there is more to these cases than you seem to suggest. But even so, I don't think the argument is that pre-clinical knowledge is useless. The point is that a lot of the highly detailed, Step 1-specific material does not come up often after you take the exam. So to me, your point would be well taken if you diagnosed these patients with metachromatic leukodystrophy or some other exotic Step 1 disorder, but if you're referring to cancers or most other life-threatening diseases, of course the material comes up.

 

[Deecee2DO]

I would assume that there is more to these cases than you seem to suggest. But even so, I don't think the argument is that pre-clinical knowledge is useless. The point is that a lot of the highly detailed, Step 1-specific material does not come up often after you take the exam. So to me, your point would be well taken if you diagnosed these patients with metachromatic leukodystrophy or some other exotic Step 1 disorder, but if you're referring to cancers or most other life-threatening diseases, of course the material comes up.

My point exactly. His post was merely a humble brag I chose to ignore-a common SDN phenomenon as much as I love SDN. Anyways, this thread is getting off topic lol

 

[863168]

@Mike Bagwell In the future, refrain from doing this. If you hopped on to twitter or any form of social media that is connected to you as an actual physician then @Deecee2DO could file a defamation of character lawsuit if s/he can document any damages to their potential practice. There is a difference between typing, "I have the impression that you are not a medical student" vs. "... I figured out that you are not a medical student."

Considering some of the statements you wrote preceding this one are pretty blatant cases of appeal to authority and ad hominems, I have a concern that you aren't aware that what you are typing could be taken in a negative context. Also, your statements come across as hypocritical considering you pointed out Matthew hasn't started M1 yet and therefore can't comment on medical school, but you haven't taken Step 1 yet and therefore shouldn't be offering strong commentary on the proper use of First Aid. This isn't an attempt at a burn, it is a professional warning. If your loose attitude online translates to your attitude in real life, then you will be a target for a lawsuit whether or not your intentions are benign.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

This thread has the potential for great information to be shared by folks in med school (it’s good as an incoming student to see different perspectives from med students going through it), so I’d like to keep it open. That said, I will not hesitate to close the thread or thread ban people or if they cannot stop themselves from ad hominems and personal attacks.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Every block for micro. It's incredible and I highly recommend it. I actually like it better than Sketchy for micro. Sketchy is also very good but my personal preference is picmonic. I'd recommend both

Any specific reason for why you recommend picmonic over sketchy micro?

 

[redsox93]

Just checked out Sketchy and lawled at the med student seemingly laughing hard ... didn't think that was allowed in med school??? Thought it was in some TOS or something.

I mean, you can be HAPPY in med school!??! 🙄

What?

 

[redsox93]

Any specific reason for why you recommend picmonic over sketchy micro?

Sketchy is life and anyone who disagrees is wrong haha

 

[Ad2b]

Sketchy is life and anyone who disagrees is wrong haha

Just saying, you should thank MN Twins for the Big Pappa 🙂 So glad ya'll got him a ring!

 

[Deecee2DO]

Any specific reason for why you recommend picmonic over sketchy micro?

I don't recommend it OVER sketchy. They are both good, but I happen to personally prefer picmonic because the cartoons stick better with me as they are more outrageous and they have little quizzes to go with each disease/vid etc. It is also all on one page and there is a search bar linked up to Step 1/FA showing that it uses FA as a guide for its videos. It is broken down by subject, systems, diseases etc. I really like it but I recommend both. Do not get me wrong Sketchy is still very very good. Use both and see which one you like better

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I don't recommend it OVER sketchy. They are both good, but I happen to personally prefer picmonic because the cartoons stick better with me as they are more outrageous and they have little quizzes to go with each disease/vid etc. It is also all on one page and there is a search bar linked up to Step 1/FA showing that it uses FA as a guide for its videos. It is broken down by subject, systems, diseases etc. I really like it but I recommend both. Do not get me wrong Sketchy is still very very good. Use both and see which one you like better

That’s really what I was looking for. Why you happen to prefer one. Just because you like picmonic better doesn’t mean sketchy isn’t also good.

 

[Dwight Snoot]

If you go to a P/F school it really is not that bad. Very stressful at first but once you get settled in it is quite manageable

 

[deleted862527]

I'm not a medical student, but I don't think you can exactly simulate medical school studying before when you matriculate. I guess it's one of those things where you have to experience it first to 'get it'.

I am sure you will make it through it. >95% of graduates do. I think the most important factor is to find a process of taking care of your mental health and learn effective coping mechanisms prior to medical school, because unresolved mental health issues are the leading factors as to what contributes a medical student to withdraw from the program or take a LOA.