I just finished my first year of medical school, and I was wondering what you guys did the first summer to prepare for the USMLE. I also heard that there were tapes you can listen to that help. Anyone know anything about the stuff?? Thanks a lot!!
Personally, I think you should reward yourself and have some fun. You've earned it!
😀 Not to mention, you want to be as re-energized as possible for a very intense year 2.
But if you really feel the need to get a head start...
Maybe start annotating First Aid with topics you covered in Year 1. With a special emphasis on path (if you were taught any of it) along with conceptual based subjects such as physio, embryo, immuno and biochem. Pharmacology and micro tend to be much shorter term memory subjects and (imo) aren't quite as helpful to study this early in the game. But just about anything you can fill First Aid with would be useful (and save a lot of time down the road).
Look at your year 2 schedule and consider planning your summer prep around that. Our program is systems based, and we study neuroanatomy at the beginning of year 2, so I read up a little on that (mostly Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple) to get my feet wet on the subject.
I'm sure a lot of other people in the forums are going to recommend listening to Goljan and getting a head start on Rapid Review Path. Thats not a bad idea either.
Again, I think all of this is overkill for most people in your position. There's something to be said for just laying low and vegging out for a couple of months.
