Step 1: preventing burnout. What do your breaks look like?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

orthogenes

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2012
Messages
270
Reaction score
180
What do your dedicated study period breaks look like for Step 1? Do you have a daily break or two? Or do you take a whole weekend day off?

How do you keep yourself motivated and keep from burning out? My Qbank scores go down when I'm tired, so I know I need to change when and where my breaks are. I'd love to hear what helps you!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Keep a record of how long you can go before you start to get mentally tired. Try to build up from that. While you're building up through dedicated, it's probably a good idea to add exercise to your breaks in studying. 2 birds...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Keep a record of how long you can go before you start to get mentally tired. Try to build up from that. While you're building up through dedicated, it's probably a good idea to add exercise to your breaks in studying. 2 birds...
Definitely adding exercise, eating and showering as breaks! I was wondering if it's overkill to say... take off every Saturday or something like that.
 
Recently took the exam and did well.
As the exam day came closer (2 weeks), i spent only about 50 percent of the day studying
always continued to eat well, slept full 8 hours each night, and worked out a lot too throughout the entire study process.

despite these measures, i still feel burned some bit today...and i took the exam a month ago
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Good advise from Tri723. Based on what I hear from folks who took the exam, this test not only test your ability to memorize, it really is a test of problem solving skills. Anyone who just finished their MS2 is already exhausted so it's definitely not a easy moment for all of us to study again for the step 1.

In my case, I take the entire day off and do what I want to do. But I constantly carry mp3 file of names of drugs and Goljan audio and just listen while I am driving, walking, and sleeping.

Then I let the fear of failing or doing poorly in step 1 gets into my psychology and then I am back on hitting books again.

Right now, I am trying to master FA, but it hasn't been easy. Check out this post from a recent exam taker who got a 266. (Also, check our my threads on FA, everyone's feedbacks are appreciated.)

Hopefully this post will help your burnout and give you some more motivation.

So I took the exam today and well, for the most part A LOT of the information was in First Aid (~90-95%). There were actually even a few questions that were straight regurgitation of the random facts that you’d possible “skip” over/disregard and say "there's no F'N way that'll be tested", which is a statement I used to often say before I started doing the NBMEs. So if I had one piece of advice to give, it’s to GET TO KNOW YOUR FIRST AID – inside and out. There is absolutely no other book that is a better “bang for your time” if you will. It literally has the answers to so many tests questions it’s ridiculous. I say to say this however; UNDERSTANDING FA is key ─ each and every line, period, exclamation point, whatever. If you don’t know what something is, how it looks, or the pathophysiology isn’t explain in FA – LOOK IT UP, it will serve you wonders when you take the actual exam. Don’t be lazy – it’s a huge book filled with a seemingly insurmountable amount of information, but the answers are LITERALLY at your fingertips (or eyeballs if you’re using a digital version). Become one with the book to the point where you can regurgitate it in your sleep. Step 1 (at least my form) seemed to be more of a test of “how fast can you figure where this line of FA is?” – so in the end, he who knows (and UNDERSTANDS) FA like the back of their hand will do well; don’t underestimate the power of this book! I’ll write up a more detailed review later, for now it’s time to go drench the memories of the last few weeks in EtOH. As a guide of reference for the numbers-oriented, my (approximate, so that I can retain anonymity on this forum) practice scores are below.
 
Recently took the exam and did well.
As the exam day came closer (2 weeks), i spent only about 50 percent of the day studying
always continued to eat well, slept full 8 hours each night, and worked out a lot too throughout the entire study process.

despite these measures, i still feel burned some bit today...and i took the exam a month ago
Thanks! Still burned a month after--ugh. Post step slump. :(
Good advise from Tri723. Based on what I hear from folks who took the exam, this test not only test your ability to memorize, it really is a test of problem solving skills. Anyone who just finished their MS2 is already exhausted so it's definitely not a easy moment for all of us to study again for the step 1.

In my case, I take the entire day off and do what I want to do. But I constantly carry mp3 file of names of drugs and Goljan audio and just listen while I am driving, walking, and sleeping.

Then I let the fear of failing or doing poorly in step 1 gets into my psychology and then I am back on hitting books again.

Right now, I am trying to master FA, but it hasn't been easy. Check out this post from a recent exam taker who got a 266. (Also, check our my threads on FA, everyone's feedbacks are appreciated.)

Hopefully this post will help your burnout and give you some more motivation.

So I took the exam today and well, for the most part A LOT of the information was in First Aid (~90-95%). There were actually even a few questions that were straight regurgitation of the random facts that you’d possible “skip” over/disregard and say "there's no F'N way that'll be tested", which is a statement I used to often say before I started doing the NBMEs. So if I had one piece of advice to give, it’s to GET TO KNOW YOUR FIRST AID – inside and out. There is absolutely no other book that is a better “bang for your time” if you will. It literally has the answers to so many tests questions it’s ridiculous. I say to say this however; UNDERSTANDING FA is key ─ each and every line, period, exclamation point, whatever. If you don’t know what something is, how it looks, or the pathophysiology isn’t explain in FA – LOOK IT UP, it will serve you wonders when you take the actual exam. Don’t be lazy – it’s a huge book filled with a seemingly insurmountable amount of information, but the answers are LITERALLY at your fingertips (or eyeballs if you’re using a digital version). Become one with the book to the point where you can regurgitate it in your sleep. Step 1 (at least my form) seemed to be more of a test of “how fast can you figure where this line of FA is?” – so in the end, he who knows (and UNDERSTANDS) FA like the back of their hand will do well; don’t underestimate the power of this book! I’ll write up a more detailed review later, for now it’s time to go drench the memories of the last few weeks in EtOH. As a guide of reference for the numbers-oriented, my (approximate, so that I can retain anonymity on this forum) practice scores are below.
Thank you!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top