Step I Panic Attack!

[blondemed]

Is 6-7 weeks enough time to prepare for the boards? Unfortunately, my school has a lot of busy work for second years in the last month of classes - exams weekly, primary care medicine shelf, a clinical review essay, 2-weeks of comprehensive assessment ... I'm about to lose my mind. I have begun to study a bit with Kaplan, mini-Goljan, and FA but am nowhere near where I want to be ! I'm sure there are many other students in the same situation ... how are you coping? Am I freaking out for no reason?

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[lilnoelle]

I'm gonna have 3-4 weeks. I certainly hope its enough. I'm moderately freaking out about it, but I'm really not letting myself dwell on it yet, because theres no point. I've got another 3 weeks of school before the end of second year, when I'm done with school, I'll worry about Step I.

 

[Blesbok]

I had 5 full weeks and 1 week where we had some light work during which I did some behavioral science review. It was more than enough. I am taking it on friday and I really wish I would have moved it to the beginning of this week.

 

[ReidSternberg]

I had 5 full weeks and 1 week where we had some light work during which I did some behavioral science review. It was more than enough. I am taking it on friday and I really wish I would have moved it to the beginning of this week.

Yeah, that is plenty of time if you really crank it. It's natural to feel unprepared right now. But I am sure you will feel much better as you study. Though, i havne't really heard of anyone being ready for the exam or at least feel ready for the exam. Just work hard and do your best. Know that everyone is in similar shoes and also feeling unprepared and nervous.

P.S. Good luck blesbok on your exam..You've been a great contributor to discussion.

 

[Blesbok]

Yeah, that is plenty of time if you really crank it. It's natural to feel unprepared right now. But I am sure you will feel much better as you study. Though, i havne't really heard of anyone being ready for the exam or at least feel ready for the exam. Just work hard and do your best. Know that everyone is in similar shoes and also feeling unprepared and nervous.

P.S. Good luck blesbok on your exam..You've been a great contributor to discussion.

I am 3 days away from my exam and when I think about how unprepared I am it makes me want to puke.

 

[indo]

take something that ends in "apam" and you'll be good.

 

[Blesbok]

take something that ends in "apam" and you'll be good.

I have some eszopiclone, because for the last two weeks I haven't been able to sleep at all. I don't want to be one of those people that gets like 2 hours of sleep the day before the test because they are up all night

 

[indo]

I have some eszopiclone, because for the last two weeks I haven't been able to sleep at all. I don't want to be one of those people that gets like 2 hours of sleep the day before the test because they are up all night

Does it work? Hopefully you aren't "fogged in" in the morning.

 

[RussianJoo]

Does it work? Hopefully you aren't "fogged in" in the morning.

zolpidem or (ambien for you lame people) is awesome. i took it the night before both mcat and step1 and woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy the half life is very short thus the drug is out of your system when you wake up.

 

[Tristy]

Well, how about a small dose of benzos before (or night before) the exam? A dose not so high to mess you up, but small enough to keep those nerves under control?
PS: I guess this would apply to people that take them on a semi-regular basis and know how they react to them, cognitively I mean.

**Not medical advice, just my opinion**

 

[Blesbok]

Does it work? Hopefully you aren't "fogged in" in the morning.

It is awesome. I wake up feeling more refreshed than usual with absolutely no fogginess or amnesia. However, I am getting 8 hours, so I can't say what the effects are like with less sleep.

 

[SoCuteMD]

For what it's worth, I didn't study AT ALL for Step 1 until I'd taken my last final of 2nd year. I felt like I would just be neglecting my other subjects to study for Step 1, and I would do myself a disservice by not mastering the last few topics in pathology. I did a little bit of cumulative path studying in the last week or so to prepare for our final, but other than that I focused solely on the current material. Once that was over I turned my attention to Step 1 study. I did well on Step 1, even compared to most of the crowd on here.

Lots of

 

[indo]

For what it's worth, I didn't study AT ALL for Step 1 until I'd taken my last final of 2nd year. I felt like I would just be neglecting my other subjects to study for Step 1, and I would do myself a disservice by not mastering the last few topics in pathology. I did a little bit of cumulative path studying in the last week or so to prepare for our final, but other than that I focused solely on the current material. Once that was over I turned my attention to Step 1 study. I did well on Step 1, even compared to most of the crowd on here.

Lots of

You mastered pathology?

 

[MattD]

Well, how about a small dose of benzos before (or night before) the exam? A dose not so high to mess you up, but small enough to keep those nerves under control?
PS: I guess this would apply to people that take them on a semi-regular basis and know how they react to them, cognitively I mean.

**Not medical advice, just my opinion**

It doesn't take much ;-)

I never use enough to get me sleepy, I usually take in the morning before an exam to mellow my nerves. Well, I say usually in that WHEN I take it, that's usually what I do. I don't usually take them. But, I have a legit diagnosis, so I dunno how hard it'd be to get a script if you went to your PCP and just asked for a benzo for step 1. My doc asked me specifically about the USMLE the other day and reminded me about my prescription LOL, but YMMV. Mine is clonazepam, it's a very mild effect at low doses.

That said, I wouldn't want to 'discover' the effect the drug had on me the morning of the test, so if you're gonna go that route, make sure you get used to what it does to you beforehand.

 

[phospho]

It doesn't take much ;-)

I never use enough to get me sleepy, I usually take in the morning before an exam to mellow my nerves. Well, I say usually in that WHEN I take it, that's usually what I do. I don't usually take them. But, I have a legit diagnosis, so I dunno how hard it'd be to get a script if you went to your PCP and just asked for a benzo for step 1. My doc asked me specifically about the USMLE the other day and reminded me about my prescription LOL, but YMMV. Mine is clonazepam, it's a very mild effect at low doses.

That said, I wouldn't want to 'discover' the effect the drug had on me the morning of the test, so if you're gonna go that route, make sure you get used to what it does to you beforehand.

I've actually been wondering about that. I take 1 mg of lorazepam when I get a panic attack (once every few months or so), so I do have a prescription. From your experience, if you take it right before an exam, does it negatively affect your performance in terms of remembering info, or thinking "outside the box"? I've been googling this for the past few hours and I can't come up with anything concrete. I guess my only bet is to try this tomorrow on one of my practice exams and see what happens. My MCAT is in a few days and I get the worst anxiety during important exams.