struggling to get through mksap - advice

[sangria1986]

trying to get through mksap but its a real chore.
Rotations are from 7- 5 pm usually - medicine ones start around 5 or 6.
And when I come home around 530- I like to run for 20 minutes. By the time I shower and a quick eat and have time to study its 630. I have maybe 3 hours if I'm lucky to get through 7 pages of mksap, make flash cards and review.

How do you guys study for MKSAP? I know I have a year to study but I feel like I need every waking moment to get through this material. And its not because I hate it. Its just a lot.

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[JP2740]

To sit down and read a textbook for a board exam is over in my life. I find it easier to just do questions/study that way. I haven't really started but I found this tolerable for step 3, just do questions and learn from the explanation

 

[rokshana]

trying to get through mksap but its a real chore.
Rotations are from 7- 5 pm usually - medicine ones start around 5 or 6.
And when I come home around 530- I like to run for 20 minutes. By the time I shower and a quick eat and have time to study its 630. I have maybe 3 hours if I'm lucky to get through 7 pages of mksap, make flash cards and review.

How do you guys study for MKSAP? I know I have a year to study but I feel like I need every waking moment to get through this material. And its not because I hate it. Its just a lot.

the audio for MKSAP is actually quite good...you could get them and listen to them while you run.

 

[HoldTheCoffee]

Are you talking about studying for the boards? It seems like overkill to study for it a year in advance. If you want, you should just read up on the sections pertinent to your current rotation. Or, you can do what most people I know did, which is just start hammering away at questions the month before the exam.

 

[sangria1986]

Are you talking about studying for the boards? It seems like overkill to study for it a year in advance. If you want, you should just read up on the sections pertinent to your current rotation. Or, you can do what most people I know did, which is just start hammering away at questions the month before the exam.

I feel like there's no way I will be prepared to work as an attending though. I wont remember any of the facts needed to succeed as a doctor and instead flail and spend forever trying to help each patient. I see that some of the board study is arcane or esorteric but a lot of it seems clinically relevant

 

[chessknt]

I feel like there's no way I will be prepared to work as an attending though. I wont remember any of the facts needed to succeed as a doctor and instead flail and spend forever trying to help each patient. I see that some of the board study is arcane or esorteric but a lot of it seems clinically relevant

Is this a joke? The ABIM board wants you to manage DMARDs, myasthenia crisis, and chemo or develop follow up plans based on colon polyp size etc etc. If you were the only doctor in a rural setting with no subspecialists and a burning desire to practice outside of your scope and get sued when you killed someone this board would be relevant. It seems that the minority of questions it asks are actually within the standard field of every day practice like managing DM, treating pna, assessing anemia...

You should be getting plenty of real stuff as a resident and be able to handle it independently by your third year which is more about maximizing efficiency and learning how to deal with unusual presentations of common diseases and how to avoid narrowing the ddx too early.

 

[Trogghunter]

Don't worry about mksap, just cram through that before your abim exam. They ask about teratogenic MS meds... like that'll ever be relevant for your practice. Just read uptodate and some journals to supplement learning. There are good apps as well, but don't rely on mksap. It helped me find a couple zebras, however.

 

[AttendingDocNJ]

Have you looked at Medstudy? It's much more reader-friendly in terms of the written text. Also, the Nephrotic vs. Nephritic syndrome in the Renal section of Medstudy is pure gold.

 

[CDI]

To sit down and read a textbook for a board exam is over in my life. I find it easier to just do questions/study that way. I haven't really started but I found this tolerable for step 3, just do questions and learn from the explanation

Yeah, but you were also one who smoked the USMLEs, IIRC from 3+ yrs ago (ref the days of Phloston).

Us regular folk need to crank through a book or two before banging out Qbanks.


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[heroes31]

If you can't get through the full mksap, try the mksap boards basic book. Each subject is only like 30 pages and hits all the important parts. Then do the questions. For anything you want to know more about, you can read the full mksap text or uptodate. Try it, may be easier.

 

[JP2740]

Yeah, but you were also one who smoked the USMLEs, IIRC from 3+ yrs ago (ref the days of Phloston).

Us regular folk need to crank through a book or two before banging out Qbanks.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I can respect rhat

 

[DMO83]

Have you looked at Medstudy? It's much more reader-friendly in terms of the written text. Also, the Nephrotic vs. Nephritic syndrome in the Renal section of Medstudy is pure gold.

So you recommend MedStudy over MKSAP?

 

[jhamaican]

you should only be doing questions...

MKSAP questions only: know them cold: they make the test, they make the questions.

If you understand why the right answer is correct and more importantly,

why the wrong answers are wrong,

you will learn and retain more than reading articles or books.

and Maybe, maybe the boards basic book to go along if you are super challenged and have difficulty with standardized tests.

 

[gutonc]

you should only be doing questions...

MKSAP questions only: know them cold: they make the test, they make the questions.

If you understand why the right answer is correct and more importantly,

why the wrong answers are wrong,

you will learn and retain more than reading articles or books.

and Maybe, maybe the boards basic book to go along if you are super challenged and have difficulty with standardized tests.

Hopefully the OP has passed the exam in the 2 years since the thread was started.

 

[sangria1986]

Hopefully the OP has passed the exam in the 2 years since the thread was started.

just logged in after years and years- passed w flying colors. Used MKSAP questions and the books as an afterthought. In real practice- basically my knowledge comes from high yield CMEs from Harvard etc and clinical journals. I dont look for esoteric stuff anymore in MKSAP etc.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

just logged in after years and years- passed w flying colors. Used MKSAP questions and the books as an afterthought. In real practice- basically my knowledge comes from high yield CMEs from Harvard etc and clinical journals. I dont look for esoteric stuff anymore in MKSAP etc.

honestly the only individuals who ace a specific organ system/topic are the respective IM subspecialists. What seems "esoteric" to the Internist on MKSAP is bread and butter for a subspecialist on the subspecialty boards.