Study Plan Critique

[JABWS]

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Hey everyone,

I'm sure this thread idea gets worn out, but I'd really appreciate your input on the following tentative study plan:

Currently finishing up MS1

From now through the summer, I plan on using Anki to make flashcards over first year material from FA. I checked out GT using the free trial, but I'm not a big fan of the format, as it takes me way too long to get through the cards, so I've decided to make my own in a style that will allow me to run them fairly quickly.

MS2 year:

1) I plan on running first year Anki cards while also making new ones as I progress through the year. Ultimately, I'd like to have FA down pat by the end of the Spring semester.

2) Considering using USMLE-RX vs. Kaplan Q-bank alongside my classes; currently leaning towards USMLE-RX.

3) I may also throw in some Goljian/Pathoma and other resources as needed, but these won't comprise the core of my studying.

4) Possibly start UWorld towards the end (around spring break)

Allotted Study Period (~5 weeks):

1) Continue Anki cards
2) Review FA
3) UWorld
4) Practice exams
5) Additional material, as needed

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks a lot!

 

[Leonidis I]

this is a very similar plan to what i did during m2. i also went with rx over kaplan because i heard kaplan had a lot of minutia while rx would really help reinforce first aid.

i'm also in the minority here but i used uworld during the school year after doing the rx questions for it in each organ system. it can be frustrating at times because it does tie in stuff that you might not have learned yet but i went in with the attitude that i was going to use it as a teaching aid not an assessment. that's what nbme's are for IMO. i also added important facts and concepts from uworld to my anki deck so that i would retain it for the long term.

my situation is also a little different because we take step1 after 3rd year so for you it may be best to use in your dedicated time.

regarding anki - make sure you really focus on high yield stuff and don't be afraid to suspend cards to keep your count down by limiting it by time or card count. m2 year is brutal in time requirement and doing 500+ cards a day is not the most efficient way to spend your time.

 

[JABWS]

this is a very similar plan to what i did during m2. i also went with rx over kaplan because i heard kaplan had a lot of minutia while rx would really help reinforce first aid.

i'm also in the minority here but i used uworld during the school year after doing the rx questions for it in each organ system. it can be frustrating at times because it does tie in stuff that you might not have learned yet but i went in with the attitude that i was going to use it as a teaching aid not an assessment. that's what nbme's are for IMO. i also added important facts and concepts from uworld to my anki deck so that i would retain it for the long term.

my situation is also a little different because we take step1 after 3rd year so for you it may be best to use in your dedicated time.

regarding anki - make sure you really focus on high yield stuff and don't be afraid to suspend cards to keep your count down by limiting it by time or card count. m2 year is brutal in time requirement and doing 500+ cards a day is not the most efficient way to spend your time.

Thanks for the response. I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into with the Anki cards. FA seems perfect for Anki, though, because it's so concise, and from what I can tell, basically just a lot of facts.

How many cards did you end up with? And how many were you getting through on a daily basis?

 

[Leonidis I]

Thanks for the response. I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into with the Anki cards. FA seems perfect for Anki, though, because it's so concise, and from what I can tell, basically just a lot of facts.

How many cards did you end up with? And how many were you getting through on a daily basis?

my deck is still growing but i try to stick with around 5000 active cards in my rotation and will suspend older/low yield cards to stay there. overall i have over 8000 cards (started last year so i add about 700 a month or so). daily review is usually between 200-300 which i think is manageable. it takes me about an hour and a half to go through it which i usually do in two 45-min sessions or three 30-min sessions. during my reviews i make sure to star cards that i feel are no longer "worthy" of being active and suspend them. every once in a while i'll go through my suspended cards to make sure i still know them and then chuckle at how trivial, low-yield, or inane they were.

 

[addy]

G-u-n-n-e-r

H-a-r-d-w-o-r-k-e-r

FTFY!

 

[JABWS]

my deck is still growing but i try to stick with around 5000 active cards in my rotation and will suspend older/low yield cards to stay there. overall i have over 8000 cards (started last year so i add about 700 a month or so). daily review is usually between 200-300 which i think is manageable. it takes me about an hour and a half to go through it which i usually do in two 45-min sessions or three 30-min sessions. during my reviews i make sure to star cards that i feel are no longer "worthy" of being active and suspend them. every once in a while i'll go through my suspended cards to make sure i still know them and then chuckle at how trivial, low-yield, or inane they were.

Okay, so you're currently a third year, right? Do you think 200 cards/day is doable as a second year? It seems a little heavy, especially if I'm going to try to incorporate a Q bank also.

 

[tortuga87]

why dont you just buy usmlerx flash facts? its 10,000 cards of first aid

 

[JABWS]

why dont you just buy usmlerx flash facts? its 10,000 cards of first aid

Not a bad idea. Are they basically just FA verbatim?

Edit: Any type of spaced repetition software or is it just plain flashcards?

 

[JShephard]

Okay, so you're currently a third year, right? Do you think 200 cards/day is doable as a second year? It seems a little heavy, especially if I'm going to try to incorporate a Q bank also.

200 a day is a lot, depends on your flashcards. 8000 cards for first aid is a ton. That's probably 3× more than I would recommend. But then again the cards are probably short and therefore 200 isn't a lot.


I played this game. I'd recommend just doing classes, then come back in January and ask this question. Learning the current stuff cold is better. You will be plenty busy. Free time? Learn pathoma cold. You will score as high as you could with my suggestions or your plan.

It's hard to understand but what I'm saying is true. Just focus hard on class.

 

[JShephard]

H-a-r-d-w-o-r-k-e-r

FTFY!

Test obsession != hard work

 

[addy]

Test obsession != hard work

I agree! But gunner-ism is more a mindset where you sabotage other people's work to get ahead. This is just a student looking out his future and trying to actively to achieve his goals. Two completely different things. Anyways, sorry for disrupting flow of thread!

 

[JABWS]

Test obsession != hard work

I'm not obsessed with the exam, by any means. I just want to come up with a solid game plan now, while I have the time, so I don't have to worry about it later down the line.

And honestly, being called a gunner doesn't bother me in the least bit, because all of the "gunners" I know are simply hard working medical students. It's funny, too, how people can work so hard to get to medical school and then frown on the very same work ethic that got them there. I'm not trying to be better than anyone else, and I'm certainly not trying to succeed at someone else's expense.

 

[JABWS]

200 a day is a lot, depends on your flashcards. 8000 cards for first aid is a ton. That's probably 3× more than I would recommend. But then again the cards are probably short and therefore 200 isn't a lot.


I played this game. I'd recommend just doing classes, then come back in January and ask this question. Learning the current stuff cold is better. You will be plenty busy. Free time? Learn pathoma cold. You will score as high as you could with my suggestions or your plan.

It's hard to understand but what I'm saying is true. Just focus hard on class.

The problem is that I do learn everything cold, but three months later I've forgotten a lot of the detail. I just don't know if I can re-remember it all in 5 weeks, plus have time to hone my test-taking skills.

When you say you played this game, do you mean you tried the flashcards and then abandoned them? I know I'm going to be busy, that's why I'm trying to get a realistic idea of how much I can do during second year.

 

[tortuga87]

Not a bad idea. Are they basically just FA verbatim?

Edit: Any type of spaced repetition software or is it just plain flashcards?

yeah FA verbatim (they have pics of the page), just plain flashcards

 

[tortuga87]

The problem is that I do learn everything cold, but three months later I've forgotten a lot of the detail. I just don't know if I can re-remember it all in 5 weeks, plus have time to hone my test-taking skills.

When you say you played this game, do you mean you tried the flashcards and then abandoned them? I know I'm going to be busy, that's why I'm trying to get a realistic idea of how much I can do during second year.

i dont think you can re-remember in 5 weeks. most ppl in my class take a month to go through FA except the geniuses. you should be doing qbanks galor by the last month IMO according to pholston's posts

whether you are busy or not, i think you need to be studying during second year if you want a good score (exceptions are those with photographic memory, etc)

 

[JShephard]

The problem is that I do learn everything cold, but three months later I've forgotten a lot of the detail. I just don't know if I can re-remember it all in 5 weeks, plus have time to hone my test-taking skills.

When you say you played this game, do you mean you tried the flashcards and then abandoned them? I know I'm going to be busy, that's why I'm trying to get a realistic idea of how much I can do during second year.

Youll be fine even if you forget the stuff everyone does. Step 1 is as much about the final sprint as it is about doing well the first two years.

I've made flash cards and abandoned them, then found a simpler method that works.

 

[JShephard]

I'm not obsessed with the exam, by any means. I just want to come up with a solid game plan now, while I have the time, so I don't have to worry about it later down the line.

And honestly, being called a gunner doesn't bother me in the least bit, because all of the "gunners" I know are simply hard working medical students. It's funny, too, how people can work so hard to get to medical school and then frown on the very same work ethic that got them there. I'm not trying to be better than anyone else, and I'm certainly not trying to succeed at someone else's expense.

Didn't evenmention gunner or hard work. I will tell you to work as hard as you can. What I recommended was not focusing on boards until the final 3-6 months. You'll do just as well. Some people put on a year and others will do 2-3 months. The truth is that you can do a Qbank in the last 6 months alongside class and do just as well.

Focus on class only until then, if you feel like you need more then learn pathoma cold. Btw, learning something cold means that if you pick it up in 3 months it can come back super quick. If you day you don't remember it and toy can't learn it faster then you didnt know it - you memorized it. Go through pathoma, you'll see that good learning is learning paradigms. So dropping and returning in 3 months or 6 shouldn't be a big deal.

telling you something that will yield the same result in a fraction of the time. But I know experience is the best teacher, especially for med students. Listening to above isn't popular.

 

[JABWS]

Didn't evenmention gunner or hard work. I will tell you to work as hard as you can. What I recommended was not focusing on boards until the final 3-6 months. You'll do just as well. Some people put on a year and others will do 2-3 months. The truth is that you can do a Qbank in the last 6 months alongside class and do just as well.

Focus on class only until then, if you feel like you need more then learn pathoma cold. Btw, learning something cold means that if you pick it up in 3 months it can come back super quick. If you day you don't remember it and toy can't learn it faster then you didnt know it - you memorized it. Go through pathoma, you'll see that good learning is learning paradigms. So dropping and returning in 3 months or 6 shouldn't be a big deal.

telling you something that will yield the same result in a fraction of the time. But I know experience is the best teacher, especially for med students. Listening to above isn't popular.

I appreciate your advice. It sounds like you've learned from experience, and everything you're saying has been echoed by students at my school as well.

But everyone's different, and I just don't know if 3 months is going to cut it for me. I really have no way of knowing. The one thing I want to avoid is wishing I had done more. I'm sure you can understand that feeling.

 

[JABWS]

By the way, what is this simpler method you've found?

 

[Leonidis I]

Okay, so you're currently a third year, right? Do you think 200 cards/day is doable as a second year? It seems a little heavy, especially if I'm going to try to incorporate a Q bank also.

finishing up 2nd year and starting clinicals in the summer. step 1 scheduled for next spring.

i think it's totally doable during m2 if you do it in small chunks like i do. (usually 30 minute segments). like i wake up in the morning and do cards for 30 min in the bathroom on my phone - ankidroid is awesome and syncs up seamlessly with the desktop version. then i try to get in a 30 min segment during lunch or dinner and another one before bed. it shouldn't feel that heavy pretty much all of it is just rapid recall of facts, relationships, etc. there isn't much critical thinking or problem solving going on. it's either i know it or i don't and if i don't then i need to see it again until i do know it. def. check out the 20 rules for formulating knowledge to help you out with that.

think of getting ready for step1 like training for a sport. anki would be your daily stretches, windsprints, conditioning drills while qbanks would be the actual practice time for the sport. IMO you need both. the key is to figure out how YOU learn best and center a plan around that. some people hate flashcards, others hate mnemonics, others hate lecture, etc. etc. there's a lot of different ways to learn medicine and do well on step1 so don't feel like you have to have some perfect plan to succeed. the main thing is to spend alot of time with the material and critically evaluate yourself at every step of the way. good luck!

 

[normtheniner]

I appreciate your advice. It sounds like you've learned from experience, and everything you're saying has been echoed by students at my school as well.

But everyone's different, and I just don't know if 3 months is going to cut it for me. I really have no way of knowing. The one thing I want to avoid is wishing I had done more. I'm sure you can understand that feeling.

Second year is tough man.... Focus on learning the path and pharm backwards and forwards. I'm starting to review for step 1 now after spending a TON of time on really learning the second year stuff... The physiology from first year actually clicks better now that I've got a decent understand of the abnormal things that can mess it up.

I looked at abdominal anatomy/physiology for the first time since December 2011 last week. I had a pretty good understanding of it in about 2 hours (not memorized but it definitely was like a foreign language which is how it was back in the gross anatomy days).

I don't think your plan is a bad thing, but I think there is a fine line as far as balancing review with learning key M2 topics...

 

[JABWS]

Second year is tough man.... Focus on learning the path and pharm backwards and forwards. I'm starting to review for step 1 now after spending a TON of time on really learning the second year stuff... The physiology from first year actually clicks better now that I've got a decent understand of the abnormal things that can mess it up.

I looked at abdominal anatomy/physiology for the first time since December 2011 last week. I had a pretty good understanding of it in about 2 hours (not memorized but it definitely was like a foreign language which is how it was back in the gross anatomy days).

I don't think your plan is a bad thing, but I think there is a fine line as far as balancing review with learning key M2 topics...

You make a good point. I have every intention of focusing on second year material. It's super high yield for step, and from what I've been told, it's by far the most important year in terms of acquiring knowledge for the wards and future practice.

Did you find that second year consumed a lot more of your time? Right now I'm doing very well with the first year stuff, and I also have plenty of time to spare. That's what influenced by study plan. Ultimately, my classes will take priority over everything else, so if I end up using most of my time with coursework during second year, then so be it. But right now I have tons of free time and so my outlook is a bit different.

 

[JABWS]

finishing up 2nd year and starting clinicals in the summer. step 1 scheduled for next spring.

i think it's totally doable during m2 if you do it in small chunks like i do. (usually 30 minute segments). like i wake up in the morning and do cards for 30 min in the bathroom on my phone - ankidroid is awesome and syncs up seamlessly with the desktop version. then i try to get in a 30 min segment during lunch or dinner and another one before bed. it shouldn't feel that heavy pretty much all of it is just rapid recall of facts, relationships, etc. there isn't much critical thinking or problem solving going on. it's either i know it or i don't and if i don't then i need to see it again until i do know it. def. check out the 20 rules for formulating knowledge to help you out with that.

think of getting ready for step1 like training for a sport. anki would be your daily stretches, windsprints, conditioning drills while qbanks would be the actual practice time for the sport. IMO you need both. the key is to figure out how YOU learn best and center a plan around that. some people hate flashcards, others hate mnemonics, others hate lecture, etc. etc. there's a lot of different ways to learn medicine and do well on step1 so don't feel like you have to have some perfect plan to succeed. the main thing is to spend alot of time with the material and critically evaluate yourself at every step of the way. good luck!

Thanks a lot! Awesome advice.

I used to be one of those flashcard haters, but since starting medical school, I've found them to be extremely helpful. I could definitely see myself incorporating a "30 min here, 30 min there" kind of schedule using anki. Like you said, it doesn't take much critical thinking, it's literally just pounding the stuff into your head. It really sounds like we're on the same page here, because this is exactly how I envisioned getting through them.

 

[EuroDoc]

Okay, so you're currently a third year, right? Do you think 200 cards/day is doable as a second year? It seems a little heavy, especially if I'm going to try to incorporate a Q bank also.

I think your plan to use flashcards is a LY approach. Basically, you're going to end up reinforcing a lot of material that may not be HY.

Instead of going over your cards x many, go over FA as many times as you can. And complete UW, RX, Kaplan qbanks and remember to annotate FA with extra info, explanations, tables and figures from the qbanks. That's a HY approach.

 

[JABWS]

I think your plan to use flashcards is a LY approach. Basically, you're going to end up reinforcing a lot of material that may not be HY.

Instead of going over your cards x many, go over FA as many times as you can. And complete UW, RX, Kaplan qbanks and remember to annotate FA with extra info, explanations, tables and figures from the qbanks. That's a HY approach.

That's basically what I would be trying to accomplish with the cards. I am planning on making cards straight out of FA, so by reviewing the cards, I will be reviewing FA.

I've used this strategy throughout first year. I make cards for everything, run them a few times, and then when I go back for a second read through it takes half the time because I already know everything. The read through just provides some context and visual memory (i.e. I can remember seeing something on a particular page, which is not possible with cards alone). For me, reading alone can be inefficient. I like having the ability to review a fact as many times as need be until I've got it down pat, rather than having to reread an entire section multiple times, a lot of which I already know, just to pick up on the small number of details that allude me.

My whole study plan is based on the premise that FA is high yield, in which case my flashcards will be very high yield as well.

 

[normtheniner]

You make a good point. I have every intention of focusing on second year material. It's super high yield for step, and from what I've been told, it's by far the most important year in terms of acquiring knowledge for the wards and future practice.

Did you find that second year consumed a lot more of your time? Right now I'm doing very well with the first year stuff, and I also have plenty of time to spare. That's what influenced by study plan. Ultimately, my classes will take priority over everything else, so if I end up using most of my time with coursework during second year, then so be it. But right now I have tons of free time and so my outlook is a bit different.

I think it depends largely on the school. Where I'm at we have to study A LOT. I go a state school in NC (not UNC...I'll narrow it down for you haha). Talking with my friends at Wake and UNC it sounds like their curriculum allows them a lot of free time to do board review and stuff. For us we have a cumulative path exam from everything we studied this semester and a cumulative pharm exam for all the drugs we've covered since August.... in addition to new material that we've covered this block... I'm honestly a little overwhelmed. The beauty of it is that most of the third years said they didn't even have to look at pharm for step studying.

Myself and several of my classmates study 8-10 hours a day during a block. I study this much to learn the material as well as I can with hopes that studying that much will lead to good retention for boards. Some of my classmates study less and may get lower grades but I'm sure they'll do fine on boards.

Maybe the best thing you can do is talk with second years and your school and find out how time consuming second year is from their and tweak your idea with that in mind.