Studying during 3rd year

[illegallysmooth]

How are y'all handling studying during 3rd year -- daily? Mostly on weekends? Light during the week, heavier on the weekends? I'm starting to feel like I'm slacking, but coming from a PBL program I'm just not used to "working" 8 hours and then coming home and studying for several hrs. I got spoiled, I guess. I'm trying to make sure I look up relevant things that came up during the day, and I do some UWorld questions and maybe a few Case Files, but beyond that I've been saving up for the weekend. I don't want to be overconfident and then get screwed on the shelf.

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[C O M 2014]

3rd year is a lot busier for me too. I don't see how some study as much as they claim. I probably spend 2 hours a night. Maybe an hour reading or 2 case files, then as many qbank qs as I feel like. Sounds about like you. I couldn't do much more than this on a busy rotation. Weekends are usually free. So far, so good.

 

[swamprat]

I have yet to do any real studying on surgery aside from some downtime casually reading nms casebook.. I am also too exhausted to do anything when I get home. Shelf is still a bit a way so I'm hoping a second read through nms will do it.. Prob hafta kill myself the last 2 weekends before the shelf but whatever

 

[Rockytop00]

Agreed... I am on surgery currently. My studying seems half-*****ed at best compared to my USMLE and second year studying. I get home and am pretty darn tired. I study about 2 hours MAX a day... and it's more of the "read and underline case files" variety. Weekends or any free time I have is the WORST. I just don't feel like doing any studying, but then feel like I should, and then I do try to study and I just want to sleep. LOL.

 

[Aclamity]

Do you guys ever read up-to-date to study for stuff, because I don't and I'm wondering if I should.. I mean, I glance at it very briefly if I come across a patient with a condition I don't know anything about, but I don't thoroughly read it and I can't do that for every patient (I'm on FM and see like 10 pts/day). Mostly I've just been reading CF and Step up, but wondering if this is a mistake. Honestly I can't see myself doing any more than I'm doing right now.

 

[Sheldor]

Uptodate every day for the patients you have to present plus a little bit from whatever source youve heard is best for any quizzes you may have. 1-2 question blocks per day in the two weeks leading up to the NBME. Done and done.

 

[roast]

i feel the same way, i think everyone is tired. im studying obgyn right now and am trying to just plow through the uwise qbank and then save the 200 uworld questions for wed and thursday (shelf is friday). I have 10 cases to go in case files and already read blueprints cover to cover, although this was a month ago unfortunately. dont know what else to do for this shelf tho

 

[beeitchness]

i feel the same way, i think everyone is tired. im studying obgyn right now and am trying to just plow through the uwise qbank and then save the 200 uworld questions for wed and thursday (shelf is friday). I have 10 cases to go in case files and already read blueprints cover to cover, although this was a month ago unfortunately. dont know what else to do for this shelf tho

I took the shelf last week. I recommend throwing away blueprints and read Beckman. It really does not take long to plow through the many short 6 page chapters. The info is up to date and everything you read in it sticks. Blueprints is garbage, a lot of info is wrong, unnecessarily detailed, or outdated and was difficult for me to retain. Case files, Uwise are excellent. Do those 3 and the shelf will be straightforward/simple.

 

[Kaputt]

Uptodate every day for the patients you have to present plus a little bit from whatever source youve heard is best for any quizzes you may have. 1-2 question blocks per day in the two weeks leading up to the NBME. Done and done.

This seems like wisdom. Then again, I inherently trust anything someone with a Sheldon avatar says on these boards for some reason...

 

[rocketbooster]

I took the shelf last week. I recommend throwing away blueprints and read Beckman. It really does not take long to plow through the many short 6 page chapters. The info is up to date and everything you read in it sticks. Blueprints is garbage, a lot of info is wrong, unnecessarily detailed, or outdated and was difficult for me to retain. Case files, Uwise are excellent. Do those 3 and the shelf will be straightforward/simple.

EDIT: someone messaged me for more info on the shelf, here's my response below

Blueprints is no different in length. It is just smaller font than Beckman, with extra details you do not need to know. Beckman has lots of figures, pictures, better formatting, better organized. It's a fast read, I promise. The reason blueprints doesn't help with UWise is because it's horrible.

CaseFiles however is excellent. I can't emphasize enough how knowing the 60 cases very well will help your decision making on "what's the next best step" question for the shelf/UWise.

I don't recommend wasting your time with the comprehensive set of questions for UWise. They're not new and you'll remember the questions already - I took the 100 set and missed only 2.

I had night float the week before the shelf and didn't study all week until 6 days before the exam. I did CaseFiles book in 15 hours 5 days before, and I did NOT do a single UWise question all rotation until 3 days before the exam. Because of Beckman/CaseFiles I scored 8/10 average on the quizzes, and I am confident I did the same on the actual shelf.

It's very difficult to study daily during OB gyn. I relied heavily on the last 3 weekends of the rotation to cram, spent any free time chilling/sleeping.

Why do you think Blueprints is awful? Every post on the OB-Gyn shelf thread recommends Blueprints and not Beckman. They all say Beckman is too long and too detailed. Beckman is not as short as Blueprints. Each Beckman page has way more on it than one Blueprints page. I've only been using Blueprints and it definitely helps on Uwise questions. The two support one another. I don't do the Uwise questions with the corresponding Blueprints chapters. I'm just reading/doing each one from start to finish. I'll do a bunch of Uwise questions and then read the same info in Blueprints a few days later.

Did you even read Blueprints or only Beckman?